Zoe Records
2004
In Between Evolution
About This Album
The first few seconds of In Between Evolution offer a summation in miniature of both why the Tragically Hip are so great and why mainstream success has eluded them, at least in the United States. A distorted guitar chimes out a road-ready riff, soon joined by a taut rhythm section. Then lead singer Gordon Downie shouts out "Here's a glue guy, a performance God," in a pinched howl that sounds like it's ready to veer off-key at any second. That combination of arena rock and indie sensibility is exactly what fans have come to expect from the band; the approach isn't all that different from Pearl Jam's more recent work, except that Downie's lyrics have always been, well, weirder and more literate than the hits that took Pearl Jam to the top of the charts. None of that explains why the Hip still sell out stadiums and sell millions of albums in their native Canada, but In Between Evolution is both accessible and challenging enough to satisfy longtime fans and newcomers. The slight dissonance that marks that opening track, "Heaven Is a Better Place Today," fits perfectly the combination of mourning and triumph that the band captures in the song, a tribute to hockey player Dan Snyder, who died in a car crash in late 2003.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4 and 10)

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