Zoe Records
2009
We Are The Same
About This Album
Initial reaction to We Are the Same among longtime fans seemed to range, according to chit-chat on various blogs, from halting acceptance to outraged disdain. There is no denying that the latest from this now 26-year-old Canadian band bears little resemblance to the rawer, rootsier sound of the Hip's earliest works. But it's by no means a radical departure from 2006's World Container; it's more of an incremental step toward something less distinctive and more universally appealing in a commercial sense. Producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Mötley Crüe), who also took the reins for that last album, returns here on the band's 12th studio effort, applying a polish to these generic arrangements of largely uninspired lyrics and hackneyed tunes that undeniably takes the Hip closer to a mainstream -- or, rather, an edge-free, knuckle-dragging -- pop/rock sound. Some might call it a bloated overproduction and leave it at that, but the malaise is deeper than over-ambition, approaching something closer to creative bankruptcy. Perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising that, after so long in the game, the Hip might harbor a desire for greater recognition and choose a producer who can deliver what's been elusive all these years.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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