Gord made Rolling Stone's in memoriam list for 2017.
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direwolf74 Wrote:Gord made Rolling Stone's in memoriam list for 2017.
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Gord Downie, the lead singer of beloved Canadian alt-rock band Tragically Hip, died on October 17th following a battle with terminal brain cancer. He was 53.
"Gord Downie is definitely in the tradition of great Canadian poets," former MCA president Bruce Dickinson told the National Post in 2016. "There can be a certain darkness in the lyrics, in some ways that reminded me of reading and listening to Leonard Cohen or Robertson Davies. I think that's all part of what appeals to Canadian fans. They're five Canadian guys who go up on stage and they look like their audience. I think that every man quality matters."
Nice to see him getting his due. Little late, US pubs. But better than not at all.
I still can't believe he's gone. I'm glad he left us so much and set such an inspirational example. But still, it's a huge loss.
He was seemingly everywhere last year. Looking back, that WE Day event may have been his last official public appearance.
He was keeping a high profile and that lulled me into a false sense of hope. "He's all over the place. He's gonna keep holding on."
The end felt sudden. To me, a delusional optimist.
I have a coworker who grew up in Kingston. He was gonna be home for Thanksgiving. I told him to try to get the scoop on how Gord and the band were doing.
He came back and said, "From what I hear, he's hanging by a thread."
Which I hoped was just a dark rumor. But about a week later, the terrible news came out.
Just wondering about when he hit the proverbial drop off (great song). He was go, go, go and then quieter in the late summer/early fall. Seemingly for a reason now after the fact.
Again I was hoping he had 3, 4, 5 years. That was clearly wishful thinking.
Just starting to get into Introduce Yerself now. I've already heard some magic. He is singing great on this. That Joe Thornton lyric was fun. The song about him putting the baby to sleep is pretty hard hitting.
Can't wait to see what becomes of the MMP shadow album and all those B sides Rob spoke of recently.
He is gone, but his impact is permanent.
We've named our pond hockey team the Silver Poets.
It never ends..,
I have seen LTR several times on my laptop, but got the deluxe box for the holiday so finally got to see the film on a larger screen. It is an incredible documentary, but I keep coming back to his Doctor saying his best case was 4-5 years. Obviously there were no guarantees, but it seems like he fell far short of even 2 years, so I really am gutted that he is no long a part of the physical world. Such a tragedy. Even though I live down in FL, I bumped into some Canadian snowbirds who stopped by and the first thing he said was "we lost our guy" and both of us immediately choked up. It is nice that there are FB forums and a place like this where people get what a huge loss this is.
In the MacLean's tribute to Gord they mentioned different recordings he had done since his diagnosis. Obviously the two sessions that created Introduce Yerself, but it was said he did get in the studio with Bob Rock, someone named Kevin Hearn, the Hip and one other. I'm guessing there will be a lot of posthumous releases over the next 2-3 years. It will take some time to sort out for sure.
At the NHRA races in Pomona CA in November, I saw one of the top fuel cars go by and noticed this on the wing.
Stopped by the pits and had a great conversation with the crew, who were all Canadians and displayed their love and tribute to Gord on the back of their car.
Caught me a bit off guard, didn't expect to see this here and choked me up a bit.
southtampacane Wrote:In the MacLean's tribute to Gord they mentioned different recordings he had done since his diagnosis. Obviously the two sessions that created Introduce Yerself, but it was said he did get in the studio with Bob Rock, someone named Kevin Hearn, the Hip and one other. I'm guessing there will be a lot of posthumous releases over the next 2-3 years. It will take some time to sort out for sure.
Kevin Hearn is the keyboard player from Barenaked Ladies, and was on Secret Path and then a member of that touring band. Not sure if he is also on Introduce Yerself (my LP is stuck in pre-order purgatory).
I wonder how much there will be, either Gord solo or The Hip. I guess it matters how far he got towards completing solo material, what sort of direction he left, and who is responsible for that portion of his estate. For The Hip, you'd need the guys to want to take the reigns on overseeing that work, and revisiting the past may not be interesting or easy. Again, I think it depends on how much work was done -- the "phantom MMP" sounds like it was complete and it would be interesting to hear if it's alternate takes or songs cut for whatever reason.
Posthumous releases are tough. The expanded Purple Rain material that came from Prince has been interesting, but I assume finished or work in progress material work that was archived at the time and never returned to in favor of other material. Nirvana has generally been demos, with a few great tracks. Any Winehouse felt like a cash grab from her father, with new music added to scrapped studio vocals. The Doors American Prayer likely harmed the band's legacy more than it was an interesting work. The Johnny Cash material from Rick Rubin sessions may be my biggest exception on posthumous releases, where it really did a good job in enhancing the legacy of the musician versus feeling like a tacked on, final release.
