The Tragically Hip - The Tragically Hip (EP) (1987)

The Tragically Hip - The Tragically Hip (EP) (1987)

Tracklist front / back album covers

1. "Small Town Bringdown"   3:05

2. "Last American Exit"   3:50

3. "Killing Time"   4:50

4. "Evelyn"   2:25

5. "Cemetery Sideroad"   3:15

6. "I'm a Werewolf, Baby"   3:20

7. "Highway Girl"   3:28

8. "All-Canadian Surf Club" (CD only)   2:50

The Tragically Hip Band Members / Musicians

Gord Downie – lead vocals

Rob Baker – lead guitar

Paul Langlois – rhythm guitar

Gord Sinclair – bass guitar, backing vocals

Johnny Fay – drums

The Tragically Hip is the first release from Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. The EP was produced by Ken Greer of Red Rider fame, and consisted of 7 songs (8 on CD).

The Hip's EP was released in the Kingston area in late 1987 & nationally in January 1988. In early 1988 the Hip went on their first cross-Canada tour lasting 5 weeks. In Dec 1988 they signed a long-term contract with MCA. A live version of "Highway Girl" was released in 1991 as a B-side to "Twist My Arm", in which Gord Downie tells the story of a suicide pact between a man and his girlfriend. It was a hit on Canadian radio, allowing the song to chart considerably higher than in its original form. The story contains some lines which would later recur as lyrics in the band's 1992 single "Locked in the Trunk of a Car"; it ends with Downie exclaiming "Get Mr. Ry Cooder to deliver my eulogy", which would also recur in "At the Hundredth Meridian". The album version was also the only song from this EP to be included in the Yer Favourites fan-picked compilation of 2005.

The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassist Gord Sinclair, and drummer Johnny Fay. They released 13 studio albums, one live album, one EP, and over 50 singles over a 33-year career. Nine of their albums have reached No. 1 on the Canadian charts. They have received numerous Canadian music awards, including 17 Juno Awards. Between 1996 and 2016, the Tragically Hip were the best-selling Canadian band in Canada and the fourth best-selling Canadian artist overall in Canada.

Following Downie's diagnosis with terminal brain cancer in 2015, the band undertook a tour of Canada in support of their thirteenth album Man Machine Poem. The tour's final concert, which would ultimately be the band's last show, was held at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston on August 20, 2016, and broadcast globally by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a cross-platform television, radio and internet streaming special.

After Downie died on October 17, 2017, the band announced in July 2018 that they would no longer perform under the name. The surviving members have, however, continued to pursue other musical projects, and have begun releasing compilation albums of previously unreleased songs from the band's archives.

The Tragically Hip Band Members / Musicians

Gord Downie – lead vocals, guitar (1984–2017; deceased)

Rob Baker – guitar (1984–2017)

Paul Langlois – guitar, backup vocals (1986–2017)

Gord Sinclair – bass, backup vocals (1984–2017)

Johnny Fay – drums, percussion (1984–2017)

Davis Manning – saxophone (1984–1986)

The Tragically Hip Discography Full

1987 The Tragically Hip (EP)

1989 Up to Here

1991 Road Apples

1992 Fully Completely

1994 Day for Night

1996 Trouble at the Henhouse

1998 Phantom Power

2000 Music @ Work

2002 In Violet Light

2004 In Between Evolution

2006 World Container

2009 We Are the Same

2012 Now for Plan A

2016 Man Machine Poem

2021 Saskadelphia (EP)