The Tragically Hip come from a long line of bands that began as arena-rock-in-my-basement garage outfits, and actually soldiered on to make music worthy of achieving that aspiration. While it’s true that 2004’s In Between Evolution and the lackluster We Are the Same were missteps because they were squarely aimed at the ever elusive mainstream, Now for Plan A, the Hip’s 13th long-player, produced by Gavin Brown, moves them back to their square, toward the immediacy of their earlier records. Its 11 tracks deliver a varied, mostly uptempo, solid sonic ride that combines big-budget rock & roll production with more basic elements of urgency, impulsiveness, and humor. The first notes of opener “At Transformation” come from Gord Sinclair’s fuzzed-out bassline on stun; they’re answered immediately by Paul Langlois’ and Rob Baker’s guitar squall and Johnny Fay’s popping snare and bass drum. Gord Downie’s part-warbled, -sung, -snarled lyrics lay out a simple truth: “I want to be kind not a bullet in the right place…” He knows it’s only a dream, based on a limited perception of the “game” of life. With its churning, frenetic pace, the music confronts him with it, but he just beats his head against it, anyway. No surrender. “Streets Ahead” contrasts jangling and distorted guitars, and drives head on into an anthemic melody that’s as urgent as punk rock and as catchy as a power pop song. It lifts off and keeps going. “We Want to Be It” initially sounds like a send-up of John Waite’s “Missing You,” but Downie and company turn it on its head to make it one of the most self-lacerating, broken love songs of the 2010s. Sara Harmer guests on the title track and “The Lookahead.” The former commences with an infectious pop hook and gathers in intensity and drama until it nearly goes off the rails. The latter is a languid, drifting meditation on love and commitment that feels rather unfocused. The second half of the record contains its own share of hyperkinetic rockers in “The Modern Spirit” and “Take Forever.” “About This Map” and “Done and Done” commence with 4/4 drum kit shuffles before they spread out into atmospheric exercises in rock balladry with varying degrees of success. Now for Plan A ably demonstrates that the Tragically Hip still have it whenever they want it. While there are moments of self-indulgence, they are far from deal breakers.
Review by Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. At Transformation (3:44)
02. Man Machine Poem (3:52)
03. The Lookahead (2:28)
04. We Want To Be It (3:28)
05. Streets Ahead (3:28)
06. Now For Plan A (5:08)
07. The Modern Spirit (3:23)
08. About This Map (3:48)
09. Take Forever (3:10)
10. Done And Done (2:53)
11. Goodnight Attawapiskat (4:07)
EAC extraction logfile from 23. September 2012, 16:07
The Tragically Hip / Now For Plan A
Used drive : ATAPI iHBS112 2 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : D:Program FilesExact Audio CopyFLACFLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T “ARTIST=%artist%” -T “TITLE=%title%” -T “ALBUM=%albumtitle%” -T “DATE=%year%” -T “TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%” -T “GENRE=%genre%” -T “ALBUM ARTIST=%albumartist%” -T “TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%” %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:43.55 | 0 | 16779
2 | 3:43.55 | 3:52.31 | 16780 | 34210
3 | 7:36.11 | 2:27.50 | 34211 | 45285
4 | 10:03.61 | 3:28.27 | 45286 | 60912
5 | 13:32.13 | 3:27.48 | 60913 | 76485
6 | 16:59.61 | 5:08.13 | 76486 | 99598
7 | 22:07.74 | 3:22.62 | 99599 | 114810
8 | 25:30.61 | 3:48.32 | 114811 | 131942
9 | 29:19.18 | 3:10.00 | 131943 | 146192
10 | 32:29.18 | 2:52.67 | 146193 | 159159
11 | 35:22.10 | 4:06.41 | 159160 | 177650
Track 1
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Peak level 99.5 %
Extraction speed 1.6 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 62B768A8
Copy CRC 62B768A8
Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 2
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A2 – Man Machine Poem.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Extraction speed 1.8 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 33C78D84
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 3
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A3 – The Lookahead.wav
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Peak level 99.5 %
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Track quality 100.0 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 4
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A4 – We Want To Be It.wav
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Peak level 99.3 %
