PunBB

Might as well keep all the reviews in one place than making separate threads for them all:

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CD review: The Tragically Hip 'Now For Plan A'
By Gene Triplett | Published: September 28, 2012

The Tragically Hip ‘Now For Plan A' (Zoe Records)

“At Transformation” is the opening shot that sets things spinning winningly on The Tragically Hip's 13th long-player “Now For Plan A,” with fuzzed-out, twanging and stinging guitars swirling around Gordon Downie's distinctively dramatic warble as he sings of his resolve to be a positive force in a negative world and “not a bullet in the right place.”

Good plan, Gord. But then on the dreamier mid-tempo rocker “About This Map,” he concedes quite emotionally that life doesn't always go according to plan, so tear up that map and let the winds of fortune blow you where they may.

Sometimes life leads to heartache, as he observes on the slow-dancing, beautifully melancholy breakup song “Done and Done,” while the hard-driving, chord-churning “Streets Ahead” seems to exhort the listener not to mope around and left life run off and leave you.
Here's yet another great record from one of Canada's biggest concert draws, a band tragically overlooked south of the border despite nearly 30 years' worth of melodically memorable and lyrically potent rock 'n' roll. Downie's soul-wrenching vocals are at turns reminiscent of the Call's Michael Been and Velvet Underground-era Lou Reed, while the muscular three-guitar drive of Downie, Paul Langlois and Rob Baker make them Kingston, Ontario's answer to the Rolling Stones.
Maybe No. 13 is the charm.
— Gene Triplett

Good idea and good first review...they should all start coming out now.

I HATE ass kissing reviews. I hope we get a lot of honesty and also I hope the reviewers listen to the album more than once or twice before they start kissing ass. Not that im looking for bad reviews but it just seems that now days reviewers all seem to be kissing ass to get on a bands good side. I mean I know this because I have bought a lot of shit records based on kiss ass reviews. Enough I say. Be honest and insightful. Listen to it and you should have at leasted listened to a few other Hip albums to compare the new stuff to. Im sure all of us on Hipbase here could write better reviews.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120928/LIFE/120928861/1057">http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 28861/1057</a><!-- m -->

The 'Transformation' of the Tragically Hip
Tragically Hip's 13th album marks a new beginning
BY: Jeff Miers The Buffalo News

What is the source of the Tragically Hip's magic? Why is that magic so difficult to convey to someone who doesn't hear, see or feel it for themselves? Why, when you pull the much-loved Canadian band's music apart and break it down to its raw elements, can you not pinpoint the core of that magic among the constituent parts?

The answer is simple. The Hip's charms are ephemeral, impossible to pin down, and certainly beyond the purview of plain old language. The magic is in the doing and the hearing, not the discussing. But I'll give it a shot. One more time.

The thirteenth Tragically Hip album, "Now for Plan A," out Tuesday, is a transformative one, as lead-off track "At Transformation" suggests.

The band's last two albums, "We Are the Same" (2009) and "World Container" (2006), represented a musical breakthrough for the quintet, expanding the melodic palette and moving beyond the rough-and-tumble Rolling Stones-like churn of early classics like "Road Apples." The Hip learned how to write epic ballads, and marry singer Gordon Downie's impressionistic poems to a more grandiloquent sonic vision. (Producer Bob Rock helped the band considerably there.) Some "old school" Hip fans balked at the group's growth, however, interpreting it as a softening concomitant with aging and a diminishing of the early, edgy bar-band feel.

One doubts that the band members, if they did hear such grumblings, would allow their course to be altered by them. Nonetheless, "Now for Plan A" finds the Hip, intentionally or otherwise, forming a hybrid of its early primal swagger and the more sophisticated elegance of its "World Container/We Are the Same" period.

Suggesting, in many ways, that it is the perfect Tragically Hip album.

