Fully Completely [ENHANCED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

The Tragically Hip

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 20, 1999)
• Original Release Date: November 9, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Original recording reissued
• Label: Sire / London/Rhino
• ASIN: B00000IJRC
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #152,575 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best album by a great band, June 29, 2000

By	"kevinbourke" (Needham Heights, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews

In answer to the question about whether or not this album has been re-released--the answer is a resounding yes. A CD-ROM element has been added and the disc now includes a few videos that you can access via the 'net.

Now, on to the review. The best band to ever come out of Canada hits its absolute peak (sorry Rush) with this 1992 release. In the three albums leading up to "Fully Completely" the band put out some great music, but was still finding its sound. In the albums since, the band's gotten a little soft--still great, but softer. This release catches the band at it's rockin' best.

Highlights include Courage, At The Hundredth Meridian, and the title track--all of which rock. But perhaps the best tune, in typical Hip form, handles a topic that is truly Canadian--hockey. Fifty-Mission Cap tells the true story of Bill Barilko, a star player for the 'leafs who disappeared after scoring the winning goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Next time the team won a Cup was the year he was discovered. Lyrics don't get much beyond that, but again--the tune rocks!

If you've heard some latter day Hip and are partial to the more mellow tunes, there's a few here too. Wheat Kings, for example, has a Bobcaygeon (from "Phantom Power") feel to it. And Pigeon Camera has a sound so sweet it'll break your heart, even though I have no idea what they're yapping about in the lyrics.

There are other great songs on this CD--hell there isn't a clunker in the bunch--but it'd take too long to go through each one. Bottom line: if you've heard of the Hip and need a place to begin exploring, this is the CD you want.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential Canadian record, May 19, 2005

By	selffate "invigorating genius" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

Let me first say I have never been a Tragically Hip fan. THAT being said I can't ignore this albums perfection.

Albums that have a dark lined undercurrent to them, really speak to me, and Dowie's lyrical prowess here seems to reach into some real angst.

Needless to say as well, and I can't explain why, this is an absolutely quintessential "Canadian" album. The reasons though are not very easy to explain, but if you really want to understand the landscape and the feeling of a country, listen to this album.

That being said, this was without question the "Hip's" most successful album in terms of classic songs. Numerous videos were made from this album, and were staples of the then Muchmusic video program (Courage, At The Hundreth Meredian, Locked In The Trunk of a Car) up in Canada. It made the band household names, and has pretty much solidified them as the domineering band in Canada for years to come (yes more than Rush).

It's strange, many of the songs on here I enjoy immensly, Courage's catchy chorus, The weepy pigeon camera, the tragic Wheat Kings, the madness of Locked in a trunk in the car, to the almost Judas Priest riffing of Fifty Mission Cap.

I constantly have run into many Tragically Hip fans up North and 90% of them tell me this is their favourite album and their best.

I kind of got sick of the band's over-exposure, and the majority of their albums really do nothing for me minus one or two songs. However, this was the album where the band struck gold.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars read this review, March 18, 2001

By A Customer

With "Fully Completely" the Tragically Hip made their darkest album to date. Gordon Downie takes the lyrical brilliance of their previous masterpiece, "Road Apples", and fleshes out most of the optimism. In it's place he has inserted a series of grisly, psychotic mood pieces that together produce an album of songs about bodies in the trunk, drowned hockey players, implied incest, doomed romance, and cold winds blowing over your private parts. And strangly enough it all works, because once again Downie and the band have produced an excellent collection of songs. The only thing keeping this album from being a five star effort is the muddy production, very similar in sound to "Up To Here". The only song that would sound at home on the looser, rootsier "Road Apples" is "At the Hundredth Meridian", and not surprisingly it is the album's best song. "Courage" and "Looking For A Place To Happen" kick things off and suffer the most from the production. Until you've heard "Courage" live the song should not be judged. It comes to life on stage, on the album it shows weak signs of life. But it is still classic Hip, as Gordon sarcastically sings "courage, it couldn't come at a worse time". Other highlights are the stark "Pigeon Camera", with it's veiled incest in the second verse and hauntingly memorable melody. "Fifty Mission Cap" is the interesting true story of Bill Barilko, an old hockey player who disappeared on a fishing trip, only to resurface years later. It is a must listen, and is a great example of why Downie can be one of the best story-songwriters around. "Locked In the Trunk of a Car" is another gem, with the most urgent music on the album, and another glimpse into Downie's twisted mind. As the song fades Downie is poignantly screaming "let me out", echoing Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins at the end of his "Cherub Rock". But whereas Corgan was demanding release from the "alternative" music scene, here Downie is demanding release from the trunk, and also maybe from his own demons. "Wheat Kings" is the sole acoustic song on the album, again telling a fascinatingly dark story, again true, about David Milguard. Milguard spent 20 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Downie's imagery invokes a tragic loss of innocence, as childhood imagination gives way to grown up reality. The nation's shift of the blame off of themselves is heartbreaking, and difficult to stomach. There are more strong songs here, but these are the best. This album has about 6-8 great songs, so it is not as consistent as "Road Apples". However, the highpoints on this album are higher than "Road Apples", making this an essential album for Hip fans and rock fans alike.