[quemortal]

I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts on the new album, so please post them here. Here is my song-by-song review (yes, I downloaded the album, but I'll be buying the CD Tuesday afternoon, I swear):

1. Into The Night - This is a beautiful little song which would have fit well on Coke Machine Glow. It's fairly simple, both lyrically and melodically, but Gord's cracked-voice crooning on the chorus really puts it over the top.

2. Figment - Out of all the songs Gord has written, both solo and with the Hip, this one makes my top five favourites list. I loved it the first time I heard it live on MuchMusic, but this version just blew me away. The horns were a great touch. My only complaint is that Gord didn't record the beautiful acoustic version as well (why not have Figment #1 and #2 as well as Pillform #1 and #2?)

3. Christmastime In Toronto - I didn't like the live version of this song all that much, and the album version didn't do much for me upon first listen, but it's grown on me considerably. Like many of Gord's songs, it's deceivingly catchy. Besides, I grew up in Toronto and I'm a sucker for streetcar references.

4. Willow Logic - This is one of my favourites, although I'm still in two minds about using a cellphone for the spoken word parts. I kind of wish they'd used a straight recording, because I really like the poem. The melody on the chorus is gorgeous.

5. Pascal's Submarine - Everyone seems to love this song, so it was probably a good choice for the first single, although it hasn't grabbed me quite as much as Figment. The harmonica parts annoy me a little, but that aside, it's catchy as hell.

6. 11th Fret - This was the first song on the album that I could easily imagine Gord recording with the Hip. Quite catchy, and I love the lyrics now that I actually know what they are.

7. Who By Rote - The spoken word part is actually rather catchy (although it would have helped to repeat the "chorus" more than once), but it is a little frustrating to sit through a minute and a half of feedback on a 37-minute album. Next time, Gord, give us another ten or fifteen minutes of music and we'll gladly listen to a few minutes of snow shovels and feedback.

8. Steeplechase - This one has grown on me a little, but it's not one of my favourites. It feels like it's building up to something and never delivers. The Ace Bailey clip is rather creepy.

9. More Me Less You - Upon first listen, I felt the same way about this one as I did about Steeplechase, but MMLY has really grown on me. I suspect this song was influenced by Royal City, a great band from Guelph that Gord is apparently a big fan of, as well as Julie Doiron herself. Unfortunately, the subject matter is a little hard to take at the moment, as my girlfriend and I are breaking up...

10. We're Hardcore - This is a fun little song, probably as close to punk as Gord will ever get, but I'm mildly disappointed with the album version. I actually think this one may have been better suited for the Hip.

11. Pillform #2 - This is one of my favourites. Laid-back, breezy and beautiful, not unlike Chancellor on CMG. The "wishing it down into pillform" chorus is one of the most memorable hooks on the album, even though it's only used once.

12. Pillform #1 - I much prefer the second version, and as with Who By Rote, I have to question the inclusion of this song on a 37-minute album, but what can you do?

All in all, a big thumbs up. If only it were longer! :thumb:

[grooveless touque]

Well, I didn't download it in advance. Unfortunately, I went out and put down $18.32, taxes included, on this album at HMV. On first listen, I wanted to think of the album as absolutely god-awful, but after four or five repeated listens a few of the songs grew on me. However, I HIGHLY encourage anyone to download some songs before buying - I don't consider it a totally wasted twenty bucks, but I guarantee that I wouldn't have bought it if I'd known was I was getting.

Basically, the album is very DIFFERENT, but not in a good way. I think more than half the songs sound like Coke Machine Glow rejects, re-recorded. I am not too pleased with the extremely unconventional feel of the record. It's definitely an art record, but it feels like that conceptual art that people like because it's expected of them. Once you get into the individual songs, the blueprint starts to look less impressive.

The album gets off to a fantastic start with Into the Night, which echoes some of the most interesting songs on Coke Machine Glow (that album I still consider brilliant). I was enchanted by this short but beautiful song, very reminiscient also of the quieter moments like Throwing Off Glass from the last Hip album. Much more acoustic, though.

BOTN then kicks into high gear with the FANTASTIC 'Figment'. I love the arrangement, love the lyrics, love the crunching power sound. At this point I had very high expectations for the rest of the record, but alas, it's pretty much all downhill from here.

Christmastime in Toronto would be filler on a 60-minute album like Coke Machine Glow, but here every song MUST stand on its own strength. This one ultimately does not. It's one of the songs which sounds and feels like it has great potential, but never realises it. It's a very big disappointment, but luckily I heard the live version first so I wasn't expecting much...and boy, that's what I got.

