[potsie]

Morning Moon - Sublime. Only Gord could couch a science lesson in the form of a gorgeous alt-country song. I'm a huge fan of this song. My oldest son was almost three when this album came out and it is the first Hip song he learned to sing along to, at least the "Morning Moon, yeah-ah" part. If there is one vein that I wish the Hip could have mined a little more, it's the alt-country genre. On the basis of this one song alone, it's clear to me that they could have made a great "Wilco" album.

Honey, Please - Steven Page did a great version of this for the Strombo Hip 30 show, one of the very few times I've heard a Hip cover song that is better than the original. The guitar in his cover has a greater presence in the verses than the Hip version where it is almost absence (or buried under the keys). The slide solo by Rob redeems the song in the end.

The Last Recluse - Under-rated and haunting. Feels like the same background "woah-oh" vocal is used on this one as on Frozen, where it is slightly more pitched. Not sure who is doing the background singing, but it sure doesn't sound like Paul.

Coffee Girl - Sunny pop song. The trumpet solo is an inspired touch by Bob Rock.

Struggle - This one lands with a thud. Gord over-emotes his overly earnest criticism of the response to the Truth and Reconciliation Report alongside pretentious orchestration. The struggle here is trying to keep my finger off the skip button.

Depression Suite - One song where the strings add to the epic feel. The orchestration helps thread the three songs together.

Exact Feeling - Struggling to get through "Struggle"is the exact feeling I get when listening to "Exact Feeling". Or something like that.

Queen of the Furrows - "This is how we farm, hens cluck and roosters crow" is hardly Downie-esque. In fact the whole song is pretty weak lyrically. And while I appreciate a blistering guitar solo (being a former metal head in a past life), it seems out of place and over-the-top on this song. Rob must have dropped to the Bathhouse floor and rolled around on his back Angus Young style when he played this. In truth it sounds like it was "tacked" on to the song in post-production. I wish it had been saved for a heavier song that was worthy of its presence.

Love is a First - I think this would have found a better home on World Container, the more rock of the "Rock" albums. It would have sounded nice right between Drop-Off and Family Band.

[Moof_Milker]

Ah, the second Bob Rock Hip album...sure to be no controversy here! For the record, I'm a fan. Morning Moon and Depression Suite are two of my favourite Hip songs (and likely to be the finalists in the Weakest Link poll).

People seem mixed on Coffee Girl...I like it a lot. Some classic Gord lines: "...hangover hanging on by the fangs." and "Taking cannons to fools...when all you need's a BB gun." If I heard Franz Ferdinand on Lonely End of the Rink, I hear Amy Winehouse on Coffee Girl. That drum-bass beat is straight outta You Know I'm No Good -- to my ears anyway.

People seem indifferent to Frozen in My Tracks, but I dig it. I hear a viscous intensity in Gord on this...I guess others don't.

The closer, Country Day, apart from being a solid sonic bookend to the opener, Morning Moon, it a very solid tune and has forever changed how I sing O'Canada. Me, gazing over at an already-expecting-this wife: "God keeeep our land...cuz we certainly can't." Wife: [eye-roll...which began as this verse started].

I was living on the other side of the planet in the years WC and WATS were released. In my 20x seeing The Hip (from ARA in Markham as young teen...to the Toronto shows on the MMP tour), there's a gap between 2005-2011 where I saw NOTHING. I know I missed some great tours in there. So, my ONLY Hip during that time were the albums. I think this was a good thing for me -- I listened to the shit out of both albums...and really like both. Heavy rotation listening. I get the Bob Rock criticism. Sometimes it gets in the way. But the good stuff far outweighs the bad. And I don't think any of it is really bad

Oh, if Morning Moon and Depression Suite are my favourites, then I'll put Honey, Please and Love Is A First at the bottom.

[direwolf74]

Morning Moon - Sublime. Only Gord could couch a science lesson in the form of a gorgeous alt-country song. I'm a huge fan of this song.

Sarah Harmer's version of this song is absolutely gorgeous.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0fE4tm5VZk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0fE4tm5VZk</a><!-- m -->

[ryan93]

Like quite a few ahead of me have already said, this is probably my least favourite Hip album outside of the EP. Morning Moon & The Last Recluse are my two favorited tracks, both are outstanding. Morning Moon to me has a live Blue Rodeo-ish feel to it. The album starts off good, but I start to lose interest after Coffee Girl, though it ends strong with a Country Day.

