Undoubtedly, there are plenty of Canadian musical acts that have achieved considerably higher levels of fame and international recognition. Rush, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell... and then to be more modern... Drake, The Weeknd, Shania Twain, Arcade Fire, Justin Bieber... just a few off the top of my head. Your particular mileage will likely (and rightfully) vary on those names, as indeed it may with the Tragically Hip. However, despite (or maybe because of) never climbing to the levels of household name status as those other artists... it is hard to deny the Hip are the most iconically Canadian band that we have ever seen.
Between Gord Downie's consistent passionate references to Canadian mythos, or his seeming endless treasure chest of obscure small towns and places, combined with an underrated band (their dual guiat attack is mighty distinctive) and that lack of a true international breakout... well, the Tragically Hip always felt like a secret national treasure. Something you just had to be Canadian to be "in" on. Sure, they toured in the United States and Europe plenty and even performed on Saturday Night Live (fittingly introduced by Dan Akroyd, who vouched for them)... but even at their highest they never came close to losing that uniquely Canadian-ness (totally a word) about them. What is that, exactly? Hard to describe I suppose.
Defining The Tragically Hip musically? Beyond saying "rock", it's perhaps even harder to describe. The early records are drenched in a style of bar room blues, folk-ish twang rock (the kind of stuff you slap a wooden bartop to)... while their later output veers into more spacious modern indie/alternative rock. Aside from Downie's lyrics growing more abstract beyond the first few records... no real sudden or deliberate changes in direction really exist. The evolution was gradual, but notable nevertheless.
All of their albums have this unmistakably "it's The Hip" sound, which to boil down at its most basic: drifting, interweaving guitars, and Gord Downie's distinctive vocals and free-form delivery. Every record they ever made has a degree of this element: some far too much, some not enough, some where they try too hard at it, and others where it flows as naturally as the Humber River.
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As is well known, The Tragically Hip formed in 1984 in Kingston, Ontario. Guitarist Rob Baker and bassist Gord Sinclair had played in bands together at Kingston Collegiate high school (one of them, The Rodents, is referenced in the music video for "Poets"). Downie was the frontman in a rival band that once even faced off against The Rodents in a battle of the bands/talent show type of competition. Clearly there were no hard feelings, as along with drummer Johnny Fay and saxophonist Davis Manning, they all joined forces to form The Tragically Hip... getting the name from a skit in the Michael Nesmith film "Elephant Parts". Yes, that's right... arguably the greatest Canadian rock band of all time have a direct referential connection to a Monkee.
In 1986 the group (Downie having now graduated Queens University) decided to get serious at this rock and roll thing. Another guitarist and friend of the group, Paul Langlois, joined around this time, while Davis Manning and his sax departed. The lineup of Downie, Baker, Sinclair, Langlois and Fay would last the remaining three decades of the band's existence.
Initially they mostly played covers of songs "we wanted to hear played at bars" consisting heavily of Rolling Stones and a smattering of other artists. The group began slowly working on original material but many of the owners of the local bars where they performed weren't interested in that stuff... so often times to try out their material live they would fib, telling the crowd something like "this number is a rare track on an unreleased Doors album."
The band grinded it out on the road for a time, making long drives throughout spacious Ontario and cramming in as many gigs as they could play. Through this they eventually they met Ken Greer of Red Rider, who would later produce their first EP, and meanwhile also caught the attention of MCA Records president Bruce Dickinson at a gig while playing the Horseshoe Tavern in downtown Toronto. The self-titled EP was released in 1987 to modest attention, and the band kept working throughout that year... playing a self-estimated 200 shows between January and September of 1988 to promote it. Of course, it would be their second release that would really capture the ears of many, many more.
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This is a difficult band to differentiate certain albums from one another... at their weakest (regardless of era) a lot of their songs can sound rather samey and as such I'm not going to grade any of these records. (I'll still rank them, of course).
The Tragically Hip released thirteen studio length albums in their three decade-plus run, which is some sizable output... but just for fun and completions sake I'm going to include the two EPs on here as well. I think the self-titled debut is an important record to look at in terms of their origins and quick evolution, while their other EP (a collection of previously long lost tracks which also is their most recent release) works as a curious historical artifact in itself.
Anyhow, lets get into it. No need to twist my arm.
#15. The Tragically Hip EP (1987)
Alas, The Hip's first outing is also their weakest. I've always liked "Last American Exit" quite a lot: there's a lot of that small town heart and soul that is so synonymous with early Hip, and "Highway Girl" is an okay rocker (one the band liked to play live a lot far beyond these beginnings). But I've never much cared for "Small Town Bringdown" despite it being their first hit, and the rest of the material doesn't leave much. The youthful rawness only charms so far when the songs are simply whatever. It's not 'bad' by any means, sure ("Last American Exit" is legit really good), but as a full listen it leaves no impression and is not one I'm eager to revisit. On their final Long Time Running tour, this was the only release they did not play a song from.
