[edgoffin]

Album #11, second one with Bob Rock at the helm -- first time since PP and M@W that the band worked with the same producer for concurrent albums. Also a return to The Bathhouse.

Morning Moon
Honey, Please
The Last Recluse
Coffee Girl
Now the Struggle Has a Name
The Depression Suite
The Exact Feeling
Queen of the Furrows
Speed River
Frozen in My Tracks
Love Is a First
Country Day

Plus:
Hush
Skeleton Park

My guess is this album thoughts and insights plays out like WC, where you generally love it or hate it. I usually veer to the second side, until I really listen to the album and recognize it's much better than I give it credit for. I maybe prefer WC, and Rock goes full Rock a few too many times, but there are some really great songs here.

And despite not being my favorite album, I loved these shows. It was great to see multiple nights in a small venue, the band broke out some deeper tracks, Gord broke the fourth wall and was in the crowd. Personal highlight was a show at the Ottawa NAC, first row in front of Paul and Gord coming down and giving my wife a hankie...which I now have (I guess my highlight was actually my wife's...). Jim Bryson was a nice addition, and he has some good stories about touring with the band, including Gord explaining how to sneak into the gold floor at Fairmount's for the free breakfast.

I remember Morning Moon being released, I think it was posted on their site, and listening to it about 10 times in a row. Loved it with its acoustic intro, doubled vocals, and really nice chunky Paul riff that runs though the tune, some slide guitar. Still really like the song.

Has a lot of expectation that was not initially met by the rest of the album, but it's grown on me. This is also maybe the one album that sounds considerably better on vinyl versus CD. While Rock's production benefits some songs, like Morning Moon, I think it overwhelms others. Honey, Please just feels like a packed suitcase of a song.

The other major highlight for me in Last Recluse -- again the production works, and I like that mournful accordion that runs through portions of the song. Glad to have seen this live with Gord out singing in the audience.

Coffee Girl...I'm seeing a every second song pattern here...again just so much going on. I do like the reference to Cat Power and classic Beck, but the production sheen throws me off.

NTSHAN is I think full Bob Rock bloat. As a song it just feels a bit long to me, but credit to Gord for starting to raise awareness for what was going on in the native community and residential schooling and his more impactful work on this subject was to come.

The Depression Suite -- I do like this set of compositions, and again Rock's production flourishes seems to work here or the song overcomes the bloat (though it's neat to listen to the Skydiggers stripped down version of The Rock).

The Exact Feeling -- I've come around to this song in recent years (despite Rock breaking out to the Slippery When Wet talk box guitar tone). I do like the sentiment of "hey bartender one more of these" and Gord hits a throaty "exact feeling" at about 2:10 that takes me back and a cool "huh" at 2:30. The song gets a bit repetitive, but I don't mind it.

Queen of the Furrows -- sort of like a later day Apartment Song. Lyrically, not quite sure what's going on here -- ah well, can't hit a home run every time. It's too bad, because the band it kicking some butt on the track (check out the solo).

Speed River -- just feels like a bit more of the same for me, and I think maybe the issue with the album -- not a lot to separate these past three songs.

Frozen in My Tracks is way cooler than I ever give it credit for, maybe a bit of a forgotten track because I start drifting away with the past three tracks. Cool gang vocal background, cymbal crashes. Lyrically, it's a pretty sad song that maybe preludes a bit of what was to come in Gord's personal life, and what he alluded to in his last interview with Mansbridge (if I take a first person approach).

Love is a First -- again a song that grew on my, though live it brought out the yelling Gord most times that I saw it.

Country Day -- good bookend close to the album that seems to compliment Morning Moon. Again, would like to strip away from of the Rock flourishes, but Gord's delivery at 1:37 kicks ass.

The bonus track. Hush always seems like it was a better fit for a Gord solo album, but I would have swapped out any of Coffee Girl, Speed River, Queen for Skeleton Park. Curious why it was relegated to bonus B side, where I would have maybe made it a single.

[fingernailsonhull]

I neither love nor hate it. There are some wonderful songs on here. There are some real clunkers too. I have some sentimental connection to this album. It came out about four months after my daughter, our first child, was born. I would sing The Rock to her a lot and it would make her smile.

Morning Moon, The Last Recluse, and The Depression Suite are the best songs on the album. MM is a perfect little Hip song. The Last Recluse is beautiful and compelling on the album. I don't think it ever translated well live. The Depression Suite is perfect. I don't know if they intended it this way -- but The Rock is about psychological depression, NewOrleansWorld is about meteorological depression (ie a weather event of low pressure causing heavy rain), and Don't You Wanna See How It Ends is about economic depression or escaping it in the oil sands. The Rock, in particular, is a beautiful piece of songwriting.

Coffee Girl, Love is a First, and Country Day are the next level down for me. I like the groove on Coffee Girl, but the song never gets more interesting than that. I used to love Love is a First. But the spoken word parts do not hold up well over time. In fact, they're egregious. It kills the song live. Only the kickass chorus saves it. Country Day is good. It feels like a Hip song. It just never gets there.

