Released 2002 -- recorded at Compass Point, which has been the studio for number of amazing albums, and The Bathhouse. Produced by Hugh Padgham, which when you read his resume is a bit of a different choice for the band. For any recording nerds, Padgham is in part credited for creating the drum sound (compression, reverb and signal gating) for Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight", which then became a dominant drum sound throughout the 1980s. With that background, listen to Johnny's drum work on this album and you definitely hear some of Padgham's work (opening of Silver Jet is a good example).
Thinking back, I recall a lot of trepidation about this album. M@W was a so-so album IMO. I liked Coke Machine Glow, but it was also a different direction overall than what I wanted at the time (I think over the full career that feeling diminished, but trying to recall at the time).
Jump ahead 15 years, it's maybe one of the most underappreciated albums in their catalogue. It's a pretty lean album, without the benefit of a track list, maybe their shortest? It's also been a grower for me. Possibly this may be Gord's "parent album" -- there are a lot of what I'd say are "good advices" (to borrow from REM) that make more sense to me as I get older and become the parent of kids trying to figure out their own direction. Throwing of Glass now makes my eyes a little misty.
It also finishes with two of my favorite tracks. The Dire Wolf made me buy a Newfoundlander Dog, who I should have then named Zippo. The Dark Canuck, I love that break at 3:30 and Gord's "wew" at around the 4 minute mark.
For this tour, I caught a few shows in the States. One highlight was a show in Syracuse at the Landmark, for a few reasons. Solid Hip show, with Sam Roberts opening (first time I saw him, and if it was anyone other than The Hip would have stole the show). There was a crew from Thunder Bay in front of us, who made what would have been a long drive even longer by getting lost on the way. Show starts and they spark up some joints, and within about 3 songs are all heads down in their seats. My brother was also doing a story for CBC on The Hip, so we ended up hanging outside the venue way too long after the show. A back alley behind the theater quickly became a part of Syracuse maybe not best to be hanging out in.
I've said this for all the recent reissues, but the vinyl version of this is really solid. The bonus tracks that came with the Hip membership (Ultra Mundane, Problem Bears, Forest Edge are also a good addition to the album --too bad not included in the vinyl release).
IVL is a big rebound for the Hip, if not quite a full resurrection to past glories; that comes on IBE. The album has well-developed melodies, hooks, and choruses, all three of which were non-existent at times on its predecessor. The songs on IVL are stirring and accessible, the result of what appears to be a more focused effort than what was put forth on M@W. Like Edgoffin, I was also nervous for this album. I recall feeling more relief than excitement the first few times through it.
Some quick thoughts on a few songs:
Are You Ready? The song begins with a wakening jolt of power chords and races out of the blocks, only to quickly stumble and fall with the bored and tired music enveloping the verses. The question being asked of “Are you ready to love?” is possibly one of the most insipid lyrics Downie has ever written. Almost any other phrase would have been more palatable; “Are you ready to go?”, "Are you ready to rock?" Even the latter, although also cringeworthy (and AC/DC-like in it's cliche-ness) would have at least served as a clarion call for the album had the band had cranked up the guitars a little more. “Are you ready to love?” seems trite at best. Even more puzzling is Downie’s insistence that the melody with which it is delivered is memorable. “At the risk of sounding immodest, ‘Are you ready to love’ sounds new to me” he was quoted as saying at the time of release (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.thehip.com/albums/In+Violet+Light/biography/">http://www.thehip.com/albums/In+Violet+Light/biography/</a><!-- m -->). The only redeeming feature of this otherwise humdrum song is Gord’s great vocal form on the “to love, to love” part of the chorus.
