Up To Here

A third Tragically Hip album? Absolutely not necessary. It's fine and I recognise New Orleans is Sinking from the rock radio station I used to listen to time to time as a teenager. Otherwise, I think we've gotten enough Tragically Hip albums! My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

I love The Hip and you should too

This is my album choice. This band/album is the soundtrack to Canadian summers. Bonfires/ camping trips/ fishing at the lake... This was such a formative album for me in my teenage years as I was shaping my musical tastes. I mentioned in another Tragically Hip album review that it was my cousin, who lived in a more urban setting that introduced me to The Hip in the first place. Once introduced to them, I went back to my rural town and bought a few of their records. I've been a fan ever since. What I love about them is that they change their sound slightly for every album they made. This album is blues rock, but other albums lean harder to the country rock/art rock sound. Gord was always experimenting and weaving beautiful poetry into music. Lyrics such as (from the song 38 years old): Same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall; Been one seat empty 18 years now; Freezing slow time away from the world; He's 38 years old, never kissed a girl Such vibrant imagery to that chorus. The song is loosely based off of the jailbreak that occured from Millhaven Penitentiary near Kingston, ON. The song is sung from the perspective of a younger brother who's older brother was locked up after murdering the man who raped his sister. Just the thought of how time stands still for his family as he serves out his sentence... When given the opportunity to select an album for others to listen to, I felt compelled to represent Canada in some way, simply because the original 1,001 list leaned hard on obscure British Britpop/ Madchester/ electronica/ shoegaze... I needed to represent something that meant so much to me. So crack a beer, sit out under the stars around a bonfire, grab a guitar and a few good friends, and enjoy life. Favorite songs: Opiated, Boots or Hearts, Trickle Down, When the Weight Comes Down, I'll Believe in You (Or I'll Be Leaving You Tonight), Blow at High Dough, 38 Years Old, New Orleans is Sinking, She Didn't Know, Everytime You Go, Another Midnight Least favorite songs: none 5/5

Up To Here is the debut album of The Tragically Hip. It is not as good as what is to follow (Fully Completely, Road Apples and Phantom Power), but still a fine piece of music on it's own. It has all the elements (energy, drive and good guitar licks) that can be found on the albums that will follow.

This album feels like a more natural choice than a previous user album from this band (Phantom Power) which I still have to listen to so I might be wrong... ..in any case, OtH contains New Orleans Is Sinking: one of their best songs. Overall, this is a solid album (had to get onto it again and it got better after a few listens). Still had expected to see Fully Completely, a classic album that could have been included in the 1001 list.

Yeah I like this. Good rock - I really enjoyed the opening track Blow at High Dough. While I don’t think I’d put three albums on this list from The Tragically Hip, I’m happy to have become acquainted with the group.

This album is fun and good and I loved it. Still don’t *quite* get their totemic status in Canada but who am I to disagree?

Some blues rock, some regular rock and some more folkish rock. It was okay

Excellent. 4 stars.

Alternative rock, roots rock, folk rock, country rock, blues rock. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

This is pretty good. I didn't know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. Opening track is solid. Good rock album, enjoyed it.

So yeah, these guys were doing stuff like this at the same sort of time the Americans were starting to feel their way around grunge. I mean, it's OK - but only OK as far as I can see.

O man, with a Canadian band like this, who needs a second ("hey Siri, play Glass Tiger, Platinum Blonde, Chilliwack, Bryan Adams, the Tea Party, Nomeansno, Blue Rodeo, Spirit of the West, Alannah Myles, the Spoons, the Pumps, Sloan, Thrush Hermit, Plumtree, Doug & the Slugs, Martha & the Muffins, and Men Without Hats :)") The user who picked this also chose If I Should Fall From Grace With God as their fave from the original list, and that makes strange sense to me. Like, the Pogues and the Hip aren't exactly similar musically, but... either one would be great by a fireplace on a cool day. Gord Sinclair. I looked up the bassist's name, since he's such a highlight of "New Orleans" among other songs. Add him to the other renowned Canadian Gords like bandmate Downie, Lightfoot and Pinsent.