Side note: "Evelyn" is considered by the band the first original song they ever wrote.
#14. We Are The Same (2009)
Music history is filled with plenty of examples of records that are over-produced within an inch of their lives (one of Phil Spector's many, although lesser, sins).
Hey, while it's not close to the Beatles best, at least Let It Be has a few really good songs. We Are The Same? Hoo boy. Even if you ditch the gross sleekness of it (it plays more like a product than a record... the bombastic strings and forced country-twang on these tracks become quickly unbearable)... this is one weak-ass collection of Hip tunes. Only two songs (one amazing and one merely good) save it from the bottom of the list. Even then... the debut EP is just kind of a harmless nothing. I genuinely dislike this album significantly.
I bought it back in 2009 (on CD) when it came out and initially even then didn't care for it. Hell... I stopped following them for a time altogether (this would be the last Hip record I ever sought out as it came out... lucky me). Same is an overbearing, overproduced work... the only time The Hip veered into pretentiousness (impressive, considering how intentionally abstract Gord Downie could be). On the dials they brought back experienced producer Bob Rock (he'd also produced World Container) and while that album has similar issues, they at least focus on some crunchy guitars. Here? There's a weird hammy seriousness and it just doesn't work at all.
With delicate exception, The Hip are usually at their best when they're grounded and sounding like their distinctive selves. They were a sneaky versatile band all around and so that distinctiveness has many dimensions... but on this particular record the unfortunate veering into glossy, radio friendly sheen completely fails because it betrays the soul of their sound. They're trying way too hard to be grand and emotional, additionally painful when all these songs blend together in an uninspired lameness. "Now The Struggle Has A Name" might be the worst thing they ever recorded.
There are sprinkles of positive moments, nonetheless. "The Depression Suite" (again, how'd The Tragically Hip become so pretentious?) has a kernel of a good song in there somewhere, and isn't totally unlistenable despite its excessive length (nearly ten minutes, surely the longest song in the studio catalogue). "Coffee Girl" is a generic late 2000s indie pop song but has some charm, and the opener "Morning Moon" is truly good ("third best song we ever wrote" Downie quipped on stage once)... a quality (false flag) momentum builder that is the only thing keeping this album from the bottom of this list. Where the self-titled EP is at worst blah and forgettable, We Are The Same is legitimately tedious for the majority of its play. Didn't like it in 2009, still don't like it now.
#13. Music @ Work (2000)
A weird, weird record. The title track is damn great, kicking the proceedings in with an absolute bang (I recall watching the video on MuchMusic a lot when it came out). In fact the first three tracks are by far the strongest... but then things start to fall apart in bizarre directions. A tabla on a Tragically Hip song? In 2000? Strange. The production itself really reeks of that murky late 90s/early 2000s alt-rock heaviness, which doesn't quite work with The Hip's particular sensibilities. "Tiger The Lion", one of the albums strongest tracks, broods to the point it could've been a Tea Party song. Its like they met late 90s Bowie or something.
It still could've worked, but the band plays it like they're trying out a bunch of different ideas without any real hooking melodies to pull it off. Overall, it's a bleh record beyond the excellent title song. It's also by far the worst album cover in The Hip canon... it's like one of those 3D paintings you have to stare at for an hour to see what it is. Yeesh. You've done much better, Rob Baker (the Hip lead guitarist has also done almost all of their album artwork, as well)
Everything is bleak
it's the middle of the night
You're all alone
and the dummies might be right
#12. World Container (2006)
Now it gets hard. For me, the bottom three and the top three Tragically Hip albums became very apparent upon re-exploring then diving deeper into the catalogue. The rest? This 12-7 range is really tough... all are decent candidates with multiple highlights, but somebody has to take up the rear.
And World Container shall be it, but as no intended insult to that album at all. It's an okay Hip album, trying a bit too hard to be radio relevant but has some fine tunes regardless. I'm giving it the bottom placement among this jumbled middle because it doesn't have a true standout song: "Lonely End of The Rink" comes close but every album that comes after this has at least one killer track that surpasses it.
Still, World Container was quite a bit better than I remembered. There's a brightness to the sound... which works against it. Too clean and predictable, like the classic Hip rocking grit comes across manufactured. "In View" is of course the famed single from this release and I think that is a darn good song... and yeah it's a good song. I like it! A harmless pop tune.