Folks thirsty for the raunchy strut of "Little Bones" or "Cordelia" might find comfort in the album's opening salvos. "At Transformation" is heralded by a snarky fuzz bass line from Gord Sinclair, before drummer Johnny Fay falls in with his trademark deceptively simple, but relentlessly driving four-on-the-floor groove. The twin guitars of Paul Langlois and Rob Baker do what they've long done so well - speak to each other in a gritty call-and-response, complementing each other with varied voicings of the chord progression, and creating a glorious wall of sound in the process.

And then singer Downie enters the fray.

Downie's genius - for he clearly possesses a strain of that heady stuff, as lyricist, performer and as dramatic storyteller - is most evident in his pacing and the manner in which he allows the narrative to unfold. He enters "At Transformation" in a half-spoken low tenor, elegantly leaping up the octave as the song builds to its chorus, which arrives as an emotive explosion befitting its yearning-infused lyric.

What's Downie so worked up about? Nothing short of transcendence itself, or the opportunity for it. "I want to be kind, not a bullet in the right place / Or just of two minds more important than importance," he sings, before positing this compassionate reach as "a glittering chance at transformation."

Game, set, match. The album could end here. Past strengths have been successfully welded to an in-the-moment ethic.

Happily, they're just getting started. As is the Hip's wont, things get good and weird good and quick. "Man Machine Poem" is unlike anything in the band's prior catalogue, as a gently pulsating rhythm introduces what at first sounds like a nebulous chord progression disconnected from Downie's top-of-his-range vocal, which arrives soaked in a glowing reverb. Then Fay tethers the band to the earth with another immaculately simple groove, and at once, everything is in its right place. Lyric-wise, the song could be an example of the cut-paste-reassemble ethos birthed by William Burroughs and espoused by the likes of Brian Eno and David Bowie, in which phrases are typed out, cut up, thrown to the floor, and randomly reassembled. Or perhaps not.

"The Lookahead" is an exercise in esoterica - "You weigh a snowflake / Cause great trees to fall / Descending on perfect arms / Like Jeff Beck / To give me the lookahead," Downie insists - but again, contrast is provided by the rootsy Americana implied by the interplay of the guitars.

Later, "Streets Ahead" buzzes along on locomotive steam, a slight distortion on Downie's vocal lending an edge to the verse, before it breaks wide open into layered vocal territory come chorus time. The song seems to be employing dog sledding as a metaphor for the relentless march of nature and time itself, and the propulsive push of the groove matches the racing theme without apparent strain.

The title tune is another in the ever-growing line of epic Hip ballads, this one moving with the ominous grace of a creeping glacier, somehow redolent of the northernmost reaches of the band's native Canada. "No matter how high or how rough / Nothing short of everything's enough," Downie intones, ably matching the wistful flow of the song's chords. Guest vocalist Sarah Harmer harmonizes beautifully with Downie here.

Throughout, producer Gavin Brown - who has worked with Metric and Billy Talent, among others - proves himself to be a worthy collaborator, subtly lending adroit sonic touches to the tunes without ever drawing undue attention to the production itself.

More than 25 years into the game, the Tragically Hip push onward. "Now for Plan A" doesn't represent a return to form - no return to form was needed. It does, however, speak of new possibilities born of self-discovery on the band's part. A new chapter in an ongoing novel, then.

email: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:jmiers@buffnews.com">jmiers@buffnews.com</a><!-- e -->

quick and to the point from the Sun Media group:

The Tragically Hip
Now For Plan A

3.5 stars out of 5

In between evolution, they are the same. But not fully completely. True to its title, the 12th album from Kingston’s favourite sons is a return to form, resurrecting the scrappy rock and wiry jangle of old while retaining some dusky intimacy from 2009’s rootsy We Are the Same. Thankfully, Gord Downie’s idiosyncratic poetry and unhinged yawp remain. Some things are sacred, after all.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2012/09/26/20234996.html

Praise from the Edmonton Journal — 

Quote:Album: Now For Plan A
Artist: The Tragically Hip
(Universal)
Four stars out of five

