07-17-2009, 03:38 PM
07-26-2009, 08:08 PM
direwolf74 Wrote:screw_ball Wrote:Tthip Wrote:The title of The Tragically Hip's 11th studio album suggests the Kingston Can-Rock veterans haven't changed a bit.Ummm... I think this guy missed the point.
Definitely. Darryl Sterdan has been reviewing albums for quite some time now. Generally I tend to agree with a lot of his reviews, as he and I seem to share similar tastes. But I disagree with a lot of his WATS review. He complains that The Depression Suite is too long, but for me that song doesn't drag at all. In fact those 9 minutes fly by rather quickly when I listen to it. At least he gives them credit for trying something different on this album.
Actually reviews are not supposed to be given ratings based on their taste in music. I have never liked his reviews.
He often gets things wrong and he has a thing against Canadian artists [that is not unusual for many Canadian music critics]. He gave WORLD CON. , 3 out of 5 stars as well.
He gave U2s' new album 4 and a half stars :roll:
07-26-2009, 08:15 PM
The Heron Outside Wrote:This isn't exactly a "Review," but it's a piece I penned about the band's relevance in 2009. I pitched it to a number of newspapers, but freelance writing budgets being what they are at newspaper's these days, nothing doing. So now it's for all of you to have a gander. Let me know what you think.
---
At the 2009 Juno Awards in Vancouver, The Tragically Hip were everywhere. Host Russell Peters spoke of the band in laudatory tones, claiming that if viewers didn’t know who The Hip were, they “Weren’t Canadian.” Lead singer Gordon Downie joined Dallas Green onstage for a stirring rendition of their duet, “Sleeping Sickness.” Even famed Hip producer Bob Rock was kicking around, just metres away from Gord at times. This barrage of Hip-mania should come as no surprise, given the band’s iconic stature on the Canadian rock and roll landscape.
What should have come as a surprise however is that at the Junos, even with Downie and Rock in tow, there was absolutely no mention that in just nine days The Tragically Hip would release their eleventh full-length studio record, “We Are The Same.” And on a night where surprisingly youthful angst-rockers Nickelback dominated the awards, one can only wonder why no mention of “WATS” was made and whether or not it even matters.
The Tragically Hip have long been the sound of nationalist bliss in Canada. Yet in 2009 a prevalent opinion in many musical circles is that Canada should be seen as a haven for young, groundbreaking indie artists such as Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. Hip classics like “New Orleans Is Sinking” and “Little Bones” now gain their greatest reception on classic rock radio. Most music fans in Canada have a “Hipstory” from their past in their back pocket; but as well as their tunes have resonated, what have The Tragically Hip become?
There’s no doubt that The Hip have their collective backs against the wall. The band continues to release records like clockwork. Although in the past few years they have attempted to diversify their sound, bringing keyboardists and female vocalists into the fold. They put producer Bob Rock behind the reigns as a means to send a jolt through their sound. And yet unless The Tragically Hip run through the hits at their gigs, fans leave disappointed and echo the timeless sceptical rock fan credo: “Yeah, it was alright. But they played too much of the new stuff.”
The Tragically Hip’s lead-off singles from their last three records (“Vaccination Scar,” “In View” and their latest, “Love Is A First”) were as varied as the seasons in southern Ontario. You’d think that this would have worked in The Hip’s favour. Yet with the wash of available music in 2009, discerning rock fans have no problem distinguishing the enticing from the stale and regurgitated. The only thing that was remotely enticing about “Vaccination Scar” and “Love Is First” was the desperate attempt to sound something like they had in the past. But on the flip side, “In View” was pop-sounding but ultimately contrived. The tune drew looks of confusion across the board and was the nail in The Hip’s slowly closing “Relevance” coffin.
But then, how can one neglect the fact that tickets to The Hip’s upcoming tour across Canada have nearly sold out? To have a steady fanbase is an honour. The Tragically Hip have worked very hard to get where are today, touring every crevice of this land and its surrounding areas to bring their music to the fans that crave it. They are treading dangerously on the possibility that they will soon be the band that is booked in casinos. What kind of response this draws remains to be seen. It won’t however, alter their legacy.
What will forever cement The Hip’s legacy is that they shifted the winds of Canrock. Speaking in terms of new music, The Tragically Hip are indeed irrelevant. But like other musical legends such as The Rolling Stones and R.E.M., this fact is strangely irrelevant. Though the days of “Little Bones” are long gone, they still have the ability to write honest tunes, like the subtle, campfire groove of “Morning Moon” from their latest record and the rousing “Family Band” from 2006’s “World Container.” They can change and evolve, just like family. No matter what the band does however, there will always be a soft spot in the hearts of Canadian music fans. It is after all, a family matter.
