By Steve Newton
When I did the first of my five interviews with Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, on September 28, 1989, I was pretty psyched to talk to the 25-year-old rocker.
Three weeks earlier the band had released its first full-length LP, Up To Here, and I couldn’t get enough of rowdy, riff-driven tunes like “New Orleans is Sinking”, “Blow at High Dough”, and “Everytime You Go”.
The album went on to achieve diamond status in Canada, which means it sold more than a million copies in the band’s homeland. Not too shabby for five beer-drinkin’ buddies from Kingston.
Hardcore Hip fans who didn’t get enough of Up to Here when it came out 35 years ago should know that today the group announced a deluxe box-set reissue of the album, scheduled for release by Universal Music Canada on November 8.
The new package is being offered as a four LP set on 180g vinyl, which includes a 2024 remastering of the original album, plus four previously unreleased songs from the Up To Here sessions (“She’s Got What It Takes”, “Rain, Hearts And Fire”, and “Wait So Long”, and “Get Back Again”).
Also featured is a recording of Live at Misty Moon, the special filmed for MuchMusic in 1990 from the Misty Moon Cabaret in Halifax, with an accompanying one-hour concert film on Blu-ray.
Of particular interest to Hip completists will be the 10 demo tracks recorded in 1988, which give a glimpse into the origins of such beloved Hip tunes as “Boots or Hearts”, “She Didn’t Know”, and “I’ll Believe In You (Or I’ll Be Leaving You Tonight)”.
Here’s what you get if you order the vinyl version of the box set:
LP 1 – Up To Here (2024 remaster of the original album)
Side One
1. Blow At High Dough
2. I’ll Believe In You (Or I’ll Be Leaving You Tonight)
3. New Orleans Is Sinking
4. 38 Years Old
5. She Didn’t Know
Side Two
6. Boots Or Hearts
7. Everytime You Go
8. When The Weight Comes Down
9. Trickle Down
10. Another Midnight
11. Opiated
LP 2+3 – Live At The Misty Moon + Previously Unreleased Studio Tracks
Side One
1. Crack My Spine Like A Whip (Live At The Misty Moon)
2. She Didn’t Know (Live At The Misty Moon)
3. Highway Girl (Live At The Misty Moon)
4. Just As Well (Live At The Misty Moon)
5. Boots Or Hearts (Live At The Misty Moon)
6. Trickle Down (Live At The Misty Moon)
Side Two
1. Get Back Again (Live At The Misty Moon)
2. Three Pistols (Live At The Misty Moon)
3. Fight (Live At The Misty Moon)
4. 38 Years Old (Live At The Misty Moon)
Side Three
1. Blow At High Dough (Live At The Misty Moon)
2. I’ll Believe In You (Or I’ll Be Leaving You Tonight) (Live At The Misty Moon)
3. New Orleans Is Sinking (Live At The Misty Moon)
4. On The Verge (Live At The Misty Moon)
Side Four
1. She’s Got What It Takes
2. Get Back Again
3. Rain, Hearts And Fire
4. Wait So Long
LP 4 – How We Got Here – The 1988 Demos
Side One
1. Hailstone Hands Of God (1988 Demo)
2. When The Weight Comes Down (1988 Demo)
3. I’ll Believe In You (Or I’ll Be Leaving You Tonight) (1988 Demo)
4. New Orleans Is Sinking (1988 Demo)
5. Rain, Hearts And Fire (1988 Demo)
Side Two
1. She Didn’t Know (1988 Demo)
2. Blow At High Dough (1988 Demo)
3. Boots Or Hearts (1988 Demo)
4. Everytime You Go (1988 Demo)
5. Just Another Midnight (1988 Demo)
Disc 4 Atmos Blu-ray
1. Blow At High Dough
2. I’ll Believe In You (Or I’ll Be Leaving You Tonight)
3. New Orleans Is Sinking
4. 38 Years Old
5. She Didn’t Know
6. Boots Or Hearts
7. Everytime You Go
8. When The Weight Comes Down
9. Trickle Down
10. Another Midnight
11. Opiated
12. She’s Got What It Takes
13. Get Back Again
14. Rain, Hearts And Fire
15. Wait So Long
*The Blu-ray also includes the full one-hour concert film of the Misty Moon show.
To hear the full audio of my interviews with Gord Downie from 1989, 1992, and 1996, subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 400 of my other uncut, one-on-one conversations with rockers since 1982.
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