Enjoyed it. Will be well worth listening to some more.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: I’ll believe in you, 38 years old, She didn’t know, Everytime you go

I’m married to a Canadian so have absorbed the music of the Hip via osmosis. This is the first time I have ever listen to one of their albums but I knew most of the songs!

Of the two TTH albums I got recently, I liked this one a lot better. Really enjoyed this.

Theres quite a bit of ‘the hip’ on the user list, I think they’re a band that deserves an album. While ‘phantom power’ is very similar to REM, this album is more akin to late 60’s/ 70’s rock. I thought ‘blow at high dough’ was a wonderful way to begin a discography. I think it’s a 4/5 (could give it a 3 because I don’t believe it should be on the list, but quality wise it’s a 4)

I've heard of The Tragically Hip before (from a friend of mine who's married to a Canadian, naturally), but I've never listened to them before. I think I always imagined that they got their start some time in the late nineties, so I'm shocked to see that this debut album of theirs is from 1989. I have no idea what to expect from this album, but I'm excited to finally check these guys out. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. When it first got started, I thought this was just going to be a generic rock record, but The Tragically Hip had a really great sound, and I liked the darker themes of the lyrics. There was something really genuine about the way this album sounded, and I really liked that it didn't feel like something that a producer or record executive was trying to take creative control over. This album feels like it was exactly what the band envisioned. There were elements of this album that sounded ahead of its time, almost like a pre-grunge album, and I thought that sound worked really well. The guitars and bass playing were excellent, but I really enjoyed the vocals as well. The lead vocals from Gord Downie were great (man, reading about his passing was soul-crushing), but the backing vocals were excellent too. This album reminded me of The Black Crowes in a way, but also of The Cowboy Junkies (although this blew The Trinity Sessions out of the water). I don't think I could pick a favorite song from this album, but musically, it did drag a bit for me towards the end (despite the lyrics never wavering in quality). This was a solid rock album, and it's the type of thing I could throw on for any occasion and just enjoy having it on.

Seems to be standard TH. They were one band who I never really listened to in the past and was really excited to be exposed to give how big they are in Canada. It is just fine, but not sure why they are elevated to national treasure all the time. 3.5/5

This Tragically Hip album wasn’t as good as Fully Completely but it still was a pretty good album. For a Canadian band they have a good sound of bluesy rock with an occasional country element, maybe Kingston is the Atlanta of Canada. Overall it’s another good album by them with a good range on their sound while still that late 80s early 90s flannel rock sound. 6.8/10

Fine blues/folk rock, but this the third user submission and no better than the others. There is strength in the style and vocal delivery, but few songs really elevate themselves and it ends up as a pretty average release.

When you order R.E.M. from Temu.

This Canadian favorite has made the fan list once or twice before - and I never remember exactly what they are about. Which turns out to be pretty straight ahead rock and roll in my book, smart lyrics without being pretentious, the singing nothing life-changing but fit to purpose. Some of it gets into a little monotonous riffing around stock progressions, some of it runs a bit long, but enjoyable overall and I'd happily listen to it any time.

Another tragically hip album, can’t really complain i like these guys. I’d find a way to squeeze it on the list.

Pretty fun

Wait is the version on Apple Music ripped from vinyl? You hear the needle drop at the start of “Boots or Hearts” and if it’s a sample/sound effect, it’s really well done. That’s all I got, really…the music is fine. This sort of heartland rock isn’t really for me, but it had some very enjoyable moments.

Rick of various shades. Ok.

