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I hate to say anything negative, but this is by a comfortable margin, my least favourite of any of the 'classic era' hip albums. I appreciate the big hits on the album more than I actually like them, but I think the only one I'm usually happy to hear live was 'gift shop'. Put it off and Sherpa are both fantastic, though. Just a lot of good, not great, unlike the ones before and after.
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Like many here have already posted. I was around 14 at the time this came out. Living in a small town of 2500 people. We didn't have a music store, but there was a Jewelry store in our downtown that had a small self space dedicated to music/Cd's. Weird, I know. I was really just starting to explore and get into music, other than the Beatles (whom I had loved since I was 7). Much music was Playing the Gift Shop and Ahead by a Century videos and I already had some Hip exposure with Road Apples previously. After School one day I went downtown with a buddy and Borrowed a few bucks from my Dad (who worked a couple shops over from the Jeweler). I remember grabbing Trouble at the Henhouse as well as Soundgardens Down on the upside. Always liked this album, and felt like it was more of an artistic approach to their music than in the past. Apartment Song has always been a favorite of mine.
What does our apartment do when were not around?
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I've found it interesting reading all the insights on the different albums on here.
Like many of you, the Hip albums bring back distinct memories of different markers of what I was doing at that time with my life. The memories I associate with this one are particularly vivid for me, and this album has always had a soft spot in my heart. I thought the first 5 songs on this album are as strong a opening 5 songs as any Hip album - probably the strongest, in my opinion - and I just loved how they represented the band stretching in new directions lyrically and musically.
I'm not sure, but I would hazard the guess that this CD spent more time in my player than any other Hip CD I have (as reference, my first Hip CD was Up to Here that I got around 1990 and I basically got every other Hip album on the day of it's release). I always want to place this album near the top of my list when I try the impossible task of ranking Hip albums. Alas, it is the unevenness of this album that makes it hard for me to put it above DFN, FC and PP. Coconut Cream and Butts Wiggling are two head-scratcher songs that I generally just skipped.
On a personal note, I was in a graduate college program at this time (having completed undergrad) and moved in with my girlfriend that May. That girlfriend is now my wife. I remember buying this album when it came out and basically moving into our new apartment the next day. The first thing I set up when we were moving in was my stereo so I could put on TATH and blast it while we finished getting everything moved in. It was basically on non-stop that summer, a summer with so many fond memories for me. The excitement of the unknown that I associate with that big life milestone year comes rushing back every time I hear this album, and I of course related lyrics in Ahead by a Century and Apartment Song to our situation at the time.
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The way the tracklist was set up, I've always viewed this album as two disparate EPs welded together.
First, there's the Trouble EP, comprised of radio friendly songs:
Gift Shop
Springtime in Vienna
Ahead by a Century
Don't Wake Daddy
Flamenco
700 Ft. Ceiling
Next, there's the At The Henhouse EP, comprised of more experimental, less accessible songs:
Butts Wigglin
Apartment Song
Coconut Cream
Let's Stay Engaged
Sherpa
Put It Off
Weld them together, and you have Trouble At The Henhouse, which is highly side-one heavy.
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Hey, that's a great point. They definitely did jam the "fooling around" onto the second half. Quite a cagey decision, I'd say - sequencing definitely affected the fan response to some later records, notably IBE, and also is problematic on MMP, where they absolutely should have gone with Rob Baker's preference to put 'Machine' in the lead-off slot and save the tiresome 'Man' for the coda. But these are matters for future debate!
