Customer Reviews

Phantom Power

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is probably THE HIP'S best all around CD.

You get some acoustic gems such as...BOBCAYGEON...and amazing rockers , like the songs...VAPOUR TRAILS...and...POETS....Plus , this CD has their best hockey song about the 1972 RUSSIA vs CANADA series called...FIREWORKS!

It is like listening to all of the...ABBEY ROAD...CD by...THE BEATLES...As the...PHANTOM POWER...CD , ends with the excellent songs...ESCAPE IS AT HAND FOR THE TRAVALLIN' MAN...and...EMPEROR PANGUIN!

Not a copy of the...BEATLES...song's but the excellent way the songs flow together!

This is their masterpiece!

Also get the re-mastered versions of the CDs...The Tragically Hip [8 song EP]...ROAD APPLES...FULLY COMPLETELY...UP TO HERE...as 2004 enhanced / re-masters from...ZOE RECORDS!

These guys have done a lot of great albums, but this one is my all time favourite, with Fully Completely, Road Apples and Up to Here close behind. The Energy is there, the typical obscure lyrics as well as the definitive Canadian content. A classic and must own Canadian record!

i love this CD, all great songs. Although not as popular as some of theyre older music, i find this CD above thier others in my CD player the most. I Especially love Poets. If your Canadian, you should own at least one of the Hips albums. I'd suggest this should be it.

"Phantom Power" is one of the Tragically Hip's most accessible records, and perhaps my sentimental favorite. It was released the year I was married (1998), and I rediscovered it during a period in my life when everything was on the upswing.

It's not the Hip's most adventurous work. But it's extremely well produced, with little to no filler and a good balance between upbeat rockers ("Save the Planet," "Fireworks"), mid-tempo grooves ("Poets," "Thompson Girl") and gentler compositions ("Bobcaygeon," "The Rules"). As always, Gordon Downie's idiosyncratic lyrics and vocal style are evident throughout, particularly on "Chagrin Falls" and "Emperor Penguin." On "Bobcaygeon," the highlight of this album and possibly the Hip's best song ever, Downie's enigmatic lyrics paint a picture that accumulates detail with every listen.

This CD is a good place to start for newcomers to The Tragically Hip, as well as a must-own for any fan of the band.

This album won't necessarily "bite" on first listening but it repays perseverance and like a fine wine it gets better with age and more is revealed at each tasting. This album is not for the MTV generation that Downie so memorably described as "raised on TV with nothing to live or die for" but if you want intelligent adult rock from one of Canada's finest wordsmiths, this is for you.

"In the long grasses over time" Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip informs us how the poets are existing on the effusive single Poets, winding about its chiming and touchy rhythm. Lyrics as multi-colored and compactly meaningful as those stray contemporaneously about this music. Something On struts about confident guitars with its gesturing intonations. Save The Planet sprays a flute along a bulky sound in telling its waywardness of contemplating large issues.
Bobcaygeon is quite an elegant song and is infused with a dark bloodline that lifts it higher--though the stars may be shyly winking Downie endlessly remembers someone while in the middle of a riot. Thompson Girl is another classic, ripping apart geography to see what is hiding out--the music is sparse and percussion based--the singing hinging gloriously or despairingly. Membership cuts a deep swath--churning away at the potential of riverbeds. Downie's words here are like tributaries, his voice keen.
Fireworks is an instant charmer with the Kremlin and '72 hockey on bursting equilibrium. Vapour Trails incites various possibilities with its peculiar bounce and bottomed-out drumming. Apparently plans are not what we make of them if I'm hearing Downie's lyrics ("just rig up a complication and if it derails...") in the correct. There are so many decodings for lyrics as these and the music is open like the ether, as on the tormented, sad Chagrin Falls and the fluid and fluent riddle Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man. The latter's enigmatic effects are like the rare soothing ones on The Rules or the misheard interpretation of life on Emperor Penguin.
Phantom Power is a sure trip into unknown rewards or to as Downie puts it "where the unknown don't even go". These phantom rewards are the best find.

If you read the "Editorial Review" by "New Musical Express", you may wonder why you would buy this CD. Do it...or buy any other "Hip" CD. You'll soon see why they are the biggest band in Canada and so popular in Europe. You'll also see that the Neanderthal that wrote the Editorial Review, is one of the many that have made MTV so popular in this country.

This disc does not stop providing great music. This was the first Hip disc I bought after growing up hearing about them in Detroit. I am completely pleased and will recommend this as a must buy for anyone with great musical taste. On a side note, they are perhaps the greatest live band. Lead singer, Gordy, is very intelligent and has a great and intriguing stage presence. If they come to your area, SEE THEM. You will not be dissappointed.

There are not as many albums that start off with a song that makes you sit on the edge or your chair, but "Poets" does. I've never heard a song like "Poets" before, there is something about it that is different, and while I haven't put my finger on it yet (is it the guitar riff? Drums? The background dum-dum-dum? Gordie's lyrics? Or the fact that it's about poets kind of?) whatever it is it sets the tone of the album "I'm ready to go, I'm kind of mad and I'm also willing think and have fun and forget all this." It is truly a great album, one that works well when put together. "Fireworks" is a catchy song and "Bobcaygeon" is one of the prettiest songs I've heard. The fact that this album isn't big in the States really proves how MTV driven this nation is. But when you get down to it, the Hip are too good for the US, too smart and too good.

From the opening chords of "Poets", Hip fans may expect to find another hard driving album, however, a few songs in and they might be surprised or even taken aback by the rootsy sounds the Hip incorporate into this fine recording. This new "sound" first pops up on "Bobcaygeon". Here is where the less is more principle works. The acoustic guitar and atmospheric sounds are perfect, especially as the lead in for the next track "Thompson Girl". In the middle of this CD is the gorgeous rocker "Membership" (which surprisingly wasn't released as a single). This is a great head-banger/head-nodder as only the Hip can do. The remaining tracks are curious and introspective as Gord Downie's lyrics take over the music. That's not a bad thing as the Hip experiment with different sounds and ways of interpreting their music. The sleeper at the end "Emperor Penguin", will leave true Hip fans smiling with the stinging guitar playing and Downie's voice blending perfectly. This is an oh so Canadian CD, tho many Hip fans will be disappointed at the softer side on this outing. A good listen nonetheless.