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This should be a fun one.

Released October 17, 2006.

Yer Not the Ocean
The Lonely End of the Rink
In View
Fly
Luv(sic)
The Kids Don't Get It
Pretend
Last Night I Dreamed You Didn't Love Me
The Drop-Off
Family Band
World Container

Produced by Bob Rock, whose list of credits is so long I'll just say if you listen to music there's a good chance he was involved. Sort of forgotten, due to his producer credits, is his earlier musical success with the Payolas and Rock and Hyde. I suspect there will be a lot of venom towards Rock, but it may still not match the anger you'll find from hardcore Metallica fans (I'm not one, but I do like reading some of the music forums specifically about the Black album.)

I'm going to possibly be a contrarian, and say I really like this album. I had generally not liked M@W, and while I now appreciate them IVL and IBE were two albums that it took me years to really get into. Could have been a case of life events, or other music. WC came out at what was likely the right time for me, and was the first Hip album in a longtime that I really appreciated and embraced right at its release.

I said it in an earlier thread, but I find their producer choices always interesting. Earlier in their career, in retrospect I'm surprised at some of the "heavy weights" they were able to work with, either as an unproven band or with limited international reputation. As they progressed, the choices they made generally seem to fit with what's needed with the next album.

I like the roughness, one-take sound of IBE. At the same time, while the records were still selling, I don't think the band's audience was significantly growing. While I think the band rarely made any decisions for commercial purposes, and instead passed up many opportunities for significant commercial gain over their 30 years, I would guess there was a bit of internal (and likely more so external) pressure for a more accessible album that would return the band to a wider audience. While I remained a fan, I know for many they'd pretty much dropped off the radar over the past two albums.

For lack of a better word, with WC Rock polished the edges. When you look at Rock's career, that's really how he's found success -- everything becomes a bit more concise and tighter. Two good examples would be The Cult, or Veruca Salt. In one case, I think he helped (I prefer Electric, but Sonic Temple is decent) and in the other he ruined it (Veruca Salt's debut was great, 8 Arms was neutered garbage). With WATS I think Rock polished too far, but that's for later.

As for the album, I think in listening to IBE more over recent weeks and moving on to WC, Gord went from one of his most lyrically complex albums to something a bit more straightforward. The allusions are a bit easier to understand.

I do recall being a bit taken aback by In View, and the keyboard riff always reminds for a SNL Christmas skit with Jimmy Fallon playing a keyboard. But the band seemed to enjoy playing it live, and it was the first time in a few years that I heard the band return the radio.

Two songs really make the album for me.

For a band that wrote a lot of great hockey related songs, Lonely End of the Rink is my favorite. I like that opening riff, and then when the drums kick in, and it's a pretty cool acoustic solo by Rob. Mostly I played goalie, and (stupidly for letting him) one of my kids now plays goal. At its simplest interpretation, it's the greatest song ever about goalies, parents, relationships, being part of a team but not really part of a team -- you're in this alone, and I can watch but not help.

Drop-Off has some of my favorite Gord in studio vocal deliveries. His "whooo" feels like an accomplishment. I'd love to see video of him recording this track in the studio.

It's also maybe the album where they most showed their influences beyond the usual blues rock cited bands from earlier in their career (easy to hear some Bowie, Clash, Iggy, Pink Floyd) and it was interesting that they chose to play covers to close sets on this tour. It was also maybe the tour when I most noticed Gord turn into a "performer", with painting the audience, tossing handkerchiefs, etc. I ended up seeing numerous shows on this tour, but sadly passed up the one I should have gone to when they inexplicably played the All In Lounge in Akwesasne. I do know one guy who went to the show, and his memories are pretty amusing. It was also the band's last real large scale arena tour until MMP.

For vinyl enthusiasts, this LP reissue is very solid and has some revelations. Gord's vocal presence in the mix is striking. Pretend, a song I hadn't been too keen on, is an entirely different presentation on the vinyl format (mostly much better separation, and you can better appreciate Rob's guitar work).

I expect this record will get a lot of hate, but I've always enjoyed it and when ranking the albums it's always higher up on my list than I'd expect. I'll save my hate for the next album, where I think Rock went from helping the band to hindering them. But again, I know there's a lot of members who really like that album....but that conversation will be for a few weeks down the road.

Note - I didn't remove Nashville in the first round 5. New poll! Sorry about that.

With Nashville and Gus being eliminated, we have our final four.

Eliminated Round 1
Summer's Killing Us
Heaven Is A Better Place Today

Eliminated Round 2
The Heart of the Melt
One Night in Copenhagen

Eliminated Round 3
Mean Streak
You're Everywhere
As Makeshift We Are

Eliminated Round 4
It Can't Be Nashville Every Night
Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park

Vote for the song you believe to be the weakest on In Between Evolution and after 48 hours, we will remove the song that has the most votes.

The poll will end Thursday at 9:02am Eastern.

Happy voting!