The Tragically Hip have been making excellent rock albums for 25 years and there’s something to marvel at in their sheer consistency. Now For Plan A, their 13th album, is one Hip fans will definitely enjoy and might even win them some new listeners. But really, is there anyone left in Canada who’s still undecided on this band? Like most Hip albums, this one takes some time to grow on the listener. Gord Downie’s lyrics slowly reveal themselves through his raw, sometimes snarling, vocals. His habit of replacing a vocal line with a tortured yowl, as on one of the album’s best tracks We Want to Be It, really brings a song home. The album closes with Goodnight Attawapiskat, a stunning tribute to the northern town the country was introduced to during a housing crisis. There’s no overt political message — that’s what makes it so powerful — it’s just a love song about a “city by the bay.” It’s the best song on the album and ranks up there with the best of the band’s hits. Downie has always been good at showing us the strength and beauty in Canadians. His compassionate artistry is what makes this album so strong.

– Stuart Thomson, Edmonton Journal

My fave review thus far — it's got it all and a Bob Gainey analogy to boot. Best line? "Plan A Sounds like the Canadian Shield reasserting its tectonic inviability."

Quote:The Tragically Hip
Now For Plan A
Universal

Plan A? Surely it’s Plan Y at this point. After We Are the Same was pretty much slated, one wonders what the Hip have left.

But there’s this great story about Bob Gainey playing the Islanders in the playoffs, and he’s got this separated shoulder. Actually, he’s got two separated shoulders, the legend goes, and he’s out there crashing around playing Gainey hockey, and the trainers are both horrified and awestruck. How tough is this mofo?

How tough are these guys?

The snakey, mean opener At Transformation (see video embedded below) – it’s almost goth for a minute. Then it’s Gord. Cue the urgent pleading of Man Machine Poem. We Want to Be It may be the best of its type since Ahead by a Century. “Nothing short of everything’s / enough” he sings in the magisterial, burnished title track. The Modern Spirit is emphatic and succinct, and Take Forever is tough the way My Music at Work was. They’ve found a way to renew this when it should be a wish or hope more than an option. Sounds like the Canadian Shield reasserting its tectonic inviability. Sounds like Plan 8½ out of 10.

Podworthy: Take Forever

****

From Mike Bell — who traditionally loves to shit on The Hip — give its a 3/5. That's equivalent to a 9/10 everywhere else.

Quote:The Tragically Hip
Now For Plan A

Three stars out of five

When it’s about the process rather than the product then you’re probably in trouble. That, to some extent, is the case with the latest release from the Kingston veterans who’ve tirelessly mined the quarry of Canrock for the better part of three decades, inserting themselves into almost every conversation about our national musical identity. On the quintet’s 13th studio album, much has been made, most notably by producer Gavin Brown in the press material accompanying the release, about the intent to harness their live power, allow that to convey the urgency of the music and its power. Well, despite the process of a quick-and-easy, two-week recording session, the effort is far from the raw, off-the-floor, lightening-in-a-bottle rocket that one should expect — or, at this point, hope for. There’s very little to differentiate it and set it apart from any other latter-day Hip record, probably because the material, itself, is lacking that energy and urgency and spirit, and at times actually sounds a little tired, weary and even defeated. And that’s not because the band has nothing new to say — although, it is as far from a reinvention as you could get — it’s just that very little here seems inspired, save for the odd oddity from Gord Downie’s mouth (be it finding Calgary the perfect place to break down or the simple, caustic “drip, drip, drip”) and some nice, albeit familiar guitar sounds. Sure, there are some songs that you can imagine becoming a part of the band’s live repertoire — ironically the lovely and muted title track — but for the most part the proof, which should be in the product, fails to coax out anything of that promised intensity. In other words, it’s difficult to appreciate the sausage, especially when you’ve been told exactly how it was made.