The Tragically Hip have made the musical equivalent of pork chops and mashed potatoes: comfort tunes. If you can believe their track record, they probably have another eleven records up their sleeves. Tunes from “We Are The Same” will then be on par with “New Orleans Is Sinking.” The Tragically Hip are forever confined to their past successes.
In the saturated world of music there is simply no room for The Tragically Hip. They are indeed irrelevant, though it’s hardly their fault. Try as they might to do otherwise, the Tragically Hip have fallen from national legends to purveyors of a niche sound.
Yes, The Tragically Hip are trying getting with the times. “Live And Intimate At The Bathouse” is the band’s attempt to get the faces out there. They are premiering cuts from “We Are The Same” live from their studio outside of their native Kingston to be shown live on Cineplex theatres across the country. Unfortunately, the sight of aging rock stars mortifies many young music fans. But The Tragically Hip’s fans, a generation that is more comfortable buying records (As if it’s that old-school) instead of Twittering, that may not be such a hindrance to The Tragically Hip.
“We Are The Same” was not mentioned at the Junos because the plug would have fallen on deaf ears.
As The Tragically Hip’s music fills arenas, clubs, bars and karaoke machines across Canada, one thing becomes clear. They represent the belief that for better or worse, there is work to be done. They must get up in the morning and do their job, because this is the only life they know. Conceding to hope that their work will make people happy is noble, as dated as that may be. “We Are The Same,” irrelevant as it is, sure makes a whole lot of sense now.
What crap. Maybe the newspapers just thought your article sucked??? :lol:
I wish that reviewers would actually listen to an album that they review at least 1 time or more than 1 time.
This reviewer has NO IDEA why WE ARE THE SAME wasn't mentioned at The JUNOS. He is just guessing why? :roll:
TSN / Safeway likes to give the WE ARE THE SAME / CD away as prizes during TSN's Friday Night Football. GO figure.
I also get very tired of so called reviewers who constantly write that ALL of The HIP's song's are about , CANADA.
Only a dozen or so of them are. The rest are about many other things. This reviewer is guilty of his own HIP stereo types. Is he suck in The Hip's past? I have never heard of this guy. Is he relevant???
07-26-2009, 08:19 PM
Tthip Wrote:http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment...30375.html
Über Hip
By Jeff Miers
The Buffalo News
4 out of 4 stars
Dear, sweet music. You loved her once, a long time ago.
You whispered sweet nothings in her ear, courted her with chivalry, promised Paris but delivered a suburb in Podunk, grew lazy and inattentive, cultivated a beer belly, left her at home while you went off chasing the newest, glitzy young thing with your equally loyalty-challenged buddies. You will not have the right to claim hurtful surprise when she finally ups and leaves you. You had it coming.
If it’s the truth that we have marked this moment in the “everyone can do it, anywhere, at any time” phase of music’s creation and dissemination with a failure to place any real cultural value on the music itself, then it would logically follow that the artists will fall into line and dutifully churn out music that doesn’t matter.
Most have done exactly this, and who can blame them? Times are tough, and hedging one’s bets isn’t exactly a radical approach these days.
The Tragically Hip, however, have opted for the oftnamechecked, but rarely chosen “path less traveled.” The Canadian band’s 12th studio album, “We Are the Same,” is its most ambitious, detail-oriented and cleanly rendered effort to date. In an era when plowing the same furrow ad infinitum has been elevated to a virtue, the Hip has instead built with its own hands a gorgeous, fragile crystal city and placed it at the top of a wind-swept hill. There it sits, shimmering, naked to the elements, but unafraid.
The band has reinvented itself. We had no right to expect as much.
The signs were there, and are clear now, in the forgiving glow of hindsight. When the Hip teamed with producer Bob Rock a few years back, in service of the watershed “World Container” album, it seemed that the breath of new life was filling the band’s lungs. “Container” contained all that the revered northern quintet had been cultivating for its twin decades together –the sinewy guitar interplay, the nonsense-free rhythmic/melodic oomph of the rhythm section, the “surrealism for the common man” approach to lyric writing that has made singer Gordon Downie an idiosyncratic genius. Producer Rock added muscle, helped the group fortify its melodic fortress and brought out the best in the band.
