[edgoffin]

Album #9, released June 29, 2004. Recorded in Seattle, produced by Adam Kasper. Best known for his work with the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam, I was surprised to see he also produced Silent Radar by The Watchmen.

Heaven Is a Better Place Today
Summer's Killing Us
Gus: The Polar Bear from Central Park
Vaccination Scar
It Can't Be Nashville Every Night
If New Orleans Is Beat
You're Everywhere
As Makeshift as We Are
Mean Streak
The Heart of the Melt
One Night in Copenhagen
Are We Family
Goodnight Josephine

I have a complicated relationship with this album. It took me a long time to warm up to IVL, really only in more recent years. Plus child #1 was on his way, and we were in the process of moving and buying a new house. Basically life was happening at a much faster pace than anything previous.

I wasn't keen on Vaccination Scar as the lead single (that has changed over time), and I've never really liked the first two tracks. Heaven, I love that it's a tribute to Dan Snyder, and I've used the sentiment of "act like you've been there a thousand times before" so many times coaching sports or even just raising kids. The Wikipedia entry for the alum says it's also about soldiers being sent to war (Iraq) but have never picked up on that reference. Like the lyrics, like the sentiment, but have never really got into the performance (possibly the rushed vocals).

Summer's Killing Us is sort of similar, I think it's just that "do you like the dishes" line that throws me off. Over time I've gained an appreciation for the song and Gord's loose vocal delivery, but at the time it was a #1 and #2 intro that did little for me. Track #3 -- Gus is in my top 10, and I was very happy to hear it in Ottawa on the last tour.

One thing I've found interesting in looking at the albums chronologically is how much the previous album influenced the approach for the next album. IVL verges on sterile at times, maybe their most "studio" album until they later worked with Rock. I like that IBE goes the opposite way, it feels very one-take live. Gord pushes the vocals a bit (You're Everywhere is a good example). Paul has some great riffs on this album, and lots of fantastic slide from Rob.

If I remove tracks #1 and #2 (though over years I've gained some appreciation) -- the back half of this album really is amazing with a few tracks I put in my top 10. Something that I did not appreciate at the time, though if born a girl child #1 was going to be named Josephine (instead he has a Blue Rodeo referencing name).

I regret not seeing a show on this tour. The day of the Ottawa show we were surrounded by moving boxes, in a new house, with an infant projectile vomiting. I remember being glad I did not have tickets, but It would have provided an earlier introduction to Joel Plaskett and I really like that vault Ottawa show.

After so many years of being so-so on the album, when Gord died this was the album I chose to listen to first. I've been drawn to this album more in the past four or five years versus when it was first released.

I've said this about all the vinyl reissues, but Ludwig did an amazing job -- there's an incredible presence in Gord's vocals, and a bit more bottom end than what I get on CD.

[andrew sharpe]

Great rock album...Langlois rifftastic. Gus is a top three Hip song for me. Vaccination Scar and Nashville wouldn't be too far behind either.

IBE is most underrated album in the Hip catalogue IMHO, though World Container is creeping up on it lately.

There's me, then there's you.

[sean.bonner]

This is the best Paul Langlois album vocally IMO

[direwolf74]

produced by Adam Kasper. Best known for his work with the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam, I was surprised to see he also produced Silent Radar by The Watchmen.

He also worked with Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age, Hugh Dillon and the Weakerthans. The guy's resume is amazing. I was pretty excited when I first heard the Hip would be recording with him, and the result ended up being one of the best sounding Hip albums in their entire discography. Kasper's raw, guitar-heavy production was a nice improvement over the staleness of Hugh Padgham's work on IVL. If I remember the story correctly, Kasper drove up to Vancouver to see a Hip show and decided that the best way to record them should be live-off-the-floor with very little overdubs.

Great production aside though, IBE is not my favorite Hip album. It's unfortunate, because this album features some of Gord's best lyric writing. Overall I'd probably rank it somewhere in the middle of the pack in regards to the Hip's catalogue. It's ok, and there are some terrific songs (Gus, Vaccination Scar, Nashville, INOIB, You're Everywhere, Makeshift, Josephine), but there are also a few duds as well:

Heaven is a Better Place Today- Fantastic lyrics, but musically it just doesn't work for me. Sounds a bit like the Hip doing R.E.M.

