THE TRAGICALLY HIP
Hipeponymous
Universal
· The obsolescence and the evolutionary proof.
While Hipeponymous, the first box set from Kingston’s The Tragically Hip, may not be the best place for the uninitiated to begin listening, it certainly paints an accurate portrait of the band. In fact, it’s greatest strength as a cross-section of one of Canada’s most successful groups is that it vividly illustrates what most Hip fans know – the band has been getting better with each album and those albums are never as good as their live shows.
With two CDs worth of greatest hits (fans look out, there are two previously unreleased tracks – "No Threat" and "The New Maybe" – and new mixes of material from Fully Completely) and two DVDs worth of videos and concert footage, Hipeponymous is certainly a lovely package even if it does illustrate the band’s shortcomings. With more than a handful of nearly unwatchable videos, and songs that, though admittedly great, are easily overshadowed by their new material, this box set offers a lot of stuff that fans already have or should probably forget.
Alternately the unabridged concert film, That Night In Toronto, features a great live band at the height of their power. Using sweeping crane shots, quick edits and split-screen, Gord Downie’s manic wailing and literate tangential monologues, Bobby Baker’s nimble swamp blues soloing and a rock-solid rhythm section all get showcased. The band is clearly giving the audience what they want, and That Night In Toronto is one of the best concert films made since the music-DVD market opened up.
The real gem of the collection isn’t Macroscopic, the tedious and oblique documentary about the Hip made by Christopher Mills, but rather the luminous video art he created to project behind the band on tour. For Hipeponymous, that footage has been collected and been given a new musical treatment by the band. In that sense the box set is a three-for-one package – greatest hits, live tracks and rarities. Like I said, not the best place to begin, but for fans, it’s been a long time coming.
|
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.