If “World Container” at the very least reached the high watermark left by the group’s previous best – say “Road Apples,” “Fully Completely” and “Trouble At the Hen House,” or pick your own favorites, if you must –it also suggested that there was much good work left to be done. An optimist might have felt the twinge of new beginings, even if the more rational mind insisted that the Hip had nothing to prove, and could simply rewrite “New Orleans Is Sinking” once or twice per album for the rest of its days without offending anyone.
“We Are the Same” blows all of this conjecture out of the water. It’s more than a brave record from a band that could easily coast from today ‘til retirement –it’s a necessary record, one that goes above and beyond.
Once again teaming with Rock, Downie, guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay tapped a rich, free-flowing vein, then stood back and let it bleed. When the last drop had hit the floor, the Hip had an unequivocal masterpiece on its hands, a record that is its most musically pleasing, adventurous and heart-rending. Pastoral and forward-looking in equal measure, “We Are the Same” boasts country-folk paeans, glittering post-modern shards of glass, deftly rendered epics, a dash or two of Zeppelin-esque rock, even a song suite that presents a three-movement meditation on a theme. It begins as night turns to day, with “Morning Moon” answering a child’s question –something like “Daddy, how come I can still see the moon when the sun is up?”— to the lilting sway of “Harvest”-era Neil Young. The album concludes with another dawn, this time one heralding a “Country Day,” as a blank slate with endless possibility just sitting there like an unused piece of chalk.
In between, the musicians employ subtlety as the sixth band member, whether it’s with the tapestry of acoustic/electric guitar interplay rooting “Honey, Please,” the elegiac slide runs snaking their way through the threnodic ache of “The Last Recluse,” the “Beck’s got nothin’ on us” post-hip hop drummer’s strut pushing the “Coffee Girl” down the street on her way to work or the full band getting its hands dirty, building a monument to the beauty of the “Queen of the Furrows,” out of nothing but straw and hay.
All of this is achieved without you really noticing it, until about the third time through the record, when you realize that it now owns your soul, like it or not. (And I suspect a good many Hip fans won’t; this is music to dream to, not drink beer to, no offense to anyone intended. There are really beautiful string arrangements going on, sparse orchestration in service of a storyteller’s volition. How will it play in arenas? Powerfully, I expect, but only if the listener accepts change and growth as both good and necessary.)
Atop all of this, Downie delivers his finest lyrics and strongest vocal melodies yet. The seeds of these were planted back in “Ahead By A Century,” sprouted over the years into “Bobcaygeon,” “It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken,” “World Container’s” title song, and now, come fully into bloom with “Now the Struggle Has A Name,” quite possibly the strongest, most viscerally imaginative and imagistic song in the Hip canon.
The theme of all of these songs is empathy, compassion, engagement, or as Downie says on the band’s Web site, “(M)e and you; him and her; the little things that we say to each other each day, and even the things we withhold. Our thoughts dwell on the people in our lives a lot more than we admit; we’re always trying to relate, to make a connection.”
With a band at the peak of its collective power roiling beneath him, Downie’s lyrics are simultaneously felt and heard. There is now no separation between form and content.
“We Are the Same” is like a love letter, one that begins Dear, sweet music…
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:jmiers@buffnews.com">jmiers@buffnews.com</a><!-- e -->
Much better. I think that WE ARE THE SAME is just as good as Phantom Power , Fully Com. , Road Apples , W.C. and Day For Night after more than 1 listen. :thumb:
07-28-2009, 08:05 AM
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SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-We Are the Same (2009).
I first heard of The Hip when I saw their video for “Nautical Disaster.” This is back in the day when I first got Canada’s MuchMusic on my Brighton, MA cable system, and when I actually watched Music channels. Anyhow, the song was intense and very cool and it built to a great climax, and I was totally hooked.
I got their back catalog and continued to get their new releases. Since then they’ve released some really good songs, and some pretty good discs. It almost feels like since their live disc they decided to switch from intense songwriting to more simple, straightforward rock. This is a little disappointing to fans of their intense stuff, and yet if you accept the change in style, the music is quite solid.
So this disc seems to be shooting for an even broader, more commercial appeal. And, in the first half, at least, they emphasize a more folksy/country feel. All of this should make me flee from the disc, and I think longtime fans are pretty disappointed by it. And yet, I can’t get over how much I like it. There’s something slightly off about the Tragically Hip that keeps them from being overtly commercial. So that even when they release a disc like this, which is quite mellow in places, it still sounds alternative. Maybe it’s Gord Downie’s voice, maybe it’s something in the melodies; whatever it is, it keeps this disc from being blah.
