[gsmacleod]

Very close to a tie but we see The Depression Suite as the sole casualty in Round 5.

10 - The Depression Suite
11 - If New Orleans Is Beat
12 - What Blue
13 - Stay
14 - Last American Exit

Vote for the song you think is weakest amongst the remaining third place finishers. After 48 hours, the song with the most votes will be eliminated. In the event of a tie, both (or more) song will be eliminated.

This poll will end Tuesday 12:24pm Eastern.

Happy voting,

Shane

[ryan93]

First time I’ve had to think about my selection now that TDS is gone. All are strong tracks, I’ll have to give them each a spin this evening.

[andrew sharpe]

I'm no lover of 38 Years Old but the riff is too iconic for me to vote for until at least one more round. WWTBI gets my vote.

[potsie]

I'm no lover of 38 Years Old but the riff is too iconic for me to vote for until at least one more round. WWTBI gets my vote.

I'm holding off on 38 for a while longer as well. Two reasons for me: 1. Gord's performance on the song. I love the vibrato/tremolo in his early singing (which apparently Chris Tsangarides coached him out of) and this song has just the right dose of it. The word "heard" in the line "We were sitting around the table, heard the telephone ring" is a great example of this. This is no rock singer alive that would sing that word the same way. 2. The haunting and mournful slide playing from Robbie is just beautiful and fits the song perfectly.

[robbroncs]

i still don't get it

[andrew sharpe]

i still don't get it

You're saying you don't like 38 Years Old? I get it, and I argued against it even being top five on Up To Here, but I just imagine if I were going to a Hip show this weekend, would I rather hear that song or We Want To Be It...and I instantly know the answer. After 20 or so Hip shows, I still loved hearing that opening riff...it's classic Hip and I can't vote it off yet. Next round, maybe, and definitely before Good Life or Poets, but not yet.

[andrew sharpe]

One thing I've had to come to terms with on these polls is, as much as I've denied it, I really do like the earlier albums better. I still love late-era Hip, but DFN, UTH & FC are too ingrained in my youth. They're in my pockets and in my eyes...in my blood.

[potsie]

One thing I've had to come to terms with on these polls is, as much as I've denied it, I really do like the earlier albums better. I still love late-era Hip, but DFN, UTH & FC are too ingrained in my youth. They're in my pockets and in my eyes...in my blood.

Same. I've spent the past 15 years trying to convince friends and family that the "new stuff" was every bit as good as the "old stuff". I felt it would have diminished my identity as a "true" Hip fan to state anything to the contrary. However, over the past couple of years I've come to realize (or at least accept) that while the post-PP albums contain some great work, the run from UTH to PP is peak Hip. I'm certainly biased by "time and place" and the strong attachments that youth can give to music but even setting that aside, to deny that these albums represent the best of the Hip would be taking a very contrarian stance. Someone placing anything less than 3-4 of the 89-98 albums in a Hip top five "best of" would have difficulty convincing me of the validity of their argument.

[loach]

i still don't get it

You're saying you don't like 38 Years Old? I get it, and I argued against it even being top five on Up To Here, but I just imagine if I were going to a Hip show this weekend, would I rather hear that song or We Want To Be It...and I instantly know the answer. After 20 or so Hip shows, I still loved hearing that opening riff...it's classic Hip and I can't vote it off yet. Next round, maybe, and definitely before Good Life or Poets, but not yet.

I think he's (I assume 'he' with rob in the user name) saying that he still doesn't get why The Kids Don't Get It keeps advancing.

I'm with him. I don't think TKDGI competes with any of these songs and should have been gone awhile ago.

[Escape@Hand]

One thing I've had to come to terms with on these polls is, as much as I've denied it, I really do like the earlier albums better. I still love late-era Hip, but DFN, UTH & FC are too ingrained in my youth. They're in my pockets and in my eyes...in my blood.

Same. I've spent the past 15 years trying to convince friends and family that the "new stuff" was every bit as good as the "old stuff". I felt it would have diminished my identity as a "true" Hip fan to state anything to the contrary. However, over the past couple of years I've come to realize (or at least accept) that while the post-PP albums contain some great work, the run from UTH to PP is peak Hip. I'm certainly biased by "time and place" and the strong attachments that youth can give to music but even setting that aside, to deny that these albums represent the best of the Hip would be taking a very contrarian stance. Someone placing anything less than 3-4 of the 89-98 albums in a Hip top five "best of" would have difficulty convincing me of the validity of their argument.

I find that the earlier albums are more consistent front to back, but most of my favourite individual songs are from their later period. I would argue that that as they grew older, they honed their songwriting craft, hence some of their best songs, but as they didn't tour as much, they perhaps lost some of that cohesiveness due to other life factors (family, etc.) impinging on their band.

I still love post PP Hip as much as their early material, but you can't make an argument against the fact that FC DFN TATH PP is their best run of albums.

[gsmacleod]

The haunting and mournful slide playing from Robbie is just beautiful and fits the song perfectly.

There is no song that has had a greater impact on my desire to learn to play slide well than 38 Years Old.

Spoiler alert - I'm still terrible.

Shane

[robbroncs]

the kids don't get it. and neither do i. nowhere near as good as the rest of these.

[NateTG]

the kids don't get it. and neither do i. nowhere near as good as the rest of these.

It's better than Drip Drip Drip. Assuming that this round doesn't swing at the last minute I will have to re-listen and compare before I decide how to cast my next vote.