One Night in Copenhagen- Once again, great lyrics. But musically it sounds half-finished, like a jam session that never went anywhere.

Summer's Killing Us- Can't stand this song. I skip it every single time.

Mean Streak- Another song that just doesn't do much for me. Not bad, but not great either. Although I do like the guitar work from Rob and Paul.

Are We Family- An ok song, but nothing spectacular. Kind of a poor man's Last of the Unplucked Gems. Nice lyrics though.

[fingernailsonhull]

This is the first album I bought on the day it was released. I was a latecomer to heavy Hip fandom and when I was seventeen or eighteen I began feverishly buying all their albums. In the summer of 2004 I worked at a plant nursery operation in St. Catharines during the day and I was in an evening summer class at Brock University at night. I had a Discman I carried with me everywhere. I listened to the album all day at work. I would listen to it on break during the class at night. I carried a bunch of spare AA batteries with me for when they needed to be replaced.

I think it has the rawest production value (in a good way) of any Hip album. I really like it. Strong lyrical work (though with a few duds) but a number of half-baked melodies. I really like Scar, Gus, Beat, and Josephine. Josephine is probably in my top 15 favourite Hip songs. Rob's solo guitar work on SKU live is really fun. The album version does nothing for me.

It's a strong album. In my opinion, stronger than IVL. It's the last truly gritty-sounding album they made. There is a higher sheen on WC and WATS (especially), but also on NFPA and MMP.

[Chris Tanz]

This one will be interesting to see what song comes out on top. I just hope it is not Vaccination Scar, which is middle of the pack for me on this album. Josephine is up there with the other great album closers and You're Everywhere was a blast of fresh air after the more restrained and composed offerings on IVL (picking up thematically where the WOO! in Dark Canuck promised us things might go).

Another great WOO! on Summer's Killing Us, but I agree with direwolf, it's a consistent skipper. The WOO! might be what saves it from Heaven is a Better Place Today probably-earlier fate.

Gus .... really Top Five for people? I loved it at first, but it kind of bores me now. Nashville was my son's favourite song for a while so I over-listened to it sometime around 2009-2010.

The rich vein is the bottom two-thirds of the album from the little bit of Minnesota in INOIB right to the speck of comet tail dust that is Josephine. As Makeshift as We Are is like Vapour Trails' sibling in the attic. Just love those two monsters of allusions, illusions, sand dunes, and octopus ink. Comparing two people as The War Artist and the Combat Mathematician? Pure Gord Gold. Mean Streak so sinister -- that image of the sushed sounds of the bottoms of their boots on the tops of the grass? ... I'd swear, I'd swear. Anyone else think that Mean Streak and The Hard Canadian are thematically linked? The Heart of the Melt -- a brain boiler in the tradition of Crack My Spine Like a Whip and Just As Well. Copenhagen, the unfinished opus. Should be longer. Are We Family, a bit smaltzy and wordy and the only dip for me in the motherlode. And then Sweet Josephine.

ct

[Moof_Milker]

Maybe it was because 2004 was a great year for rock music (imho), and maybe it was because of where I was at in my life at the time, but IBE had the least impact on me of any Hip album when it came out. I liked it...but I didn't love it. At worst I was indifferent to more than a few tracks. Edgoffin, I found myself nodding along as I read your comments. I, too, have grown to appreciate this album more over time, especially in the last year and a half but I know a lot of Hipbasers hold this album in very high regard, so I'm looking forward to reading this thread. Like what am I missing with "If New Orleans Is Beat," "Are We Family," or "Goodnight Josephine"? Or maybe I'll have to wait for the IBE's Weakest Link thread to hear the arguments for/against individual songs.

[Scotty12]

Like what am I missing with "If New Orleans Is Beat,"

You're not missing one of the most beautiful opening verses of all time.

.... are you?