The final track, Country Day” seems to sum up the overall feel of the disc: meandering country roads. And “Queen of the Furrows” is about farming. The opening few songs have a Neil Young folkish feel, since “Morning Moon” and “Honey Please” have big catchy choruses with folky verses
“Coffee Girl” actually reminds me of a serious Barenaked Ladies type song, which is disconcerting coming from the Hip, but could possibly become a hit (it’s probably their most overtly commercial song I can think of since “My Music at Work”). Actually, I take that back, one of the final tracks on the disc, “Love is a Curse” sounds like it’s their last ditch attempt to have a big hit in the States. And if they were a more well known (or on a bigger label) it would be a huge hit. It rocks pretty hard and screams radio friendly.
The Hip of old do surface on two songs though: “Now the Struggle Has a Name” is one of those great sounding Hip songs: as you’re singing along to the swelling chorus you wonder why they aren’t huge down here, and then you realize the song is 6 minutes long and will never get on the radio. There’s also a 9 minute song, and the good news is that it doesn’t get boring (no mean feat).
The second half of the disc has more loud guitars. The cool riff of “The Exact Feeling” is pretty great. While “Frozen in My Tracks” is probably the weirdest track on the disc, with a very cool, off-sounding chorus.
So yeah, the disc has horns and strings and is maybe a little too polished and produced. But the songwriting is still stellar. I’m sure that if I had heard these songs now without knowing the Hip, I wouldn’t be all that impressed. Maybe as I get older I’m less critical, or maybe I’m just happy to mellow out a bit more.
SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-We Are the Same (2009).
I first heard of The Hip when I saw their video for “Nautical Disaster.” This is back in the day when I first got Canada’s MuchMusic on my Brighton, MA cable system, and when I actually watched Music channels. Anyhow, the song was intense and very cool and it built to a great climax, and I was totally hooked.
I got their back catalog and continued to get their new releases. Since then they’ve released some really good songs, and some pretty good discs. It almost feels like since their live disc they decided to switch from intense songwriting to more simple, straightforward rock. This is a little disappointing to fans of their intense stuff, and yet if you accept the change in style, the music is quite solid.
So this disc seems to be shooting for an even broader, more commercial appeal. And, in the first half, at least, they emphasize a more folksy/country feel. All of this should make me flee from the disc, and I think longtime fans are pretty disappointed by it. And yet, I can’t get over how much I like it. There’s something slightly off about the Tragically Hip that keeps them from being overtly commercial. So that even when they release a disc like this, which is quite mellow in places, it still sounds alternative. Maybe it’s Gord Downie’s voice, maybe it’s something in the melodies; whatever it is, it keeps this disc from being blah.
The final track, Country Day” seems to sum up the overall feel of the disc: meandering country roads. And “Queen of the Furrows” is about farming. The opening few songs have a Neil Young folkish feel, since “Morning Moon” and “Honey Please” have big catchy choruses with folky verses
“Coffee Girl” actually reminds me of a serious Barenaked Ladies type song, which is disconcerting coming from the Hip, but could possibly become a hit (it’s probably their most overtly commercial song I can think of since “My Music at Work”). Actually, I take that back, one of the final tracks on the disc, “Love is a Curse” sounds like it’s their last ditch attempt to have a big hit in the States. And if they were a more well known (or on a bigger label) it would be a huge hit. It rocks pretty hard and screams radio friendly.
The Hip of old do surface on two songs though: “Now the Struggle Has a Name” is one of those great sounding Hip songs: as you’re singing along to the swelling chorus you wonder why they aren’t huge down here, and then you realize the song is 6 minutes long and will never get on the radio. There’s also a 9 minute song, and the good news is that it doesn’t get boring (no mean feat).
The second half of the disc has more loud guitars. The cool riff of “The Exact Feeling” is pretty great. While “Frozen in My Tracks” is probably the weirdest track on the disc, with a very cool, off-sounding chorus.
So yeah, the disc has horns and strings and is maybe a little too polished and produced. But the songwriting is still stellar. I’m sure that if I had heard these songs now without knowing the Hip, I wouldn’t be all that impressed. Maybe as I get older I’m less critical, or maybe I’m just happy to mellow out a bit more.
08-16-2009, 09:57 AM
I am not sure if this one has been posted yet, but damn.
"Gord Downie and the boys fucked this one up royally."
"Would you let post-botox Vince Neil produce your record?"