As an album opener “Are You Ready?” is possibly the weakest the Hip have ever offered. Up to this point the lead-off spot on every album was unequivocally occupied by an all-star: Smalltown, Blow, Bones, Courage, Grace, Gift, Poets, My M@W. The Hips' over-riding album sequencing philosophy of putting their best foot forward first served them well up to M@W. After all, when it comes to albums, how you start is much more important than how you finish (although the Hip have some great closers as well). Fact is, many people don’t get to the end of an album every time they play it, but they almost always hear the first song. “Are You Ready?” sets the wrong tone for the album by sending the listener immediately scrambling for the skip button. The feel of the album would have been greatly improved by opening with “The Dire Wolf” and relegating “Are You Ready” to the number 10 spot, before crushing the finish with “The Dark Canuck”.
Use it Up. A pronouncement of Downie’s carpe diem philosophy which, like “Good Life”, took on new poignancy in 2016. Similar to “The Dire Wolf”, this is a song that is just as identifiable by the drums as it is by the guitars.
The Darkest One. I don’t have any love for fade-outs on songs, the relevance of which has already been debated in the FC thread. Regardless, I think most would agree that the length of the fade-out on this outro is a misguided production choice. The song starts to fade at 4:10 and ends close to 4:30, a full 20 seconds later! Rob is doing some interesting things at the end of this song but we’re missing out on them.
It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken “Beautiful” is an adjective that is usually applied to the Hip’s acoustic output, but this is an electric song for which that adjective is apt. Atmospheric and haunting, with an identifiable dream (nightmare!) familiar to any kid that played hockey growing up, this song is nearly flawless. The Dire Wolf and The Dark Canuck may well end up as the final two in the weakest link poll, but this song must be considered one of the greatest post-Phantom Power songs recorded by the Hip.
Silver Jet. The Red Bull on a sometimes sleepy album. It’s got a menace to the guitars that is missing elsewhere. Notably, I believe it’s the only song on the album not produced by Hugh Padgham. I love the line “Clayquot Sound to Cape Spear” as it brings back memories to me of singing the Canadian version of the folk song “This land is your land, this land is my land” in elementary school music class. It’s the updated version of the line “From Bonavista to Vancouver Island” in that song.
This song is the only instance I can think of where a Downie back-up vocal is explicitly overdubbed on the lead vocal, leading to something that couldn’t be replicated in a live setting.
All Tore Up. An instructive song for those bands contemplating making a living out of playing on small stages in dark and lonely bars, with references to two artists (Mitchell and Young) that inspired Downie to do exactly that.
“All Tore Up” is exhibit A of the problem I have with the production of this album. Hugh Padgham has created a very "clear" sounding album with IVL but in the process he sanded off all the rough edges of the guitars. This turned "All Tore Up" from what should have been a racing bar rocker/drinking song into an atonal drone. Like the referenced “Tonight’s the Night”, the song is a bit messy and abrasive, but in all the wrong ways. “All Tore Up” could have fit nicely on Road Apples with a different guitar sound and Don Smith twiddling the knobs, or on IBE with Adam Kasper in charge. It feels out of place on IVL.
The Dire Wolf
A tale of seafaring woe where Downie beautifully captures the perils of ocean travel. “Close to nowhere”, caught in a storm with only a swelling ocean in all directions. “…grew more so through the night”, the ocean churning with the roiling surface building into mountains of furious waves, capped in white. The “colourable sea” (an exceptional Downie adjective) is an angry white canvas, absent any colour, waiting to be painted blue again in the calm of the morning light.
The narrator dreams of “tawny ports”, possibly the elegant fortified wine which would aid in overcoming the impediment that naval anxiousness is to a good night’s sleep. Or, in a dual meaning, it is the comforting thought of the yellowish-brown of dawn’s light, bathing the safe harbour of a coastal seaport. “Aspen trembling”, or “trembling aspens” shot through with the horizontal “thorough light” of a rising sun would be a welcoming sight when one feels panicked being situated at the “halfway across” point. Ocean merges with horizon in all directions and the “expanse” of the sea only seems to be “getting broader”.
Life began in the ocean, but Downie is keenly aware that it can also end there, as it might on this night. The ocean preys and becomes personified in the form of a Dire Wolf, a Pleistocene predator. Can a Newfoundland dog, it of webbed feet and great swimming ability, be counted upon to counter the Dire Wolf? When the Dire Wolf “crested”, the Newfoundland “paused”, recognizing the formidability of the sea. Confidence is further eroded when contemplating that “bigger and better boats” have fallen to the Dire Wolf.
