The Lookahead is eliminated in Round 4 and we're left with the final three on Now For Plan A.
Eliminated Round 1
The Modern Spirit
Take Forever
Streets Ahead
Eliminated Round 2
Done and Done
About This Map
Eliminated Round 3
Man Machine Poem
Now For Plan A
Eliminated Round 4
The Lookahead
Vote for the song you believe to be the weakest on Now For Plan A and after 48 hours, we will remove the song that has the most votes.
The poll will end Friday at 12:36pm Eastern.
Happy voting!
Shane
This is a tough vote. Not sure how I am going to vote on these 3. Going to have to give those 3 another listen.
I voted for (against) "Transformation," feeling that it is the most paint-by-numbers Hip song of these three. Or rather, it's the one that doesn't really push the band forward.
I do hope "Attawapiskat" is the ultimate winner of this exercise.
Voted Transformation. I like that song quite a bit, but Attawapiskat and WWTBI are just too damn good.
Tough vote. I really like all three a lot. I agree that "At Transformation" is not ground-breaking music from the Hip, but to me that actually works in its favour here. Adhering closely to the "classic" Hip sound (which Attawapiskat does as well) it feels like a serving of Hip comfort food, something we hadn't gotten since IBE. While I'm not normally a fan of musical stasis, I like the foundation that this song provides for NFPA. And lyrically Gord is in good form. "I want to help you lift enormous things" is top notch.
potsie Wrote:Tough vote. I really like all three a lot. I agree that "At Transformation" is not ground-breaking music from the Hip, but to me that actually works in its favour here. Adhering closely to the "classic" Hip sound (which Attawapiskat does as well) it feels like a serving of Hip comfort food, something we hadn't gotten since IBE. While I'm not normally a fan of musical stasis, I like the foundation that this song provides for NFPA. And lyrically Gord is in good form. "I want to help you lift enormous things" is top notch.
Agree and agree. At Transformation is in the pedigree of Vaccination Scar and No Threat, conscious rockers that deliver what they promise when we we thinking "Maybe they don't do that anymore" (similar to World Possessed, albeit that one is less rocking). WC had a couple of songs that overshot (in a good way) this mark -- Kids Don't Get It, Drop Off. I think Frozen in My Tracks was supposed to do this on WATS, but not very well in my view.
The other thing I love about At Transformation is that it is Classic Hip Anti Commercial Mentality -- lead single? Maybe we should call it "Enormous Things" or "I Wanna Help You Lift Enormous Things"? That's the catchy part of the song; the memorable lyric. Nah! Let's make the title the last words of the song so no one will know what it's called.
I voted again for We Want To Be Drip.
ct
I voted for "At Transformation," but all three of these tunes are bangers. DRIP DRIP DRIP!
The "enormous things" part is pretty good, but I always dug the A PINCH, A STING bit right after it. More than anything else in that song it seems like "classic Hip" to me :rambo:
Conversely, I was never crazy about "as the earth revolved around the sun," which comes off to me as the sort of faux-deep poetry Downie was sometimes accused of writing.
Any thoughts as to what this one was about - ?
One thing about that tune is that it has one of the longest sustained periods of "Hip in overdrive" on record. From "I can see it all at once" to "it's my dream of being," the whole band is in full-bore thrashin' and crashin' mode. When I first heard it I almost wondered if it was a deliberate exercise in stretching out those overdrive dynamics. I love the taste of old throat-ripping Gord on the first "AT TRANSFORMAAAAATION!!!" And hey, any day Gord sang in his lowest registers was a good day.
But I find the other two songs less pandering to expectations, and also find them more moving, so they trump AT for me.
Editing/removing my post as I was listening to one album while writing about another and having a conversation with someone all at the same time and got my wife’s crossed. Plus CT did a great job on the post below
Maybe it was just part of the Drip Drip Drip narrative that surrounded the release record, but isn't Gord on record saying this is a song about being a man and not knowing how to help the one you love get through a difficult time, missing the chance to be really helpful when someone really needs it, and then regretting it afterwards.