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/4431/tragicallyhip-wearethesame-2009">http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_r ... esame-2009</a><!-- m -->
Rating: 42%
Combined Rating: 44%
We here at CMG generally have nothing but love for Canuck living legends the Tragically Hip, right down to the inspiration behind our name. They’re defiantly old-school, a quintet of not-particularly-attractive middle-aged men who built their success on a feverish touring regimen and a succession of good-to-great albums. At the least, a quality rock and roll band with a relatively spotless discography. But don’t think for a second that our love is blind; no amount of unbridled fandom can hide the fact that the above rating is not a misprint. Gord Downie and the boys fucked this one up royally.
We Are the Same is the weakest album the Tragically Hip have ever released. Really, nothing else in their back catalog comes close. My previous least favorite Hip document was 1995’s Trouble at the Henhouse, which, while a little dull, wasn’t exactly what you would call “bad.” We Are the Same most certainly is what you would call “bad.” Bad. There’s a multitude of reasons as to why this is, but let’s start with the most obvious.
Would you let post-botox Vince Neil produce your record?
Metallica fans will likely be able to relate; the heavy hand of “superstar producer” Bob Rock can turn the mightiest of bands into a soft rock whussfest, usually by way of his simply adding orchestras and huge piano to every single fucking song he touches. So, either he’s really persuasive or he’s a skilled blackmailer, prompting over a decade’s worth of awful Metallica albums and somehow getting the Hip to use him for two records in a row, a milestone for anyone not named Mark Vreeken. 2006’s World Container was good in spite of, not because of, Rock’s overproduction, and its weakest moments (altogether now: “Flyyyyyyy-hiiigh!!!”) were indicative of the smoothed-out, pop-glisten’d direction that he so desperately wanted the band to pursue. Most fans were (legitimately) concerned when word leaked that he was being hired for a second go ‘round.
Such fears are now manifesting. Rock interpreted his rehire as a mandate to go apeshit with the overdubs, layering strings, piano, and even muted brass on nearly every track while conveniently forgetting that this is a two-guitar rock band who has never had any need for this stuff over a three-decade career. The pianos on We Are the Same are crisper than the guitars. Really. In addition to rendering the band’s twin axe attack utterly toothless, Rock’s silky production just feels cheap, an unnecessary commercial grasp that’s confusing coming from a band already as successful (in Canada anyway) as the Tragically Hip.
And yet, Rock’s presence, while certainly a negative influence, isn’t entirely to blame for the mediocrity within. For what’s arguably the first time since the band’s 1987 debut EP, a Tragically Hip album features a number of uninteresting songs that would still be sub-par no matter the choice of producer. The only song that could be considered an unmitigated success is “Morning Moon,” the opener, a well-wrought slice of somber pedal steel pie that’s very Buffalo Springfield, and better for it. The remainder of the songs on We Are the Same fall into one of two categories: 1) potentially good ideas ruined by Bob Rock’s production, and 2) songs that would be poor regardless, whose shortcomings Bob Rock can’t help but magnify.
Let’s focus on the former. Most of We Are the Same‘s first half would have been salvageable in more capable hands. “Honey, Please” is a serviceable country rock song that borrows both chords and melodic sense from Tom Petty’s “Listen to Her Heart,” but it’s problematic when the song’s dinky, one-note piano riff is louder (and more memorable) than the guitars. Similarly, “The Last Recluse” is meant to be a spooky acoustic number like “Bobcaygeon” or “Scared,” which would be fine were it not for Rock’s inexplicable decision to incorporate moaning background vocals at the bridge…suggesting the song was actually recorded in a haunted house. “Coffee Girl” would be a lot better without the lazy drum track and muted trumpet solo interlude. “Frozen in My Tracks” has all the trappings of a classic Gord snarler but is derailed by WHOA-OH! fist-pump vocals at the chorus and what sounds like subliminal vocals in the third verse.
And those are the listenable songs. The surging, “We Are the World”-style “Now The Struggle Has a Name” has usurped “Coconut Cream” as the single worst Hip song. Subsisting on a diet of sap that would even shame Coldplay’s Chris Martin, the song would be awful without the beds of melodramatic strings that Rock drapes over the mess like he’s a production designer on cable access television. If the hookless, nine-minute “Depression Suite” wasn’t damning enough on its own, things get even worse once it leads into the record’s second half. “Speed River” and “The Exact Feeling” are instantly forgettable, and first single “Love is a First” is maybe the best example of things going terribly awry. Hip diehards will note that Gord Downie has been toying with the lyrics as far back as 2005, throwing a verse into the version of “Fully Completely” showcased on their That Night in Toronto DVD. The finished product is embarrassing, an uber-primitive lunker. Gord even attempts one of his free-associative rants, a staple of the live show, but holy crap does it not work. Nor does the faux-Tom Morello noise-guitar solo at the bridge.
