You got a Bob Rock lock?
In this episode, jD, Pete, and Tim embark on a deep journey into the musical saga of the Tragically Hip by shining the spotlight on their 13th full-length album, Man Machine Poem. We uncover how the band unknowingly crafted their last album and created a memorable and satisfying conclusion with this profound piece.
Tracks
Man - Studio version
In a World Possessed by the Human Mind - Toronto 2016
Here in the Dark - Studio version
Ocean Next - Edmonton 2016
Transcript
Track 1:
[0:00] If you're a fan of the Tragically Hip, this is your hip fest.
Getting Hip to the Hip, September 1st at The Rec Room.
Celebrate the music of the hip with a live tribute act, the finale of a hip-based podcast, and a silent auction with amazing hip prizes, with all proceeds going to support the Gord Downie and Chaney Wenjack Fund.
If you're a fan of the hip, you need to be there. Tickets available now at GettingHipToTheHip.com.
Track 2:
[0:28] What was I listening to? That's the first thing that went through my mind when I experienced Man Machine Poem's first track, Man, for the first time.
Although my love affair with the hip was back in full gear, I don't remember really digging into this record when it dropped.
I was in and out of the hospital dealing with my mental health when I underwent ECT, electroconvulsive therapy.
You know when you get a full list of the worst things that can happen during a procedure because the doctors have to tell you, even though the odds of landing are miniscule?
[1:09] Well, the worst possible thing happened with me and ECT. I had full-on amnesia.
There are whole swaths of my memory that are gone, and I also have trouble making new memories.
So I think my first run at this album was lost in the Barrens.
Fast forward to the Fully and Completely podcast though, and I fell in love.
I fell in love with this the hip's 13th full length.
And when I say loved, it's tough for me to quantify how much I do love this album.
From the complicated man, through the gorgeous Insarnia, and the mysterious Ocean's Next, This is a damn near masterpiece.
[1:57] Sadly, none of the tracks on this album would get to live a life outside the final 2016 Man Machine Pong Tour.
I loved the performance of In a World Possessed by the Human Mind, but I honestly think it would have become a tour staple if the band had been able to endure Gord's cancerous lifesentence.
Although, during the recording of the formerly titled Dougie Stardust, the band couldn't have known that this would be their final kick of the can, but I can't imagine a more fitting albumto do the perfunctory honors.
Essentially, to sum it all up in one word, sigh.
[2:41] I'm so curious what our friends Pete and Tim will feel about all of this.
I guess we should kick into it.
Getting hip to the hip.
Track 5:
[3:19] Hey, it's JD here and welcome to getting hip to the hip. We are back as we are every week going through the catalog of Seminole Canadian rock band, the Tragically Hip.
I'm here as always with my friends, Pete and Tim, trying to ascertain exactly what they think of this band because they've never heard them before.
Please join me in welcoming my friends, Pete and Tim. Pete and Tim, welcome.
[3:48] Hi, JD. Hi, Tim. Hi, fellas. Thanks for the welcome. You're always so warm, JD. I want to make one quick correction in your intro there, JD, is that you said that we've never heardof them.
Now, we've been doing this podcast, what, 15, 14 weeks, something like that?
Fair enough. Fair enough. I've fucking heard of the charge of the hit.
So I just, I don't think it's fair. You know, we might want to prepare people for that, the finale, too. Hey, I know who they are. to charge it to him.
So I just, I don't think it's fair.
You know, we might want to prepare people for that, the finale too.
Hey, I know who they are. Okay, pre, you know, pre-pod recording for me, it was, it was like a bumper sticker.
So yeah, we've heard them now. Or that little stamp thing that you put on your suitcase. Not stamp, but stickers that you put on your suitcase.
Tags, yeah. It's the ones that say Fragile?
No, no. Fragile. Like you put, like every city you go to, You put it on your suitcase and then your suitcase has all these, uh, stickers.
All of that. Yeah. If you don't have, you don't, if you don't have the, uh, the Canada one on there, then your shit gets stolen.
Yeah. It's just fact definitely don't want an American flag on there. Right. No, that's true.
And, uh, you guys are, um, I mean, we're, we're what, uh, two weeks away.
You guys are ready to, have you started packing yet?
[5:08] I'm still doing laundry. Okay. I'm still doing laundry. Why did you pack the day before?
Yeah, I, oftentimes I pack the morning of, so. Yeah. I'm not that, yeah.
But we're looking forward to seeing you, of course.
Tickets are still available for the event, which is again, two weeks from now, September 1st, Friday night at the Rec Room in Toronto.
If you're a hip band, you gotta come to this thing. I mean, it's just that simple.
It's almost like hip-con, where we're all just gonna get together and enjoy our love for this band.
And if you're not there, then you're clearly not a hip band.
That's right. I mean, if you wanna be a hip completist and you've gotten this far with us, you gotta come to the fundraiser.
You gotta come to the show. Come on. It's like, if you don't, and you've gotten this far, and you can't make it, then, eh.
I don't know. Losing some cred.
[6:13] And we've got some more prizes are coming in, but we've got some awesome, awesome prizes for the silent auction. I don't know if they're, if they're called prizes or they'd be itemsfor auction.
We've got some pretty neat ones. We've got some ephemera from the Tragically Hip themselves autographed.
We've got some items from Dave Bustito.
We've got $200 in Air Canada gift cards. We've got a beautiful gift baskets.
We've got another gift card to Amazon.
