[MattPower]

We can probably all agree that from the EP right up to Trouble at the Henhouse, each album was very different than the previous one. But, has anyone else noticed that their style hasn't changed very much since Trouble at The Henhouse? I mean it has changed, but not that much.

Do you think the Hip have reached a point where they are going to stay relitavley the same? Or do you think they are still changing quite a bit?

[beevo's voice]

This is an interesting topic. In my opinion, Last of the Unplucked Gems marked a real innovative change in direction for the band. Since it was the last song off of Road Apples it marks the donning of a new era, I doubt it was intentional but it was for me anyways - that sounds way too dramatic but whatever. It was like a new flow the band discovered, or groove rather. I'm not a musician, but I actively listen to all music and it just seems like the band reached a new level, possibly becoming more comfortable as a band or maybe finding more confidence in themself collectively. In other words they kind of left the "bar scene" bluesy grassroots stuff and began to carve out their own amazing style. This brings us to Fully and from there they've matured and in my opinion, mellowed a tad - but it is still fantastic. It's cheesy when forty year olds try to rock out like they are still twenty - it's more cool to accept your age, a la Sting or the Grateful Dead as opposed to some shitty 80's hair band playing at the local skid bar for two dollar cover.

[VioletlightHeron]

Lord, i cant even imagine what the people at those Skid Row, Quiet Riot shows look like...imagine a teenager who had all the accessories ( hair, piercings, etc) listening to Dr feelgood or whatever and now going to the reunion shows as a 30-40 year old still trying to recapture their youth...Ye Gods....

Chris hock:

[Zoo Lion]

This gets to one of my complaints about the Hip in recent years. I find most of their newer rockers pretty unconvincing. Tunes like "All Tore Up" and "Silver Jet" are decently-written songs, but the studio performances can't hold a candle to the demented ferocity of the earlier stuff. My view is that if Gord isn't willing to rip up his larynx (as he still does on stage, often as not), and the band isn't willing truly to blister their fingers, they should forget about anthemic rockers and just concentrate on the mellower, groovier stuff that they've developed since "Day for Night"---e.g., "Good Life," "Dire Wolf," "Something On," etc.. In fact, I'll never understand why they haven't pursued that wonderfully tough acoustic sound they use to such great effect on songs like "Scared" and "Fiddler's Green."

Anyone else agree? If you're gonna rock, go all out.

[Rye]

I agree that alot of the stuff from TATH and on, is pretty interchangeable and would work on any of the four albums.

[briansmccabe]

I like what someone wrote about Unplucked Gems above, being a new corner the band unwittingly turned by putting that track at the end of Road Apples. Gems has a very definitive groove to it. Up to that point, The Hip were mainly a "riff-rock" band. They definitely turned a corner with Gems. FC was a good mix of grooves and riffs, and then came DFN. I think that since DFN, the band has gotten better and better at using the twin-guitar approach as not so much an "attack" like they did in the UTH/RA days, but as a more subtle, textured approach. Room for Gord Sinclair's bass has really opened up over the years, so the groove comes through much better.

Another tune that really exemplifies the band reaching a plateau and then changing direction (for me anyway) is El Dorado. Again, it happened to fall as the final track on the album, which made it all the more symbolic for me. Fans of drumming will notice how Johnny Fay has changed over the years, really broadening his horizons in how he uses his kit. I think he really reached a turning point on Eldo. Johnny was very kick-and-snare heavy back in the old days, not doing a hell of alot with his toms. But toms are where you're really able to play in a more expressive way, and he takes on the toms with a vengeance starting on DFN. In that sense, Eldo was a foreshadow of things to come from the band - even more groove-oriented songs, and Johnny growing as a drummer. He uses the floor toms thunderously on Eldo, and he goes on to use his toms more and more with each album.

I could literally talk for days about Johnny's drumming. He is far and away the most underrated player in the band.

[mmilberg]

It does bring up the question of the influence the producer has on the band. I get the impression that Don Smith and Chris Tsangarides were very 'intrusive' producers (I don't mean that in a bad way) who brought a unique twist to the Hip's sound. But D4N, TATH, PP (somewhat) and M@W were all produced by the Hip themselves and so were free of Mr. Smith and Tsangarides' influence.

If producers create a typical 'sound' then you would expect D4N, TATH, PP and M@W to sound similar to each other and different from the first 4 CDs.

Since IVL wasn't produced by the Hip, by my argument it should sound unique...and I think it does, with the exception of the songs that the Hip themselves recorded in the Bathouse.