Aldrig hört talas om gruppen men det här var ju klart godkänt. 3+

Don’t care

Rock suave sin ningún altibajo ni sorpresa reseñable. Se deja escuchar. Parece que bien elaborado y con voz aceptable. Género muy explotado y en el que en este disco no tiene ningún motivo para brillar

A decent guitar-driven LP with a bit more grit than the other albums from this band that have ended up on here. After listening to the 1001 + the Rolling Stone 500 and a few other lists I’m going to be honest in that I’m running out of novel takes and things are starting to blur together a bit

Solid, if unspectacular indie. Some of the songs remind me of Snow Patrol, a bit. A couple of them have really incongruous lyrics. I liked it, but didn't love it.

I liked the first Tragically Hip album this list gave me. This one is also fine, but a little less so.

I praised The Tragically Hip in our very first user album, but I didn't find "Up To Here" to be as strong. The Hip are Canadian icons that belong on the list, but maybe they hadn't quite refined their sound until "Fully Completely." "Up To Here" was a little to country for my taste at times, and Gord Downie seemed to still be feeling out his vocal style.

More Hip, why not

Cool vocals, felt groovy for a bit but then got stale. Worth the listen.

I thought this album was very competently made, but was ultimately not my thing. Like, there's really not a thing that I can identify that's wrong with it other than that I generally don't go in for this type of blues rock. Still, I think it's notable for when it was made, and perhaps some of my lack of reaction to the album is from having heard several similar things that came afterwards. 3/5

That was some alright country rock. Would get a little too country at parts but would also noodle around a bit at other parts.

Sounds like Canadian Drive By Truckers, but much better I must say. This is just some good ol fashioned, no nonsense, southern/folk rock with hard driving guitar. But still lands as a mid to high 3

Another lower 3. Not off to a great start here.

Not bad, but lost steam as it played on and I grew more tired of the twangy style. I forget which song it was, but there was also some god awful supporting vocals in here. For me this is a perfect 3.

I’ve had it “Up To Here” with people adding albums from this band to the list!!! I do like this one better than the others, though.

Deliberate / intentional. Wasn't all over the place

I have lived in Canada for almost 4 years now, and in that time I have listened to enough CanCon rock radio to learn that I just do not care much for The Tragically Hip. That said, I did end up enjoying this album more than I expected, if only by a little bit.

Sérieux, on est où là? La liste originale? On a déjà eu deux albums de ce band qui, ma foi, ne m’impressionne guère sur à peu près tout les aspect

Perfectly adequate.

It’s nice to see the Tragically Hip on here but I’m not feeling it. I think it’s the curse of the jam band - great live, not so great when recorded. Still, it’s nice.

Pretty bad 2

Very unremarkable

Not for me. It's not bad though.

Every song here sounds the same. And that sound is boredom.

✅ Band only famous in one country ✅ Every song sounds the same ✅ Three albums on the Album Generator site Welcome back Dexys Midnight Runners.

It was short and unobtrusive

Once more we get to 'enjoy' Canada's less interesting answer to REM. Up To Here is the Hip's debut effort and it's probably marginally more enjoyable than the other two user-submitted albums of theirs we've had, but not to any discernable level. I enjoyed the first track, and Everytime You Go is decent, but it's another 2/5 and I don't get how they're so big.

tragic

They’re half right.

Based on their name, I did not expect this to be so straightforward blues based roots rock. It was fine I guess, but wholly uninteresting.

Rather generic. Sounds identical to like 30 other albums from the list so I don't really get it. 3/10

The Tragically dull. Late 80s pseudo-country/rock that genuinely feels like a relic.

Straight up and down blues rock without a single memorable song

Oh, thank God, I was worried The Tragically Hip always copie- I mean, was influenced by R.E.M, but luckily, they instead were big fans of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, one of the worst "famous" bands of the 80s. What joy! Bleh, this album was almost fine enough, but as it just kept going I was just more and more annoyed, to the point where I'd call this actively bad. Is the Tragically Hip gonna be the Costello of the user list? I really hope not, or at the very least that third (and final?) album better be fantastic, to make it all even. Sorry, OP, I'm sure this band means a lot to you, but this is far from for me.