I still can't believe that Gord's gone. I had an acquaintance go through a similar diagnoses a few years ago, and what Gord was able to do with that tour, Secret Path, public appearances, and final LP is pretty amazing considering all the other emotions and planning he was going through. I can't bring myself to watch LTR.
direwolf74 Wrote:Gord made Rolling Stone's in memoriam list for 2017.
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Oh man, I forgot Charles Bradley died. I love his voice.
southtampacane Wrote:I have seen LTR several times on my laptop, but got the deluxe box for the holiday so finally got to see the film on a larger screen. It is an incredible documentary, but I keep coming back to his Doctor saying his best case was 4-5 years. Obviously there were no guarantees, but it seems like he fell far short of even 2 years, so I really am gutted that he is no long a part of the physical world. Such a tragedy. Even though I live down in FL, I bumped into some Canadian snowbirds who stopped by and the first thing he said was "we lost our guy" and both of us immediately choked up. It is nice that there are FB forums and a place like this where people get what a huge loss this is.
In the MacLean's tribute to Gord they mentioned different recordings he had done since his diagnosis. Obviously the two sessions that created Introduce Yerself, but it was said he did get in the studio with Bob Rock, someone named Kevin Hearn, the Hip and one other. I'm guessing there will be a lot of posthumous releases over the next 2-3 years. It will take some time to sort out for sure.
I've read that 18 months is typical from diagnosis. He got a little more than that. My Grandad had the same kind of cancer and got a little less.
edgoffin Wrote:southtampacane Wrote:In the MacLean's tribute to Gord they mentioned different recordings he had done since his diagnosis. Obviously the two sessions that created Introduce Yerself, but it was said he did get in the studio with Bob Rock, someone named Kevin Hearn, the Hip and one other. I'm guessing there will be a lot of posthumous releases over the next 2-3 years. It will take some time to sort out for sure.
Kevin Hearn is the keyboard player from Barenaked Ladies, and was on Secret Path and then a member of that touring band. Not sure if he is also on Introduce Yerself (my LP is stuck in pre-order purgatory).
I wonder how much there will be, either Gord solo or The Hip. I guess it matters how far he got towards completing solo material, what sort of direction he left, and who is responsible for that portion of his estate. For The Hip, you'd need the guys to want to take the reigns on overseeing that work, and revisiting the past may not be interesting or easy. Again, I think it depends on how much work was done -- the "phantom MMP" sounds like it was complete and it would be interesting to hear if it's alternate takes or songs cut for whatever reason.
Posthumous releases are tough. The expanded Purple Rain material that came from Prince has been interesting, but I assume finished or work in progress material work that was archived at the time and never returned to in favor of other material. Nirvana has generally been demos, with a few great tracks. Any Winehouse felt like a cash grab from her father, with new music added to scrapped studio vocals. The Doors American Prayer likely harmed the band's legacy more than it was an interesting work. The Johnny Cash material from Rick Rubin sessions may be my biggest exception on posthumous releases, where it really did a good job in enhancing the legacy of the musician versus feeling like a tacked on, final release.
I still can't believe that Gord's gone. I had an acquaintance go through a similar diagnoses a few years ago, and what Gord was able to do with that tour, Secret Path, public appearances, and final LP is pretty amazing considering all the other emotions and planning he was going through. I can't bring myself to watch LTR.
Then there is Otis Redding with Dock of the Bay. His most well known song, and it was released after his death
edgoffin Wrote:I wonder how much there will be, either Gord solo or The Hip. I guess it matters how far he got towards completing solo material, what sort of direction he left, and who is responsible for that portion of his estate. For The Hip, you'd need the guys to want to take the reigns on overseeing that work, and revisiting the past may not be interesting or easy. Again, I think it depends on how much work was done -- the "phantom MMP" sounds like it was complete and it would be interesting to hear if it's alternate takes or songs cut for whatever reason.
As far as solo material, he mentioned in the Mansbridge interview a few months back that he had 3 or 4 albums "in the can", which I took to mean that they're actually finished. One of those was obviously Introduce Yerself. But that still leaves another 2 or 3 records that could potentially see the light of day. Of course I'm just guessing here, but you never know.
As for the Hip, I would step over my own mother to hear the MMP shadow album, and hopefully an album of b-sides eventually. Anything new or unreleased from these guys would be a wonderful gift at this point. And lord knows they have enough material in the vaults to release a series of live albums in the future, or maybe a live box set. Something like Springsteen's "1975-85" or Pearl Jam's "Live at the Gorge" would be cool.
direwolf74 Wrote:As for the Hip, I would step over my own mother to hear the MMP shadow album, and hopefully an album of b-sides eventually. Anything new or unreleased from these guys would be a wonderful gift at this point. And lord knows they have enough material in the vaults to release a series of live albums in the future, or maybe a live box set. Something like Springsteen's "1975-85" or Pearl Jam's "Live at the Gorge" would be cool.