I can take or leave Honey, Please, The Exact Feeling, Queen of the Furrows, Speed River, and Frozen in My Tracks. I know I'm supposed to love Frozen. But the waaaaa-ooohs. Man, I don't know. They don't do it for me. Honey Please is a nice little tune but it doesn't quite do it for me.

Now The Struggle Has a Name took an important topic and turned it into a horror show of cheesy guitars, lacking any real melody. I hate it. I skip it every time.

[andrew sharpe]

Definitely in my bottom third but, like ed, I still enjoy listening to it. I'm hoping I'll warm to it in time.

I hadn't heard the phrase "morning moon" before and now think of the song every time I see one. I also think of the "someone's paying" line every time I see a crazy sale. And of course "you don't just blurt 'love is a curse'".

The solution to every less than perfect Hip album is the same: more Sinclair.

[direwolf74]

My least favorite Hip album, not counting the EP. Like it's predecessor, there are some wonderful songs on this record (Morning Moon, Coffee Girl, Last Recluse, Depression Suite, Country Day), but also a handful of stinkers.

There are some cool moments sprinkled throughout, like Robby's smokin' guitar solo on Queen of the Furrows and the beautiful slide guitar in Honey Please. But those moments are rare. I appreciate the sentiment of Gord's lyrics for Now the Struggle Has a Name, but musically the song is slathered in the usual Bob Rock bloat, which unfortunately robs the song of it's lyrical power and turns it into a boring, wimpy dud.

All that being said, the good moments on this album are pretty damn solid. Morning Moon and The Last Recluse are two of their greatest compositions that can proudly stand alongside their best work.

I didn't like Coffee Girl when the record first came out, but it's really grown on me over the years. A simple, lovely little pop song. The trumpet adds a nice touch as well.

Depression Suite is easily the most ambitious thing they've ever attempted, and I think they pulled it off nicely. It's one of the only songs on the album where Rock's extra flourishes actually accentuate the song and raise it to another level. When they did this song live, it was absolutely brilliant.

Country Day is just a great tune with fantastic lyrics, and Gord sings it beautifully. Love Robby's pedal steel as well. And that bridge is pure magic.

Last but not least, I have to mention how much I love the b-side Skeleton Park. The fact that this song was left on the cutting room floor in favor of duds like The Exact Feeling and Speed River is a travesty.

[mark]

i have a hard time expressing my utter disgust for this album. the sole bright spot is Morning Moon, which i absolutely love.

in the IVL discussion thread, i said that i didn't care for it but took the time to go back and listen to it again. my realization was that wasn't nearly as bad as i remember it. knowing that this thread was coming up, i went back and listened to this album again. or rather, i attempted to listen to it again. i just can't do it. i had to force myself to listen to it, and that was it. i'm never going back.

this album was the start of my declining interest in the Hip. i didn't see any shows on this tour (and would never see them again, as it turns out) and i don't remember if it is because i disliked the album so much or if they didn't play in atlantic canada. either way, let's just shut down this thread and move on to NFPA. :lol:

[edgoffin]

I should have added, even with my more favorable view on the album years after its release, I still put it at the bottom of my list.

Ahead of the EP, but changing bottom spot with M@W depending on my mood. Both of those albums are very similar for me. Some really great songs, some I've grown to appreciate if for anything their ambition, some clunkers, and some I have to really think hard to recall a tune or line of lyrics. Then weirdly, both had memorable tours.

This also feels like a really long album, maybe their longest (I don't have the album in front of me). In a separate thread there's an REM comparison. If I were to compare the cannons, this is the Hip's Around the Sun (though not nearly as bad as that steaming mess). Both bands then came back with much tighter, concise albums to close their recording careers (sucks to write that).

[direwolf74]

i didn't see any shows on this tour (and would never see them again, as it turns out) and i don't remember if it is because i disliked the album so much or if they didn't play in atlantic canada.

That's a shame. You missed arguably one of their best tours ever. Amazing setlists, brilliant performances, and Gord was at the top of his game. This was still before the "screamo Gord" years, and his singing was fantastic on this tour. For example:

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[kieffer]

While I'm impartial to the artwork on this album, I feel it is the worst named album in their discography - it just screams 'lame' to me.

I place this album near the bottom of my rankings, not because I hate it, but because I honestly don't know what to make of it.

As edgoffin mentioned, the tour that supported this album was nothing short of incredible, the smaller venues, multiple nights, going deep in the catalog and the acoustic sets made every show incredibly exciting. I think I caught 5 or 6 shows on the tour including 3 nights in a row in Kitchener to open the tour. I saw so many rarities over those nights and Gord was at the top of his game.

The songs I'd list as tops on the album are Morning Moon, Depression, Queen, Frozen and Love

I'm surprised hearing how many people enjoy coffee girl, lyrically, it hurts my ears.

Generally, I think there are great foundations in each of these songs, but the direction the band/rock went with them just doesn't do it for me. I think that each song sounded much better live. I greatly look forward to reading everyone's thoughts on this album.