This is the sequel to Nautical Disaster as there is no happy ending here. However, while Nautical is a 10/10, Dire Wolf falls just shy of perfection at 9.5/10. Nautical has the atmospheric music to match the gloomy tale. Dire Wolf, in contrast, opens with some sunny guitar which never darkens despite the growing fitfulness of the ocean as night descends. The music has a deceptive breeziness which is incongruous to the disquieting story being told and because of that absence of tight union between music and lyric it resides one shelf lower than Nautical. I would also take issue with Gord’s choice of September as the month for this tale. In introducing the song in concert he has said it was based on a February crossing to Port-Au-Basques. So, if he was going to take artistic liberty, why not use a different month? While the North Atlantic can get ugly at any time, changing September to December would have given the voyage a more grim feeling.
To me IVL is probably their most underrated album released, it never seemed to receive the recognition it deserved. The only real single that gained much traction was t's A Good Life, deservedly so as it is an incredible piece of music, but there are a lot of tracks deserving just as much praise/popularity. To me, the only mediocre tracks that I find myself skipping is Silver Jet and Throwing Off Glass. I know there is a lot of love on here for TOG, but personally to me I never connected with it.
Couple other quick thoughts;
The Darkest One has to be their best video, hands down.
I always found the opening riff to Are You Ready a bit strange. When I popped the CD in for the first time, I actually thought there might be something wrong with it as it just didn't sound right, still doesn't to me. I imagine Rob was playing with non-standard tuning (still haven't placed it), but every time I hear the opening, it just seems like the guitars were out of tune. Still a good song though.
Dire Wolf, when the second part kicks in, I defy ANYONE to stand still.
The third Hip album I bought on release day; I remember enjoying it from the first listen but also that I was underwhelmed. There was nothing on the album that struck me in the same way other albums had. However, a few more listens and things really started to grow on me and the magic of this album started to make itself known. The other thing that I think helped with this album was it was the first Hip album where I learned enough guitar that I was able to learn every song on it so not only did I listen to it quite a bit but I also had a great joy in playing along. I even enjoy "Are You Ready?" as it's quite fun to play along to and you can just settle into a nice groove and flow with the song.
Despite enjoying it, I hadn't listened to it much or played the songs from probably 2005 until last year but as soon as I put it on, I remembered just what a solid album it is. I've been playing several songs fairly regularly as well as listening to it more often (especially the vinyl) and feel that this album has aged very well.
An interesting thing with this is that I've never seen any of these songs live; they played Citadel Hill in Halifax on this tour and I had just started a contract with the military that would have required me to use my only two leave days of the summer to go to the show so I (stupidly) decided to skip the show.
Shane
IVL represents a snapping back into form, in terms of the songwriting. After the turgid M@W, we get songs with memorable choruses! With hooks! Strong, well-structured constructions with sharp lyrics to boot!! Sure, Gord D still sometimes falls back into 'thesaurus' writing - e.g., the clumsy preciousness of the first verse of the otherwise magnificent 'Dire Wolf,' or the piously grating 'barbarous' adjective in 'Throwing Off Glass.' But he gives us tons of great stuff here regardless.
Where the album lets us down is in the mixing or the production. And in listening to it again, I think I've worked out the essential problem: Gord's (thinning) voice is pushed way forward, while the bottom end is almost completely missing, buried in the mix. Absent the throbbing foundation Gord S's splendid work provides, the album's rockers just tend to lie there, inert, without the propulsive excitement that generally defines the Hip when they do rock and roll. 'Are You Ready', 'Use It Up,' and 'All Tore Up' sound - not to put too fine a point on it - just terrible. 'Silver Jet,' merely so-so.