We've got, um, Oh hell. I can't even, there's also a, uh, it's a, it's, it's in a frame. It's done really nicely, but there's a, there's a lock of Bob rocks hair.
[7:10] I Might I might try to win that and I'll weave it into my bang.
Oh god, wouldn't that be cool man? A lock of Bob rocks hair.
Oh Man, he's he's he's gonna send somebody out dude.
He's It's going to be a hit job, dude, no, he's going to send somebody out to fucking kill us.
Exactly. Yeah, it's cool.
Also it goes without saying, actually, no, it doesn't go without saying, it would be rude of me to mention the bonus feed at this point because the season's over.
You know, we're pretty much done. There's no more bonus episodes and this is not a seasonal podcast. We're not going to do these albums again.
But you can revisit it and go back and listen for years to come, right? That's true.
That's totally true. You can go back and listen to all those fun episodes that we did that were outside of the realm of the albums.
[8:03] So there's that. Is Bob Rock Canadian? Bob Rock is Canadian.
Yeah. And I mean, like, respectfully, like he is, like, like from like 87 to like 95, probably like the top producer on earth.
Dude, totally. He did the Black Album. He did the Black Album.
He did all the Sarah Smith work. He's not going to send out a hit team for us, Tim.
He's not going to send people to kill us, but he probably will send a strongly worded letter.
In Canadian, no.
A strongly worded letter. Anyway. Well, this record that we're talking about today, the 13th record, Man Machine Poem, was not produced by Bob Rock.
It was produced by, oh my gosh, my notes are not in front of me now.
It was produced by Kevin Drew, Jesus Christ, Jamie. You should have known that.
And Dave Hamlin, Dave Hamlin. Broken social scene and Dave Hamlin.
Yeah. Who also produced the first posthumous Gord record. So, clearly.
[9:05] Gord living in Toronto at this time was, you know, part of this sort of cabal of artists in, in the city.
And he had been working with them, you know, a lot. And we're seeing the fruits of that now.
I don't know if you guys have listened to the, the Bob rock Gord Downey convergence, but we haven't talked about that at all on the show. Okay. Well, maybe we'll make that homeworkfor next week's episode.
[9:35] Um, just give it a cursory listen. Yeah. There's some of the best gourd vocals I've ever heard on it, but it's not my favorite gourd record overall, I would say.
And it's also produced by our friend, Bob Rock, which is funny.
Yeah. When in doubt, right?
It's like a little glass case through the hammer. You know, I might, the dog might eat my homework on that one.
If my flight is delayed going into Toronto, you know who I'm blaming.
Oh, wow. Yeah. When you fly that old Norm Macdonald bit, you guessed it, Frank Stallone, you know?
Or instead of Frank Stallone, you guessed it, your flight's delayed?
Your house got struck by lightning? Whose fault is it? You guessed it.
Probably there isn't some Metallica fan in the control tower that Bob has access to. Yeah, that's true.
Well, that's a, I mean, that's a well-produced record, there's nothing wrong with it.
I think it, I think those songs still, you know, you can still listen to them and you know that it's from 1991, but it's, um, it still works.
Like it's not like, whoa, this is, this is way off, you know, where there's some stuff that you hear and you're like, like the EP, for example, you know, uh, the, the tragically hip EP.
[10:57] It, you know, it sounds like 1987, but now it sounds like, like 1987 plus 35 years, you know? Right. If that makes any sense.
I don't know. I'm rambling a bit here. But what do you say we get into your thoughts on the record and your first experiences with the record and how you listened to the record, as we doin each and every episode?
I mean, maybe we just talk about the album conceptually, because really, it first listened, And for me, it was feeling different.
It was feeling, I don't know. It was dreamy and fuzzy. And it feels like some memories.
I don't know. At one point, I was like, this would be good to listen to on a road trip at night.
Like, it just, this one had kind of this sad but futuristic, It was kind of all over the place, it wasn't exactly...
[12:09] A mood booster or like, yes, this is this is that next step album, you know, the phone was different.
And, you know, I understand that it was released before Gord's cancer announcement.
But it was also, you know, like it made me wonder about his wife's whole process with cancer and all of that, too. But it just it was kind of ominous in that whole regard of what was goingon and Gord's life, perhaps.
And I read some quote from him around this time era, maybe during the recording time era.
He said something about not wanting to sing any lyrics anymore that he doesn't write.
If the band was pitching in on lyrics, I feel like he was feeling the weight of the world coming down upon him, even perhaps without even knowing his diagnosis.
I guess he had a couple of strokes during that time, but anyways... Seizures.
Or seizures, yes. Yeah, seizures. Thank you.
[13:15] But anyways, it's a trippy album. It kind of hit me in different ways. And I listened to it.
I was traveling the past couple of weeks and kind of listened to it here and there.
At one point, we were packing up to head to the next town, and we were in Italy.
And I said to my wife, I said, you know, I'll play this recent hit album we're working on, because I think it suits the morning. It's kind of rainy.
We're packing up. We're getting ready, just kind of methodically going through the motions, and played it. And her vibe from it really wasn't so sure.
She just didn't really know how to pick up from this one.
She hasn't really listened to a whole album yet, but we played the whole album, and about halfway through it, I was like, huh, should I put something else on?
This is fitting the mood. What is the mood?
[14:15] Right. Yeah. Well, it was, it was a very strange mood here in Canada because I'm, I'm not sure how you worded it a moment ago, but we did know that he had cancer when therecord came out, so the record was supposed to come out and then they delayed it when he had his second seizure, they delayed it to June and it came out in June, but, but they announcedon the May long weekend, so just one month before, they had announced that he had inoperable, well, not inoperable, because he had already had half his brain removed.
