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Are You Side A or Side B? - Printable Version

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Are You Side A or Side B? - gillcash - 06-01-2016

Full disclosure: I used tp be on hipbase quite a lot but over the past few years kinda faded away, forgot my user name, blah blah blah. But, the news broke and I started listening to the old tunes and got my tickets to Kingston and Ottawa. As I was driving to work the other day I started searching for my CDs buried in my glove box and pulled out Phantom Power. Well, I put it on but found myself fast forwarding to Fireworks and then onto Escape and Empreror Penguin.

I started to think of the songs I wanted to here on this tour and a lot of them were so-called Side B songs. For those of you youngsters out there that is a reference to vinyl Big Grin In the old days they'd pack the "good songs" onto the front of the album and then the back end would be the fillers - the hits were in those first three songs. Seems to me some of the best live Hip songs are those late in the album.

My favourite set of consecutive songs is Side B of Road Apples, and it's not even close.

With CDs and downloads I know it's difficult to determine when side B starts, but are you a Side A or Side B? Are you Bobcaygeon or Emporer Penguin; are you Cordelia or Three Pistols; are you Hundredth Meridian or The Wherewithal; are you Darkest One or Dark Canuck?

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - edgoffin - 06-02-2016

I'm a big fan of those "B side" cut -- Dire Wolf/Dark Canuck are my favorite closing cuts. Especially in those first few albums, the last track was always something slightly different. Unplucked Gems, cool track especially when they jammed it out a bit live. Put If Off I'd also put in my top 10.

Lots of great songs that also had a very short tour life -- Save the Planet, Emergency, Drop Off come to mind. Vapour Trails I was happy to see in Burlington VT last year, 11 years since it had been last played. According to setlists, I actually saw a Get Back Again during the day for night tour in Kingston at the Memorial Center, with I could remember that.

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - andrew sharpe - 06-02-2016

My favourite Hip songs are Escape Is At Hand, Courage, and Gus, so I'm not sure which camp that puts me in. I long ago stopped questioning the fact that I just love everything they do.

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - Killer Whale Tank - 06-02-2016

I'm not sure I agree with the premise. It may be broadly true that, back in the LP era, the weaker tracks were buried 2/3 into the record; that is, you might have a strong track opening Side B and then a dip. For instance, Sgt. Pepper sticks 'Lovely Rita' at th 2/3 mark. But you'd also usually see a couple of really strong tracks shoring up the end of the record. The 'album closer' has always been important. (Think 'A Day in the Life').

I feel that Plan A - ironically - fits this bill. Songs 6, 7, and 9 are eminently skip-able to me, but then you get the superb 'Done and Done' and, finally, 'Goodnight Attawapiskat,' surely one of the most thunderingly stellar Hip tracks in recent years.

By contrast, one of the reasons why IBE might be THE most under-rated album in the Hip canon is that the first song is terrible, and 'Summer is Killing Us' - while I quite like it - is a very unusual construction with a 'spontaneous' and therefore unpolished vocal, which tends to turn people off. No Hip record so aggressively rebuffs the listener early. So there's an example where the logic of A/B breaks down completely.

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - cochise - 06-02-2016

On a slight tangent but on the same topic. Kids nowadays have no idea what a treat it was to pick up an album and listen to it straight from beginning to end. With CD's and ,mp3 downloads, shuffling through 10000 tracks on an ipod, noone seems to have the patience anymore to listen to to an entire album from beginning to end note simultaneously. I call is "music ADD"

Maybe I am sounding old, but "kids these days". God they are missing out on that classic experience. Could you imagine if Dark Side Of The Moon came out today? Man what a waste of never experiencing that album from beginning to end.

Now back to the topic, I would find myself probably an A/B mix, but definitely leaning more towards side B.

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - sherpa - 06-02-2016

I kind of think of the difference as being Singles vs Album Cuts. The singles get you to the party but the album cuts determine how long you are going to hang around.

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - andrew sharpe - 06-02-2016

sherpa Wrote:I kind of think of the difference as being Singles vs Album Cuts. The singles get you to the party but the album cuts determine how long you are going to hang around.
:thumb:

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - Killer Whale Tank - 06-02-2016

I knew a guy who had zero Hip knowledge, and when he first heard 'Day for Night,' he was bewildered. He asked whether this was a greatest hits or best-of collection or something...because every song on it was amazing.

Now THAT'S a record :thumb:

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - mystery met - 06-02-2016

I could talk Day for Night for Days and Nights

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - thebends - 06-02-2016

cochise Wrote:On a slight tangent but on the same topic. Kids nowadays have no idea what a treat it was to pick up an album ...

Kids nowadays have no idea that an album with foldable covers was the best way to get seeds out of your weed. That's back in the day when weed came with seeds.

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - Tthip - 06-02-2016

thebends Wrote:
cochise Wrote:foldable covers was the best way to get seeds out of your weed. That's back in the day when weed came with seeds.
Why doesn't it come with seeds anymore? That has confused me.

Re: Are You Side A or Side B? - thebends - 06-02-2016

thebends Wrote:
cochise Wrote:On a slight tangent but on the same topic. Kids nowadays have no idea what a treat it was to pick up an album ...

Kids nowadays have no idea that an album with foldable covers was the best way to get seeds out of your weed. That's back in the day when weed came with seeds.
Female plants dont seed, and have better THC content.