Phantom Power

THE TRAGICALLY HIP

Phantom Power (Universal)

The Tragically Hip suffer from two disadvantages. One is being the biggest band in Canada; the other is that singer Gordon Downie appears to be convinced he is Michael Stipe. The first is mere prejudice, quickly overcome while the second is more of a problem and sometimes gets in the way on an album with some good songs.

Overall, this – the band’s fifth outing – ain’t half bad, full of plain and pleasant anthems like ‘Vapour Trail’ and ‘Poets’. But far too often the lyrics suffer from being mildly irritated rather than angry and clever rather than meaningful.

What is particularly unforgivable is that some tracks, ‘Membership’ in particular, are simply unashamed fillers.

In places the album does accomplish what it set out to: ‘ Fireworks ’ is a fine song where the lyrics finally fit with the beat and the mood of the guitars: “If there’s a goal that everyone that everyone remembers, it was back in ol’72/ We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger/ And all I remember is sitting beside you / you said you didn’t give a fuck about hockey/ And I had never heard someone say that before.”

Other than that highlight, it is the slower numbers that work best, notably ‘Escape Is At Hand For The Travelling Man’, but especially ‘Bobcaygeon’, which is a real pleasure, reminiscent of Neil Young, rolling at a leisurely pace with a melody that sticks in the mind. It’s a pity the rest of the songs weren’t up to the same standard.

Simon Basketter