Got Hip?

As a native of Buffalo, I heard the Hip out of Toronto radio stations all the time growing up. I have all their CDs, except for Road Apples, which I found sharply subpar compared to the rest of the group's efforts.

Mes,

Gord's solo release, "Coke Machine Glow" was quite a disappointment to say the least. Basically, Gord has someone jot down his random ramblings when the Hip are playing live. If you've seen the Hip live or own "Live Between Us" you know the rather unusual banter I'm referring to (e.g. "Jesus Christ big f**king bear! Whoa!!!!"). He set the extremely odd ad libs to some acoustic music for "Coke". Gord's ramblings work very well in the context of adding filler during "New Orleans" or "Nautical" but as standalone lyrics to some background acoustic guitar it sucks hard. I chatted with the Hip's manager outside a small venue in Boston a few years ago, he told me the Hip struggle to sell their music in the U.S. but "if Gord released a record with nothing but him belching he'd sell a million copies in Canada". "Coke" isn't far from belching.

Thanx Jeff, I know what you're referring to, I've seen them live7-8 times over the last 9-10 years since I first started listening to them. I'm lucky, they usually touch down in Cleveland twice per tour and I try not to miss. Gords a piece of work live, always interesting, and the in-between/during/after song banter is cool, but I can see how it may not stand on it's own. In the 10 years I've followed them I've yet to figure out why they have not gotten more popular in the States. Many factors I'm sure, and another story. I actually got back stage with some Canadian friends during the "Fully Completely" tour and Gord was quite nice and amazingly normal apearing. One of the benefits of their lack of celebrity in the States is seeing them in small venues. Mark