[gsmacleod]

Fourth Hip album I picked up on release day - was very excited because I had missed the previous tour due to work and while I enjoyed IVL, I was still mostly underwhelmed with it compared to my feelings for the rest of the catalogue.

The best part for me was the grit was back; the guitars were snarling (and up front!) and the tones were fantastic. Good thick riffs from Paul and Rob's fight with the pedal steel was simply wonderful.

Lots of solid lyrics and another amazing album closer.

However, I ended up missing this tour too because I was broke. Just starting my career and while I could make ends meet, that was the extent of it and I ended up deciding on groceries over this tour.

Pretty pumped to have gotten the IBE set in Ottawa last year, especially seeing Gus (and the mic mishap )

Shane

[direwolf74]

Forgot to mention how much I love the raw, ear-bleedin' punk-rock deliciousness that is Heart of the Melt. Robby's frenetic guitar work definitely steals the show on that one. One of the heaviest barn burners in the Hip catalogue.

[ceebuler]

Gord's vocals are a little too raw, off-the-floor, on this album, for me. I'd cringe to hear a vocals-only track of Yer Everywhere, for example. Would've loved this album with music produced by Kasper and vocals by Rock (blasphemy?!) - could've used more "hotel room voice".

This album marks the first in a string of albums containing one song full of angst and seemingly designed to prove the Hip are still youthful, aggressive rock n' rollers (beginning the year GD turned 40); Heart of the Melt, The Drop Off, Frozen in My Tracks, and Streets Ahead (or maybe At Transformation?). I feel like the more Gord's voice "thinned", the more he tried to prove he still had it, and these songs all suffer for it.

I do love INOIB. And while Summer's Killing Us bores me on the album, it kicked ass live.

[direwolf74]

Gord's vocals are a little too raw, off-the-floor, on this album, for me. I'd cringe to hear a vocals-only track of Yer Everywhere, for example. Would've loved this album with music produced by Kasper and vocals by Rock (blasphemy?!) - could've used more "hotel room voice".

I agree his vocals are a bit rough on a few of the songs. I have a feeling that was the result of Kasper likely using the 1st take and saying "ok, we're good. Let's move on", which is apparently how he likes to work according to Rob's account of the recording process (I remember him talking about it in an interview once).

I have no problem with You're Everywhere though. Sure he goes off the rails a little bit, but at the same time I really like how passionately he belts that one out.

[Killer Whale Tank]

This is an **outstanding** record, one of my favourite Hip albums. I believe it is underrated because of

1. The first two cuts. "Heaven" is a disaster, and "Summer" is such a bizarrely ungainly construction that it is bound to put people off - even though I quite enjoy its total madness. When an album disappoints early, it is very hard to recover in the eyes of many fans.
2. The raw production, which I totally love but, again, which tends to be off-putting to people who aren't expecting the Hip to sound like a lo-fi independent band. Never a fan of slick production, this is a positive virtue as far as I'm concerned.

As for Gord's vocals, there's nothing wrong with them; it's just that by this album he is pretty much in "late-model Gord" mode, with a thinner and less robust Rawk voice, wobblier pitch. This had really begun with IVL, and it continues pretty much thereafter. At least here he sounds like he is part of the band, rather than brought crazily to the fore at the expense of the bass, the way he is on the previous record.

The songwriting on this album is f**king indestructible. Gord has decisively put away his thesaurus and is writing sharp, pointed, compelling lyrics in song after song here. I scarcely know where to start in identifying unjustly overlooked or underrated gems on this album. "Yer Everywhere" is glorious, complex, provocative, and has great chords to boot; "Mean Streak" is classic Hip, ominous and evocative; "Makeshift" is a fabulous rave-up, one of their best such songs since RA; "Are We Family" full of sharp apercu and a cool twist on the old Sister Sledge chestnut; and "Josephine" a beautiful character study with one of those great Gord couplets about eyes (I named my daughter for this song, albeit her middle name). That's not to mention the great "Gus" (which should have been the lead-off single) or the album's many other strong bits. There isn't a weak track on the thing after "Heaven" in my book.