He had many operations, but he had the type of cancer that he had and his sort of status, right?
[15:02] And it was like, holy, it was grim. It was fucking grim.
And then you get this record and you put it on and there's like, there's stuff on here that is like, when they wrote the record, he didn't have cancer, but man, some of the lyrics.
Seem foreboding well here's the thing with the big c is.
[15:27] A lot of people talk about cancer when they get diagnosed as that's when i found out i had cancer and i think just based on experiences i've had with people around me and familyetc.
That it grows in the body for as long as it grows until it's making its debut.
You know, like he had a very special brain and a very creative guy and just obviously all the things about Gord's writing abilities.
And you know, this might have been something that was growing in there for a long time.
I think it was probably there during the whole album producing and making and affecting likely how his brain worked.
A friend of ours mother had brain cancer and she was not normal for like three, four years and no one like, why is she, why is she, why is she slowly becoming so mean, you know?
And it turns out she had brain cancer and it was like the size of a grapefruit before they figured it out. So it was probably there.
And it was probably making it it's effect on his creative outlet, his creative abilities. What do you think Pete?
Wow, a lot to unpack there. Heavy stuff, yeah. Yeah, we jumped right into it.
[16:40] Well, I mean, yeah, all I will say in terms of the lyrics, yeah, it is a bit foreboding.
[16:49] I can't really, I think, I can't remember what song it was that made me think, did he know that he got, that he had cancer up until this point.
I think it was track four in Sarnia and yeah, made me definitely think what was going on during this, but yeah, it's a unique album. I mean, it's certainly.
[17:18] Different. I mean, I'll comment more on on the songs, you know, why I think that way it is, you know, but overall, I very much enjoyed it.
Listened to it in the car, wasn't doing it at the desk, listened to it on traveling on a plane, lots of different places, lots of different ways to experience this record. I feel like it's somethingthat I would put on in the winter.
That's kind of how it felt to me. There's a few songs maybe that were not so much in this kind of mode for me but you know all in all just kind of on the stats side on the stat side of thingsit's got a 3.5 which i wasn't surprised to see on all music um it's short it's again another 40-ish minute album right lots of songs around the four minute mark like it's i felt like uh i don'tknow It did win a Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year in 17, which is amazing.
That shows that a band can really evolve and change and have ups and downs.
And still grab one of those awards is fucking killer. Yeah.
[18:30] Most of this album didn't get much live play time.
No, they only did the one tour, which was like 14 gigs, right?
Yeah. We didn't get to see it and I mean, we're fucking incredibly lucky that we got that tour.
Like when, when I show you guys the document, when I show you guys the documentary, long time running, it's called bring some tissues.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be, it's going to be, I'm sure.
Yeah. Yeah. Tariq Tariq.
And unfortunately for me, I missed most of this because I was very sick at the of time and I just have no memory. So, there's that.
What do you say we get into track by track? Let's do it.
Let's do it. Track number one. Man. Man. Man what, dude? What did I say?
[19:29] Man, what a track. But you said it like, man. I was like, man.
Second longest track on the album, you know? Yeah.
It's definitely got this, I mean, this is where I personally was like, okay, here's the somber Start it's got but it well.
No, I think backtrack that that digitized Chorus, whatever it is the very beginning You know of this is like an interrupter, you know, that's like whoa, where are we going with this album?
But yeah, it kind of felt like The song felt like a prayer or a mantra, you know, just kind of like It was heavy, kind of coming in and out.
The chorus was just the song, it felt like.
It felt like it could be an outro, and it was the first.
It was the first. So... That's a good point. Yeah. Yeah.
I feel like the way it starts off is, I think, really cool and unique and certainly different from the hip.
I love Gord's vocals on this. I think, and I'll say it a lot throughout the pod, but I think the percussion and the arrangements on this entire record is awesome.
The way everything's layered beautifully.
The piano hits when the song really opens up. It does have some hardcore Radiohead vibes. I think this first track.
Very much. Wow. Okay. I could see that. Yeah. I like that.
I like that. Yeah. Definitely like Kid A and Rainbows, I would say.
Radiohead. Not OK Computer Radiohead.
Right. Anyway, yeah, really cool opening track, that's for sure.
In a world possessed by the human mind.
[25:18] This was the first single from the record and a great single.
I mean, you know, it doesn't necessarily tell the tale of the record, of what you're going to get when you get this record.
[25:34] You know, the record is obviously much more low key, but I think it's a banger.
I love this song And I came to it late.
That's crazy. I mean, I like the song. It's funny that it's single and I think it's got the most listens on Spotify.
I mean, I like it. I think probably the most unique thing about it to me is like, I know we make a lot of Bob Rock jokes on this podcast, and I really do like Bob Rock. I joke a lot.
But I feel like Bob Rock isn't even in the rear view mirror anymore with this record.
It's something that I don't think many producers would have had worked on or signed off on or been a part of.
It's really different. It's really different.
But I like this track. I don't think it's the best track on the record.
And I wouldn't even call it a banger. I like this track, but I wouldn't have chosen it as a single. Wow.
Just give me the news, Tim.
Well, this was like one of three that they played live on that last tour, I believe.
[26:53] And the sound was a little more, I don't know, it was refined in some different way on this one.
It almost sounded like the drums, some of the drums or recorded in a hard-walled room or something.
