08-23-2017, 08:32 PM
Great thread idea!
When I think about the EP, the question that plagues me is “Why these songs?” The Ken Greer demo tape from May 1986, a full 18 months before the December 1987 release of the EP, contains near fully developed versions of She Didn’t Know, When the Weight Comes Down, NOIS, and other great tracks like Rain, Hearts, Fires (which incidentally has the exact same drum ending as Smalltown) and Nuclear Bar-B-Q. Why didn’t any of these make the cut for the EP? Surely they would have been a step up from Evelyn and Werewolf.
The other thing I ponder is whether this album represents “Gord Sinclair’s Band”. Was he calling the shots for the band at this point in time? There is an interesting point in the Hippie Historian's interview with Rob Baker where Rob talks about the band deciding to credit all songs to The Tragically Hip, as opposed to the individual writers as was done on the EP. He says that in doing so it was Gord Sinclair that was giving up the most since he was the most natural and complete songwriter in the group at that time. If not band leader, it seems that at the very least Sinclair was the creative force in the band at the time of the EP release, maybe not ceding that title to Downie until a year or two later.
Gord Sinclair wrote the music and lyrics for the Hip's first two singles/hits, Smalltown Bringdown and Last American Exit. Together I believe these represent the songs with the greatest lyrical depth on an album where Downie was still finding his footing and hadn't yet honed his story-telling powers. The lyrical pool here is shallow and Downie’s “Werewolf” in particular almost seems to be a “joke” song. Surely he didn’t fight for inclusion of that tune on the EP based on its lyrical merits. That it’s on the album leaves me to believe that the EP would have fallen flat without Sinclair’s contributions.
Clarke, as you've pointed out, I believe the period in which one became a Hip fan colours perception of the EP. I can easily understand why someone who became a fan in the 2000’s (and I'm not referring specifically to you here, since you were earlier) has a lowly opinion of the EP; why would you want to spend much time with that album when you had six other great ones to listen to? However, I became a fan in 1991 so at that time I only had the EP, UTH and RA to listen to, and thus spent a considerable amount of time listening to their debut. That investment of time alone doesn’t increase the greatness of the album (it’s still at the bottom of album rankings for me), but it does possibly result in some of these tracks holding more meaning for me today than they should on the basis of quality alone.
I still put on the EP once-in-a-while, although admittedly it’s a fairly inconsistent album. I absolutely love three songs on the EP: Smalltown, Killing Time, and Cemetery Side Road. I would put Last American Exit and Highway Girl on the next rung down, leaving Evelyn, Werewolf and Surf Club at the bottom. Killing Time is the best representation on the album for the label they carried at that time of being a blues-based rock band (I think the best evidence overall of this is their version of Billy Boy Arnold’s “I Wish You Would” from the Copper Penny in ’85… they would have been a hell of blues band). KT deals with that time worn blues theme of hardship in personal relationships and is one of my favourite Hip tunes.
If I could change one thing about the Kingston show last year, it would be that they pulled out a couple of EP tunes in the encore, just to bring things full circle. I equate Smalltown with U2’s “I Will Follow”. It was the first step on the way to greatness. U2 hasn't forgotten that step (and still regularly plays their first hit) but the Hip seemingly had no interest in re-visiting their beginnings, which is a shame.
When I think about the EP, the question that plagues me is “Why these songs?” The Ken Greer demo tape from May 1986, a full 18 months before the December 1987 release of the EP, contains near fully developed versions of She Didn’t Know, When the Weight Comes Down, NOIS, and other great tracks like Rain, Hearts, Fires (which incidentally has the exact same drum ending as Smalltown) and Nuclear Bar-B-Q. Why didn’t any of these make the cut for the EP? Surely they would have been a step up from Evelyn and Werewolf.
The other thing I ponder is whether this album represents “Gord Sinclair’s Band”. Was he calling the shots for the band at this point in time? There is an interesting point in the Hippie Historian's interview with Rob Baker where Rob talks about the band deciding to credit all songs to The Tragically Hip, as opposed to the individual writers as was done on the EP. He says that in doing so it was Gord Sinclair that was giving up the most since he was the most natural and complete songwriter in the group at that time. If not band leader, it seems that at the very least Sinclair was the creative force in the band at the time of the EP release, maybe not ceding that title to Downie until a year or two later.
Gord Sinclair wrote the music and lyrics for the Hip's first two singles/hits, Smalltown Bringdown and Last American Exit. Together I believe these represent the songs with the greatest lyrical depth on an album where Downie was still finding his footing and hadn't yet honed his story-telling powers. The lyrical pool here is shallow and Downie’s “Werewolf” in particular almost seems to be a “joke” song. Surely he didn’t fight for inclusion of that tune on the EP based on its lyrical merits. That it’s on the album leaves me to believe that the EP would have fallen flat without Sinclair’s contributions.
Clarke, as you've pointed out, I believe the period in which one became a Hip fan colours perception of the EP. I can easily understand why someone who became a fan in the 2000’s (and I'm not referring specifically to you here, since you were earlier) has a lowly opinion of the EP; why would you want to spend much time with that album when you had six other great ones to listen to? However, I became a fan in 1991 so at that time I only had the EP, UTH and RA to listen to, and thus spent a considerable amount of time listening to their debut. That investment of time alone doesn’t increase the greatness of the album (it’s still at the bottom of album rankings for me), but it does possibly result in some of these tracks holding more meaning for me today than they should on the basis of quality alone.
I still put on the EP once-in-a-while, although admittedly it’s a fairly inconsistent album. I absolutely love three songs on the EP: Smalltown, Killing Time, and Cemetery Side Road. I would put Last American Exit and Highway Girl on the next rung down, leaving Evelyn, Werewolf and Surf Club at the bottom. Killing Time is the best representation on the album for the label they carried at that time of being a blues-based rock band (I think the best evidence overall of this is their version of Billy Boy Arnold’s “I Wish You Would” from the Copper Penny in ’85… they would have been a hell of blues band). KT deals with that time worn blues theme of hardship in personal relationships and is one of my favourite Hip tunes.
If I could change one thing about the Kingston show last year, it would be that they pulled out a couple of EP tunes in the encore, just to bring things full circle. I equate Smalltown with U2’s “I Will Follow”. It was the first step on the way to greatness. U2 hasn't forgotten that step (and still regularly plays their first hit) but the Hip seemingly had no interest in re-visiting their beginnings, which is a shame.