And that's sort of where I land here with World Container. It's a very harmless album. Chronologically stuck between one terrific, emotionally charged record, a terribly bland void of ideas on the other side... World Container is just kinda... there. On its own merit it's decent, but not a whole lot of it will captivate or compel. Seventeen years later (really? Damn, I remember buying this in a store....) it falls into the category of "explore if you really like this band". Like Zeppelin's Presence, I suppose... except Presence is way, way better.
Then laugh til all the chameleons turn black
Laugh and laugh til you're told "please don't come back"
Then fake incredulous
Say "I just can't believe
how'd it get this late so early?"
#11. In Violet Light (2002)
The
period between 2000-2010 is, in my opinion, the weakest for The Hip. All those albums have a good song or two at minimum (every Hip
album does), and there is one simply terrific record hiding in that span... but
for the most part they sounded stuck. In the 1990s they rock and roll with familiar effortlessness and evolve from bar blues into various avenues within their sound... in the 2010s its finally embracing what they are and not forcing a
rock radio smash hit. The 2000s? Trying lots of things... with hit-and-miss success and the weakest moments smelling of desperately seeking direction.
In Violet Light, to me, suffers from a lot of this. The three best songs on the record, by far, are all the singles. Without even looking them up I remember the music videos vividly ("The Darkest One", with the Trailer Park Boys, remains an all-timer in Canadian music videos because come on... Gord Downie bribing Bubbles, Ricky and Julian with a bucket of fried chicken to do a dirty deed in Sunnyvale? It should be a Heritage Moment).
"Silver Jet" is a fun catchy little rocker and "It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken" (named for a graphic novel) gave me chills as a teenager twenty damn years ago. What do you think it does to me now.... good lord (good Gord), just an unbelievable song with unmatched bare-all soul. Feist does it justice (she's pretty good too)... a hard one to replicate.
The rest of In Violet Light is just... it plays and then ends, to me. "Leave" and "The Dire Wolf" have some interesting musical ideas but as songs they dawdle, and little of the rest is memorable even after a couple of listens. The two opening songs "Are You Ready?" and "Use It Up" do get stuck in my head but not in an enjoyable way. To simplify, this is a Tragically Hip album: sounds like one undoubtedly, it doesn't overtly offend or distress... but as a front-to-back listen it just passes you by without much lasting impression.
When the colour of the night
And all the smoke in one life
Gives way to shaky movements
Improvisational skills
#10. Saskadelphia EP (2021)
A something I legitimately did not know existed at all until setting out to write this piece and listen to the records I'd let pass by (basically everything post-We Are The Same).
The story behind Saskadelphia's eventual release is indeed quite interesting. In 1990, the band was initially conceiving of Road Apples as a double album, with "Saskadelphia" as its working title during the sessions. The record company didn't like either idea (the name or the double concept) and so a bunch of tracks from those sessions were left off. The Hip never operated as a band particularly interested in revisiting tunes that missed the cut for future albums... and so those discarded tracks ended up in the vault. When a fire broke out at Universal Studios in 2008, destroying countless original recordings from many different artists... the band presumed their masters of this era had likewise been lost.
However! Unbeknownst to them, those tapes had been transferred back to Canada before the fire, and were indeed recovered in 2019. While not a "new" Tragically Hip album by any means (having been recorded three decades earlier) this was unreleased "new" material that, beyond live performances, had never been heard before... and from an early heyday of the group no less.
As far as that material goes? Hey... it certainly plays and sounds like a bunch of songs that were left off of Road Apples (except for "Montreal", a live recording from 2000 as the original studio cut is still missing). This is a fast-paced, rollicking listen, with Downie snarling his way through the rockier numbers while the band still has a bit of their early twangy sound. And it's fun! Not as strong as what ended up on Road Apples (they do seem to have made the correct selections there), but as a standalone these six songs have enough punch and swagger to carry the affair.
"Cracking My Spine Like A Whip" certainly delivers on such a visual title, "Reformed Baptist Blues" hearkens back to their bar boogie blues days, and "Not Necessary" just hooks you in with its reeling melody. An incredibly neat curiosity that stands as both an artifact of the band's early 90s sound, and a good listen in its own right.
In a purple minded dream
You keep peeling back at what it really means
This beauty's too small to be true
#9. Man Machine Poem (2016)
The last recorded Tragically Hip album may very well be the strangest and most unique record the band ever made. Much like Bowie's "Blackstar", it's difficult to look or evaluate this album without the specter of Downie's illness and death (even though it was mostly recorded before his diagnosis) looming over it.