[cochise]

As we progress through the discography, I am finding it a bit harder to write a review. I can't lie, by the time WATS came out, my undying love for the Hip was starting to wane. I still loved them as a live act, and was there to buy the CD as soon as the stores opened, but I wasn't finding myself "connecting" with the music as much as I did in the past. Did I change? Did they change? Probably a bit of both?

That being said, there were a couple songs that I did like, particularly seeing them brought to life in concert. Queen of The Furrows is a real sleeper at first, but when it kicks in, its an altogether different song, one of the better solos laid down by Rob in a long while. The Depression Suite has a great "Sunday afternoon drive" mellowness to it. Love is A first is a song I really wanted to like, but just seems to miss its mark.

The tour did help keep my love for them alive though. There were some fantastic shows and seeing Gord so interactive with the crowd was something quite new to behold.

All in all, a CD that rarely makes it into rotation, and even when it does pop up while my iPod is on shuffle, its hard not to hit "next"

[mark]

i didn't see any shows on this tour (and would never see them again, as it turns out) and i don't remember if it is because i disliked the album so much or if they didn't play in atlantic canada.

That's a shame. You missed arguably one of their best tours ever. Amazing setlists, brilliant performances, and Gord was at the top of his game. This was still before the "screamo Gord" years, and his singing was fantastic on this tour. For example:

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this was the theatre tour they did, right? i think they completely ignored anything east of quebec except a single show in Newfoundland

[sean.bonner]

this was the theatre tour they did, right? i think they completely ignored anything east of quebec except a single show in Newfoundland

They had to cancel a scheduled Halifax show due to personal emergency.

[Tthip]

Love is A first is a song I really wanted to like, but just seems to miss its mark.

Does not always miss its mark.

[youtube]Izd8dDAVKDY[/youtube]

[Killer Whale Tank]

The tour was phenomenal. I was front row centre at one of the Van shows. Gord fell off the stage at one point, landing right in front of my wife. She helped him up and he thanked her, and she told me he had a nice ass. :what She also claimed he looked repeatedly at me, grinning, when I'd be listening transported with my eyes closed. I like to think he saw 'a face so full of meaning...' etc. Anyway, he was unbelievable on that tour - a dancing fiend playing insane games with those handkerchiefs.

Anyway. WATS. Sonically, a huge improvement on the grotesque WC, because of this cardinal fact: Rock's production style works much better with acoustic and pop-inflected compositions than it does with rock music. In fact, sonically the first four songs represent some new and attractive terrain for the band. The exquisite 'Morning Moon' (one of my favourite Hip songs), the should-be-rated-a-classic 'Last Recluse,' and the toe-tappingly incisive 'Coffee Girl' all sound great in ways the band had not really done before. 'Honey Please' also has a nice, Ron Sexmith vibe going on. The issue with that song is less the production are more that it's just not that great a song, period. But the falsetto is fun and the coda - 'the stars of the county' with Rob's slide guitar - is just wonderful.

After that, things become very uneven. 'Queen' becomes a grotesque and tasteless monstrosity the minute it turns electric (God, that is unlistenable, and also makes zero sense given the bucolic, rural lyrical themes - Rock is such a damned idiot), and 'Struggle' is just that. The other cuts are merely OK until we hit 'Country Day,' where the strings arguably add appeal rather than interfere with the song, and close things out very agreeably. I love the 'Are you going through something' portion, but the other six minutes of 'Depression Suite' are a waste of time. Speed River, Frozen, Love is a First...meh. (I like 'Exact Feeling', though; good, witty lyrics).

By and large I feel that the production mostly does the songs justice, for what they are; the problem is that many of them really aren't top-shelf Hip compositions. That said, I also think that the reason many Hip fans dislike this record is that it's not a kickass rock record. But I don't think that was ever really the intent. Indeed, I'd have liked it a lot more had they made a straight pop/acoustic record and not tried to go all kick-ass at certain points, which Rock is almost guaranteed to flub.

So I see this record as being a lot like TATHH: starts well then rather goes off the rails in the second half.

[gsmacleod]

I love much of this album; in part because of when it was released my wife was pregnant with our first, we were in the process of selling our first house and buying our new house and during this time, the CD lived in my car player. Probably at least three months I listened to this every time I was in the car.

I don't love this the same way I love some other albums, and if pushed would certainly put it in my bottom third but there's so much here that I have loved from the first listen.

My favourite on first spin was The Depression Suite and this song has captivated me ever since that first spin. Was so excited for the chance to hear it when they came to Halifax but then they had to cancel the show and I ended up never hearing anything from this album live.

Like many, I think the first half of the album and Country Day are the strongest parts of the album but I enjoy the second half and never feel myself reaching to skip anything.

I think that since I listened to this so many times, so of the less catchy songs just grew on me; not my favourite album but the songs are familiar and always put me back into the time of getting ready to welcome our first child.

Shane

[potsie]

Medal ceremony for "We Are the Same":

Gold medals:
Morning Moon
The Last Recluse
The Depression Suite

Silver Medals:
Love is a First
Coffee Girl

Bronze Medals:
Country Day
Honey, Please
Frozen

Participation ribbons:
Speed River
Queen of the Furrows

Elizabeth Swaney Awards:
Struggle
Exact Feeling