Willow Logic just irritates me. It's a fantastic poem - the lyrics to virtually all of these songs are - but as a song it just doesn't work. The vocals grate on my nerves and the layered arrangement really doesn't work. At this point, it occurred to that for 3 out of the 4 songs so far, it really sounds like Gord is singing for a different song. I'm not kidding - the vocals and the music really don't mix well together on most of this album.

Pascal's Submarine - this was the first time I heard it, hadn't heard it as a single. It's a good song, good to sing along with, but I think I'll get tired of it. It's bouncy and "different" in a positive sense, but it leaves something to be desired. I don't know, it just doesn't feel like a whole song. All in all, not bad...

11th Fret starts off sounding like it's going to be great, but I find it descends into boring mediocrity rather fast. It sounds like it belongs on CMG, but it's not really reminiscent of the better songs. Another one that could exist on a long album, but really doesn't bring much to the table on this one. The poem/lyrics are great, though, so it isn't a complete waste of time.

As for Who By Rote, well...by now I was starting to doubt the wisdom of buying the album without listening to it. This song is just plain awful, there's no getting around it. Yes, it might sound all experimental, but only in the same way as those foreign films you really don't understand.

Steeplechase is a good song. Not first-rate, but relative to the rest of this album, I like it fairly well as it is. I thought the hockey clip at the end was weird, but somehow it seems to fit. A little too quiet, mayb,e but the song is OK. I bet this song would have been a perfect 10 in the CMG sessions, too bad it didn't come along then. A folkier version, as you would expect from that album, would have given it a lot of what it's missing.

Now the pit of the album is at its deepest. Just as Steeplechase was making it seem like Who By Rote was a fluke, More Me Less You comes along. It's really unnecessary - I don't like it AT ALL. Even after repeated listens, I cannot imagine this song growing on me.

We're Hardcore - this is just garbage. I mean really horrible, inexcusable garbage. I haven't been so disappointed with a GD song since...well, the one before it. But this is worse, much worse. I actually liked it the first time I heard it, but it's long since lost my interest, and I've only had the album for a day! It's a minute and a half of bizarre noise and yelling.

Pillform #2 FINALLY restores some of my confidence in Gord. Although it is much too little, much too late...it is a very good song. Again, way way way too short but hey, most of the songs are. The only bad thing is most of the crap on the record could have been ditched to make room for more of this. I really enjoy the song, and its lyrics are beautiful.

Pillform #1 - sigh. Well, a fitting end for this album I suppose. More artrock-grunge-noise. This is just depressingly unnecessary. Show much and my $20 some respect, Gord...this is the worst bit of filler on the album. At a minute and a half, its only blessing is it's real short.

All in all, I give this album a 3 out of 10. That's up from first listen, when I would have given it a 1, but it's not hard to tell that 3 is as high as it's going. There are AT MOST 4 out of 12 songs that are actually worth owning, and putting up with the other eight is just not worth the purchase price. Quite frankly, THIS IS NO COKE MACHINE GLOW. Borrow a friend's copy, if they were foolish enough to buy one, or download it and listen before buying. Even with an open mind and a love of Gord's music, it's impossible to enjoy this album in its entirety. It's not essential.

[das_hips]

I would have to disagree with lightonthewater on this one. I personally like this album better than Coke Machine Glow except for a couple of things.
- It is really short, I put it in the car CD player and by the time I had gotten
a coffee and gotten home it was over. Kind of weird actually.
- Gords vocals are too quiet on a lot of the tracks.
Besides that though, its more of the experimentational album I can relate too. Some of the songs are just un-dry driving rock licks, the kind of thing I can get into. Into the Night and ChristmasTime in Toronto take the cake for the albums best songs. I'm not a big fan of slow sappy songs, so I persoanlly dislike Willow Logic and More Me Less You, but both pillforms are equally powerful. Figment and We're hardcore are just fun songs. Then theres Who by Rote. Well, being a big Pearl Jam fan, I am used to that one song that is just confusing, if not irritating, but I can get used to it. It kind of sounds like a scene from the X-Files. Besides that though, I'm glad I bought it, It'll get lots of play in my CD player, but I'll have to take another CD for that 45 minute bus ride.

[CanuckCourage]

I just finished listening to it and I like it alot , 1 listen and I seriously think it's a great album . Like das hips I enjoy the experimentality in it . A refreshing break from albums which have the same sound to most of their songs . (not referring to hip) A well spent $13.79 . :thumb:

[ron]

Well i have to say i really enjoy this cd. it is a refreshing change from all the crap that is being pushed down our throats eveyday on radio

i don't have a favorite i like them all

:thumb:

Ron

now i can't wait to see him live in buffalo



also why couldn't of my friends band be playing nxne this year so i could see gord .