The general desolation of the record certainly lends itself to that notion. This is harsh, uneasy work... taking turns into mortality's shadows at every opportunity (ironically, one of the brighter tunes is called "Here, in the Dark"). Even the more energetic songs carry an undercurrent of existential questioning. Kevin Drew co-produced it and sonically his fingerprints are unmistakable: lots of open atmosphere, an extended rock instrumental interlude on "Machine" (The Hip never did that kind of stuff in the middle of a song) and just a lot of auditory space that lets these bare-bones songs breathe out for maximum effect.
Downie's vocals are more muted in the mix than usual (another usual Drew thing) which works because his once powerful voice is semi-diminished... he still sounds great (Downie's more considered, less howling style of singing has always been stellar... the man was vocally versatile as hell) and he carries these songs with an understated vulnerability. When his power selectively picks back up its more for intended effect to lament at the state of things.
With the title, The Hip pull a Reverse Zeppelin and name it after a song featured on the previous album. That (randomness) aside, boy the band just sounds great... despite this not really sounding at all like classic Tragically Hip whatsoever. Despite their notorious loose electric guitar workouts, everybody in the band has always been incredibly tight and here they seem especially locked in, with the clean and spacious production accentuating all of it. They're all terrific musicians of course, even at the band's worst when they appear to be going through the motions... but here it just sounds like there's a fire beneath them. I've never heard Johnny Fay's drumkit so punchy and dynamic in the mix. It's moody modern Indie Rock! Delivered by a legendary great Canadian band in their farewell... and played like they've lived it for decades.
As final albums go, it isn't really a grand farewell... nor is it much of an encapsulation or a tying up of their long career. It's easily the most un-Tragically Hip record they ever made, and still a compelling listen nevertheless. Not an easy one, be warned... there is a bleak intensity throughout.
Just go and see
the thousand pictures
That tomorrow is
or will surely be
#8. Now For Plan A (2012)
One of the truest joys of writing discography reviews like this is both revisiting albums you'd forgotten how much you enjoyed, or discovering something new that had slipped by you... something you might never had checked out otherwise. In the former case: aside from We Are The Same, re-listening to all these Hip albums has been a positive experience and a reminder of why I've liked this band so much at so many different stages of my life. For the latter, this entire project would be worth it solely for the reason I discovered how sneakily terrific a record Now For Plan A is.
To keep beating up on We Are The Same (sorry but it deserves it), Plan A (which chronologically follows that nadir) is light-years more inspired. The Hip sound like The Hip again. The musical punch and grit, the real hearty emotions and wild narratives sung by Downie that were so polished away behind commercial production sheen on the previous two albums? Finally back in force, and the band likewise sounds inspired again. A true late career rejuvenation after going through the motions on World Container and then having nothing resembling good ideas on We Are The Same. Man, just when you think they were ready to fade politely into the sunset...
This is a short album (only the EPs are shorter) and as such it does not waste any time. "At Transformation" is a wicked, building tune... starting off in that classic Hip brooding energy and then bursting into something brighter. "About This Map" is one Downie sings with such vigorous passion you can't help but swoon, "Done And Done" just catches you with its delicate soft pace, and then the title track (featuring Sarah Harmer) plays like a Broken Social Scene b-side with its dual man-woman soft vocal harmony and airy atmosphere. Nothing overstays its welcome, nothing imposes.
Weirdly, this is the Hip's lowest rated album on website Rate Your Music. Huh? Like every Hip album except one, there is a song or two here that I could do without. But the heights? Damn. It's cleanly produced but ditches the pop sheen that mucked up the previous two albums... like they're not trying directly to have a radio-friendly hit, they're just being themselves while embracing subtly different, modern rock things. A veteran band making another quiet in-between evolution (see what I did there), and it works. Love the cover too.
In your face the endless patience
The fleeting nature of life on display
I'll stay til the wisteria fades
The way it falls all over LA
#7. Trouble At The Henhouse (1996)
A record that completely underwhelmed me upon the first few listens. Nothing, beyond the simply awesome "Gift Shop" and well known "Ahead By A Century" (a song I strangely forget about constantly) made any lasting impression. Going into this project, I considered this album as a contender for last on the list.
Fortunately I listened to it again a few more times and, well clearly it grew on me. It's far from perfect... in fact this album is uneven to the point I began to wonder if there was, tracklist-wise, a "Odd number good, Even number bad" thing going on (call it the "Reverse Star Trek Movie Rule, which for the record still holds even now if you insert 'Galaxy Quest' inbetween Insurrection and Nemesis!).
Henhouse isn't a great listen front to back, as the tone really doesn't roll well... but those good songs are really damn interesting. Whether it be the mellow tale and groove of "Flamenco" (a true highlight), Sonic Youth-like homage "Coconut Cream", Gord Downie doing his best David Byrne (or Michael Stipe?) on "Butts Wigglin"... combine that with the two hit singles and already half of this record is excellent, if somewhat random.
