Fully Completely

Not a bad album. Not an award winner, but there's nothing awful going on by any means. Same sorta vibe as the first Live album, funnily enough - almost a cross between Spin Doctors and the Screaming Trees. I think the only real downside to it is that, much like the first Live album, all the songs blend together and by the end I couldn't remember any of it. But it was pleasant enough. 4/5.

Great album by the Hip. On this record the band is a guitar rock powerhouse. A little more consistent, but also a bit less raw than Road Apples. Nearly every song is good, highlights are Courage and Eldorado.

I’ve heard of this band but can’t recall ever hearing any songs. Anyway this album was pretty entertaining rock.

It still boggles my mind that there is no Tragically Hip on the original list. Maybe the biggest oversight of this whole project. 4 stars.

Oh I love it when my album lists overlap. I have taken on CBC's (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) 100 Best Canadian Albums, a frankly bizarre assortment that covers everything from classical recordings, to jazz, to mainstream smashes like Shania Twain & Sarah McLachlan, to hardcore punk. I guess not too dissimilar from the 1001 that way. And my main criticism of it, due to the way I was brought up, is "not enough 80's AOR". Give me Platinum Blonde or give me death, I say! Anyway, Fully Completely is #13 on that list. Even though I haven’t the whole album until today, the songs that get the most radio play over here- “Wheat Kings”, “Courage”- have become a gold standard for Canadian rock. And I say that as someone who’s been bemused by the enduring popularity of the Hip in the past. Overrated in Canada, sorely underrated everywhere else. Anyway this is a 5 HL: “Wheat Kings”, “Fifty-Mission Cap”, “Courage”, “At the Hundredth Meridian”, “Pigeon Camera”, “The Wherewithal” May 24, 2025

Some songs sound a bit like Barenaked Ladies, others like Idlewild, some are classic rock sounding, others pretty folky. A lovely album, by a band I only knew by name before I started the new nominations, but who I will definitely explore more once this is over - another "after-the-list list" album! A great suggestion, and well worth a place in the book.

Some fine Gen X right here.

My second tragically hip album from this list, think I actually prefer this one, very good 90’s alt rock, straight into my frequent rotation.

Fully and completely Canadian rock.

The Hip can only be described as Canadian rock royalty, cemented by the unofficial canonization of Gord Downie after his death in 2017. Cancon laws made it so that classic rock radio loved these guys more than any station south of the border, but initial sales in Canada made it clear that we loved them too. Given their fantastic rock-oriented songwriting that would place the band as viable contemporaries next to the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Guided By Voices, and the Pixies, it stands to me as music's biggest "what if": What if the Tragically Hip achieved crossover success in the US? How would we be talking about them today? What would modern rock look like in the new millennium? While the American rock acts embraced slacker rock and grunge-influenced sounds, the Hip maintained a strong energy that borrowed more from the roots rock of John Fogerty and '70s Rolling Stones (see Exile on Main St.). Listening to this I can't help but get a little emotional. Fully Completely is an album that feels uniquely, wholly, beautifully Canadian. It's a celebration but also a frank display of sentimentality, earnest is every way. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: I'm biased but yes, absolutely.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Locked in the trunk of a car

Well-played, expressive grunge era rock that has aged well. I don't have much to critique other than that stylistically some of the songs kind of blur together for me, to the point of being unmemorable. Fave Songs: Wheat Kings, Pigeon Camera, Courage (for Hugh MacLennan), Locked in the Trunk of a Car, Looking for a Place to Happen

I'm getting the sense through a number of the user submitted albums that the Canadians feel under-represented.

Tragically Hip are quintessential early 90s rock on this album. They have great rhythm and guitar work. Their songs are unique and some were cleverly Canadian in theme. Overall it’s a solid album that would be revisited. 7.0/10

a tragic waste of my time

I always kind of liked the Hip but sitting down with these last two albums from the user submitted list I’m all in, baby

Classic rock album, but didn't hook me too much.

I liked this album well enough. Good cross between nick cave and Alice In Chains or something like that. Unfortunately it will forever be overshadowed by sinners and it’s soundtrack which I saw basically right after I listened to this.

Big fan of these guys

Love em.

Didn't find this as engaging as Phantom Power, but those boys from north of the border can sure craft a poppy little rock ditty.

Rock alternativo. Me ha recordado a REM. Ni fu ni fa.

Kind of just in the middle. Like R.E.M. but without the moments of transcendence and beauty.

I like how aggressively Canadian this is. Lyrical choices are occasionally a little ugh, and some it it falls into kind of monologuing over a beat. But as country-tinged rock goes I like it just fine.

2.5

Pretty average alternative rock. Certainly not bad, but also nothing on here is that great. Courage and Locked in the Trunk are strong, but nothing here is catchy enough to be a hit. Fine.

Boobs

When you order R.E.M. from Temu.

Good music, needs more time for me though

It was fine

Catching up. This was not what I expected even though I thought I knew of the name. Not a bad listen.

Have always liked the name, but find the music on the meh side, for its very straightforwardness and generic '90s ALT rock vibe (in guitars, drums, vocals, production). Frankly, one expected more irony; after all, the name suggests the TH would be more Pavement, than Bush, say, or Third Eye Blind (which might have named themselves the Terminally Earnest). Reputationally, in the US, they seem comparable to NRBQ, with a small devoted following that assume their lads are just too subtly good to be got by the masses. (Guess we know from which of those cohorts the recommender of this comes.) Not that this is bad, just sort of flat (Wikipedia emphasis on the cover art might've signaled the musical apathy to come). And no wonder everyone in Canada loves the Hip – with all the nationalized lyrical references. Can't say the list proper would massively benefit from including this record, but rounding up because one rates Canada and respects her cultural institutions.

