[thecompletist]

Kinda funny, Another Midnight was always a strong favourite of mine for years... likely held the top spot for some time, but as more albums came out t may have slipped abit. I campaigned for that song back in the late 90's on the henhouse newsgroup, I remember I was beggin Rory or someone else who waited around for the band often to drop Sinclair the idea.

Is there even a bootleg from the 80's with a live version ? I'd love to hear it but am grateful for this live format here and Gord wrestling those teleprompters for us on songs like Direwolf, and others that are pretty dusty... I believe we have a better chance of an EP song before this all wraps up vs Another Midnight.

[spottrax]

Another Midnight is one of my top 3 songs on UTH. It's kind of an enigma where the band must simply not like it. There are a few others on the first two albums (not counting the EP) that never see the light of day live...but Another Midnight is the rarest of rare. I think that is kind of the appeal of it (being played live). I wonder if at any point, any tour the band did indeed rehearse it but never played it. Seemed like the 2009 theater tour would've been the best shot. The acoustic guitar vs cool electric pickin' part that Robbie plays is really tasty... it holds the rhythm in place. I believe that song (along with most of UTH) was recorded in Memphis at Ardent Studio. You can kind of feel a bit of Memphis in that song....IMO.

[NWOntario]

As a Who fan AND a Hip fan I'd be down with hearing the Hip play The Kids Are Alright :p

[Killer Whale Tank]

It's not that 'Another Midnight' is a bad song, and I agree that the band sounds good on it, but it's always seemed like a *generic* song to me, in that any number of good bands could have written and performed it. By contrast, NOIS, 'Opiated,' 'Blow,' '38 Years Old' etc. seem much more distinctive, arrows pointing to a unique act that has special talent. If everything on UTH had been like 'Another Midnight,' I might well have bought the album, but the Hip would ultimately have gone on the pile with groups like 'The Grapes of Wrath' or whatever - a band I'd eventually have forgotten about.

There's also a small problem of craftsmanship in the way the vocal has to emphasize 'mid-' - making no sense relative to the metre of the lyric. A minor matter, but that sort of thing bugs me.

However, I say all of this as a guy who - despite having listened UTH into the ground - doesn't really rate that record as fully-developed Downie. He's top-notch as a singer and performer, but his lyrical voice is still a work in progress at that stage, I feel. (Indeed, Downie has one of the most impressive development trajectories I know about, going from really nothing as a writer on the EP, to explosively promising on UTH, maturing into a spectacular lyrical voice on RA, and bringing it all together on FC - huge progress in 3 years, although admittedly performers like Dylan, The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, and maybe Kurt Cobain also showed very steep learning curves as writers).

[Moosehead]

well here's an article saying that the EP has some thoughtful lyrics and poetry. (At least hints of what was to come?)

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2016/08/07/how-the-tragically-hip-was-always-ahead-by-a-century.html">https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/m ... ntury.html</a><!-- m -->

[andrew sharpe]

Indeed, Downie has one of the most impressive development trajectories I know about, going from really nothing as a writer on the EP

This doesn't contradict you but it reminded me that I'm sure I remember reading that he didn't write all the lyrics on the self-titled EP. I think it was an interview I read one time where they were asked about the obvious gap between the first two albums and one of the members of the band said it was because they let GD take over all the lyric duties on UTH.

[direwolf74]

Indeed, Downie has one of the most impressive development trajectories I know about, going from really nothing as a writer on the EP

This doesn't contradict you but it reminded me that I'm sure I remember reading that he didn't write all the lyrics on the self-titled EP. I think it was an interview I read one time where they were asked about the obvious gap between the first two albums and one of the members of the band said it was because they let GD take over all the lyric duties on UTH.

Correct. The lyric writing was basically split between Sinclair and Downie on the EP, with Downie contributing Cemetery Sideroad, Killing Time, Werewolf Baby, and Highway Girl. Not sure who wrote All Canadian Surf Club though, as it's not listed in the credits.

[Moof_Milker]

My original copy of the E.P. was on cassette and I remember seeing those individual writing credits. Just checked on Wikipedia and it says Surf Club was written by Baker & Sinclair. It's worth noting too that Sinclair also wrote Get Back Again.

[potsie]

However, I say all of this as a guy who - despite having listened UTH into the ground - doesn't really rate that record as fully-developed Downie. He's top-notch as a singer and performer, but his lyrical voice is still a work in progress at that stage, I feel. (Indeed, Downie has one of the most impressive development trajectories I know about, going from really nothing as a writer on the EP, to explosively promising on UTH, maturing into a spectacular lyrical voice on RA, and bringing it all together on FC - huge progress in 3 years, although admittedly performers like Dylan, The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, and maybe Kurt Cobain also showed very steep learning curves as writers)

This is an observation I've also spent time contemplating. I believe the leap forward in songwriting from the EP to UTH is unparalleled in rock music. Some of the artists you've mentioned had a more linear growth. The Beatles had some well crafted early songs (for example "Please Please Me") and no doubt showed growth in craft and innovation in successive albums. But there isn't any one album jump in their catalogue which could be characterized as exponential growth, like the EP to UTH.

I was always under the impression that the lyrics for UTH were entirely crafted by Downie (all music and lyrics on the album are credited to TTH). However, I recently stumbled across an interview in which Rob Baker states that Downie announced to the band during the RA sessions that he would no longer sing lyrics written by others in the band. Baker is quoted as saying, "It was a bitter pill to swallow" as it "handcuffed the other songwriters in the band". This made me wonder whether in fact other band members had contributed to the lyric writing process on UTH and, if so, which songs were not written by GD. I've heard him talk about NOIS and how it was written about a trip that he and a few of his Vancouver buddies made to that city and I've also head him relate the story of 38 Years Old. But I've never seen heard him discuss the lyrics of any of the other songs on UTH (other than I think I recall him mentioning that "Blow at High Dough" was a saying of his grandmother). As late as February 1988 there was a Globe and Mail article on the Hip that labelled Gord Sinclair as the Hip's chief songwriter. Downie must have taken over that mantle somewhere between spring 1988 and when UTH was recorded in the spring of 1989. That was a period of unbelievable growth in his songwriting abilities.

[Killer Whale Tank]

I've never heard that about Gord issuing an ultimatum to the band like that. It seems very, very out of character with what we know (or think we know) about Gord, but then again, kids do weird things.

I'm not sure I agree about Gord's "exponential progression" being unparalleled in rock. The leap from 'Bob Dylan' to 'Freewheelin'' is pretty f**ing astonishing - the guy goes from Guthrie-styled folk covers to an album jam-packed with all-time classic originals in less than a year; only three years later he is revolutionizing rock music with surreal lyrics bolted to a rhythm and blues engine. I'm not sure that *anything* tops that. Indeed, Dylan's period from 1961-66 is probably the single most extraordinary (and important) creative super nova in the history of popular music. Gord isn't in that league IMHO. As for The Beatles, they go from writing affable pop in '62 to kicking the sonic doors down in '66 (Revolver), a musical blossoming way ahead of anything in the Hip's trajectory, although from a strictly lyrical perspective, Gord probably did travel further.

It's also hard to assess the speed of Gord's progression for just the reason you note, i.e., it's not too clear who wrote what until RA, when Gord is obviously front-and-centre as the songwriter. I agree there's a huge jump from the EP to UTH, but I also hear a fair amount of 'so-so' writing on UTH, which could either be Gord still finding his feet, or the other guys' work.