The rest of it, for me anyway, doesn't do much. "Springtime In Vienna" is a song the band played live until the very end, and I'm not sure why. It's just okay. Same with the closing "Put It Off", which just reminds me of the much better and shorter White Stripes "I Fought Piranhas" (it's the exact same guitar riff... although fine sure the Stripes debut record came out after Henhouse did).
Debating 7-9 on this list was difficult but I think Henhouse nabs it just by a beak (see what I did there) by not having any song that is completely skippable. It's an uneven record, very much caught between their mid 90s era of fuzzy guitarscape atmospheric tales of Day For Night, against the more straight-forward power pop of Phantom Power. As such it excels at neither, but as a stepping stone in a rich catalogue... it surpasses curiosity and truly is an album worth exploring if only for its exceptional heights.
Maybe
a prostitute
could teach you
how to take a compliment
Maybe
I'll go to New York
I'll drag you there
You said "no one drags me anywhere"
#6. In Between Evolution (2004)
An intensely emotional, politically charged album... how often do The Hip sound this angry? The guitars grind their way through the affair, especially in the first half... and it sounds bloody amazing.
Opening it up is the raging wake for deceased hockey player Dan Snyder, "Heaven Is A Better Place Today", where Downie just sings his damn heart out. "Gus The Polar Bear" takes aim at the fearmongering happening around the Iraq War (how totally not relevant today), "Are We Family" openly ponders whether society can ever achieve harmony ("taking care of each other/one bullet to another") while "It Can't Be Nashville Every Night" takes some potshots at pro-war sentiments from country singer Toby Keith (not named directly, but it seems fair to assume).
Not to say the whole album carries this kind of vitriol. "Vaccination Scar" is an awesome weird rocking journey where Downie just seems to be making up poetry on the spot (he does do that), "Goodnight Josephine" is a sweet closer that balances a quiet/loud dynamic elegantly, and "If New Orleans Is Beat" just gives me chills every time... dripping with power and naked feeling. One of their best lesser known songs.
In Between Evolution could easily be in my Top 3 Hip albums except that it hits a lull in the middle. Starts incredibly strong (arguably the best opening six song run in the entire catalogue) and finishes strong with the drug trip story "One Night in Copenhagen" to "Josephine", but that meh middle chunk docks the overall record a few points. It keeps the spirit of the album, but the songs aren't quite up to the stuff as the bookends. Still though, just a wicked album... proving once again (following the subdued In Violet Light and bizarre Music @ Work) that The Hip can bring out the guitars and rock with anybody.
And here's the scene
your horse is going the wrong way
up the street
Are we family?
or what
#5. Up To Here (1989)
The
self-titled debut EP had hinted little moments of what this band could be. Amongst a small package of mostly forgettable tunes... there was a faint spark of a talented, energetic, rocking bar band eager
to play and sing about the heartlands of Canada. Their first full length
release is where that suggested spark first catches fire... resulting
in a few of their still most well known songs to this day.
They have other albums where the creativity, songwriting or diversity of melody is far more engaging... but as a band leaping from the debut EP into this level of tightness and craft? It's quite an impressive jump, and happened in the span of barely a year no less.
Up To Here is still The Hip in bar band mode: lots of
twang, the melodies are very straight forward, the energy and Downie's vocals follow a similar pattern on pretty much every song... but the biggest key? Those songs
themselves. This is a huge leap in overall songwriting, not just
Downie's words but how the band plays, how these (again fairly simple)
tunes progress. The self-titled EP has the feel of a bunch of kids
hopping in the van and hitting the road for the first time... on Up To Here they sound like a polished, professional band. The work has been put in and here is where it first pays.
That their first full release is a consistently quality batch of memorable tunes certainly helps too. 'Blow At High Dough' (if you've ever watched Hockey Night In Canada you've probably heard it sixteen thousand times) sets the tone with that little guitar lick and Downie's iconic "They shot a movie once/in my hometown" opening lyric. 'New Orleans Is Sinking' is an excellent foreshadowing of the band's range and another damn cool guitar part, meanwhile Downie's mid-song rant (forever "insert scene here" when he'd sing it live) is the first clue of his particular lyrical and improvisational talents. It's just a Canadian rock anthem unto itself, eh? Eh?