Just thinking, with so much recorded material, how amazing would it be if they went the route of releasing a live version of their entire discography. Have some one scour all the vault material for best versions of each song and piece together full albums. That would be an interesting and uncharted territory for any band to ever do.
cochise Wrote:direwolf74 Wrote:As for the Hip, I would step over my own mother to hear the MMP shadow album, and hopefully an album of b-sides eventually. Anything new or unreleased from these guys would be a wonderful gift at this point. And lord knows they have enough material in the vaults to release a series of live albums in the future, or maybe a live box set. Something like Springsteen's "1975-85" or Pearl Jam's "Live at the Gorge" would be cool.
Just thinking, with so much recorded material, how amazing would it be if they went the route of releasing a live version of their entire discography. Have some one scour all the vault material for best versions of each song and piece together full albums. That would be an interesting and uncharted territory for any band to ever do.
As an avid bootleg collector in the late 90's/early 00's, I had thought this would have been a great idea for a box set. Find the best live version of each song (and key unreleased tracks) for each album and have live albums. Obviously not as cohesive as a show, but we all know there are some really killer versions of songs out there and I'd love to hear what the boys feel the best version of each song would be. Clearly this would be a huge undertaking with the amount of material to sift through but I think it would be fantastic.
For the songs that never made a live appearance, maybe a different version or a good demo of the song could be used.
I'm also hoping for a triple/quadruple vinyl release of the final show. Since it was remastered by Bob Ludwig, I wouldn't be surprised to find out it is in the works.
Shane
cochise Wrote:direwolf74 Wrote:how amazing would it be if they went the route of releasing a live version of their entire discography. Have some one scour all the vault material for best versions of each song and piece together full albums. That would be an interesting and uncharted territory for any band to ever do.
That would be pretty interesting. My compulsive listening would kick in though, and I'd then want the full show from wherever "track a" was sourced. Sort if like the Live 10 series that was/is on iTunes. I liked the tracks, but sometimes wished for the whole show (mainly the Kingston Memorial center show).
I'll volunteer to scour the archives!
For the final tour, I think I'd like that track by track approach more than just the final show (or more, in addition to the final show). There were some great performances across the country. I think Gord sang Flamenco in Ottawa better than I ever heard him perform that song.
edgoffin Wrote:For the final tour, I think I'd like that track by track approach more than just the final show (or more, in addition to the final show). There were some great performances across the country. I think Gord sang Flamenco in Ottawa better than I ever heard him perform that song.
I remember it was either Robby (or maybe Paul) who said that despite the cultural significance of that final Kingston show, he didn't think it was their best performance overall. I too would love to hear an album's worth of performances from every stop on the tour. The version of "Opiated" from night 1 in Vancouver is one of the greatest things I've ever heard.
That being said, the band seems to have officially marked the occasion with the release of the Kingston show, not to mention all those great performances from the LTR doc. So I highly doubt they'd release more material from that tour at this point. If they release any live stuff at all in the future, my guess is it'll be older material from the vaults.
direwolf74 Wrote:edgoffin Wrote:For the final tour, I think I'd like that track by track approach more than just the final show (or more, in addition to the final show). There were some great performances across the country. I think Gord sang Flamenco in Ottawa better than I ever heard him perform that song.
I remember it was either Robby (or maybe Paul) who said that despite the cultural significance of that final Kingston show, he didn't think it was their best performance overall. I too would love to hear an album's worth of performances from every stop on the tour. The version of "Opiated" from night 1 in Vancouver is one of the greatest things I've ever heard.
That being said, the band seems to have officially marked the occasion with the release of the Kingston show, not to mention all those great performances from the LTR doc. So I highly doubt they'd release more material from that tour at this point. If they release any live stuff at all in the future, my guess is it'll be older material from the vaults.
The emotion of that final evening in Kingston and what Gord was able to pull off in that 15th show almost defy description. The diversity of expressions on his face and those of the crowd give a good sense of it, at least as well as one could expect from a concert film. However, if the visual aspect is removed as well as the context of the show, the audio itself is not strong. Gord's voice displays some of the wear and tear of the road (it was surely a draining month) and is ragged in a number of songs. I don't know that there is a definitive show from the MMP tour in a performance sense, but if there is I don't believe it is Kingston (and admittedly I'm only basing this on the two shows I saw in person, both of which I felt were better than Kingston). I may be in a small minority with this opinion, but I would have no interest in a full audio document of the evening. I think the Celebration release covers it nicely.
If the band did want to release audio from the tour the idea of releasing songs from each show, as suggested above, would work best. They should ensure that there is at least one song represented from each of the 15 concerts, giving an audio "souvenir" to each fan that attended a show. Personally I would like to see the band call it good with the MMP tour merchandising and move on to the archives, focusing on the release of new material (the MMP outtakes and whatever the band was recording with Gord in the fall of 2016), a B-side compilation, and live recordings of the band at the height of their powers.