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Thanks for the link. That was really interesting. I'm not surprised that the Hip would be somewhat difficult to work with from a producer's point of view. It sounds like they were pretty set in their ways at that time, and were perhaps a little resistant to move too far outside of their comfort zone. Fireworks with trombones would have been interesting to say the least. Personally I've never really liked that song, so I'd love to hear Berlin's version just to compare it with the one that ended up on the album.
Also interesting to hear about his dislike of Steven Drake's mixing style on Music@Work.
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Wow...that was wild! He certainly had lots to say. Interesting that they didn't record another full album at the Bathhouse until WATS almost a decade later. Guess they had to wait for Steven Drake's smoke to clear. Thanks for sharing this.
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That was great. I could have listened to another 15-20 minutes of that easily. Thanks for sharing.
Very interesting insight. I'm hoping the upcoming Barclay book will have insights into the recording process.
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That was great. I could listen to stuff like that all day.
Jeff
June 21, 2003 Toronto, ON: SkyDome
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November 26, 2004 Toronto, ON: Air Canada Centre
June 24, 2006 Toronto, ON: Historic Fort York
May 10, 2007 Indianapolis, IN: The Vogue
July 14, 2011 Edmonton, AB: Northlands Festival Site
June 30, 2012 Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON: The Commons at Butler's Barracks
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I second these emotions. Too often, writing about music focuses on what is essentially gossip. What I like are insights into the creative process itself, or else really good analysis of the work. This interview is a great example of the former. :thumb:
I'd love to hear some of these lost versions. If I have a single criticism of the Hip over the years, it's the basically conservative approach they took to their own sound. They certainly did grow and evolve as a band - primarily, I believe, driven by Gord D's relentless experimenting with lyrical approaches and changes in his voice - but when Bob Rock's retrograde and highly dated stylings are the furthest you step away from the staple sound in your entire discography, that speaks to a tendency to err on the side of that sound. Without turning them into Radiohead, I'd have liked to see them integrate technology a little more (as say, the Shins have done at times) - and I've long wished they had done one mostly acoustic album building on that 'heavy folk' sound they did so well on cuts like 'Ahead by a Century,' 'Fiddler's Green,' or 'Morning Moon.'
One thing this interview does is make you realize how vast, probably, the treasure trove of unreleased and alternative cuts must be. I really, really hope they release much of that stuff, and that they allow even things that made them uncomfortable to come out.