Gently breathing lit by the morning sun -- [bedside scene in hospital]
Through the night it had been raining venom -- [IV bag drip drip drips venom; the same balloons all filled with rain from Fiddler's Green]
I want to be kind, not a bullet in the right place -- [don't know what to say to or do for a person; fear something you say or do could be absolutely devastating to them or the exact opposite of what they need]
Or just of two minds, more important than importance [classic Gord to use the same word and make it mean the exact opposite thing; the singer wants to actually be important to the patient, not just project importance]
All those shadows, waiting round the last light [back in the hospital; it's night again]
To the dream of being, here comes the night [the dream of "being" -- this is the same "be" was We Want to Be It -- the real-deal "be", not just the "do". The important thing, not just the "importance"; but another day another dollar, night is setting on the dream of being]
All of the tip-toeing past all our most feared buildings [Walking around awkwardly, pacing, trying to stay out of the way, in the hospital, that most feared of buildings, where he can't do anything helpful, anything right, where he can't "be" what he wants to be]
I only say this now because I didn't when it was happening [gut punch. I was useless. I missed my chance. I didn't know how to help when I was needed; however, really, I don't even know if I was needed. fuckin' gut punch]
I want to help you lift enormous things [I want to help. What can I do to help. I could use my strength, if I had any. Would that help?]
A pinch, a sting, I don't feel a thing [I'm not in that bed. I don't feel any of this. I'm not doing anything to help. I'm useless here. Gut punch]
And as the earth revolves around the sun [schloppy sentiment. time passes. things don't change. I can't fix this. It's the way it is]
I can see it all at once [realization like heaven blazing into the head; fucking gut punch]
And, oh, what a glittering chance [Was there a moment when he could have changed his fate; when he could have been the thing he wanted to be? Reminds me of the sickening remorse in the Weakerthans lyric from Civil Twilight: "My chance to say something, seemed so brief but it wasn't, now I know I had plenty of time ..."]
In my head the game goes quiet, and I can see it all at once [Hockey reference. Gretzky talked about the game slowing down and going quiet. He could see the whole ice and what was going to happen. In retrospect, the singer imagines that he had this moment to seize the glittering chance to transform into the thing he wished he could be]
Them yelling "Yer not the goods" [More hockey - Gord was a goalie; I'm sure he heard the heckles from the crowd or the opposition from time to time, telling him he wasn't good enough and couldn't do it -- which is exactly the way he feels and what he fears]
A kid before the rapids [Taunting him -- whether it's the crowd or himself; he's not man enough for what's about to happen; what has happened]
But in my head the game is quiet, and oh what a glittering chance [he imagines that he could have/should have been able to shut all of it out and seize his chance
At transformation [to become the thing he wishes he could have been]
That's my dream of being [It's what he dreams about doing; what he dreams he should have done]
... fuckin gut punch.
Chris Tanz Wrote:Maybe it was just part of the Drip Drip Drip narrative that surrounded the release record, but isn't Gord on record saying this is a song about being a man and not knowing how to help the one you love get through a difficult time, missing the chance to be really helpful when someone really needs it, and then regretting it afterwards.
Gently breathing lit by the morning sun -- [bedside scene in hospital]
Through the night it had been raining venom -- [IV bag drip drip drips venom; the same balloons all filled with rain from Fiddler's Green]
I want to be kind, not a bullet in the right place -- [don't know what to say to or do for a person; fear something you say or do could be absolutely devastating to them or the exact opposite of what they need]
Or just of two minds, more important than importance [classic Gord to use the same word and make it mean the exact opposite thing; the singer wants to actually be important to the patient, not just project importance]
All those shadows, waiting round the last light [back in the hospital; it's night again]
To the dream of being, here comes the night [the dream of "being" -- this is the same "be" was We Want to Be It -- the real-deal "be", not just the "do". The important thing, not just the "importance"; but another day another dollar, night is setting on the dream of being]
All of the tip-toeing past all our most feared buildings [Walking around awkwardly, pacing, trying to stay out of the way, in the hospital, that most feared of buildings, where he can't do anything helpful, anything right, where he can't "be" what he wants to be]
I only say this now because I didn't when it was happening [gut punch. I was useless. I missed my chance. I didn't know how to help when I was needed; however, really, I don't even know if I was needed. fuckin' gut punch]
I want to help you lift enormous things [I want to help. What can I do to help. I could use my strength, if I had any. Would that help?]