This one had, again, this album has a different feel to it, and this one kind of was like, brought us out of the clouds of that first song.
It felt like maybe, I didn't, in general, on this album, I didn't conceptually get into lyrics whole lot but this one made me think like.
[27:31] This sounds like it's based on hospital experiences or maybe Gord's wife's cancer, or there's some kind of personal struggle in here with the lyrics in the, I felt like the ending waskind of a cliffhanger, like the verse just kind of drops and there's no, yeah. And then there's no stanza.
[27:56] Like there's, it just, it just stops right there. You know, like Like, what was the look on her face?
I want to know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And you know, it also conversely, like many of the hip songs and Gord's lyrics, it made me just, while I was driving, it made me think about social media and how everybody's on theirphones and staring at their phones and always looking down and, you know, I kind of, uh, I have this constant commentary on, in my mind about how, like people are going to slowly turnback into tumbleweeds because we're all looking down so often, we're just going to roll away.
And this, you know, this, this, this song kind of, I don't know, it was just, it has good pickup for song number two, but it also is kind of carrying the same ominous feel, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I, I had a good thought for you and now it's gone and that's a shame.
That's a crying goddamn shame.
[29:07] Trying to see if I can will it back. Not coming back. I'm vamping.
Now I'm speaking out loud about vamping, which has given away the gig, which means I should probably just switch subjects and go to What Blue? What Blue.
[29:30] I dug this song a lot. I thought lyrically it was very cool.
There's some really unique background guitar licks in here. Again, this is another one that that the arrangements and the way everything's placed is just rad.
I love it. I got a really, especially with the spacey solo, I got a really pavementy vibe from it.
Wow. The lyric, I love you so much, it distorts my life. Like, oof. Yeah. Oof. Yeah. Yeah. I dug this track.
[30:15] It's sweet. It sounds like it's maybe, I don't know, part of it feels like it's a weird one. Like it felt, you know, some of the guitar sounds, Pete, that you mentioned, felt kind of cave-like.
Like there's some resonance or something going on in this album that's a little bit different that perhaps Kevin Drew or Dave Hamlin brought in.
You know, that's pretty cool. The song's under three minutes.
You know, it doesn't feel that way, though.
It's one of those songs that's quick and heavy and big.
But at the same time, even though we're having kind of like these, I was having kind of these dark ominous, like, whoa, what's going on?
Whatever. This song felt kind of lullaby.
And there's a few songs on here that feel kind of lullaby and sweet and loving.
And they might sound dark, but I don't think that was really, like the intentions or maybe which is it's classic hip, you know, with lyrics and meanings that the intentions or whatever kindof all over the place can be looked at different ways.
But yeah, this one, uh, it was a quick, sweet one. I agree. Any other thoughts on what blew?
[31:38] No, okay. So I, I remembered what I was going to say in a world possessed by the human mind, the line that he talks about, like looking down at your phones, every time I hear it, Ijust crumble because I would love, like, that's a reference To a time in 2016, that isn't ahead of its time by any stretch, but it's a timestamp on the song, you know what I mean?
There's there, it makes it in real time. It makes it in this universe to speak on the multiverse level. It makes it happening now.
And that's the end. That's the last one we get.
That's the last timestamp we get. We don't get to hear any more, um, you know, his views on like, what would he have thought of Donald Trump's reign?
You know, I would love to know he wouldn't be super political about it, but there would be flourishes in his art. I'm sure.
[32:47] You know, I don't know. I would hope he would have been super political about it, you know, because Because not in general I feel like there isn't enough and with the the stage thatthey held in the audience that they had Whether or not they were Mostly Canadian.
I mean he he he had a voice to be able to do whatever the fuck you want So oh absolutely, I think they would know you're on bananas if they were to kept playing I think they would havegone bananas politically.
I would have expected it from them Yeah, which is also fucking fucking tiresome.
You know, I can't tell you. I mean, it just was two weeks in Europe and I can't tell you how many conversations came up.
Yeah, no, well, no, yes and no. I mean, so many conversations about like, we heard about the shooting yesterday, the massacre yesterday, this yesterday, that yesterday.
It's like, fuck. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Oh God. I don't know what he would about all this. Yeah, exactly. But I'd love to know because he had an interesting filter.
He had an interesting prism, right? Like he would take in the information and then it would come out in all all the colors of the rainbow on the other side, and it was beautiful. Speakingof, beautiful.
[34:08] Hi. Pete, I want to draw you like one of my French girls. Right?
Especially the way he's lounging right now. Yeah, I'm kind of lounging.
For all the listeners, he's in a room with, I don't know how many candles are lit.
There's a bunch of mirrors. He's got like satin pillows all over this crazy velvet.
I can smell it here, Pete.
I mean, I wish my screen was scratch and sniff. Yeah. Oh, God.
[34:41] You know, well, we can get into the next song, but I was going to say, in terms of Gord, just his take, I feel like he'd have a nuanced take.
And I think when it comes to politics and when it comes to the state of the world, whether Whether it's Donald Trump or a mass shooting or Trudeau or whatever, it's like, there's the goodvirtuous script to follow that, you know, if you don't, you're a total piece of shit.
And then there's the other side of the people who speak in a way that they don't have any remorse or don't have any care.
They're completely on the opposite. Those are kind of the two spectrums or as it's more commonly referred to the left and the right. Or actually racist. Yeah, yeah.
