The Tragically Hip: Rob Baker, Gordon Downie, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair.
Additional personnel includes: Bob Egan (pedal steel, mandolin); Steve Berlin (flute, keyboards, percussion).
Producers: Steve Berlin, The Tragically Hip, Mark Vreeken.
While their fellow Canadians can't get enough of these guys, who've been kicking around since 1983, releasing album after album of rootsy pop-rock, they never caught on stateside in the same way. That's not to say they didn't develop an avid cult following in the U.S. over the years, and that core group is joined by a new group of fans with the release of PHANTOM POWER, one of the band's most successful releases. Guest Steve Berlin (of Los Lobos fame) guest here, adding Yank credibility, but it's the songs themselves that make PHANTOM POWER work. From the elliptically titled "Bobcaygeon" to the slightly less elliptically titled "Emperor Penguin," Gordon Downie's emotive vocals and the band's textured-but-driving sound makes this one of their most fully realized works.