Loved the packaging with the We Are The Same tshirt inside the Hip cd holder crate. I still store all their albums in it!

[ryan93]

this album was the start of my declining interest in the Hip. i didn't see any shows on this tour (and would never see them again, as it turns out) and i don't remember if it is because i disliked the album so much or if they didn't play in atlantic canada. either way, let's just shut down this thread and move on to NFPA. :lol:

They toured the Maritimes in 2011, 2013 & 2015. And as Sean pointed out, they had to cancel their 2009 Halifax Virgin Fest appearance. The concert still went on, The Offspring was bumped up to the head.iner slot and tickets were then free. Gord also played the Maritimes in 2010, as well of course Gords final ever concert ended up being in Halifax.

[andrew sharpe]

Elizabeth Swaney Awards:
Exact Feeling

Won't argue but I will point out I enjoy that weird "wind" sound in the background at the start and I LOVE the imagery of "The exact feeling is coming back around. The tiger's wheeling, and covering some ground." The chord changes coming in and out of the chorus are pretty rad too.

The hankies were the dumbest Hip thing of all time. So glad GD dropped that pretentious BS. I'm surprised the guys let him get away with that.

[andrew sharpe]

I also love the triple video they did for Last Recluse/Coffee Girl/Morning Moon. The image of GD riding home "on yer bike riding with my bike by yer side" feels so Gord-y.

[youtube]nLOSnXQle74[/youtube]

[potsie]

Elizabeth Swaney Awards:
Exact Feeling

Won't argue but I will point out I enjoy that weird "wind" sound in the background at the start and I LOVE the imagery of "The exact feeling is coming back around. The tiger's wheeling, and covering some ground." The chord changes coming in and out of the chorus are pretty rad too.

Good points. However, there is an overall flatness to the song and it just never gets out of first gear for me. Gord almost sounds bored singing it. His voice never changes from verse to chorus... there is no build, no anticipation for the chorus. In addition, where is the melody? It's completely under-cooked on this song. Exact Feeling should have never been able to bump Hush or Skeleton Park to get on the album.

[potsie]

Morning Moon - Sublime. Only Gord could couch a science lesson in the form of a gorgeous alt-country song. I'm a huge fan of this song.

Sarah Harmer's version of this song is absolutely gorgeous.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0fE4tm5VZk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0fE4tm5VZk</a><!-- m -->

:thumb:

[mark]

this album was the start of my declining interest in the Hip. i didn't see any shows on this tour (and would never see them again, as it turns out) and i don't remember if it is because i disliked the album so much or if they didn't play in atlantic canada. either way, let's just shut down this thread and move on to NFPA. :lol:

They toured the Maritimes in 2011, 2013 & 2015. And as Sean pointed out, they had to cancel their 2009 Halifax Virgin Fest appearance. The concert still went on, The Offspring was bumped up to the head.iner slot and tickets were then free. Gord also played the Maritimes in 2010, as well of course Gords final ever concert ended up being in Halifax.

by the time 2011 rolled around, Screaming Gord was in full force and i essentially ignored their tour dates. i just couldn't handle the screaming ... brutal

[NWOntario]

I love We Are the Same. It was the soundtrack to a great time in my life; I still remember crossing the Bow River in Calgary on a beautiful spring day listening to "Morning Moon" for the first time and then just walking around Prince's Island giving the album its inaugural spin (or, well, "spin"). "The Depression Suite" is a top-five Hip song for me, but I love most of the album almost as much. Except "Coffee Girl." Fuck her.

The tour was so so good. The first two shows I saw were in Banff - fourth row at a 700-seat theatre - and in Calgary, which remains forever the best Hip show I saw and the only time I ever heard "Thugs." That show was just a total barnburner: opening with NOIS/Depression Suite, closing with Frozen/Blow and having Gord standing on my seatback singing "Blow at High Dough."

[emperor penguin]

I haven't really commented on the other albums that much. I enjoyed World Container, but it's not in my top half of favourite Hip albums. When WATS came around I was blown away. I love everything about this album. Like others have mentioned, it was maybe a time and place thing. I was living in Kingston going to Queen's just after it came out which was a great time for me.

Even though it was a B side, Skeleton Park has a deep connection for me. My girlfriend lived on the other side of that park, and I walked through it many times on my way over to her house as "the sun teased the dark".

There aren't any songs on the album I dislike and the tour for it was incredible.