Racist or virtuous people. Yeah, yeah. But that's the thing is I think that somebody like Gord's perspective would have been a a lot more nuanced and my only question isn't how good itwould have been, it would have been.
[36:01] If he was around, like, how would it have been received?
Because I think there are a few people that speak very, very intelligently about the state of the world, about things like Trudeau, things about Biden, things about Donald Trump.
And those voices get drowned out because it's not, Fuck that, this is a racist motherfucker, blah, blah, blah, or whatever.
It's just like, yeah, that's the easy thing to say. It's the low-hanging fruit to be so virtuous and, you know, everything.
Like I said, it's a script. People follow it. It's kind of, it's to me.
[36:43] It's sickening because it's so easy.
Yeah. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Donald Trump was, is it, is it, is a shithead or, you know, like, yeah, duh.
But, you know, it doesn't seem, and I, yeah, yeah.
But but you know like that's what people say and that's all people really say nobody I feel like if Gord was around here.
I am putting words into his mouth, but um, you know Perhaps he would be a little more nuanced and talk about the reasons why things are the way they are I think instead of just like Youknow this this orange Hitler who just popped up out of nowhere and like like blindsided the entire world.
No, dude No, and I think when it comes to bad things in the world, be it school violence or shitty, horrible politicians or racist people, everybody plays a part.
[37:42] Everybody plays a part. You and I play a part. We all play a part.
And so to just sit and point the finger and be like, those people are awesome.
Those people are amazing. people are virtuous and accepting of everybody, and then those people over there are racist, deplorable pieces of shit that should go away or live on an island bythemselves.
It's just like, it's so stupid.
And there's not enough people in this world. And that's what I think the conversation that Gord would bring to the table would be a much more nuanced conversation.
Because nowadays it just doesn't exist.
People are just so quick to talk about shit from a place that they're either repeating a talking point they heard on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News.
Yeah, strange, you've got whatever channel suits your flavor, so you're in that echo channel. Yeah, and all that shit's entertainment anyway, man. Yeah. It's all, you know. It's bonkers.
Well, speaking of nuanced lyrics and a song about a place, let's go to Insarnia.
[39:00] Tim, what do you got to say about Insarnia? Uh, you know, I more or less just vibed with the lyrics right off staring at your phone, like a poker hand.
You do, you don't know who you are. You know, that's the one that's my heart. Yeah.
My heart and pocket and I you're on my mind, you know, it's just, it's.
He's, I don't know that this one made me think about so many different things.
And again, it had kind of this lullaby, kind of folky acoustic guitar, maybe acoustic bass in here.
That's kind of what I was hearing at one point, which made me, you know, I hate to ask artists about their songwriting process, but, you know, knowing the fact that these guys sat aroundand sat in a circle or whatever and pumped out songs together, it just made me just kind of want to see that experience that.
It has kind of a bizarre ending, as many of these songs do.
[40:07] The only thing I read about it was, you know, Gord said at one point it was supposed to be called insomnia and it ended up in Sarnia and I don't really know why or what the story isthere.
And that's great. I didn't know that. That's kind of like, yeah, that's kind of like the, maybe the constant theme on this one is, is not really knowing, you know, and just feeling the head, justfeeling the heaviness of it.
Um, yeah. He was reading the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Maybe. Yeah. It's Narnia. That was Narnia. Yeah. Yeah. Narnia, you've been on my mind.
No, I think this song is gorgeous. Like this song reminds me, it's cousins with flamenco, you know, like it's, it's, it's beautiful on a different sort of level or break, breaking out, throwingoff glass, you know, like one of those songs.
It's, it's just sort of a different caliber of song.
And, you know, to, to, to get here at point X, you know, from point A, which was werewolf baby, this is on crab, all crab, you know, this is 35 years later.
And what they've accomplished together as a band is amazing.
[41:36] There's not a lot of bands that the Stones have been around forever, but they didn't do it.
You know, they've released shit like from like 1983, like it's been junk, you know?
U2, another legacy band that we think of as like infallible, like they haven't done anything great since Zuropa. You know what I mean? That's a long time.
Joshua Tree. Yep. Joshua Tree, yeah.
I mean, Joshua Tree is a... Those early records, man. Amazing!
Amazing! Yeah, that was... Just saying. We'll save that for another pod.
Oh, well, I'll say real quick about Insarnia.
Is that this is... well, I'll save it. I'll save it for here in the dark.
[46:23] This record feels like, do you remember the Sports Illustrated cover of Dennis Rotman in drag, sitting on a motorcycle?
Sure. Really famous, where he's wearing lipstick and earrings.
They probably wouldn't have allowed that in my town.
Probably would've what? They probably wouldn't have allowed that magazine in my town. Really? No, I'm joking.
Oh, I was like, man, I thought Canada was pretty open about that stuff.
No, I remember vividly because it was like, I felt like, okay, Robman was crazy, amazingly talented basketball player, but he finally was able to, and if I remember correctly, reading someof that article and watching some of the interviews, he was finally able to be himself, whoever and however, whatever that looked like, you know, and that was a big, big deal.
That was a big deal to put a star basketball player on the cover of Sports Illustrated in drag on a motorcycle.
[47:31] This is 90s, you know, mid 90s, whenever it was.
Anyway, the reason why I thought of that was because I feel like this record is that.
I feel like this record is like, really they just are being who they want to be on this record. Like it or hate it.
Some people like other things better, but I feel like the records in the past were always for a reason.
Maybe that reason was trying to break through the American market.
Maybe that reason was trying to make this record sound more this or that.