On a lighter note, not long after absorbing We Are the Same, I returned to 2004’s In Between Evolution as a basis for comparison. Immediately, from the opening strains of “Heaven Is a Better Place Today,” I was stomping my feet and humming along. The guitars roared and the drums had kick; it was the sound of something vital. Turns out, every last bit of that energy is absent on We Are the Same, and as much as I blame some heinous production influences, the band’s been around long enough to know better
"Gord Downie and the boys fucked this one up royally."
"Would you let post-botox Vince Neil produce your record?"
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/4431/tragicallyhip-wearethesame-2009">http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_r ... esame-2009</a><!-- m -->
Rating: 42%
Combined Rating: 44%
We here at CMG generally have nothing but love for Canuck living legends the Tragically Hip, right down to the inspiration behind our name. They’re defiantly old-school, a quintet of not-particularly-attractive middle-aged men who built their success on a feverish touring regimen and a succession of good-to-great albums. At the least, a quality rock and roll band with a relatively spotless discography. But don’t think for a second that our love is blind; no amount of unbridled fandom can hide the fact that the above rating is not a misprint. Gord Downie and the boys fucked this one up royally.
We Are the Same is the weakest album the Tragically Hip have ever released. Really, nothing else in their back catalog comes close. My previous least favorite Hip document was 1995’s Trouble at the Henhouse, which, while a little dull, wasn’t exactly what you would call “bad.” We Are the Same most certainly is what you would call “bad.” Bad. There’s a multitude of reasons as to why this is, but let’s start with the most obvious.
Would you let post-botox Vince Neil produce your record?
Metallica fans will likely be able to relate; the heavy hand of “superstar producer” Bob Rock can turn the mightiest of bands into a soft rock whussfest, usually by way of his simply adding orchestras and huge piano to every single fucking song he touches. So, either he’s really persuasive or he’s a skilled blackmailer, prompting over a decade’s worth of awful Metallica albums and somehow getting the Hip to use him for two records in a row, a milestone for anyone not named Mark Vreeken. 2006’s World Container was good in spite of, not because of, Rock’s overproduction, and its weakest moments (altogether now: “Flyyyyyyy-hiiigh!!!”) were indicative of the smoothed-out, pop-glisten’d direction that he so desperately wanted the band to pursue. Most fans were (legitimately) concerned when word leaked that he was being hired for a second go ‘round.
Such fears are now manifesting. Rock interpreted his rehire as a mandate to go apeshit with the overdubs, layering strings, piano, and even muted brass on nearly every track while conveniently forgetting that this is a two-guitar rock band who has never had any need for this stuff over a three-decade career. The pianos on We Are the Same are crisper than the guitars. Really. In addition to rendering the band’s twin axe attack utterly toothless, Rock’s silky production just feels cheap, an unnecessary commercial grasp that’s confusing coming from a band already as successful (in Canada anyway) as the Tragically Hip.
And yet, Rock’s presence, while certainly a negative influence, isn’t entirely to blame for the mediocrity within. For what’s arguably the first time since the band’s 1987 debut EP, a Tragically Hip album features a number of uninteresting songs that would still be sub-par no matter the choice of producer. The only song that could be considered an unmitigated success is “Morning Moon,” the opener, a well-wrought slice of somber pedal steel pie that’s very Buffalo Springfield, and better for it. The remainder of the songs on We Are the Same fall into one of two categories: 1) potentially good ideas ruined by Bob Rock’s production, and 2) songs that would be poor regardless, whose shortcomings Bob Rock can’t help but magnify.
Let’s focus on the former. Most of We Are the Same‘s first half would have been salvageable in more capable hands. “Honey, Please” is a serviceable country rock song that borrows both chords and melodic sense from Tom Petty’s “Listen to Her Heart,” but it’s problematic when the song’s dinky, one-note piano riff is louder (and more memorable) than the guitars. Similarly, “The Last Recluse” is meant to be a spooky acoustic number like “Bobcaygeon” or “Scared,” which would be fine were it not for Rock’s inexplicable decision to incorporate moaning background vocals at the bridge…suggesting the song was actually recorded in a haunted house. “Coffee Girl” would be a lot better without the lazy drum track and muted trumpet solo interlude. “Frozen in My Tracks” has all the trappings of a classic Gord snarler but is derailed by WHOA-OH! fist-pump vocals at the chorus and what sounds like subliminal vocals in the third verse.