A lot of the lesser known songs do follow the same sound structure and patterns, so the album's biggest flaw is its repetitiveness, despite most of these songs being quite good when they stand alone. Great as a record to pick a few random songs and enjoy, but as a start to finish listen the tone rarely shifts... (and keep in mind the Ramones debut is one of my favourite albums). For instance I quite like 'Another Midnight', it's a slightly different kind of song than the rest, but it's a shame its hidden at nearly the end of the record because after a while all of this tends to bleed together.
Still, overall Up To Here is a great Canadian rock album and an
important one in The Hip canon because of the leap. Had the band stayed right here with this sound, I suspect they'd have sustained as a respected Cancon rock band, sure... but merely as a tall blade of grass in a field (not to mention a dated one), rather than as a tree sprouting many branches.
Well she was nineteen seventy
Burning like a cigarette long season
Heir to all her family's old treasons
She makes love hard like an enemy
#4. Phantom Power (1998)
Best Tragically Hip album cover? Tough call... they have a lot of really good ones, but this has to be up there. I gave Rob Baker (lead guitarist and album artwork dude) some scuff for the awful Music@Work, but overall The Hip have several fantastic covers and this is a true contender for top spot.
Sort of an underrated record in my opinion... maybe? The remaining members of the band do think highly of it, and I whole-heartedly agree.
For the purpose of ranking their records, a few duds bring Phantom Power down the list... and tone-wise it doesn't flow together all that well as a front-to-back listen. Aside from that, there are just some really damn incredible songs on here. Everybody knows the iconic "Bobcaygeon" (a song I do like, although I heard it so much as a preteen in 1998 I got sick of it for a very long time)... for me "Something On" is a personal favourite... the real song on here I could listen to a million times and perhaps never grow tired of.
The opening "Poets" is a favourite of Baker's with those distinctive opening chords and Downie embracing non sequitur beat-poetry mode. Wicked tune. "Membership" has this brilliant brooding guitar undercurrent... and then "Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man" tells this sweet, passionate little story of a missed connection at a concert. Just incredible songwriting, while the band follows the moods of the groove with subtle flawlessness. Probably the best song on the record, probably a top five Hip song in my opinion.
An aside: "Fireworks" is another sweet romantic Gord tale that his brother Patrick Downie, who was the sound guy at the old Boston Garden, would play at intermissions (and cut it right as the F-Bomb drops).
Phantom Power is an uneven listen. None of the ideas or songs flow together in any kind of way, and as such there will be occasional songs that stand out as strikeouts amongst the home run derby into the second deck. The flow as an overall record makes no sense, like a bunch of songs thrown into a hat and drawn at random. Annnnnd, that's all the negative I have to say about this wonderful, wonderful record.
The peaks alone are so damn good that they bring the overall record a deserved high spot on this list. While the mood/atmosphere jumps like a puppy on sugar, and the remaining band members' considerable love for "Chagrin Falls" confounds (don't get that one, sorry fellas)... most of these are strong, powerful songs with tight melodic sensibility. I referred to it as a "power pop" record earlier and I stand by it: there's punch here but these songs are crafted in a way to stick with you via hook, not grit or muscle.
It's a very different kind of record than anything they'd done before, and despite the remaining three of this list arriving chronologically earlier (if you're keeping track of course)... Phantom Power is the one that has (for the most part) aged the best. By which I mean, not tied by a particular era of rock music. A wild guitar part from 1994 or 1976 will, despite the excellent efforts of remastering, always have the scent of a guitar part from '94 or '76. Phantom Power overall sounds like a late 90s record, but has so many sustained moments that transcend that label. An album that can boast multiple timeless songs.
I walked through your revolving door
Got no answer on the seventh floor
Elevator gave a low moan
The pigeons sagged the wire with their weight
Listening to the singing chambermaid
She sang "They Checked Out An Hour Ago"
#3. Fully Completely (1992)
By this time, The Hip had become well known in Canada... scoring a bunch of (now iconic) radio hits via their first two full length records. Major success in the United States, however, had continuously eluded them, and so going into their third album they were eager to change this. In came producer Chris Tsangardies, mostly known for his work with heavy metal bands, and off to London, England they went to record new stuff.
Fully Completely didn't quite become the American or international breakthrough they were hoping for, but between the margins it may very well be their most distinctive step stylistically. Whether it be Baker and Langlois exploring more complex, weaving guitar textures, or this generally drippier, thicker production compared to the basic bar-room twang so prominent on their early recordings, or Downie sounding more mature and varied in his approach... whatever it is (maybe all of it?), this record is notably deeper than anything they'd done previously.
The majority of critical consensus regards this as their best album. Yeaaaaah... if that's your personal choice as well, it's a fine selection. A great rock record: the guitars are incredibly alive, the rhythm and drums just seem to have a better punch and dynamic pace to them than their previous work... and its also really the first time on record that the sound of the band begins to match Gord Downie's more unsettling lyrical ideas. "Locked In The Trunk of a Car" is mesmerizing in its creepiness... and the band plays it with gritty restraint until at last he starts to scream "Let me out!" in the coda. Yowza. Not a lot of songs like it.