Maybe that reason was whatever Bob Rock thought, you know.
But I feel like this reason is this record is just because they wanted to play.
This happens to be my favorite song on the record, hands down.
The way the bass starts off, everything about it, the chorus, guitar licks.
[48:25] My only, the only drag here is that the, I'm not a big fan of the, the, the ending.
So it kind of leaves you hanging. Yeah, it kind of left me hanging. in one regard, I was.
It just made me think about the prior songs and how the endings are not, I don't know.
Many times we've commented on their song endings not just wrapping up or whatever it is, but this one really left you hanging a little bit more than usual because this is song five and thewhole song picks up energetically, right?
[49:09] And it kind of feels like we're going someplace now, a little bit different.
Like you mentioned, Pete, the bass is really good. It's like, oh, yeah.
It's just chugging along like this locomotive.
And there's a little bit of effects to it. But it also kind of, the song to me, even though it was picking up in pace and everything, energy, it also kind of felt like we were slogging throughthe mud still.
Like there was just still momentum, but a struggle here. And then this leave you hanging ending, it just, yeah, it was a, yeah.
[49:51] I'll just add to this one, kind of on this album in general, we touched on it at the beginning, but it really left me wondering, Not necessarily why, but here we are in this new feel of achapter in The Hip and their discography, and how amazing to be in a band, to be able to go through this process for so many years, and recording on average probably every year and ahalf, and be able to knock out an album that's, you know, I just look down at my notes and the first thing I read track wise is tired as fuck.
I mean, maybe that was like part of the sentiment here, you know, that some of the music on this album feels just as far as the actual guitar, bass, or drums go. Some of it feels like.
[50:58] Here we are, we're back recording, this is good, you know, this is, we're making art, and some of it feels like, whew, I've ran, you know, 15, 16 marathons, and this one's feelingespecially hard this time, you know, like, kind of like, what's going on?
Well, it kind of doesn't matter, this is life, let's just keep chugging through it. And that's, that's kind of how this album was when I, when I was talking about playing it for my wife whenwe were packing up.
You know, it was really interesting to pause and consider, maybe I should put something else on right now, because that's like an album making you think, and it's art making you stop inyour tracks, and that's like the purpose of it.
You know, it's called The Artist's Goal. I honestly think if we didn't get screwed, and he never had cancer, this record wouldn't have been toured in arenas.
It would have been toured in small clubs purposefully, not because it wasn't drawing, but purposefully it would have been in small clubs because it's suited for a more intimate cabaretenvironment.
If they're touring heavily on this record, that's what I would think.
[52:14] But we did get screwed, and we only got to hear three or four of the songs live, and were in a stadium setting and going back briefly on, in a world possessed by the human mind, Ithink that's also why I really like it because I saw it live.
Uh, cause I love the breakdown in that song, like leading up to the bridge.
Um, the breakdown, I love the tone of the bass. Like it's very reminiscent of like eighties, um, like new, new wave indie sort of, you know, vibe. And it's just so fresh.
It's just so fresh sounding for this band, you know, that was playing Cordelia, which is a fantastic fucking banger of a song, but it seems like a thousand years before.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know, they're like our little tree. Yeah. And we've got to see them grow.
Taken off, you know this this may have been like precursor to I don't know to.
[53:22] Like MTV MTV unplugged situation kind of riffing off where you just were, you know, it could have been like it could have been like I Don't know Pinch hit kind of move for hissolo career, you know could have of, you know, it would have could have sold many things.
[53:46] I mean, there's, there's part of me at this point, this juncture in their discography, of me is just really wondered or made me think.
[53:58] Like, what the fuck, you know, it's yeah, it's really hard sometimes to process someone who's pivotal in your life.
And it's just like, you know, I can steak and eggs or your morning coffee or whatever it is, and then having that kind of go away and come come back just in a different version.
And it's not the same, you know, it's just that I feel like that premonition or whatever the word is for this album is is layered in for sure.
Yeah. It's eerie. That's a trip. It's a trip. Yeah. Totally.
Yeah. All right. So let's flip the record over and head into Great Soul.
[54:49] I really dig the melody, catchy, cool guitar opening, but I mean, I like a lot of things about this song.
I think the ultimate takeaway I had with it is it just never gets there. It's like tantric sex.
It's like you're waiting for the big boom and it just doesn't.
By the end, you're just like, fuck, really?
You're just waiting for a heavy guitar to just come in and just destroy it, and it just doesn't. Like, okay.
So my main note on this one is, this one I looked up.
I was like, all right, nothing works. I'm out of ideas. Like, what is going on with this one? And apparently, the guys were Simpsons fans.
And there's a scene from The Simpsons. I have it queued up here.
And I'm going to try to play it to see if you guys can hear it.
And it's taken from Ned Flanders' Parents, this nothing works and I'm out of ideas. They changed it up a little bit, but this is a reference.
We'll try to play it right here.
Yeah, you've gotta help us, Doc. We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas.
[56:09] That's the scene. I mean, paint the picture, it's Ned's parents with a doctor and Ned's in the background bouncing off the walls, you know, like no attention to anything.
That's the line. So apparently that's where that came from, which I just love, that made me feel like, okay, there's still some playfulness going on here. Oh yeah.
Take a fucking Simpsons quote, give me some really foreboding, foretelling, I don't know, pessimistic something. See, isn't that fucked?
Because this is why poetry is great, you know?
Yeah, yeah. In the context of a song is that one nugget of an idea, to me, that was very deep.