A pinch, a sting, I don't feel a thing [I'm not in that bed. I don't feel any of this. I'm not doing anything to help. I'm useless here. Gut punch]
And as the earth revolves around the sun [schloppy sentiment. time passes. things don't change. I can't fix this. It's the way it is]
I can see it all at once [realization like heaven blazing into the head; fucking gut punch]
And, oh, what a glittering chance [Was there a moment when he could have changed his fate; when he could have been the thing he wanted to be? Reminds me of the sickening remorse in the Weakerthans lyric from Civil Twilight: "My chance to say something, seemed so brief but it wasn't, now I know I had plenty of time ..."]
In my head the game goes quiet, and I can see it all at once [Hockey reference. Gretzky talked about the game slowing down and going quiet. He could see the whole ice and what was going to happen. In retrospect, the singer imagines that he had this moment to seize the glittering chance to transform into the thing he wished he could be]
Them yelling "Yer not the goods" [More hockey - Gord was a goalie; I'm sure he heard the heckles from the crowd or the opposition from time to time, telling him he wasn't good enough and couldn't do it -- which is exactly the way he feels and what he fears]
A kid before the rapids [Taunting him -- whether it's the crowd or himself; he's not man enough for what's about to happen; what has happened]
But in my head the game is quiet, and oh what a glittering chance [he imagines that he could have/should have been able to shut all of it out and seize his chance
At transformation [to become the thing he wishes he could have been]
That's my dream of being [It's what he dreams about doing; what he dreams he should have done]
... fuckin gut punch.
Outstanding post! I tip my hat to you, sir.
And yea, I've always been pretty certain the song was about his wife's cancer scare. I remember he talked about it during his interview with Wendy Mesley on CBC around the time of the album's release, and specifically mentioned that song.
Awesome analysis, CT. At Transformation is the cream of the crop on this album, IMHO. I tend to gravitate to lyrics more than instrumentation, and I think the lyrics on AT are a cut above the tongue-in-cheek lyrics of Attiwapiskat (I like GA and have it #4 on this album, but I was a little surprised it seems so highly rated by others here).
When Gord hits those lines "At Transformation", I still sometimes get goosebumps. As someone who has spent some uncomfortable days in the hospital with family members, I think this song captures some of the guilt one can feel when they feel like they can't do anything or say anything that's helpful.
When it was first released, At Transformation didn’t do much for me. I dismissed it as a generic Hip rocker. It really grew on me over time though. I mean really grew on me. Along with Man Machine Poem, it’s the song I listen to most on the album these days. CT’s analysis here is bang on. Powerful lyrics and performance by Gord, and I love those guitars too. It might be the best track on the album.
Beautiful analysis, ct!
At Transformation is the best song on NFPA, and the only time after 2000 that the Hip got the lead single right (even though some old school Hip fans might have thought it was a 'bait and switch tactic').
Barclay states in his book that Laura Usher's cancer diagnosis came in August 2011, which is two months AFTER the Hip debuted At Transformation in Peterborough that summer (and played it again 4 days later in the Bobcaygeon doc). I can't refute his dating of the diagnosis, but man, how could this song not be about him fumbling with his feelings around Laura's cancer?
The hockey metaphor of the line "In my head the game goes quiet" works well. It is also one of those phrases that hit a little harder after Gord's diagnosis, when the game went quiet for him.
Voted GA, great song but WWTBI and AT are my two favourite tracks from this album.