[direwolf74]

Considering that the Hip have been getting together lately to jam and write new songs (Paul said so himself), then yea, he's way off the mark with his comment about the band being done. I do agree that The Grand Bounce is a better album than the last two Hip efforts. There are some fantastic songs on both WC and WATS that can easily stand up to anything in their catalogue, but overall I'd say that both albums are pretty spotty in terms of songwriting and production. I think the next Hip album will be critical for them. In a recent interview, Downie mentioned that while he is proud of the albums they did with Bob Rock, he definitely wants a different approach for the next one. Here's the quote from the interview he did with Cross:

"Bob Rock would get a lot of credit for those last two records. And I agree with you, I think those are two of the best things we've ever done. And only because I was there for every minute of it and watched Bob and tried to support him and be enthusiastic about what he wanted. All he wanted was to make... he had to do what he did, to take the Hip and I don't know, make huge records or something, but I don't know, I'm getting off track. Bob Rock gets all the credit. But I think the next record will have to come from a different place, and it'll have to start with the songs, so I look forward to hearing from those guys and finding out what it is we want to do."

That right there tells me that the next Hip record will sound very different from the Bob Rock albums. Just a hunch.