Wasn’t what was expecting. Reminded me a bit of REM without the gravitas.

Substantiative offering. Would have guessed 90's if I hadn't seen the write up

Cracking band name. Pretty decent alt-rock album, with vocals that often remind me of Michael Stipe over music that veers from dreamy jangle pop to swaggering hard rock. Definitely could grow on me after another couple of listens but just sticking to a solid 3 for now

I keep trying, and failing, to find The Tragically Hop albums at all enjoyable.

Pretty repulsive 2

Some nice grunge elements here and there, but nothing wholly notable once the full LP has come to a conclusion. This one seems stuck in 2nd gear, the solid chugging riffs never giving way to the explosive chorus they build towards.

So so

This band does literally nothing for me. I could very well be listening to 40 minutes of cricket noises. Sorry, Canada.

Like a shit R.E.M. covering Pearl Jam B-sides

More tragical than hip in my book. Fully, completely non-essential. Here's what my first impression of this album was, at least. To anyone who is a fan of this Canadian band, please bear with me and try to go beyond that rude introduction of mine, though. Because there are also reasons I won't give a one-star mark to this record at the end of this review, in spite of the manner I've just dismissed it here. So maybe you and I can still see eye to eye somehow, even if you love The Tragically Hip... The first question is, am I being unnecessarily harsh on *Fully, Completely*? Maybe. Guess I have also exaggerated my initial boredom so that I could write the daft sarcastic catchphrases up there. Yet the linearity displayed by this record is so damn obvious that it became extremely difficult to focus on the music for me. Those 100% predictable chord changes, the flat vocal lines, the competent but ultimately bland performances and production values, along with the meat-and-potatoes effect of those MOR rock songs logically trying to catch the early-nineties "alternative" bandwagon... Yawnfest. No matter how fast or slow the tempos go, and no matter what sort of rhythm is used, what you have here always sounds the same, and it never sounds original or enticing enough for me. Folk ballad "Wheat Kings" showed a little promise at first, but the latter wasn't exactly held by the end of the song. And the rest was instantly forgettable for my ears. Plus, the drum sound still has its feet firmly planted in the eighties (also a predictable event given the release date of this album). Which is always unpleasant three decades and a half later. At least for that sort of rock trying hard to sound "authentic" enough So yeah, comparing this to Stone Temple Pilots seems about right. Rush also fits the shoe, I guess. Didn't read all the reviews in here, but at least no one dared mention REM to describe *Fully, Completely*. Probably because as relatively close to the latter as The Tragically Hip are on paper, the difference of intensity and songwriting chops between the two acts remains huge. Sorry, Canadian friends. I'm now aware that this act was quite popular in your neck of the woods at the time, and I don't want to hurt your feelings given the untimely death of Gord Downie... But your beautiful country has given birth to so many *more essential* albums shunned by the original list, and I'd rather give four or five stars to them. Speaking of which, I was also aware that another album by The Tragically Hip, *Phantom Power*, had been suggested for the users' list, and out of curiosity -- and also to save myself some time in the future -- I decided to listen to it as well... I fully expected to dislike it, obviously... But to my surprise, that other album actually sounded *fantastic*! And of course, most of the "professional critics" panned it at the time of its release. What a bunch of deaf bastards, clearly lacking a truly musical ear -- something that should be mandatory for their occupation, for pete's sake! For me, those critics were simply too thick and clueless to realize how the band had admirably upgraded their songs and overall sound by 1998... Let me also point out something here, by the way: knowing absolutely nothing about The Tragically Hip before today, the fact that Gord Downie passed away in such tragic circumstances -- something I've only read about *after* I listened to both albums -- didn't influence my takes on their music at all. Including the very positive one I'm about to preemptively write about *Phantom Power* here. *Phantom Power* is indeed way more dynamic than *Fully Completely*, thanks to its hairpin curves and impressive changes of gears. It is also way more memorable in terms of riffs and vocal lines, way more convincing and even moving in its harmonies, arrangements and chord changes, and way more heartfelt in its vocal performance... To the point that I might try to find a second-hand copy of that other album online, and will probably include it in my high-rated gallery the day it pops up on this generator. Here the comparisons with REM could be warranted, at least -- and it doesn't matter if the band was more than ten years late to really learn their lesson from the Athens, Georgia masters. Better late then never, right? Honestly, I didn't see that one coming after listening to today's suggestion. Hope my appreciation of *Phantom Power* will convince fans of The Tragically Hip that I *really* tried with *Fully, Completely* as well, that I really *listened*. Professional musicians are like us plebs, I imagine. They have their good days and their bad days, and they have albums where they just follow a plan that ultimately doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, and others where they can be struck by genius inspiration. And I'd rather remember the latter, of course. Rest in power, Gord. 1.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 2. 6.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 1.5). Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 33 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 42 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 80 (including this one) ----- Émile, curieux de savoir ce que tu penses de ma chronique un peu polémique sur le band canadien au dessus. Et sinon, il y a des réponses pour toi dans la review précédente, et d'autres qui viendront en dessous...