[ewallman]

Like many here I played the Hip non-stop for months after receiving that sad email the end of May. There was rarely a day that passed where I didn't listen to at least one of the albums. During this time I started to listen in a different way. I listened uncritically. I became more appreciative of the albums from the past 16 years that I could find faults in before. Every album in the catalogue rose in greatness for me (although it's hard to imagine how much higher the 90's output could go), except for one: Music at Work. This is the only album that my love didn't grow for this past summer.

Music at Work has fallen to the bottom of my list over the past few months and that's really the only thing that's changed in my personal rankings. It was middle of the pack before but I dare say I now like NFPA (my previous last place finisher) even more than M@W. It's not that I like M@W less than I did 6 months ago, it's that I like everything else more. It is the only album that wouldn't place a song on my top 50 Hip song list. It is not an easy listen from start to finish and, if I'm going to kick it while it's down, it has by far the worst cover art of any Hip album. Chopping about four songs off of it would improve the listening experience, but even then it would still be an uneven affair. Maybe some day I'll come around to it, but it didn't happen this summer.

100% same experience for me. Played all Hip this summer while doing yard work and my appreciation for all the music grew. My issue with M@W id chorus related. In particular, Lake fever and Putting Down. PD has that great piece(s) with the 'delayed' part - "I'm starting to fail..to be impressed" but then it is followed by the chorus of "putting down, putting down....doooowwwnnnn. Just not my fav. Same with Lake fever - the wheezing screen door section kind of throws the song off in my mind.

I am a fan of IVL mostly because I was helping a friend in a bad place at the time it came out and a lot of lyrics were inspirational so they still resonate. But how does Problem Bears get cut?