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Live Between Us

 
Album Review: Live Between Us

Review

The Tragically Hip, one of Canada's musical merrymakers, are also praised for their raw, sweaty live performances. Frontman Gordon Downie is a real dynamo, lyrically and physically, and his bandmates only support the beautiful live chaos. With that aside, the Hip treated fans with their first ever live album, Live Between Us. Recorded while on tour in support of 1996's Trouble at the Henhouse, Live Between Us documents one of the band's more ambitious evenings without any technical tweaking. A very loyal Detroit audience is captured at the sold-out Cobo Arena and a very tight-knit and fiery Tragically Hip is in command. The unity between the Hip and their fans depicts something heavy. Downie's random improvising and loose poetic ramblings spark the intro of "Grace, Too." It creeps along with Johnny Fay's electric percussion, and already Live Between Us is steady, creatively stripped, and vibrant. The emotional rage of "Fully Completely" sets up the rest of the album, particularly the relaxed ballad "Ahead By a Century." Layered backing vocals and plucking acoustics depict the Hip's signature sincerity, and the sneaky rock snippets of David Bowie's "China Girl" and the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" midway through "New Orleans Is Sinking" flow without hesitance. Most stunning is his lyrical rant of Jane Siberry's "Temple" near the end of the taunting "Nautical Disaster." As a whole, the band is abrasive in a simplistic sense, making Live Between Us an intimate jam between the band members themselves and a shared moment with fans. The Tragically Hip have maintained their beloved status because of such grateful informality. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Grace, Too (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (6:17)
Fully Completely (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (4:11)
Springtime in Vienna (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (4:37)
Twist My Arm (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (4:05)
Gift Shop (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (5:09)
Ahead by a Century (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (5:25)
The Luxury The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (4:08)
Courage (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (5:08)
New Orleans Is Sinking (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (6:22)
Don't Wake Daddy (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (5:30)
Scared (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (5:00)
Blow at High Dough (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (4:54)
Nautical Disaster (Lyrics) The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (5:31)
The WhereWithal The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip (4:13)

Credits

The Tragically Hip (Producer), Mark Vreeken (Engineer), Stephen Marcussen (Mastering), Ron Obvious (Assistant Engineer), Rob Baker (?), Paul Langlois (?), Gordon Downie (Vocals), Andrew McLachlan (Design), Clemens Rikken (Photography), Mark Vreeken (Producer), Johnny Fay (?), Gordon Downie (?), Gord Sinclair (?), Martin Pradler (Mixing Assistant), Don Smith (Mixing)
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Wikipedia: Live Between Us
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Live Between Us
Live album by The Tragically Hip
Released 1997
Recorded November 23, 1996
Genre Rock
Length 70:31
Label MCA
Producer The Tragically Hip, Mark Vreeken
Professional reviews
The Tragically Hip chronology
Trouble at the Henhouse
(1996)
Live Between Us
(1997)
Phantom Power
(1998)

Live Between Us is the first full-length live album by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. It was released in 1997.

The album was recorded at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan, on November 23, 1996, during the tour supporting Trouble at the Henhouse. It is considered a good representation of a typical live show, with much improvisation among both the singer Gordon Downie and the rest of the band.

Downie often begins to sing other songs in the middle of his own, including David Bowie's "China Girl" and The Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" during crowd favourite "New Orleans Is Sinking", and both Jane Siberry's "The Temple" and Rheostatics' "Bad Time to Be Poor" in "Nautical Disaster". The Rheostatics were the opening act on the tour documented by this album.

In the week of the album's release, Canadian radio stations played it so extensively that eight songs from the album appeared in the week's Top 20 singles chart.

The title actually comes from graffiti in Kingston, Ontario, which read "The Hip live between us." (with live written as a verb). This graffiti was penned by early band member Davis Manning,[1] describing the impact that the band was having on his relationship with his girlfriend.[2] Manning eventually chose the girl over the band, leaving in 1986. The mural remained on the wall, a victim of graffiti itself, until the mid-2000s when it was painted over by the property owner.

Track listing

  1. "Grace, Too" – 6:18
  2. "Fully Completely" – 4:11
  3. "Springtime in Vienna" – 4:37
  4. "Twist My Arm" – 4:05
  5. "Gift Shop" – 5:09
  6. "Ahead by a Century" – 5:25
  7. "The Luxury" – 4:08
  8. "Courage" – 5:08
  9. "New Orleans Is Sinking" – 6:22
  10. "Don't Wake Daddy" – 5:30
  11. "Scared" – 5:00
  12. "Blow at High Dough" – 4:54
  13. "Nautical Disaster" – 5:31
  14. "The Wherewithal" – 4:14

References


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Live Between Us" Read more