[direwolf74]

Great topic,we were going up north,and my wifes gets in the truck with wc in her hand,Last Night I Dreamed is kicking my ass.I will never forget oct 23 at the phoenix and Family Band being the opener.Kills me when I hear people put down wc and/or wats.I have been a fan since 89,and these 2 stand amongst their best.

For me, WATS is definitely the weaker of the two Bob Rock albums. Despite a handful of outstanding songs (Morning Moon, Depression Suite, Last Recluse, Queen of the Furrows, Country Day), the rest of the album just doesn't do it for me. It's not a bad album. I just think there's too much filler on there, and I think the band catered a little too much to what Bob wanted to do. Even Downie made a comment recently about how Bob wanted to make "big" records or something like that, and the band kind of followed his muse. Which is fine. Any band that's been around as long as the Hip needs to try new approaches once in a while. But overall I think the production on that album is just way too excessive for a band like the Hip. Save for a couple of small moments (Love is a First, Frozen in My Tracks), Bob polished away all the gritty edges with layers of strings and keyboards, etc... And for me that gritty edge is the Hip's best strength. When I first heard At Transformation, my immediate reaction was "ahh, that's more like it."

Having said that, I still give Bob Rock credit for breathing some extra life into a band that was kind of spinning it's wheels at the time. The guys in the band have all mentioned in one way or another that Bob reminded them how fun it is to be in a rock band. I like that.