After M@W and IVL, I wasn't too sure about the Hip any more. IBE blew away all doubts for me. And I've always been disappointed that I seemed to be one of the only fans out there who "got" this one. A tank of a record "Summer" onwards as far as I'm concerned.

[schaggs]

I always felt that this was one of the most consistent Hip albums. There's nothing on here that really blew me away, and nothing that really turned me off. It's probably the first hip album I didn't wear out, and probably the first one where I don't know every last word and can sing them without the music. Standouts were Gus, Makeshift, Family, and Josephine, although I think the latter was redone and perfected on Goodnight Attawapiskat.

I'm going to give it another listen today. This album hit during, and was the soundtrack for, a pretty dark point in my life (that lasted through till WATS), and I think that might have soured the album for me.

[kieffer]

I totally agree that outside of Heaven and Summer this album is incredibly strong! I do seem to recall that the details of the album that trickled out during it's recording were that is was going to be a bit more raw.

This album also aligns with my introduction to hipbase - at some point between IVL and this album I discovered the board and although my profile says I joined the hipbase in 2004 just after the release of the album, I certainly recall visiting the site starting in 2002 and following along in 2003 as a few of these songs appeared on setlists. Looking at the archive, it appears the songs played that previous summer were You're Everywhere (originally billed as Ballroom) and Goodnight Josephine.

I've always been a fan of the artwork and graphics used on the album cover, the vaccination scar video and merchandise.

I was able to catch a few shows on this tour and the one in Wasaga Beach holds a special place in my heart, the band was on fire that afternoon and the venue was pretty unique, literally being on the beach. Seeing them that fall in London is one of the few times I witnessed a show with three encores.

Every time I listen to this album I seem to discover something new, IBE was in heavy rotation for me when it was first released, but it didn't get a lot of play again until the last couple years.

I feel like Makeshift is the true hidden gem of this album, I found the lyrics to really resonate with me after Gord's death. Something about the line "Makeshift we are, We imagine us here and here we are" helped me find solace in the fact that even though the band is done their music and memories will continue to live on, all it takes is just a bit of imagination or reminiscing.

The imagery throughout this song has always made me smile, from the museum after dark site, I got a kick out of this little tale:

Shane Kroeker added the following:
I was listening to a radio interview with Ian Thornley of Big Wreck discussing Gord Downie. He said that their kids were on the same basketball team together, and how it was nice to see each other at the games in a casual fatherly role setting. Making small talk about how tall your kid has grown, etc. Thornley goes on to say how Gord always had his notepad along with him at the courts, penning lyrics. Given these facts, I believe that the highlighted lines above in As Makeshift As We Are, were spawned from one of his son's inconsequential basketball games.

'You can't take your shots back
I have to watch them miss
The basketball rim
Shook like a tambourine
Not an unlikely event
In a game that means nothing
In a game that means nothing"

The site also references "Weaklings Make Trouble" as a line from the story Charlotte's web. My guess is that this song is more about watching children grow up and become their own people and less reliant on their parents.

Heart of the melt was an instant standout for me as well, it's a shame this song never made it on to many setlists. Anyone happen to know the reasoning behind this?

One Night in Copenhagen is another song I have always enjoyed. The lines:

"When the drugs quit you
As loyal as a fruit fly you'll mutter to yourself
'You talentless fuck, good fucking luck
Good fucking luck'"

convey Gord's sarcastic side, which isn't as subtle as it is in many other lyrics. To me this song was always about the highs and lows of being on the road, but more recent updates on the museum after dark site shed a bit more light:

Gord's solo career initially caused some tension in the band. Coupled with that, a falling out with their original manager Jake Gold and the loss of some publishing rights put a strain on the previously cohesive unit. Michael Barclay's book The Never Ending Present provides more detail. In that tome is this quote from Gord Sinclair: "One Night in Copenhagen" was inspired by a show at the end of the In Violet Light tour. Professionally, it was a difficult time for us. Yet, amidst it all, the group was playing better than ever. The stage, and the five of us, became a real refuge. Everything is falling apart around you and yet, there's this life raft and the life raft happens to be the five guys in this band on stage."

That's all I've got for now - I'm off to spin the album a few times!