And those are the listenable songs. The surging, “We Are the World”-style “Now The Struggle Has a Name” has usurped “Coconut Cream” as the single worst Hip song. Subsisting on a diet of sap that would even shame Coldplay’s Chris Martin, the song would be awful without the beds of melodramatic strings that Rock drapes over the mess like he’s a production designer on cable access television. If the hookless, nine-minute “Depression Suite” wasn’t damning enough on its own, things get even worse once it leads into the record’s second half. “Speed River” and “The Exact Feeling” are instantly forgettable, and first single “Love is a First” is maybe the best example of things going terribly awry. Hip diehards will note that Gord Downie has been toying with the lyrics as far back as 2005, throwing a verse into the version of “Fully Completely” showcased on their That Night in Toronto DVD. The finished product is embarrassing, an uber-primitive lunker. Gord even attempts one of his free-associative rants, a staple of the live show, but holy crap does it not work. Nor does the faux-Tom Morello noise-guitar solo at the bridge.
On a lighter note, not long after absorbing We Are the Same, I returned to 2004’s In Between Evolution as a basis for comparison. Immediately, from the opening strains of “Heaven Is a Better Place Today,” I was stomping my feet and humming along. The guitars roared and the drums had kick; it was the sound of something vital. Turns out, every last bit of that energy is absent on We Are the Same, and as much as I blame some heinous production influences, the band’s been around long enough to know better
08-16-2009, 11:21 AM
Man, that's aliitle on the harsh side. I do agree with the comments relating to the overproduction of the record having a detremental effect on the classic "two guitar" sound of the band, but this does not ruin WATS for me. IMO, at the very core these are Hip songs and easily stand up to their overall body of work, regardless of what Bob Rock did or didn't do.
08-16-2009, 02:10 PM
I think there's a lot of valid criticism there. Some is over-the-top, too.
At least the review wasn't this: "Two words - shit sandwich".
Hopefully for the next release they go with a different producer. Why not try Brendan O'Brien?
At least the review wasn't this: "Two words - shit sandwich".
Hopefully for the next release they go with a different producer. Why not try Brendan O'Brien?
08-16-2009, 04:52 PM
john cage Wrote:I think there's a lot of valid criticism there. Some is over-the-top, too.
At least the review wasn't this: "Two words - shit sandwich".
Hopefully for the next release they go with a different producer. Why not try Bredan O'Brien?
Why not try Daniel Lanois and/or Brian Eno?
08-17-2009, 03:56 AM
Are people still not getting WATS? Still going for beers when a WATS song is being played at a show? Who cares? The boys are happy, I'm happy. These new songs are amazing live. If the band wants to get away from their bar band sound of the early 90s, good for them! This stuff is gold!
08-19-2009, 02:33 AM
I don't give a flying fuck what critics have to say. I have listened to the band for the last 15 years and they have earned my ear.
I will listen and come up with my own opinion. Critic=ONE opinion that is no more or less valid then anyone else's.
I will listen and come up with my own opinion. Critic=ONE opinion that is no more or less valid then anyone else's.
08-19-2009, 06:14 PM
Reading this thread reminds me that I really, really need to stop reading reviews, whether I like or dislike the band or album being reviewed. They just annoy me and/or make me overanalyze the music. :music
09-21-2009, 12:56 PM
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/b454">http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/b454</a><!-- m -->
BBC Review
A smooth mix of political and personal, sincere and satirical.
Keira Burgess 2009-06-22
Kingston quintet The Tragically Hip have been a mainstay on the Canadian music scene for some 20 plus years. Their collective mantle is bedecked with 14 Junos, they have a home in their native Music Hall of Fame and eight of their ten albums went straight to number one. This, their eleventh, may as well be their first for the majority of us Brits, as unfamiliar as we are with their lyrically potent country rock.
Producer Bob Rock returned for his second project with The Hip; this time with a mind to pushing, and, if necessary, breaking down their creative extremities. The outcome was a last-minute writing spree and the addition to the album of four of its best tracks, including the cute Americana of Coffee Girl, the abstract anger of Frozen In My Tracks and epic six-minute political anthem Now The Struggle Has A Name. Love Is A First also wears the Rock effect in its electronic trickery, the producer successfully proving that country can work outside its comfort zones.
The Depression Suite, is, at nine and a half minutes, a marathon min-project in itself. Divided loosely into three contrasting sections, the track mixes musical tone and lyrical style brilliantly: the line “Bring on the requisite strangeness/ it always has to get a little weird” humorously showing The Hip’s implicit understanding of the artistic world they occupy.
