[BrenTheodore]

Other than the excitement 'The Grand Bounce', I gave WATS a full spin on vinyl today, and realized that it was just over a year ago it twas released.

IMO the album has gotten better with time. It first I felt like it was such different record and wasn't too impressed, but I think the sound is just the band coming of age. I really enjoy listening to tracks like Country Day, Coffee Girl, The Last Recluse and Morning Moon a lot more now. And songs like The Depression Suite and Queen of the Furrows still rip it up.

I think is better than some albums in the last decade (not M@W but...!) now that time has let it grow on me.

Opinions?

[Shane Kroeker]

I just don't understand why the have only really released one single to radio; "Love is a First".
That's pretty poor PR. I'll forward my marketing major resume to the hip at MAv's request...

[tigerthelion]

WC and WATS just aren't standing the test of time for me. There are a few lasting songs from each album that I still love, but that's about it.

[Joe]

After WC, my standards were low for WATS, and it ended up being a good album. Good, but not great. I still don't know why Skeleton Park wasn't on there, and I've probably listened to Struggle and Love is a First about 5 times each over the past year. MM, LR, CG, DS, TEF, QotF, SR, and CD are all spectacular. I love Frozen, and warmed up to the gang vocal chorus which I loathed for the longest time. And I know it's been said- but the banjo in Country Day's outro needed to be ALOT louder. It's so epic, yet so hard to hear.

[kennedy11]

I just don't understand why the have only really released one single to radio; "Love is a First".
That's pretty poor PR. I'll forward my marketing major resume to the hip at MAv's request...

for over TWENTY years The Hip have had poor PR. And along with that, very poor management.
Yes, they are GOLD in Canada.
IMHO The Hip should be said in the same sentence as U2, Pearl Jam, etc. But, they aren't.
For over twenty years, I have waited for them to crack The USA. It didn't happen, and it wont.
They should have been booked on Letterman, Leno, Conan, etc. Yes, they were on SNL, but Danny had a lot to do with that.
Yes, I have heard that they were wanted on the shows, but had gigs. Hey, here's a suggestion: RE BOOK THEM!!
The Hip are a dynamite band who deserved success in The States. And that my friends, you can blame on management and PR. How many different management teams have The Hip gone through?....alot!
It dumbfounds me how bands like Nickleback and BNL have had huge success in The States.

[Remi_Gaudet21]

WC and WATS just aren't standing the test of time for me. There are a few lasting songs from each album that I still love, but that's about it.

I have to admit that i feel the same way. Though i certainly wouldnt turn down a live show...the latest two albums arent big improvements. They just feel like experiments.

[direwolf74]

Overall I still think it's a pretty solid album. Morning Moon, Last Recluse, Depression, Queen, Exact Feeling, Speed, Frozen, and Country Day are all stellar songs. And I really like Skeleton Park and Hush. It's baffling why those two songs were cut from the finished album. Unfortunately the rest of it doesn't hold up as well as those songs I mentioned, and the production is way too polished and excessive on certain tracks (the much loathed Bob Rock sheen).

After seeing two shows on the '09 tour and subsequently getting my socks blown off both times, I'm still convinced that the Hip are the greatest rock n' roll band on the planet, and I think they still have it in them to deliver a killer album from start to finish with absolutely no filler. I really hope it's the next one. While I give Bob Rock credit for breathing new life into the band with World Container, I think it's time for them to change it up again and work with a new producer on the next record. Someone like Brendan O'Brien would be a fantastic choice. Or better yet, produce it themselves.

[dominicziino]

I think what makes WATS stand the test of time is the variety on it - all songs different.
I haven't been able to get the album 'out of my system' since it was released - it just keeps growing. I really hope the next album continues in this style. Think of bands like U2 and RUSH - they evolve so their albums keep changing...
By far my favourite Hip album.
Also agree with others - why were Skeleton Park and Hush cut???

[mark]

a year later and it still sucks.

[NegPhil]

I totally get why some folks hate this album. I remember watching all those Dr.MAv vids and thinking the new album was going to be guitar heavy rock music. Boy was I wrong. What we got is a Broadway Show. And I love it.

We took my kid down to Berkeley, California to see the Green Day musical AMERICAN IDIOT and scope out the school. The play was amazing and the kid is going to PLU. (You teach your kids some fashion sense and they fashion some of their own) My point is WATS is a rock musical. I ranted on about my theory of Mr. and Mrs. Smoke back then and I still believe it is valid. (farmer neighbor indeed) This album is a work of art and it needs to fulfill it's potential as a musical narrative. The time is right.


And next next album better kick some Fracken ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[direwolf74]

I totally get why some folks hate this album. I remember watching all those Dr.MAv vids and thinking the new album was going to be guitar heavy rock music.

I remember there was a song in one of those vids...it sounded like a classic up tempo Hip-style groove. There were no lyrics, as it sounded more like the outro to a song with lots of guitars weaving in and out of each other. The video showed Bob Rock at the mixing board listening back to the track on the studio speakers and it sounded freakin' incredible. This tune obviously didn't make it onto the final album, and wasn't included with the bonus tracks either. I'm guessing it's locked up in the vault somewhere at the Bathouse Studio with all those other rarities that never saw the light of day. What a shame.

[The Darkest Canuck]

The album is still about the same for me, I've grown to love Coffee Girl, despite not really feelin' it so much at first. Still really don't care for Country Day, or Struggle...and I still think Hush and Skeleton Park should've made the final cut. I'd say it's either equal or just a bit better than World Container for me. I completely agree that they didn't do the best job promoting this album.

[fingernailsonhull]

Interesting. WC has had very little staying power for me. Luv (sic), Kids, and Drop-Off are just about the only ones that get any continued play for me. A year out, I'm a little less into WATS than I was originally. But I still love MM, TLR, TDS, and LIAF. Also, Hush and SP are amazing.

[Killer Whale Tank]

WC was a grotesque bad joke, with Bob Rock's production sheen layered incongruously atop the core Hip formula, and Downie's voice trying desperately and hysterically to power its way over the resulting sludge. Good songs, horribly executed.

WATS is a nice album with lots of good songs; the key is that, because it's poppier and more diverse, it's much better suited to Rock's production ethos. Morning Moon is a classic, Coffee Girl is great groovy pop, The Last Recluse is the kind of thing that only the Hip can do - a real classic, again - Honey Please is a nice little tune 'made' by the falsetto and which really lifts off with that great slide guitar and the image of the stars of the county. Then there's some agreeable tossed-off rockers (The Exact Feeling, Speed River), an entertainingly cheesy refugee from a Pursuit of Happiness record (Love is a First), and the nice closer (Country Day). The rest I can do without.

What people just can't handle is that the Hip these days are at their best when they're not trying to Be The Hip (anthemic tune, power chords) but are making music that befits who and where they are now. If they were to simply say, f*ck the fans, and make the kind of relaxed music that they've flirted with since Phantom Power but never really embraced, they'd take that last crucial step. The error is in staying too much The Same and not just breathing.

[daylight]

According to Last.fm, I haven't listened to it since July 2009. So there's that.