You really hear this by the contrast provided by 'Metapmorphosis.' SUDDENLY - as if the production team remembered that this is the Hip - the bottom-end is foregrounded; and equally suddenly, the band sounds phenomenal, irresistible. But that's after an entire album of tinny, flat rock songs. It's really too bad, because the material, in itself, is strong. Had the whole record been produced the way that song is, we'd probably all be talking about another classic Hip album, instead of a record that marked the end of the band's commercial heyday and that is hard to love despite the clutch of strong compositions.
Conversely, the album is at its best, sonically, with mid-tempo and ballad-y stuff, where that propulsive bass is not so pivotal. 'Dire Wolf', 'Glass,' 'Leave,' etc., generally sound fine, even great. ('Beautiful Thing' also sounds good, it's just a pretty b ad song :lol: )Certainly the chorus of 'Dire Wolf,' with its rising chords and its irresistible melody and lyric, is one of the best things in their discography.
So I blame Hugh Padgham, basically, for taking what should have been a monster truck and turning it into something more like a Fiat.
i've hated this album since the day it was released and thus, haven't listened to it in years. that said, i reserve the "worst album ever" for WATS. i 'll give it another listen tomorrow when i am walking the dog and see if it really is as bad as i remember it.
mark Wrote:i've hated this album since the day it was released and thus, haven't listened to it in years. that said, i reserve the "worst album ever" for WATS. i 'll give it another listen tomorrow when i am walking the dog and see if it really is as bad as i remember it.
All statements blasphemous. IVL is a great album (though not the best album) and so is WATS. I reserve my ire for NFPA.
schaggs Wrote:mark Wrote:i've hated this album since the day it was released and thus, haven't listened to it in years. that said, i reserve the "worst album ever" for WATS. i 'll give it another listen tomorrow when i am walking the dog and see if it really is as bad as i remember it.
All statements blasphemous. IVL is a great album (though not the best album) and so is WATS. I reserve my ire for NFPA.
I think that's where The Hip is interesting -- I'll consider us all die hard fans, but from M@W onward views on the albums vary wildly.
IVL is a record that I recall liking when it was released, but then moved on from -- at the time it did not have the longevity of some of the other releases. About 5 years ago I "rediscovered" it, something clicked. IBE was similar.
I'd really like some band insight on this album. Recording in the Bahamas was a drastic change from anything they'd done, especially considering the initial plan was to record the previous album on a train. Hugh Padgham seems like an odd choice, though I think at least one or two band members are fans of The Police. I listened to the album during lunch, with some of the above commentary in mind, and I'd agree that in the production some of the edges have been removed. I think that likely influenced the off the floor approach that they used on the next album.
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:So I blame Hugh Padgham, basically, for taking what should have been a monster truck and turning it into something more like a Fiat.
:lol:
That's about as perfect a description for the production on IVL that I've ever heard. Bravo. I remember Johnny being pumped about working with Padgham because he had produced Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity by the Police, and Johnny was excited to get the Stewart Copeland drum sound on the album. In respect to the drums, I think Padgham delivered. But I agree, the rest of the mixing/production really doesn't work with these songs.
Aside from that I think IVL was a marked improvement over M@W, and showed the Hip reining things back in to make a tighter, more focused album. There's some wonderful material on this record: Darkest One, Good Life, Leave, Throwing Off Glass, and the Dark Canuck are right up there with some of their best work in my opinion. But the glorious Dire Wolf is on a whole other level for me (hence my username). That song is just so beautifully written, performed, and sung. It's pure ear candy from start to finish, and hands down one of the best things the Hip have ever written. I think it's the one song on the album where the production and mixing actually compliments the material.
For all you recording/sound nerds out there, here's an explanation of Padgham's famous drum sound (courtesy of Wikipedia):
Quote:Padgham is credited with creating the 'gated' drum sound used so prominently on Phil Collins' single "In the Air Tonight", and which became the template for much of the recorded pop drum sound of the 1980s. The effect is believed to have first been used on the 1980 third self-titled solo album by Peter Gabriel, which Padgham engineered and on which Collins played. At this time, Padgham was working regularly as the recording engineer for noted UK producer Steve Lillywhite, and they collaborated on many well-known albums and singles in the early 1980s.
