[potsie]

Scared has be the winner here. Only Poets, 38 Years Old, and (no chance of winning) The Kid's Don't Get It come close to my ear.

Long Time Running has to be in the conversation.
ct

Yeah it's between LTR and Scared for me. It's crazy to think those songs finished third in ANYTHING. They are two of my most favourite musical creations.

It's also crazy to think that Pigeon Camera and Poets both finished third. The depth on all those albums is ridiculous. A lesser band could have made a career out of just having LTR, Scared, 38 YO, and Pigeon Camera in their repertoire.

[gsmacleod]

Yeah it's between LTR and Scared for me. It's crazy to think those songs finished third in ANYTHING. They are two of my most favourite musical creations.

It's also crazy to think that Pigeon Camera and Poets both finished third. The depth on all those albums is ridiculous. A lesser band could have made a career out of just having LTR, Scared, 38 YO, and Pigeon Camera in their repertoire.

As I was typing in the list, I was wondering how many bands would be ecstatic to have these 14 songs as the best in their catalogue.

Shane

[Chris Tanz]

Last American Exit is a great song. It's the first appearance of alt-county Hip, a genre that they dipped their toes in once-in-a-while but never fully explored, much to my chagrin. However, Last American Exit smells like hot garbage compared to the rose that is "Good Life". It is clear that we will need to restrict the voting rights of members of The Tragically Hip and their immediate families in these polls. The Sinclairs have turned out in droves in an attempt to save Last American from an early exit.

Last American Exit only barely takes the bronze medal for songs that start with Last:

Last of the Unplucked Gems, The
Last Recluse, The
Last American Exit
Last Night I Dreamed You Didn't Zzzzzzzzzzz.

[edgoffin]

I went back and listened to most of these tracks. I'd say I voted with my heart and nostalgia by excluding LAE, but when you put it alongside other tracks it really does stand out as not that great a tune. Mostly it comes across as a cliché now, sort of Americana songwriting cut and paste. There are a few tunes like that on the EP, then fewer on UTH as either GD starting taker over songwriting or they just got better at their craft.

[Escape@Hand]

Scared has be the winner here. Only Poets, 38 Years Old, and (no chance of winning) The Kid's Don't Get It come close to my ear.

Pigeon Camera, Flamenco, WWTBI and Good Life are all up there as well. I don't think Scared is the run away winner, and while it's worthy of winning this round, I probably would vote for at least Pigeon and Flamenco over it. No musical reason, and they are all terrific songs, with wonderful lyrics, but simply sentimental reasons; I'm just more attached to those songs.

[potsie]

Poets has a vote??? What, wait, what? Last American Exit is better than Poets???

[potsie]

I went back and listened to most of these tracks. I'd say I voted with my heart and nostalgia by excluding LAE, but when you put it alongside other tracks it really does stand out as not that great a tune. Mostly it comes across as a cliché now, sort of Americana songwriting cut and paste. There are a few tunes like that on the EP, then fewer on UTH as either GD starting taker over songwriting or they just got better at their craft.

Looking at early press for the Hip, there are two bands that were often used to describe the Hip's sound by way of comparison: The Georgia Satellites and John Mellencamp. It is really only Last American Exit on which the Hip come close to either of these two; The Georgia Satellites for the 'sound' of Last American Exit' and John Mellencamp for the lyrical content of the song (and you could throw Smalltown in as well), as you've described above. Without this song on the EP, I don't think either of those two comparisons get made. It's a bit of an outlier on the EP, but does hint at a band that would be difficult to pigeonhole later in their career.

[NateTG]

-Pigeon Camera, Flamenco, WWTBI and Good Life are all up there as well. I don't think Scared is the run away winner, and while it's worthy of winning this round, I probably would vote for at least Pigeon and Flamenco over it. No musical reason, and they are all terrific songs, with wonderful lyrics, but simply sentimental reasons; I'm just more attached to those songs.

WWTBI might be the next song I vote against, I don't think it's on the same level. It (and really the whole album) never really hooked me the way the other albums did where I would just play the album again and again for a week. Flamenco though...

[Chris Tanz]

Poets has a vote??? What, wait, what? Last American Exit is better than Poets???

I was going to make this exact comment. This is the biggest troll vote yet.