To me, it was very deep. To me, it defined my life. It was a mantra.
It was like, that's who I am. I've tried nothing and I'm out of ideas.
Like, I'm fucking useless, you know?
[57:04] And then you tell me it's a Simpsons quote and it's like my world has just come falling down. Way to go, Tim.
All right. I love that about it. It made me like it even more, you know? Yes, me too. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Let's take something that makes us giggle and turn it into something else, youknow? All right, let's hit it. Tired as fuck.
Yeah, my initial search on this one led me to t-shirts that have big, bold font, tired as fuck on the front.
And I thought, oh, I need to have one of those shirts. And I was like, maybe, where would I wear this shirt? This was a single.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 3 million plays on Spotify. It's big.
I love the lines, you know, Get so high, you can let go. Lake of gin up to my chin.
It's so easy when you don't know how.
You know, this song, it's like, when we were traveling recently, from Rome to Dallas to Portland, man, that Dallas to Portland leg was tired as fuck.
You know, it's just, this is, this just, it became an expression song.
You know, that's kind of what I, It's kind of what I got out of it, yeah. Nice.
[58:23] Yeah, I dug it. I mean, it was, it was, I definitely was, I mean, I could see it being a single for sure.
[58:29] The melody, I like the, it's got kind of a, I feel like, like, I don't know if it's, it's, it's Paul Langlois or Rob Baker doing the, the guitar on this, but very, it's a little Spanish vibe to it.
I get some undertoes there.
Again, the percussion and arrangements for this whole record is really stands out and this song is...
In my head, it's like if we had these two producers for We Are The Same, I think, like, because the bones are there. Like, there's some great songs on it.
It's not a piece of shit, you know, but it's like, it's just not up to snuff, I don't think.
And I know a lot of people, it's their favorite, but hey, whatever.
I just think these guys on that record, whoo!
I agree with you 100% 100% All right, hot mic.
This is another one that made me think Gord would have a heyday with where we are now that everything is a hot mic, you know I Don't know.
Well, it's a big bold Tom's at the beginning Love yeah, I love the way this begins This was one of my least favorite songs when I started listening to this record and it's bubbled up, it'sprobably a top four for me now on the record.
Where do you stand there, Mr. Tim?
[59:56] Um, you know the song I...
[1:00:00] I found I was I was kind of more lost on this one and honestly at this point in the whole my whole listen of the album with this song I was like fuck it I don't really care what thesesongs have been about I don't really care you know to look into this one I just was it kind of, and not in a negative way, it kind of just like I'm just succumbing to the hip at this point. It'slike, give me another shot.
We need to keep going. I'd love to riff on what you just said, Judy, like the drums and bass again.
Just kind of this thunder rolling through. I love it when they do that.
I love when those guys just create this, you know, storm.
[1:00:54] And I love that thought about the hip in this song. The ending of this one has this like pew pew kind of weird sound.
It was interesting. But I kind of went from this one right to the next one.
So this one didn't hang with me. Yeah, nothing negative.
But I was just like, OK, what's going on next?
Because I knew in my listen methodology, I'm like, OK, We're heading towards the finish line.
Tim was very passive about this song. Yeah, in not a negative way.
It's just how it was. No, that's what I'm saying, passive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't be negative. It's funny, because I mean, I echo a lot of what Tim says.
And to be honest with you, JD, hopefully I get to where you are today, that the song bubbles up a little bit. Because I thought it was cool.
I thought it was interesting. But it was definitely not a standout track for me.
Hey, I want you to keep working at it. And one day you will be like me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will. Man, you've got some guns there, man.
I thought guns were illegal in Canada.
[1:02:02] Ha ha ha ha ha. Probably. Potion next!
[1:04:38] Ocean X I thought was great and it grew on me and the more I heard it the more I don't know it It's oh, it's a it's a weird one.
It it appeared in my head many mornings in a row I don't know what it is about it because it feels like a song that there's often songs i'll hear this is my my Catholic upbringing right here,but there's often songs that I'll hear where I think, man, this would be so cool played inside a massive church, you know, some cathedral or, you know, and really, and I thought you weregoing to say, like to listen to with God.
Of course, of course. No, but there's, there's a venue here in Portland.
That's an old church. It's called the old church. And it's amazing to hear bands play there. It's just different.
And this was one of those for me.
I don't know why. It just stuck in my head. It's dark.
It kind of became one of my favorite ones on this album. And I can't really explain it.
Pete, what did you think of Ocean Next? I loved it, man. And to piggyback off what Tim said, as far as his Catholic upbringing and being in a church, you definitely want to listen to thissong a healthy dose of guilt also.
[1:06:05] Always. Sorry, had to. Lil Hanging Fruit. No, I mean, it's one of the coolest tracks on this record, and I echo everything that you said, JD.
It would be, it's weird that it became the stadium record that it did, but I would love to see this band just at like, God, not even like a theater, just something super small, you know?
[1:06:32] Like, if it was like 50 people, like that would be awesome. Oh, man. I mean, yeah, you're never going to see the Tragically Hip with 50 people.
No. But this just record had that vibe. I would love to listen to everything.
You know, and that happened. I mean, I was reading a review of them playing live and somebody, the writer commented on them playing stadiums and then them showing up in a city inthe U.S.
And playing to like 80 people at a venue that maybe holds a couple hundred people.
And not many folks showed up and, you know, this one show, I wish I could remember what it was, but the show, they were basically saying that the band seemed to have, like.
