Rob's Discography Marathon: The Tragically Hip

Hello, all, and welcome to discography marathon of Canda's own, The Tragically Hip. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know the entire history of the band. To be honest, I've only become a huge fan of the band over the last few years. As such, there may be facts that I get wrong. I apologize for this, and mean no disrespect to the band or fans. I'll be updating this as I listen to each studio album, and writing down some rather brief thoughts of each album. And as always, since this is my blog, the opinions here are obviously my own. Thanks, and welcome to the Great White North, with The Tragically Hip.

The Tragically Hip (EP) - 1987

We start our Tragically Hip marathon with this fantastic EP from 1987. With only seven tracks to choose from, I can't find a single track that I don't love here. The music is a bit less polished than what the band's future albums would sound like, but this album is full of fantastic melodies, and music. 

The band all sound phenomenal, and Gord's vocals are as good as they ever were. Only "Highway Girl" would make the greatest hits compilation, but for my money, "Last American Exit" should have made that set. What a melodic beauty that tune is. 

This may not be my favorite release from The Hip, but it's undeniable that this was album was the framework for an amazing career. 

Up To Here - 1989

Released in 1989, "Up To Here" is the full-length debut from this legendary Canadian band. For now I only have the original CD release, but an expanded anniversary release is coming in November, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. 

Looking at the track list of this album is almost like looking at a greatest hits compilation. Nearly every track here is a pretty well known tune. From the album opening trio of, "Blow At High Dough" (a track with so many varied versions, thanks to the improvisational skills of front man Gord Downie), "I'll Believe In You (Or I'll Be Leaving You Tonight)", and "New Orleans Is Sinking", to "She Didn't Know", "Boots Or Hearts", and "Trickle Down", I've heard many live version of these fantastical songs. 

In addition to those well-loved tracks, the album also has such amazing songs as "Opiated", "38 Years Old", and "Another Midnight". In my opinion there isn't one dull song on this album.

The Tragically Hip: Road Apples (Deluxe) - 1991

For their second album, The Tragically Hip went to New Orleans to craft what I find to be among the top few best albums from the band. Originally titled "Saskadelphia" as a play on city names from their endless touring, the band's label decided that the title was "too Canadian" (could there ever be such a thing?!), luckily the band had "Road Apples" up their sleeves. Leave it to a dumb record label exec to not know what that term really stands for. 

The music here is nothing short of brilliant. From start to finish, there is not one song that is better than the others. It's all fantastically written, and performed slices of brilliance. There are so many great moments here, both musically, and vocally. This is the album that actually finally pulled me into the world of The Hip. 

The version picture above is the deluxe edition, with a bonus live show, and an EP called "Saskadelphia" (they finally did it, boys!), which features six tunes that were previously unreleased, and recorded around the time of the album. Sadly no studio version of "Montreal" could be found, but the live version is pretty damned good, so we'll forgive them. 

Even though this album is in my favorite albums from The Tragically Hip, they have a lot of albums to go, and more fantastic songs than I could list in one post. It's all uphill from here, and what a great voyage it is!

Fully Completely (Deluxe) - 1992

After the brilliance of "Road Apples", The Tragically Hip followed it up with another flawless offering of heavy, melodic, and beautiful songs. This is yet another album that I can't find a single flaw in. "Fully Completely" has the distinction of being the first album with lyrics written solely by front-man Gord Downie.

This album is full of classic Hip songs, with "Courage", "Fully Completely", the hard rocking "At the Hundredth Meridian", the incredibly heavy "Fifty Mission Cap", the absolutely beautiful sounding "Wheat Kings", and "another monster, heavy tune, "The Wherewithal". There are also some amazing tunes that (as far as I know) weren't as big. "Pigeon Camera" is a particular favorite of mine, "We'll Go, Too", and "Eldorado" are all just as fantastic as the band's more beloved material.

I'm not sure where this one ranks for me, but as with most albums from The Tragically Hip, there isn't a single tune that I don't love here. Such a great album. This version also included an absolutely performance from September of 1992, that no fan should be without.

 

Day For Night - 1994

In a stroke of luck, I come to the "Day For Night" portion of my marathon on the release date for this magnificent album. In addition to being a huge album for the band, they also got to appear on Saturday Night Live for this album's touring cycle. That night they played album opener (and quite a somber-ish one for an album opener) "Grace, Too", a song which would probably make many fans' favorites list, and the fantastic "Nautical Disaster" (with an absolutely smoking outro).

"Day For Night" is another one of those albums that is full of amazing songs. In addition to the aforementioned tracks, the album is also home to the rocker "Greasy Jungle", with some amazing guitar work, and killer vocal melodies. "So Hard Done By" is another sort of medium paced tune that I just love (just listen to that guitar work!). "Yawning Or Snarling" is a more melodic rocker, a song I don't believe was a big hit, but it should have been. "Fire In the Hole" is another song that should have been huge. It's so big, and powerful. From the crunch of the guitars, to the pounding drums, this is one hell of a great rocker. "Thugs" has a bass line that I defy you to find something quite as perfect for a tune. "Titanic Terrarium" is one of those tunes that just has such a creepy sort of vibe, that I love so damn much. I also must mention "Scared", as it is such a beautiful song, and one of my all-time favorite Gord Downie vocal performances. The album closes with "Impossibilium" which is my favorite song on the album. A hard edged, melodic masterpiece, this is a song I would use to introduce folks to The Hip.

Hit after hit, great tune after another, "Day For Night" is some of the best music written by this band, or many others. This is the kind of stuff that should have been burning up the charts all around the world. This album is just that good! Definitely another home run from this stellar Canadian band.