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I still can't decide what to vote for; with the earlier albums, I had some struggle as we got toward the top but with this one, I've been struggling from the beginning.
Not sure what it is either; this isn't my favourite album and when it first came out it took me a while to warm up to it. However, it has grown on me a lot of several of these songs are ones I play everytime I pick up a guitar. This is really strange for me as I figured I would have had this dilemma with earlier albums like Day for Night or Phantom Power.
I'm going to spin the CD again; maybe my choice will become apparent then...
Shane
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This is a weird album when it comes to the weakest link, though we all know Dire Wolf is the foregone winner. It's like wrestling, the good guy is going to win at the end, but there has to be some upsets early (like Silver Jet voted out in round 1). Are You Ready was a pretty easy vote for me, likely their weakest album opener. Otherwise, a lot of songs that I have grown to really appreciate over time.
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edgoffin Wrote:This is a weird album when it comes to the weakest link, though we all know Dire Wolf is the foregone winner. It's like wrestling, the good guy is going to win at the end, but there has to be some upsets early (like Silver Jet voted out in round 1). Are You Ready was a pretty easy vote for me, likely their weakest album opener. Otherwise, a lot of songs that I have grown to really appreciate over time.
The Dire Wolf may be your clear winner, but it's not even top 5 on the album for me.
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Use It Up is dismally mediocre, and to follow up the disastrous 'Are You Ready' with this dreary number is possibly the single worst act of sequencing in the Hip's discography.
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Use it up 13
Throwing off glass, Leave, Beautiful thing all tied at 10
Closest round I can recall.
Throwing off glass is the most beautiful of those things, so I hope it doesn't leave.
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It saddens me to see so many votes for Throwing Off Glass. Such a beautiful song.
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direwolf74 Wrote:It saddens me to see so many votes for Throwing Off Glass. Such a beautiful song.
Isn't it exquisite?
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Like I said in another thread, I believe the basic sonic problem with this album is that the bass-end is buried in the mix. Any production team that does not play up GS's contributions needs its head examined, yet that is what happens here, to great cost. And Gord's thinning voice is pushed up in the mix in a way that is also unfortunate. Whether IVL sounds better on vinyl, I don't know (or care, since I'm not about to invest in a hi-fi system).
'Throwing Off Glass' has a lot going for it - it's very well sung - but it's also a very fragile lyrical construction; unlike many rock songs, it's unforgiving of weak lines or dubious word choices. In this context, the word 'barbarous' (as in 'barbarous threats') always bothered me. I don't see this as a phrase apt to surface in the conversation it documents - it's much too contrived and 'writerly' - and so becomes a sort of 'author intrusion,' diminishing the verisimilitude of the exchange. And a certain preciousness creeps in when a song is filled with 'barabarous threats,' 'stub-toe effects,' 'irridescent,' 'exquisite.' The redundancy of 'barbarous' magnifies this danger needlessly. Had he just sung 'it has its...threats' it would have been much more effective. Sure, it's a small point, but the flaw really compromises my enjoyment of the song. GD was still in recovery from the precocious, 'thesaurus writing' mode of M@W and unfortunately it resurfaces in this case.
But hey, I don't mind the tune as a whole, and voted against 'Use It Up' on this round. As Neil Young says in a different context, it's a piece! of! crap! :mrgreen:
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I know that they have their detractors, but IMO A Beautiful Thing and The Darkest One are pretty great.
And I think Leave and Throwing Off Glass are quite lovely too. Though I agree with the thesaurus point.