[1:07:18] Said, fuck it, and got ripped, and played an amazing show. And it played an amazing show, but they were like, fuck it.
Who cares that nobody's here? Let's just do whatever the hell we want, and we're going to play how we want to play.
And if somebody gets sloppy drunk and stumbles through their bass lines, who cares? And I mean, I love to witness shit like that as a fan. So it's, yeah.
Oh, I think that's part of their ethos. Like, they were always going to put, we've talked about it a lot through the show, but they're always going to put their art ahead of you know, anyother pursuits.
And in fact, Gord calls it out on his posthumous record to the song, basically his posthumous record that came out about a month after he died.
He had it set up almost like a, you know, like it was set up to come out.
If I'm, if I recall correctly.
It was set up to come out after he died.
[1:08:16] And it came out and it consists of however many songs, but each song is about one person or one group of people in his life.
[1:08:28] And it's just led to many people trying to decipher who is who and what is what, which one's about the kids and which one's about this.
But there's a very clear one about the band And if you get a chance give it a listen. It's pretty cool.
Has everybody spoken about ocean next?
[1:08:44] Yeah Yeah, right. So then we get the right parenthetical this record machine or enroll Tim so Yeah, so this one's you know past the five-minute mark.
We got we got a longer one here They played this one a little bit live on their last tour.
I found they they played it 15 times so this is yeah, I know this is kind of maybe more of a I Don't know.
It's it feels like about three minutes in I Was expecting it to maybe wrap up and start ending but it kept going and it was a good thing like it It felt good for a closer Yeah, it has this strangekind of shut it down, electronic ending Yeah, even even though it had like this pick-me-up feel for an ender it which is again kind of classic hip like leaves you Excited for the next albumand wanting more this had still had some of that there.
So it's It's a little bit of an oddball in that regard with the rest of the album and now I felt going through it but you know, it's It, uh...
[1:10:02] Yeah, it just felt like a good end of an album.
If this last song was deeper and darker, if this album had an ending of this song, if it was just more deep and more dark and more foreboding and more like, what the fuck, then I think thewhole album would have felt a little bit different, but this song doesn't feel that way.
It still makes fans, I believe, probably want more hip and it's just got that.
I love the lyrics of, you know, I'm a machine, I'm a real machine, you're a real machine.
It's kind of like we're all in this together feeling.
I also love the line, I can try not to try and remember a lot.
I mean, that's just like, that's just like, get through the day, you know.
So this was a good ending of an album for me.
[1:11:04] Man, when I got really high and listened to this record one day, I was convinced that man and machine, you can loop them somehow.
Hmm. They seemingly, like they fit together somehow, but I couldn't figure out how to put them together.
So I could never replicate what I heard in my head, but to me, they're so linked.
So linked. If anyone out there has done that before, please, please send us, please, please send us some. Yeah, totally.
Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah. Some mashup. Yeah. What did you think, Pete? I mean, this is the title for this record is as a reference to the song on the on the previous record.
Which I think was probably one of my favorite, if not my favorite song on that record.
[1:11:58] I thought this was a really cool ender. It did wrap up the record nicely in terms of where it started.
So I feel you JD. I don't know exactly what it sounded like in your head, but I definitely feel you on the first song and this last song being something you could like somehow loop or mix.
I got some Beatles vibes from this song. Definitely got some Beatles vibes, But probably the coolest thing was the guitar following I'm a Real Machine.
Like, that melody is being played on the guitar as Gord sings it.
And I just think that's so cool when bands do that.
Oh, I didn't hear it. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah, I heard that. It's simple, but it's like they're playing the vocal melody on the guitar. And I just love it.
Because you can fuck it up pretty easy. It sounds cheesy, but it sounds awesome.
Yeah, good wrap-up on this record song.
[1:13:05] I think it's a good way to wrap it up. And ultimately, a wrap-up on the career of the Tragically Hip.
Tragically, you know, ending way too soon. It's been a number of years now, but it still feels like yesterday that I listened to them for the first time.
Well, I don't want to get too finale on me here, on you guys here, so I'll save that for a wrap up.
But suffice it to say, I, you know, this record is a record that like rocketed up my power rankings earlier this summer. It's a top seven record for me.
So I like this one a lot. Any final thoughts from you, gentlemen?
I just can't wait to see everybody in Toronto. Yeah, man. Just can't wait. Yeah. Stoked.
It's going to be great. And Bob, if you're listening, you should come.
You know, we want to drink some champagne with you.
Pete wants to hear your PSS and your, what does he drive?
Jaguar? He wouldn't want to listen to this trash that I mix.
I'm sorry. Bob's a Jaguar guy. MVP tracks, for the record. Pete, we'll go with you first because you already gave yours away, you ding-dong.
Yeah, sorry, Here in the Dark, best song on the record.
[1:14:34] Hands down. Yeah, OK. I'm going Ocean next. It's just I don't really know why. It's a close second.
Some of the songs I've picked from this process, I'm not really sure why.
But this one, it's a little bit of an oddball. And this is the song that I woke up hearing in my head several times in the past couple of weeks. Very cool.
[1:15:03] Well, thank you very much as always, gentlemen. We'll be back next week for one more spin around the old turntable before we head to Toronto for the finale on the 1st ofSeptember.
Hope to see you there. Hope to. Well, I know I'll see you guys there, but I hope to see everybody who's listening there.
And that's all we got for you. Thanks. Thanks, fellas. Good to see ya. Pack up your shit!
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