at least this trash is mercifully short

A third album by The Tragically Hip? And this one from the eighties? Are you f*cking serious??? Sorry but it's gonna be *Phantom Power* for me, and nothing else. Yes, you read that correctly. At least this later album is not pestered by an overabundance of meat-and-potatoes cuts, ones so mundane and predictable I feel like I might yawn myself to death. I'm all for bonfires under the stars, believe me. But if it's to listen to such uninteresting music, I'd rather stay in the car and listen to something else there. Or better, *you* stay in the car, while the rest of us sit by the fire and listen to genuinely evocative classic North American rock, from Neil Young to Big Star. And if really you want to appreciate later inheritors to those sorts of tones, there's always the REM option, you know. Anything but this boring album. Sure, "38 Years Old" is a rather touching song about poignant matters, and its softer tones are a welcome break from the totally unimaginative, linear, hackneyed, by-the-book rock numbers before it. Even if "38 Years Old" is *also* a very linear composition, come to think of it... Not that one single isolated good cut matters that much in the grand scheme of things anyway... When "She Didn't Know" surged right after this softer track, we were back to the same f*cking maddening clichés all over again -- evidence enough that no short sip from a rare flavored liquor on the shelves of *Up To Here* would take away the bad taste of cheap bourbon from a plastic bottle that "tragically" lingers on our tongue here. When Gord went "oh yeah!" in such an overkill fashion at the start of that next song, my eyes rolled out to the back of my skull so much I thought I might have hurt a nerve. Right after that, acoustic "Boots Or Hearts" was the cherry on the (shit)cake. Lame stupid folk guitar riffing you've heard a thousand times before, ditto for the vocal lines and the "she loves me, she loves me not" subject matter... And beyond that last example, you can find SO MANY interchangeable cuts like that within the record's tracklist. There are no hot embers in your bonfire, man. Only cold ashes now. I've read your words complaining about Radiohead, you know. Please understand one thing about bloody Radiohead. Whether you can subjectively appreciate them or not, there is *objectively* more imagination, more skilled and creative music writing, and more inspiring chord sequences / awe-inducing moments / stellar harmonic work in *any* single minute of post-*Pablo Honey* Radiohead than you can find them in that whole The Tragically Hip album. So settle the f*ck down yourself, to use one of your hilarious words, in that review about the (awesome) Warren Zevon. Yeah, we can still dig the same good stuff, once in a while, and it's very fortunate. Besides, you and I at least know that Kid Rock is an insult to the very notion of music and art in general, ha ha. It's better to rejoice on what unites us, right? That being said, it looks that you're not immune from sounding "butt-hurt" yourself at times. Which is why I do think you need to taste your own medicine a little... My best guess to explain those "butt-hurt" moments of yours is that, after 1001+ albums, you're still somewhat clueless about the infinite possibilities of good music writing. And that deep inside, it bugs you a little that you can't fully access what other people seem to access so easily. Or maybe I'm wrong, and you're just amused or intrigued. In that case, please forgive my rather aggro words up there. Maybe I've taken your "hot takes" the wrong way. Maybe they're more question marks than exclamation marks. What do I know, huh? --about you as a person, or about your real history? Nothing, really. Don't get me wrong, I still think the sentiments expressed in your complaints about certain artists are somewhat missing the broader picture about art in general. Yet it's OK... You take the time you need to broaden your palate. After all, if you accepted the challenge of this generator and finished the first list, there's no reason to believe you're a hopeless case in that matter. At least not one as hopeless as when I try to find redeeming features in *Up To Here*, and come up empty-handed. Memories of good times by the bonfire can't always translate so easily from one soul to the next, can they? Do you have any good Scotch on you, at least? Preferably in a glass bottle? 1/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums. 6/10 for more general purposes (5/5 for the musicianship and production values + 1/5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 103 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 114 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 241 (including this one) ---- Hey Émile, j'ai répondu sous Demon Days ET ta sélection pour la users list ! 🙂