Padgham's 'gated drum' effect is created by adding a large amount of heavily compressed room ambience to the original drum sound, and then feeding that reverb signal through an electronic device known as a noise gate. This unit can be programmed to cut off any signal fed through it, either after a specified time interval (in this case, some tens of milliseconds), or when the incoming signal falls below a preset gain threshold. The result is the arresting 'gated reverb' effect, in which the reverberation cuts off abruptly, rather than fading away.
In a 2006 interview, Padgham revealed how the effect was first engineered:
The whole thing came through the famous "listen mic" on the SSL console. The SSL had put this massive compressor on it because the whole idea was to hang one mic in the middle of the studio and hear somebody talking on the other side. And it just so happened that we turned it on one day when Phil [Collins] was playing his drums. And then I had the idea of feeding that back into the console and putting the noise gate on, so when he stopped playing it sucked the big sound of the room into nothing.
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:: Gord's (thinning) voice is pushed way forward, while the bottom end is almost completely missing, buried in the mix.
Gord's voice on the first half of The Dark Canuck sounds thinner/worse than on any other Hip song in the discography to that point. The mid-song shift in tempo and the change in where his voice is placed in the mix (lower), save what would/should have been a song that was left on the cutting room floor. The first three minutes are not strong enough to stand on their own as a complete song entity. I'll stomp and pout if the Dark Canuck nudges out 'Good Life' to make the final two in the weakest link vote. At best, it's number three on the album.
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:'Are You Ready', 'Use It Up,' and 'All Tore Up' sound - not to put too fine a point on it - just terrible. 'Silver Jet,' merely so-so.
'All Tore Up' is the most ball-less rocker the Hip have ever recorded. I think there are elements there of a good (if not great) song, but the production is just awful. It should be a song that you want to crank but instead I find myself turning it down.
As for Silver Jet, I love the sound of that one. I wish the whole record had been recorded by whomever (Mark Vreeken?) put that one to tape at the Bathouse.
potsie Wrote:'All Tore Up' is the most ball-less rocker the Hip have ever recorded. I think there are elements there of a good (if not great) song, but the production is just awful. It should be a song that you want to crank but instead I find myself turning it down.
I remember hearing that song live for the first time on the '02 tour, and it rocked somethin' fierce. Completely night and day from the album version.
Really enjoying this discussion. But what is "Metamorphosis" - referenced below?
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:You really hear this by the contrast provided by 'Metapmorphosis.' SUDDENLY - as if the production team remembered that this is the Hip - the bottom-end is foregrounded; and equally suddenly, the band sounds phenomenal, irresistible. But that's after an entire album of tinny, flat rock songs. It's really too bad, because the material, in itself, is strong. Had the whole record been produced the way that song is, we'd probably all be talking about another classic Hip album, instead of a record that marked the end of the band's commercial heyday and that is hard to love despite the clutch of strong compositions.
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:You really hear this by the contrast provided by 'Metapmorphosis.'
WTF is Metamorphosis??? Do I not have the complete IVL album??
knightrider Wrote:Really enjoying this discussion. But what is "Metamorphosis" - referenced below?
Killer Whale Tank Wrote:You really hear this by the contrast provided by 'Metapmorphosis.' SUDDENLY - as if the production team remembered that this is the Hip - the bottom-end is foregrounded; and equally suddenly, the band sounds phenomenal, irresistible. But that's after an entire album of tinny, flat rock songs. It's really too bad, because the material, in itself, is strong. Had the whole record been produced the way that song is, we'd probably all be talking about another classic Hip album, instead of a record that marked the end of the band's commercial heyday and that is hard to love despite the clutch of strong compositions.
After I wrote my "WTF" post, I am thinking maybe it is the name of one of the two halfs of The Dark Canuck. If so, what is the name of the other half?
(And what are the names of the three halfs :roll: of The Depression Suite?)
*re "halfs" -- I'm a Leafs fan; back off.
ct