Other songs like "At The Hundreth Meridian", "Wheat Kings", "Fifty Mission Cap" continue their love of diving into Canadian reference and legend, and then the opening "Courage (For Hugh MacLennan)" is just simply a classic and I do still love it so. My word. It didn't come it doesn't matter.
As a complete record, Completely doesn't quite make it to the top on my list because, like almost any Hip album... there are just a couple of songs that don't do anything for me. The closer "El Dorado"? I often forget the supremely better "Wherewithall" isn't the actual closer. Likewise, I know it's one of their more famous songs but "Wheat Kings" is just not my thing. A fine song, fantastic lyrics, but its pastoral sound belongs either two albums earlier or two albums later.
Beyond that though, not a lot to criticize with Fully Completely. It's an excellent album, loaded with several great songs, and while it does suffer from early 90s datedness on the murkier guitar tracks... the quality of these tunes makes it easy to brush that aside. The Hip also have a lot of great album covers and this one has to be in that top 3 as well.
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As an aside, Fully Completely (released in 1992) seems a good moment to talk about the Hip's "Another Roadside Attraction" traveling festival they put on a few times, or more accurately, in 1993, 1995 and 1997. Essentially a mini-music-festival of sorts that would deliberately move from one middle-of-nowhere location to another, and featured at points several other well-known artists like Sheryl Crow, Wilco, Los Lobos, Ziggy Marley, Blues Traveler and Ron Sexsmith. I don't really have much of a point by mentioning this fact, rather that a review of the Hip seemed incomplete without giving it some love, and it would've been after Completely that this concept for Roadside Attraction really gained wings. Cool band does another cool thing I didn't know about!
They don't know how
old I am
They found armor in my belly
From the sixteenth century
Conquistador, I think
#2. Road Apples (1991)
The only Hip
album that doesn't contain a dud track in my view. Front to back, this album is so, so good... weaving between reinterpretations of Shakespeare characters, shady hotels with great basslines, chance meetings with legendary Canadian artists paddling a canoe, and a warning to eat that chicken slow.
Speaking of "Little Bones"... is there a better, more undeniable guitar riff to open an album in Canadian rock history? Let me know, because I cannot think of one. I'm sure Rush has something close, but they've never been my thing. Anyhow "Little Bones"... just immediately lets you know what you're in for, full stop. And it keeps coming... "Twist My Arm" somehow finds a way to linger without overstaying its welcome, "Cordelia" gets Downie dropping Shakespeare re-imaginations (while the band goes quiet-to-loud as well as any early 90s band could), "Three Pistols" has one of my favourite opening lyrics of all freaking time, "Long Time Running" and "Fiddlers Green" slow it all down with some soulfulness... hell the weakest track on the album is "Fight" and that's only because it's about 90 seconds too long.
I could talk about every song here, truly love this album so much... but such an exercise would get boring. Instead, lets talk about the overall sound. This is only their second album don't forget (third if you count the debut EP) and it's such another step upwards. I like Up To Here a fair bit but its very stuck in their initial bar-bluesy sound... here they still have a bit of that twang between the cracks but it never gets as samey as that one can be at times. Every song on Apples really feels distinctive.
Downie still sings
with a bit of that early snarl (onwards he pretty much
abandons/lessens it) but his always excellent vocals just have an extra level of
heart to them on Road Apples. He sounds just goddamn amazing on here, the band follows
his poetic whims with tight precision, and his lyrics likewise
take another jump. "Bring It All Back" has another of my favourite
opening stanzas of all time... "I've been carving you/to see what form
you take/you were hiding in out of reach/just wanted to free your
shape". Yes sir.
Entering this project, the
best Hip album had to be Road Apples in my mind. It's just the most
consistent record they ever made: in flow, sound, and especially one song to the next. It's a freaking amazing work and the best songs are hidden behind the famous ones... and The
Hip weren't ever really an album band! This is just a record I can revisit front to back at anytime and still enjoy immensely, despite having listened to it my entire life. You'd think this would be my easy choice for the top slot.
But it isn't. Not quite. Certainly by no fault of this album, which is without any major flaw.
Treading the boards
screaming out MacBeth
Just to see how much
bad luck you really get
#1. Day For Night (1994)
Road Apples and Day For Night were both CDs my mum happened to own when I was about eight or nine years old. She would play Road Apples a lot (especially 'Little Bones' and 'Cordelia') but Day For Night was the album I discovered a lot for myself when no one was around. Too young to quite get the darker tones but old enough to like the layers of noisy electric guitars. Naturally I became an indie rock/folk bassist because shut up that's why.