[loach]

We could probably get a 50:50 split if we divided everyone here into whether you place WATS above WC or vice versa. I'm definitely a WATS > WC guy. Although I've come to appreciate WC, it's probably the album that represents the low-point in my Hip fandom (which was still considerable, but off from the peak). WC was the first album since becoming a fan in 1989 that I didn't buy on the day of its release. It's also the first one that I didn't buy a CD for - my first MP3 Hip album buy.

WATS though snapped my Hip fandom back. Got it on its day of release and immediately fell in love (and still do) with Morning Moon, Last Recluse and Depression Suite. Those songs remain high in my upper echelon of Hip songs. Part of it might be time and place as well as my career was more stable and my kids had grown past the hectic infant years at this time. Felt like the perfect album for that time in my life. Yes, the album isn't as complete as their '90's beast albums (very few are), but I've always held this album in high regard.

[Killer Whale Tank]

Morning Moon - Sublime. Only Gord could couch a science lesson in the form of a gorgeous alt-country song. I'm a huge fan of this song. My oldest son was almost three when this album came out and it is the first Hip song he learned to sing along to, at least the "Morning Moon, yeah-ah" part. If there is one vein that I wish the Hip could have mined a little more, it's the alt-country genre. On the basis of this one song alone, it's clear to me that they could have made a great "Wilco" album.

Honey, Please - Steven Page did a great version of this for the Strombo Hip 30 show, one of the very few times I've heard a Hip cover song that is better than the original. The guitar in his cover has a greater presence in the verses than the Hip version where it is almost absence (or buried under the keys). The slide solo by Rob redeems the song in the end.

The Last Recluse - Under-rated and haunting. Feels like the same background "woah-oh" vocal is used on this one as on Frozen, where it is slightly more pitched. Not sure who is doing the background singing, but it sure doesn't sound like Paul.

Coffee Girl - Sunny pop song. The trumpet solo is an inspired touch by Bob Rock.

Struggle - This one lands with a thud. Gord over-emotes his overly earnest criticism of the response to the Truth and Reconciliation Report alongside pretentious orchestration. The struggle here is trying to keep my finger off the skip button.

Depression Suite - One song where the strings add to the epic feel. The orchestration helps thread the three songs together.

Exact Feeling - Struggling to get through "Struggle"is the exact feeling I get when listening to "Exact Feeling". Or something like that.

Queen of the Furrows - "This is how we farm, hens cluck and roosters crow" is hardly Downie-esque. In fact the whole song is pretty weak lyrically. And while I appreciate a blistering guitar solo (being a former metal head in a past life), it seems out of place and over-the-top on this song. Rob must have dropped to the Bathhouse floor and rolled around on his back Angus Young style when he played this. In truth it sounds like it was "tacked" on to the song in post-production. I wish it had been saved for a heavier song that was worthy of its presence.

Love is a First - I think this would have found a better home on World Container, the more rock of the "Rock" albums. It would have sounded nice right between Drop-Off and Family Band.

Great thought, potsie. I agree with almost everything you say here, with two minor exceptions. The first is that "Depression Suite" loses me after the first movement. It's typical of Bob Rock that his big push to "innovate" with the Hip was to get them to do that grandiose 1970s clichee of the rock "suite." It's still more proof that he stopped listening to music around 1983. But in any case, my beef is not with the suite structure as such, as with the tedium the suite generates; its movements are insufficiently varied and, indeed, the last two portions are bits that probably would not have made the cut as songs onto themselves.

The other thing is the characterization of "Coffee Girl" as sunny pop. I agree that that captures its really excellent *sound* but it doesn't reflect the lyrics, which concern selling out and betraying one's own dreams.

One night he'll make you choose
I am sorry, but he will
The heartscape or your shoes
When the moon's behind the hill

I love the character sketch and the dilemma the song portrays, as well as its toe-tapping, wonderful sound, from the full percussion to the warm treatment of Gord's relaxed and calm vocal. This is Rock at his very best.

[schaggs]

The first is that "Depression Suite" loses me after the first movement. It's typical of Bob Rock that his big push to "innovate" with the Hip was to get them to do that grandiose 1970s clichee of the rock "suite." It's still more proof that he stopped listening to music around 1983. But in any case, my beef is not with the suite structure as such, as with the tedium the suite generates; its movements are insufficiently varied and, indeed, the last two portions are bits that probably would not have made the cut as songs onto themselves.

When "Depression" hits my playlist, I usually wait for "Bring on the requisite strangeness". That's where the song truly begins.