[Summiteer]

Hello, For me BOTN has seeped onto my bloodwork rather easily, but like alot of fans, I also feel that it's rather short but thats just the way some albums are I guess. I really love Christmas Time In Toronto, Figment, I love the subtlety of steeplechase, the sound coming down. My overall opinion is it's pretty dam good listen :thumb:

[grooveless touque]

God help me, I'm wavering from my conclusions...it's only been a couple of days, but already I have begun to like a couple of the songs I didn't. I am prepared to, at this point, give the album a 5 out of 10. I still don't think it met my expectations, and I much prefer CMG, but it doesn't deserve a 3. Still, too many of the songs sound like filler and I really don't care for the vocals on half of them so I can't go higher than 5. Final conclusion....5 out of 10. Worth owning for what's brilliant but not brilliant as a whole.

[Jasper]

Well, I just picked it up tonight.. I've already heard most of the tracks on mp3, and, like Coke Machine, I didn't 'love' it right away - but Coke Machine definitely became one of my favourite albums after a few more listens. I can already feel this one growing on me... it is very fresh, something Gord and the Hip are *always* able to do with every album.

My CD came with 2 (of the same) booklets inside; did anyone else's?

[sherpahigh]

I was finally able to pick up the disc friday on my way home from work. I put it in the changer when I got home and gave it a listen all the way through for the first time. It didn't really do it for me on the first listen though. It stayed in the changer all weekend and has slowly grown on me. That's a good thing for me though. Usually all the "great" albums I have don't really grab me the first few listens and slowly start growing on me the more I listen.

So that's a thumbs up on BOTN from me. :thumb:

rw

[mats]

HMMM, I just don't know.
I still can't make up my mind on this one. I guess I had the same
reaction to CMG, and though I came around to that album, it has been a long time since I have listened to it.

Overall, I think Gord could do a lot better, I think he takes the "experimenting" and the "artsy" thing a little to far. I know a lot of you out there like this kind of stuff, but personally I am into rockin", movin" kinds of tunes that get me going, and I can groove along with...hmmm, kind of like The Hip...

I also think songs like Blond Solid, Past, and Freaked etc. should be layed down, with a bit of a beat and some energy, and then see what happens.

But the one thing I know for sure...the songs sound a hell of a lot better live at Lee's Palace than they do on the record. Very nice.

Mats.

[Zoo Lion]

"Coke" was a tremendous, and tremendously underrated, record. BOTN doesn't match it for versatility or richness, but it's still a good record, just too short. I don't know why people are complaining about the "artiness" of it---the only tune that might be too self-consciously arty is "Steeplechase"---but then, I'm a big Tom Waits fan. Really, though, there's nothing revolutionary about using horns, harmonica, etc..

BOTN definitely carries Downie's solo evolution forward, capturing him rocking more fiercely in studio than he's done with The Hip for a while, on "Figment." Stuff like "Hardcore" and "Pascal" are lots of fun, with a freedom absent from the more polished Hip recordings. For me, the big missteps here are "Christmastime in Toronto" and "11th Fret." The former just isn't well-written enough; its hook is a bore. The latter is just a formless racket, although it DOES reek pungently of dope, which is no doubt part of the intent. With those two songs being flops, the album lacks the centre it needs---yer left with about 25 minutes of good material, maybe 15 minutes of splendid stuff, and that's counting two versions of the same song ("Pillform").

So, I'd conclude that Downie successfully builds on the eclectic and spontaneous musical identity he carved out in "Glow" but, uncharacteristically, doesn't quite give full value for dollar here. If you forget about the length, though, it's a good CD---maybe 8/10, and in terms of Gord's wider output, leagues ahead of "Music@Work" and other weaker Hip moments.

[beanmedic]

Music@Work is a weaker Hip moment? cratch:

[Zoo Lion]

The SONG "Muisc@work" is great. The album is a lot of painful mud, intolerable, really. Their worst piece of work.

[dyersbay]

All though this is my least favorite album, I think there are a few great songs on it...music @ work, lake fever, and stay I love... not to mention tiger the lion.

[Zoo Lion]

We're off topic, but what the hey...sure, there's good songs on that CD. I like "Sharks," "Train Overnight" and "The Bear," among others. But there are just too many plodding, tuneless and painfully "studio" numbers on that record. Play that record all the way through, ya get a headache!