Shane

Any other Hipbasers make it out to this show Friday night? The night was a fundraiser for Downie-Wenjeck, with a collective of local and touring musicians getting together to celebrate the life and music of Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip. The format was similar to just about any other charity show you've been to (such as the White Ribbon Benefit, Andy Kim Christmas, etc.): house band on stage all night while a rotating cast of singers come up to each do appx. two songs.

The night ended up raising about $10,000 - despite anything else I'm about to write here, that is the only thing that really matters - and featured headlining performances from Danny Michel, Jim Bryson, Andrew Cash and Sam Cash. Most of the other acts were pretty Barrie or central-Ontario based, with a couple of lesser-known Toronto musicians coming up as well. Mike and Patrick Downie were on hand to say a few words during intermission.

With full disclosure that the cold I'm fighting is making me more miserable and jaded than usual, I had a lot higher hopes for the performances we'd be seeing. I think it was Greg Keelor from Blue Rodeo who made a comment last year about just how hard it is to cover Hip songs, because of GD's writing style. Andrew Cash made a similar comment Friday night. You think you know the songs, but then you realize just how many words are crammed into the three-and-a-half minutes and realize you know very little. That came across throughout the evening. These songs are just really hard for people to sing. I think Strombo's Hip 30 program showed that as well. There are a lot of stellar covers there; there are probably just as many awful ones.

That said, there were a couple of attempts that if I had been seeing any of these musicians in a bar, and they pulled out that choice cover, I'd probably be impressed. Ariana Gillis did Wolf's Home justice and It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken was turned into the younger sibling of Cortez The Killer by Andrew Goldstein and the house band, led by Brett Caswell. Danny Michel deserved his top billing, nailing both Fireworks and Poets (although I was hurt that my favourite act on the bill was covering probably my two least favourite songs to hear live).

With a song like Wolf's Home, or the handful of Secret Path songs, you had to struggle over the crowd talking to hear what was happening on stage. From the crowd conversations to the casual racism to the obliterated bros being escorted out by security way too early in the night, it was a typical night at The Roxx (or whatever the hell it's called now). Jim Bryson, before covering Trick Rider, came out and said, “It’s nice that you’re all talking; that’s my favourite part.” I laughed. It's the kind of thing Gord probably would have said in the moment too.

Here's what was played, except for the encore, which I'm sure happened, but my aforementioned cold won the battle and I just couldn't take it anymore. Brett Caswell and band backed up all songs, except where noted.

Little Bones - Matt Berry
Long Time Running - Matt Berry
Flamenco - Courtney Dubois and Dave Allen
Wheat Kings - Harpacash - solo
Gift Shop - Brent Jackson
Fly - Aaron Goldstein
Good Life - Aaron Goldstein
Blow - Noel Johnson
Courage - Noel Johnson
I Will Not Be Struck - Dani Strong - solo
Grace Too - Dani Strong
--- Intermission ---
The Stranger - Amanda Rheaume
Now For Plan A - Amanda Rheaume and Carliegh Akins
Secret Path - Carliegh Akins
Three Pistols - Carliegh Akins
Wolf's Home - Ariana Gillis
Son - Ariana Gillis
ABAC - Andrew Cash and Sam Cash
Seven Matches - Andrew Cash and Sam Cash
My Music At Work - Andrew Cash and Sam Cash
Fireworks - Danny Michel
Poets - Danny Michel

Mean Streak, You're (Yer) Everywhere and As Makeshift We Are have been eliminated heading into Round 4.

Eliminated Round 1
Summer's Killing Us
Heaven Is A Better Place Today

Eliminated Round 2
The Heart of the Melt
One Night in Copenhagen

Eliminated Round 3
Mean Streak
You're Everywhere
As Makeshift We Are

Vote for the song you believe to be the weakest on In Between Evolution and after 48 hours, we will remove the two songs that have the most votes. As before, a song must have at least 10% of the vote in order to be removed otherwise it will carry forward into the following round.

The poll will end Tuesday at 8:06am Eastern.

Happy voting!

Shane

We miss Gord. Still hard to believe he's gone. But what about the rest of the guys? Will they play in other bands? Will they release previously unreleased Hip material? It would be nice to hear some kind of news from them because from what I was hearing, they were working on things last year. I don't know what is was but is was something. Thoughts?

Well, with You're Everywhere and Mean Streak being tied in the third place position, we will carry them forward to the next round so we eliminate two songs in this round; The Heart of the Melt and One Night in Copenhagen.

Eliminated Round 1
Summer's Killing Us
Heaven Is A Better Place Today

Eliminated Round 2
The Heart of the Melt
One Night in Copenhagen

Vote for the song you believe to be the weakest on In Between Evolution and after 48 hours, we will remove the three songs that have the most votes. As before, a song must have at least 10% of the vote in order to be removed otherwise it will carry forward into the following round.

The poll will end Sunday at 8:06am Eastern.

Happy voting!

Shane

We had two songs share 55% of the first round voting which means we only say goodbye to two songs with the remaining songs staying below the 10% threshold.