The uplifting motif of closer Country Day has much in common with U2’s Sometimes You Can’t Make It On You Own, but the Bono effect can be overlooked in the midst of such a genuinely heart-warming performance.
We Are The Same is a smooth mix of political and personal, sincere and satirical. A good means of introduction to a largely untapped nation of potential fans.
BBC Review
A smooth mix of political and personal, sincere and satirical.
Keira Burgess 2009-06-22
Kingston quintet The Tragically Hip have been a mainstay on the Canadian music scene for some 20 plus years. Their collective mantle is bedecked with 14 Junos, they have a home in their native Music Hall of Fame and eight of their ten albums went straight to number one. This, their eleventh, may as well be their first for the majority of us Brits, as unfamiliar as we are with their lyrically potent country rock.
Producer Bob Rock returned for his second project with The Hip; this time with a mind to pushing, and, if necessary, breaking down their creative extremities. The outcome was a last-minute writing spree and the addition to the album of four of its best tracks, including the cute Americana of Coffee Girl, the abstract anger of Frozen In My Tracks and epic six-minute political anthem Now The Struggle Has A Name. Love Is A First also wears the Rock effect in its electronic trickery, the producer successfully proving that country can work outside its comfort zones.
The Depression Suite, is, at nine and a half minutes, a marathon min-project in itself. Divided loosely into three contrasting sections, the track mixes musical tone and lyrical style brilliantly: the line “Bring on the requisite strangeness/ it always has to get a little weird” humorously showing The Hip’s implicit understanding of the artistic world they occupy.
The uplifting motif of closer Country Day has much in common with U2’s Sometimes You Can’t Make It On You Own, but the Bono effect can be overlooked in the midst of such a genuinely heart-warming performance.
We Are The Same is a smooth mix of political and personal, sincere and satirical. A good means of introduction to a largely untapped nation of potential fans.
09-21-2009, 09:50 PM
That's a solid review, but it's funny how she keeps referring to them as "country" or "country-rock". Then again, I suppose if WATS was my first exposure to the Hip's music, I might call them country-rock as well. The album does have much more of a mellow, folky vibe than anything they've done previously. I think it would be fun to get some Hip newbies into a room, play them "Morning Moon" and "Fire in the Hole" back-to-back, and then ask them if it's the same band.
10-26-2009, 10:59 AM
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.theskinny.co.uk/article/97504-the-tragically-hip---we-are-the-same">http://www.theskinny.co.uk/article/9750 ... e-the-same</a><!-- m -->
The Tragically Hip - We Are The Same
Posted by Finbarr Bermingham, Mon 26 Oct 2009
2 out of 5 Stars
Latest offering from the Canadian stalwarts is occasionally excellent, but frustrating on the whole
They don’t sound much alike, but status-wise there are parallels to be drawn between The Tragically Hip and departed Mancunian monoliths Oasis. Both have been heralded as superstars in their home country (The ‘Hip have had eight albums debut at #1 in Canada), but failed to make similar splashes across the Atlantic. Both saw their relevancy wane, with exciting new bands emerging around them to render them dinosaurs. But where Oasis gave up, the ‘Hip persevere, and for at least half an album, revisit their glory days. The trouble is, We Are The Same is lamentably frontloaded. Opening track Morning Moon is a superb slice of melodic, sing-along indie rock, and the following quartet (particularly The Last Recluse) are equally enjoyable. The second half, however, reclines into a repetitive blur. The lack of variety suggests that whilst they may not be all out of ideas, the tank’s in danger of running dry. [Finbarr Bermingham]
The Tragically Hip - We Are The Same
Posted by Finbarr Bermingham, Mon 26 Oct 2009
2 out of 5 Stars
Latest offering from the Canadian stalwarts is occasionally excellent, but frustrating on the whole
They don’t sound much alike, but status-wise there are parallels to be drawn between The Tragically Hip and departed Mancunian monoliths Oasis. Both have been heralded as superstars in their home country (The ‘Hip have had eight albums debut at #1 in Canada), but failed to make similar splashes across the Atlantic. Both saw their relevancy wane, with exciting new bands emerging around them to render them dinosaurs. But where Oasis gave up, the ‘Hip persevere, and for at least half an album, revisit their glory days. The trouble is, We Are The Same is lamentably frontloaded. Opening track Morning Moon is a superb slice of melodic, sing-along indie rock, and the following quartet (particularly The Last Recluse) are equally enjoyable. The second half, however, reclines into a repetitive blur. The lack of variety suggests that whilst they may not be all out of ideas, the tank’s in danger of running dry. [Finbarr Bermingham]