Extraction speed 2.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 72225461
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 5
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A5 – Streets Ahead.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 736F3759
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 6
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A6 – Now For Plan A.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:01.13
Peak level 99.0 %
Extraction speed 3.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 1E52EC51
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 7
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A7 – The Modern Spirit.wav
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Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 8
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A8 – About This Map.wav
Peak level 99.6 %
Extraction speed 2.4 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 9
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A9 – Take Forever.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:01.23
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 3.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC BE7D61AF
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 10
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A10 – Done And Done.wav
Peak level 99.6 %
Extraction speed 3.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 0C6464CB
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 11
Filename F:EACrips2012 – Now For Plan A11 – Goodnight Attawapiskat.wav
Peak level 97.5 %
Extraction speed 3.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC EF0EB3FD
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
==== Log checksum BB793AE8FE32ED705E8428CEFC56524A036C684CF2BAF1B93BA8910EF16BA4F0 ====
[CTDB TOCID: yOMIOrqYnWRXloDdmkTzjGMe_AM-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
2 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
3 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
4 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
5 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
6 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
7 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
8 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
9 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
10 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
11 | (36/38) Accurately ripped
[AccurateRip ID: 00103879-008cd0c9-7a09400b] found.
Track [ CRC | V2 ] Status
01 [6b2e421d|023d5a0e] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
02 [4badc06e|7f7c513f] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
03 [f2ae8d7e|8a7ae863] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
04 [08df18c1|276c4678] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
05 [1fcd5c52|17d384cd] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
06 [f1f4c678|7bf32389] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
07 [dea06e64|b86858b4] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
08 [3954f107|c0158e7c] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
09 [c4e699bd|7b59f2d9] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
10 [6241c149|2adb36b1] (03+18/21) Accurately ripped
11 [09b3a3f4|04aa818f] (03+17/20) Accurately ripped
Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 100,0 [DDADEF49] [C02B55C3]
01 99,5 [62B768A8] [ECEC91B5] CRC32
02 99,9 [33C78D84] [B5976F9D] CRC32
03 99,5 [5C775650] [F819737C] CRC32
04 99,3 [72225461] [255F46D9] CRC32
05 100,0 [736F3759] [F49207DD] CRC32
06 99,0 [1E52EC51] [26E40CA3] CRC32
07 100,0 [3470B56A] [D00FD33F] CRC32
08 99,6 [BD63D725] [A515E20C] CRC32
09 99,8 [BE7D61AF] [807A783B] CRC32
10 99,6 [0C6464CB] [5E8A6080] CRC32
11 97,5 [EF0EB3FD] [5F81D47A] CRC32
log date: 2017-10-19 18:12:59
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: The Tragically Hip / Now For Plan A
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR6 -0.04 dB -7.64 dB 3:44 01-At Transformation
DR6 -0.01 dB -7.79 dB 3:52 02-Man Machine Poem
DR6 -0.04 dB -7.64 dB 2:28 03-The Lookahead
DR7 -0.06 dB -8.65 dB 3:28 04-We Want To Be It
DR6 0.00 dB -7.09 dB 3:28 05-Streets Ahead
DR7 -0.08 dB -9.21 dB 5:08 06-Now For Plan A
DR7 0.00 dB -7.97 dB 3:23 07-The Modern Spirit
DR7 -0.03 dB -9.14 dB 3:48 08-About This Map
DR7 -0.01 dB -8.08 dB 3:10 09-Take Forever
DR7 -0.03 dB -8.43 dB 2:53 10-Done And Done
DR6 -0.22 dB -7.75 dB 4:07 11-Goodnight Attawapiskat
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR7
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 985 kbps
Codec: FLAC
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