Eliminated Round 1
Summer's Killing Us
Heaven Is A Better Place Today

Vote for the song you believe to be the weakest on In Between Evolution and after 48 hours, we will remove the three songs that have the most votes. As before, a song must have at least 10% of the vote in order to be removed otherwise it will carry forward into the following round.

The poll will end Friday at 8:05am Eastern.

Happy voting!

Shane

Casinos of Winnipeg presents, The Watchmen with guests The Northern Pikes, April 28th at Club Regent Event Centre!
Tickets on-sale Jan. 25th, 10 am at Ticketmaster & casinosofwinnipeg.com

THE WATCHMEN
WITH THE NORTHERN PIKES

ALL AGES

P1 - $45* Reserved & GA Pit (GA Ticket required to access Pit)
P2 - $35* Reserved
P3 - $35* Reserved Mezz

Wed. Jan 24 – Presale
Thu. Jan 25 – Public Onsale

7pm Doors
8pm Show
All Ages

THE WATCHMEN was formed in 1988 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by vocalist Daniel Greaves, guitarist Joey Serlin, bassist Pete Loewen and Greaves' first cousin, drummer Sammy Kohn. Serlin was a comic fan and named the group after the DC comic.

In 1992 McLaren Furnace Room was released, with the single "Cracked" garnering the band significant airplay on rock stations, but was quickly eclipsed by the anti-spousal abuse anthem "Run and Hide", which became the band's breakthrough hit.

In 1993, Loewen left the band amicably to spend more time with his family. At the urging of Watchmen manager Jake Gold, Newfoundlander Ken Tizzard auditioned and replaced Loewen as the group's new bassist. Members of the Watchmen have commented that Tizzard's recruitment sparked a change in band dynamics and songwriting: before Tizzard joined the group, most the songs were written by Serlin alone; afterwards, the majority of songs were group compositions, with Serlin and Greaves sharing lyric-writing duties.

The band's second album, In The Trees, was released on MCA records in July 1994. The record was a major success, confirming the band's place in Canadian rock with the hit singles "Boneyard Tree", "All Uncovered" and "Lusitana". The album was certified Platinum in Canada after selling over 100,000 copies.

Their 1996 album Brand New Day included singles "Zoom", "Incarnate" and "Shut Up". The band launched an extensive tour of Canada and Europe which lasted into 1997. The album provided the band with their second Juno nomination as they were nominated for North Star Rock Album of the Year at the 1997 Juno Awards.

Following this album, the band left MCA records and was signed to EMI. 1998's Silent Radar was the band's return to commercial success, with the hit singles "Stereo", "Any Day Now", "Brighter Hell" and "Say Something". The album was produced by Adam Kasper in Seattle's Studio Litho (owned by Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam fame), and was released in March 1998. That autumn, the band won a MuchMusic award for best of use new technology, owing to the inclusion of innovative web- and CD-ROM-based features on the Silent Radar CD. On the strength of the album, in 1999 the Watchmen also toured Australia for the first time, where "Stereo" received airplay on Triple J. They toured the nation with The Screaming Jets, and also made an appearance on the ABC-TV show Recovery, performing "Say Something."

In the fall of 2008, the "classic" lineup of Greaves, Serlin, Kohn and Tizzard announced a small reunion tour. Kohn convinced the other members to take part in the reunion tour after showing them a myspace page where fans still talked about their favourite songs, and performances. The Watchmen played in Ottawa leading up to two sold out shows at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. The following month they played a short 45 minute set as part of Powerball in Winnipeg and a show in Calgary.

In the past 5 years the band have had their history documented in both a DVD and in a book. Winnipeg filmmaker Reil Munro released his DVD documentary “All Uncovered – The Watchmen” in 2010 which quickly sold out over 4 shows in Toronto and Winnipeg. In 2014, debut author Vanessa Azzoli released “Uncovered: The Story of The Watchmen” which co-aligned with the 20th anniversary of In The Trees.

The band is active with their fans through social media, sharing rare photos and even a full-length live show download from a performance in Australia. With all the excitement that still surrounds them, The Watchmen continue to sell out shows across Canada year after year.

Anyone seeing her in Toronto tonight? Her band features a certain Mr. Robert Baker; he and Gord Sinclair play on her record, which is really quite enjoyable. Rob will be there tonight; not sure about Gord S.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1619569?utm_medium=bks">https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/even ... medium=bks</a><!-- m -->

The Dire Wolf brings home the title from In Violet Light and with that we are on to In Between Evolution!

So far our champions are:

EP - Smalltown Bringdown
UTH - New Orleans is Sinking
RA - Three Pistols
FC - Locked in the Trunk of a Car
DFN - Nautical Disaster
TATH - Ahead by a Century
LBU - Grace, Too
PP - Emperor Penguin
M@W - Lake Fever
IVL - The Dire Wolf

Vote for the song you believe to be the weakest on In Between Evolution and after 48 hours, we will remove the three songs that have the most votes. As before, a song must have at least 10% of the vote in order to be removed otherwise it will carry forward into the following round.

The poll will end Wednesday at 8:03am Eastern.

Happy voting!

Shane