Fully Completely hinted at the band leaving behind their bluesy, boogie origins... Day For Night is where they abandon it fully and completely (see what I did there! last one I swear). The guitars of Baker and Sinclair are still here in force (their interplay sublimely rolls over this record) but this is really where The Hip become absolutely distinctive. Songs like "Grace, Too", "Greasy Jungle", "Yawning Or Snarling"... are just so unmistakably The Tragically Hip sound. The way "Grace, Too" opens... is like walking through a new doorway from something familiar into something similar yet wild.
It was incredibly tough to choose Day For Night over Road Apples, and after writing quite a few of these discography rankings for other bands I don't think I've ever gone as back and forth before. Day For Night has two keen advantages: it has the best song between the two (the stunning "Nautical Disaster") and musically its far more interesting. The peaks are higher, it stretches ideas more, takes more chances. This makes it more uneven than Road Apples, since (like every Hip album) a few songs don't quite go anywhere... but none of it ever gets particularly boring ("Scared" gets close though). Meanwhile its many bests stand at worst eye-level with anything else the band ever put to tape.
There's an undercurrent of spookiness to the record, considering many of the songs are slower paced and take their time to build up. Like sitting at a campfire telling ghost stories... there's a haunting element to much of this but never does it get intently terrifying (and one of the songs is named "Scared"). Unsettling? Definitely. "Titantic Terrarium" is genuinely eerie in its hollowing sounds, despite its simplicity (Downie just telling a tale about building the Titanic, nothing ominous there) Then you have the middle climax of the album, a cressendo of both the record and unto itself: "Nautical Disaster". Was it a dream? Who is Susan? A genuinely brilliant song that leaves more questions than answers and lyrically one of Downie's very best and of the band's playing as well. But only a fool would complain.
Artistically this may very well be the Hip's greatest statement: there's a consistent feel to the guitars, the lyrics, the complete atmosphere of this record that always lingers, making each song flow like one step on a journey to another. What other Hip album could be kicked off by the marvelous, sincere "Grace, Too" and have it fit in so seamlessly rather than tower above the rest?
The final clincher (for me anyway) is that it's a great bass guitar album. Sinclair is all over this one with the funky timing of "So Hard Done By" or the slow distinctive groove of "Yawning Or Snarling" among others. Meanwhile for six string fun, you get the frantic "Inch An Hour", the tongue-twisting chorus of "Inevitability of Death", the catchy repetitiveness of "Thugs"... it's incredible this all flows together and never loses its peculiar atmosphere. The second half seals the deal with a mix of punchy rockers and slower numbers (the closer "Impossibilium" is a sneakily excellent finishing touch). What a great, great record. A consolidation and height of The Hip's mighty powers.
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Gord Downie spent the final years of his life working diligently to bring public attention to various Indigenous peoples causes and concerns, including 'The Secret Path' multimedia project which told the tragic story of Chanie Wenjack. After his passing in 2017, the band essentially announced they could not continue without him... a declaration they've kept to beyond reuniting once to perform with Feist at the Junos (the band was amenable to this because not only is she a famous and talented singer, but having a female singer instead would prevent a male fill-in from doing "a Gord impersonation").
Each of the remaining members appear to still be involved with music in some capacity, and they have all re-joined forces in various combinations for different projects, archival Hip releases and other collaborations since the dissolution of The Hip. Rob Baker in particular, referring to the creative process of songwriting (and possibly a subtle shot at modern approaches), has a recent quote I rather like: "If you can describe completely what a song is about in twenty words or less, it probably isn't worth writing". Indeed.
On Saturday August 20th, 2016, The Tragically Hip performed their final concert at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario... ending their goodbye tour fittingly in the town where it all began. The entire show was broadcast live on both television and radio across Canada.
I was playing baseball that night and so didn't watch any live video of the concert. At the time I hadn't followed or listened to them for quite some time, although the looming reality of this being the night of their last ever show was very much on my mind. Still, I assumed I was going to miss the event completely, considering. However, once my game concluded, a good chunk of people from both teams gathered near the parking lot beside our ball diamond for some post game beers and chatter. Several fellas had their car radios on and all were turned up to play the concert broadcast while we hung out, creating something under the twilight sky that was this odd surreal atmosphere of shared nostalgia and beer fueled musical appreciation... all in the middle of this spacious, tree filled Etobioke park.
It all felt so strangely and uniquely Canadian, perfectly fitting for the occasion, and perfectly Hip.
