03-31-2017, 08:01 PM
There are two significant comments made by band members over the past nine months that would lead one to believe that the Hip may not bookend their catalogue with MMP. In June, around the time of the release of MMP, Rob Baker stated during a Sirius XM interview that there is a companion “shadow” album to MMP that was recorded with Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin which contains songs that were deemed “too personal or two awkward” to release at that time. Then, in October, during the Mansbridge interview GD said, “I’ve got two or three or four records in the can. A record the Hip are working on.” Mansbridge followed up by asking, “So we could hear more from the Hip?” to which GD responded, “Yeah."
Thus it is apparent that new material does exist. However, we don’t know what state of completion/”record readiness” these songs are in. Was the material the Hip were working on in the fall simply polishing up the MMP leftovers? Or were they recording brand new tracks? Did they get a chance to truly finish what they were working on? This led me to think about whether I would want new Hip material if it was not able to receive the near obsessive lyric-writing scrutiny that Gord is known for or if it didn’t have enough time to cook in the studio oven. Is there a legacy to protect and would potentially releasing an album that didn’t receive the same attention as past albums (due to GD’s health challenges) diminish this legacy in any manner?
If the Hip was to call it a career with MMP, their legacy would remain relatively unblemished. UTH through MMP is a run of quality albums that is arguably without parallel in rock music. To be certain, there are peaks and valleys that exist in there but the dips are still miles above sea level. Every Hip album contains some songs that are representative of the best rock songs of the year in which the album was released. While there are some misfires in the catalogue, there is almost nothing that I would label ‘filler’.
There are a lot of examples of great bands whose last album was one album too many: "Zeppelin’s "In Through the Out Door" (ignoring Coda here), The Clash’s "Cut the Crap", whatever Neil Young's last/latest album is, among others. If the Hip were to release one final album and it fell short of the high bar set by past records, would I even care? Do I want to hear every single thing they’ve got tucked away in the vault regardless of state of completion (a small part of me says, “Hell yeah!”) or would I be happy with MMP being the swan song and the band retiring with a string of albums that they can be very proud of? I'd be interested in hearing others thoughts on whether you want to hear everything, warts and all, or whether you would prefer that a high level of quality control is exerted. Or, some happy medium?
Thus it is apparent that new material does exist. However, we don’t know what state of completion/”record readiness” these songs are in. Was the material the Hip were working on in the fall simply polishing up the MMP leftovers? Or were they recording brand new tracks? Did they get a chance to truly finish what they were working on? This led me to think about whether I would want new Hip material if it was not able to receive the near obsessive lyric-writing scrutiny that Gord is known for or if it didn’t have enough time to cook in the studio oven. Is there a legacy to protect and would potentially releasing an album that didn’t receive the same attention as past albums (due to GD’s health challenges) diminish this legacy in any manner?
If the Hip was to call it a career with MMP, their legacy would remain relatively unblemished. UTH through MMP is a run of quality albums that is arguably without parallel in rock music. To be certain, there are peaks and valleys that exist in there but the dips are still miles above sea level. Every Hip album contains some songs that are representative of the best rock songs of the year in which the album was released. While there are some misfires in the catalogue, there is almost nothing that I would label ‘filler’.
There are a lot of examples of great bands whose last album was one album too many: "Zeppelin’s "In Through the Out Door" (ignoring Coda here), The Clash’s "Cut the Crap", whatever Neil Young's last/latest album is, among others. If the Hip were to release one final album and it fell short of the high bar set by past records, would I even care? Do I want to hear every single thing they’ve got tucked away in the vault regardless of state of completion (a small part of me says, “Hell yeah!”) or would I be happy with MMP being the swan song and the band retiring with a string of albums that they can be very proud of? I'd be interested in hearing others thoughts on whether you want to hear everything, warts and all, or whether you would prefer that a high level of quality control is exerted. Or, some happy medium?