— Mike Bell

© Copyright © The Calgary Herald

To compare — this album is reviewing about a star higher than 'We Are The Same', which was receiving consistent 3/5 reviews. 'Now for Plan A' seems to be landing closer to 4/5. Except for Mike Bell. Dick.

canuckeh Wrote:quick and to the point from the Sun Media group:

The Tragically Hip
Now For Plan A

3.5 stars out of 5

In between evolution, they are the same. But not fully completely. True to its title, the 12th album from Kingston’s favourite sons is a return to form, resurrecting the scrappy rock and wiry jangle of old while retaining some dusky intimacy from 2009’s rootsy We Are the Same. Thankfully, Gord Downie’s idiosyncratic poetry and unhinged yawp remain. Some things are sacred, after all.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2012/09/26/20234996.html

Ugh. This sort of tripe (yes, it's great you know other album names) is what you write when you really have nothing to say.

allmusic.com review
http://www.allmusic.com/album/now-for-pl...0002417356

3.5 stars (out of 5)

Quote:The Tragically Hip come from a long line of bands that began as arena-rock-in-my-basement garage outfits, and actually soldiered on to make music worthy of achieving that aspiration. While it's true that 2004's In Between Evolution and the lackluster We Are the Same -- both produced by Bob Rock -- were missteps because they were squarely aimed at the ever elusive mainstream, Now for Plan A, the Hip's 13th long-player, produced by Gavin Brown, moves them back to their square, toward the immediacy of their earlier records.

Its 11 tracks deliver a varied, mostly uptempo, solid sonic ride that combines big-budget rock & roll production with more basic elements of urgency, impulsiveness, and humor. The first notes of opener "At Transformation" come from Gord Sinclair's fuzzed-out bassline on stun; they're answered immediately by Paul Langlois' and Rob Baker's guitar squall and Johnny Fay's popping snare and bass drum. Gord Downie's part-warbled, -sung, -snarled lyrics lay out a simple truth: "I want to be kind not a bullet in the right place..." He knows it's only a dream, based on a limited perception of the "game" of life. With its churning, frenetic pace, the music confronts him with it, but he just beats his head against it, anyway. No surrender. "Streets Ahead" contrasts jangling and distorted guitars, and drives head on into an anthemic melody that's as urgent as punk rock and as catchy as a power pop song. It lifts off and keeps going.

"We Want to Be It" initially sounds like a send-up of John Waite's "Missing You," but Downie and company turn it on its head to make it one of the most self-lacerating, broken love songs of the 2010s. Sara Harmer guests on the title track and "The Lookahead." The former commences with an infectious pop hook and gathers in intensity and drama until it nearly goes off the rails. The latter is a languid, drifting meditation on love and commitment that feels rather unfocused. The second half of the record contains its own share of hyperkinetic rockers in "The Modern Spirit" and "Take Forever." "About This Map" and "Done and Done" commence with 4/4 drum kit shuffles before they spread out into atmospheric exercises in rock balladry with varying degrees of success. Now for Plan A ably demonstrates that The Tragically Hip still have it whenever they want it. While there are moments of self-indulgence, they are far from deal breakers.

Allmusic is usually pretty fair in their reviews. However, the IBE-from-Bob-Rock and backwards use of former/latter gives it a real amateur-ish feel.

Quote: The album closes with Goodnight Attawapiskat, a stunning tribute to the northern town the country was introduced to during a housing crisis. There’s no overt political message — that’s what makes it so powerful — it’s just a love song about a “city by the bay.”

I think the author may have to re-visit this comment when the tour comes through Edmonton. So far, I've been told twice by Gord Downie to repeal the Indian Act "because it's fucking racist."

That aside, I agree (with both statements, but the review in particular for this sake): it's a great song and a solid album closer.

longseason Wrote:From Mike Bell — who traditionally loves to shit on The Hip — give its a 3/5. That's equivalent to a 9/10 everywhere else.

