[Killer Whale Tank]

Forgive me if this has been asked before. But where would you rank Downie's solo records relative to the studio albums of the Hip?

1. Day For Night
2. In Between Evolution
3. Coke Machine Glow
4. Road Apples
5. Fully Completely
6. Phantom Power
7. Up to here
8. Battle of the Nudes
9. In Violet Light
10. Trouble at the Henhouse
11. Music@Work

[lord brazle]

Hmmm... interesting topic ... I'd say better than the average Hip album but not all of them... well, here...

01. CMG <~~~
02. DFN
03. FC
04. PP
05. BOTN <~~~
06. TATH
07. IBE
08. RA
09. UTH
10. EP
11. M@W
12. IVL

[Killer Whale Tank]

Wow! CMG as #1! You know, I considered putting it there, but it seemed like heresy to me. As always, dazzled by Brazle.

[The Darkest Canuck]

i really don't think they can be compared, to me they're two completely different things. it'd be like trying to compare ozzy's solo records to the original sabbath records as good as either of them are you just can't compare the two because they're very different.

[BulletRiddled]

I'd put them both at the top, although I couldn't tell you in what order or why.

[Killer Whale Tank]

But am I the only one who finds it ironic that, at roughly the same time Downie was releasing a solo CD that we happily rank right up there with the very best of the Hip, the Hip were releasing two records (M@W and IVL) that are widely thought to be among their weakest?

Of course, you can always deny that. But for me the correlation between the strength of Downie's solo stuff and the relative weakness of his work with the band in that period is kinda hard to miss.

I wonder if he was getting a little sick of the Hip thing at that point in his life and felt most creative outside the band's confines? (IBE proves this to have been a temporary phenomenon, thank Georgie).

[The Darkest Canuck]

i think Music@Work and In Violet Light are two absolutely incredible records. they both explore a more melodic and dreamier side of the hip that hadn't been (and needed to be) fully explored, i mean it was obvious that it had been there for a while and was dying to be let out (flamenco, the rules, bobcaygeon, abac, wheat kings, fiddlers green ect ect ect) but it wasn't really let loose until M@W IMO. what M@W and IVL lack in rockin-rollin' they more than make up for with their unrestrained natural free flowing beauty and vision. another thing i love about those two records is that they have songs that are both gorgeous and rockin at the same time (puttin down, the completists, the darkest one, are you ready to love, leave, a beautiful thing, train overnight ect ect). also, i find gord's lyrics on those two albums to be a lot more intimate so to speak, as if he were singing to a loved one or a long lost friend. i love all of their albums but i have to say the more i listen to them all the less and less i feel as though i have favourites, all of their music has become such an interwoven part of my life that at any given moment any of their songs or albums could be my favourite.

[Roy-at-tth]

well...if downie's work was released as a hip album we'd hate it.

and

How many of us like downie's work only because its gord downie?

Yer Possessed by some no name? would you like that just as much?

[lord brazle]

But am I the only one who finds it ironic that, at roughly the same time Downie was releasing a solo CD that we happily rank right up there with the very best of the Hip, the Hip were releasing two records (M@W and IVL) that are widely thought to be among their weakest?

Yeah, that's kinda weird. I'd pick CMG over any hip album... well, wait just a minute!... it's actually a tie with DFN and FC as my favourite album but it's still right up there... strange that it come out in between those two though...

[cferneyh]

well...if downie's work was released as a hip album we'd hate it.

and

How many of us like downie's work only because its gord downie?

Yer Possessed by some no name? would you like that just as much?

I wouldn't have hated CMG or BOTN if they were released as Hip albums, but I would have been amazed that they took such a risk. However, I do know plenty of Hip fans who are not fans of his solo stuff.

Yer Possessed is one of my favourite GD solo songs and as long as it from from some artist who I respected, I'd still love it. If it was a Britney Spears song then maybe not, but if Jeff Tweedy or Beck or Ben Harper or Ben Folds did it, then yeah, I'd still love it. I also happen to think that Vancouver Divorce, Canada Geese, Chancellor, Never-Ending Present, Boy Bruised By Butterfly Chase, Into the Night, Figment, Pascal's Submarine, and 11th Fret are all great songs, not just great Gord Downie songs...if that makes any sense.

[Killer Whale Tank]

Actually, until IBE came out I would have told you that CMG was the direction the Hip SHOULD have taken after Phantom Power. I always expected the Hip, at some point in their careers, to explore more fully the folk- and country-elements on display in songs like 'Fiddler's Green,' 'Scared,' 'Titanic Terrarium,' 'Wheat Kings,' 'Bobcaygeon,' etc.: in short, some of their very best tunes. I couldn't figure out why they kept going to a well (electric rock) that no longer seemed as filled with inspiration for them as it once had been, except maybe for fear of utterly alienating their fan base.

So, yeah, I would have LOVED CMG if it had been put out by some unknown. And I would have loved it had he recorded those tunes with the Hip.