Dire Wolf Wrote:I really like how Johnny's drums are much more prevalent in the mix, not buried/muddied in the mix like on the last few releases.
KarmaKrazy Wrote:The star on this album for me is Johnny Fay.
direwolf74 Wrote:I think Johnny Fay is the star of the album. It's his drumming that really drives the record, unlike previous albums where he was always somewhat buried in the mix. Dare I say it's his best performance in the studio in a long time.
Agreed, total Johnny record.
I'm still digesting the album but I will say I agree with this 100%:
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:For those who are unenthused about the album, I suspect the root cause is simple: the rampant and extreme use of reverb on Gord's vocals throughout the record.
I could do without all the vocal effects, doubling, echo, reverb. I like Gord's natural singing voice and don't find the vocal production adds to the songs at all.
Its a complicated album to review knowing it could be their last...
I think the album works because it is only ten tracks - if this had been a 13 track album it would jave been really bloated
I actaully really like In Sarnia and, in fact, was one ofmy top three in the first few listens
Hard to say how some of this stuff will translate live - but once again, the live experience this time around is so emotionally charged i dont think the set is going to make much of a difference - crowds will lap up whatever is played
Took me a couple listens, but man, I just love this album. By the time track 3 Rolls around, I usually start tearing up it's so good. "I love you so much, it distorts my life."
I'm going to be a mess at this concert!
While I wait for the vinyl to arrive, hopefully today, I spent most of the weekend listening to the download version. I look forward to reading the lyrics.
First impression, good for them for stretching it out even further than usual. For the most part, every album from Up To Here onwards has seen them evolve. I remember hearing Gems for the first time with that fade in and what felt like a snippet of a song and thinking "this is pretty cool". But those evolutions are pretty much baby steps -- a bit more effects on the guitar, toned down vocals, less straightforward song construction. MMP is a much larger step.
My opinion, they do a good job of bringing in and relying on a producer when they are in a bit of a rut. IBE and NFPA, both pretty good albums, but maybe more the band sitting in their comfort zone. I'm maybe in the minority that I like World Container, and I think it came at a time when they needed more production to tighten things up. Then WATS is my least favorite album, maybe because the production was a bit too sterile.
This album pushes the evolution further. It's possibly the closest they have to a concept album, possibly DFN could fall in the same, where there's a really vibe across the whole record and a central theme (I need to read the lyrics, but I get a real feeling of disconnection both from the words and the production). I also wonder how much the Fully Completely tour pushed them into a different direction. I saw a few shows on that tour, they were great, but it must have been odd to every night play music created 20 years ago.
I need a few more months to really come to a full opinion. I find when I first hear an album from any band, if the first spins leave me a bit confused then it usually becomes a record that I really enjoy for the long term. I'm not going to say this is their best, I find it hard to rank the albums, but it is the band at maybe their most interesting.
I do appreciate that, due to the media over Gord, this will likely be a better seller then most recent albums. People who last listened to Road Apples will be really perplexed. There' also a different view on this record in the forum. When World Possessed was released as the first single, it got generally crapped on in the forum or among my circle or friends. Maybe the thought that this is possibly the last album has made us appreciate the band we have now, versus what they're not. Even the negative commentary has been more "I'm not getting it" versus "I wish they were rocking again".
I am looking forward to hearing these songs live, and what the set lists look like.
Hold on, i've been away from the forum for years, but are you saying people don't like World Container?
I'm pretty sure that's the strongest album post Phantom Power.
World Container is, by far, the absolute nadir of the Hip's career as far as I'm concerned. The production turns the band to mud and several of those songs just plain suck. The result was a tasteless, grotesque abomination.
Unlike many fans, I saw WATS as a significant improvement on that disaster, mostly because Bob Rock's production style was better suited to that material than the more rock-heavy stuff on WC. 'Morning Moon' brings more pleasure in four minutes than the entirety of WC. (I mourn the fact that I seem to be the only listener on earth who really likes 'Coffee Girl,' a sharp character sketch with a nice groove and great sound. Now THAT is an example of the Hip finding quite a different sound).
IBE is, by contrast, one of their best records in my books, the writing focused and urgent, and the production geared to getting them the most 'indie' sound they've ever gotten.
Now back to your regularly-scheduled programming!!
I did have one other thought on MMP. Do you think that maybe the producer added all that reverb to *disguise* vocals performances that he found problematic? It's striking that the album's most extreme vocal (In Sarnia) also gets the most extreme use of reverb, and that Gord and Paul's background vocals - which have always been helium-voiced and on the weird side - are slathered with reverb throughout, to the point of no longer sounding like themselves at all. I really hate the thought of a producer seeing a band's performances as 'problems' needing to be fixed by production tricks. So I hope this theory is quite wrong.
I Love Coffee Gal, and I love WATS, your not alone.
Thanks, Summiteer! I love 'Coffee Girl' but I wouldn't say I love WATS as a whole. Unlike WC, I did find it a worthwhile album that yielded many enjoyable moments, though.
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:World Container is, by far, the absolute nadir of the Hip's career as far as I'm concerned. The production turns the band to mud and several of those songs just plain suck. The result was a tasteless, grotesque abomination.
Unlike many fans, I saw WATS as a significant improvement on that disaster, mostly because Bob Rock's production style was better suited to that material than the more rock-heavy stuff on WC. 'Morning Moon' brings more pleasure in four minutes than the entirety of WC. (I mourn the fact that I seem to be the only listener on earth who really likes 'Coffee Girl,' a sharp character sketch with a nice groove and great sound. Now THAT is an example of the Hip finding quite a different sound).
I agree with all of this, although I still enjoy WC, but for me it's their weakest album. I love We Are the Same. I don't understand why it seems to be the least liked album. Different strokes for different folks though. There isn't a single song on that album I don't like, including Coffee Girl. Like you, I love that song.
Cpt. Trips Wrote:Hold on, i've been away from the forum for years, but are you saying people don't like World Container?
I'm pretty sure that's the strongest album post Phantom Power.
It does seem to be a lightening rod album. I like it, and put it near my top for second half of career albums. Others have hated it, citing the Bob Rock production. MMP is, in my opinion, the most producer influenced album to-date.
This is crazy talk to me, had no idea there were negative opinions of WC, love that album... could listed to the Drop Off all day any day.
World Container is an awesome album
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:I did have one other thought on MMP. Do you think that maybe the producer added all that reverb to *disguise* vocals performances that he found problematic?
No, it's his thing. He does it to most of the BSS vocalists too, including one of the best voices in the country, Leslie Feist.
Love WC but don't even listen to WATS.
I love World Container too. It's one album that I could put on and listen to anytime. It's tight, yes. It's slick, yes. But Fully Completely isn't? I think if Bob Rock's name wasn't on the album, people wouldn't be so hard on it. His name connotes a lot. IMHO, the WC songs are fantastic. On the SiriusXm Tragically Hip channel on the weekend they played a few live shows in their entirety, the one I heard from the WC tour (from Hamilton, I think) kicked ass!
Speaking of the SiriusXm channel, I loved what Rob Baker said about studio versions versus live versions of songs. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, studio versions were like freeze-dried versions of the songs and the songs really come alive during the live performances. Interesting way to put it. He's a huge proponent of the live-off-the-floor recordings, which is awesome, but for this fan, there is room for the studio-polished tracks too, regardless of who the producer is.