Quote:The Tragically Hip
Now For Plan A

Three stars out of five

When it’s about the process rather than the product then you’re probably in trouble. That, to some extent, is the case with the latest release from the Kingston veterans who’ve tirelessly mined the quarry of Canrock for the better part of three decades, inserting themselves into almost every conversation about our national musical identity. On the quintet’s 13th studio album, much has been made, most notably by producer Gavin Brown in the press material accompanying the release, about the intent to harness their live power, allow that to convey the urgency of the music and its power. Well, despite the process of a quick-and-easy, two-week recording session, the effort is far from the raw, off-the-floor, lightening-in-a-bottle rocket that one should expect — or, at this point, hope for. There’s very little to differentiate it and set it apart from any other latter-day Hip record, probably because the material, itself, is lacking that energy and urgency and spirit, and at times actually sounds a little tired, weary and even defeated. And that’s not because the band has nothing new to say — although, it is as far from a reinvention as you could get — it’s just that very little here seems inspired, save for the odd oddity from Gord Downie’s mouth (be it finding Calgary the perfect place to break down or the simple, caustic “drip, drip, drip”) and some nice, albeit familiar guitar sounds. Sure, there are some songs that you can imagine becoming a part of the band’s live repertoire — ironically the lovely and muted title track — but for the most part the proof, which should be in the product, fails to coax out anything of that promised intensity. In other words, it’s difficult to appreciate the sausage, especially when you’ve been told exactly how it was made.

— Mike Bell

© Copyright © The Calgary Herald

Funny, he gives the album 3 out of 5, and yet his review reads more like a 1 out of 5. This guy is so predictable.

Today's Toronto Star (Hip story in the paper as well, with big pic on front of Entertainment section).

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By Ben Rayner
Pop Music Critic

THE TRAGICALLY HIP

Now For Plan A (Universal)

Three stars (out of 4)

It’s been cool to see the Tragically Hip out there hustlin’ its 13th studio offering hard on the streets of Kensington Market like a pack of hungry youngsters this week.

The Hip needs to sell itself again, needs to re-establish itself as an important voice in Canadian popular music. There was a slightly saggy stretch at the beginning of the 2000s, but the renewed vigour of the Kingston quintet’s recorded work has flown slightly under the radar in recent years — particularly the dogged strides towards self-reinvention taken on 2006’s World Container and 2009’s grossly underrated We Are the Same, an album upon which producer Bob Rock got the them to do something they hadn’t in years: sound like a different band entirely than the Tragically Hip.

Radio’s not likely to get the word out, however, so it will likely fall to Gord Downie et al. getting behind the material on Now For Plan A onstage during the months ahead to worm this fine collection of tunes into the popular consciousness.

These tunes deserve to find a place in there, too. Now For Plan A — captured mostly live off the floor by producer Gavin Brown (Metric, Billy Talent, Sarah Harmer) — doesn’t carry quite the same thrill of the new that We Are the Same did, but it’s fiercely played, more nuanced than it will be given credit for being and well stocked with songs that establish themselves as familiar friends with disarming quickness.

Snarling, low-slung opener “At Transformation” comes on like a keeper, while “Man Machine Poem” and “We Want to Be It” revisit the epic weirdness of the Day For Night/Trouble at the Henhouse era, “Done and Done” is a shatteringly poignant late-album ballad and “Street Ahead” opens out into one of the most satisfying shots for the cheap seats the Hip have given us in a long while. Kingston homegirl Sarah Harmer, meanwhile, contributes added loveliness to the title track and the should-be pop hit “The Lookahead.”

Don’t forget about the Tragically Hip. These guys are still trying hard.

Top track: “Streets Ahead.” A bit o’ the old muscle.

GBV Wrote:Kingston homegirl Sarah Harmer, meanwhile, contributes added loveliness to the title track and the should-be pop hit “The Lookahead.”

That's Burlington — not Kingston!