Road Apples (album)

Road Apples is the second studio album by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. The album contains the hit singles "Three Pistols", “Little Bones,” and “Twist My Arm." During the Hip's last tour, in 2016, songs from this album were played live on a regular basis, featuring the above-mentioned songs as well as ”Long Time Running”, “Last of the Unplucked Gems”, “The Luxury”, and “Fiddler's Green.” References to many prominent figures were used, including Tom Thomson and Jacques Cousteau, as well as political situations in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The track “Fiddler's Green" was written for Gord Downie's young nephew, who died during the writing of the album. Because of the personal nature of the song, the Hip did not play it live often, but they played it on a regular basis during their final tour.[3]

Road Apples
Studio album by
The Tragically Hip
ReleasedFebruary 19, 1991
RecordedSeptember 1990
StudioBarris, New Orleans
GenreRoots rock
Length49:09
LabelMCA
ProducerDon Smith
The Tragically Hip chronology
Up to Here
(1989)		 Road Apples
(1991)		 Fully Completely
(1992)
Singles from Road Apples
  1. "Little Bones"
    Released: 1991
  2. "Three Pistols"
    Released: 1991
  3. "Twist My Arm"
    Released: June 1991
  4. "Long Time Running"
    Released: 1991
  5. "On the Verge"
    Released: 1991
  6. "Cordelia"
    Released: 1991
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
PopMatters(8/10)[2]

Recording sessions were held at the Daniel Lanois' personal studio in New Orleans in September 1990[4] on the recommendation of Colin Cripps, at the time a member of the band Crash Vegas.[5]: 597  He said that the studio had helped establish the mood for the album Red Earth.[5]: 598 

Title

The name of the album is a Canadian slang term for horse droppings; with allusion to the fact that along the side of a road they can be found in shape and size of apples. The album's original working title was Saskadelphia, but this was rejected by the record label as likely to confuse listeners;[6] however, the title was later reused for a 2021 EP of previously unreleased rarities from the Road Apples sessions.[7]

Commercial performance

Road Apples was the band's first album to reach No. 1 in Canada.[8] The album has been certified Diamond in Canada.[9]

Deluxe edition

A deluxe edition of the album was reissued in 2021 to mark its 30th anniversary. The reissue included a remastered version of the original album, the six-song Saskadelphia EP, a live concert performance recorded at the Roxy Theatre in 1991, and a disc of outtakes and demo versions of the album's songs.[10]

The Roxy Theatre live disc was also separately released as the live album Live at the Roxy in 2022.[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by The Tragically Hip

No.TitleLength
1."Little Bones"4:45
2."Twist My Arm"3:56
3."Cordelia"4:10
4."The Luxury"3:40
5."Born in the Water"3:25
6."Long Time Running"4:23
7."Bring It All Back"4:41
8."Three Pistols"3:48
9."Fight"5:59
10."On the Verge"3:54
11."Fiddler's Green"4:25
12."The Last of the Unplucked Gems"2:03

Personnel

References
  1. Allmusic review
  2. PopMatters review
  3. "Dig out the Canadian music". By David Reed, Belleville Intelligencer, June 27, 2014
  4. Barclay, Michael (2018). The Never-ending Present. ECW Press. ISBN 9781773052069.
  5. Barclay, Michael; Jack, Ian A. D.; Schneider, Jason (2011). Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-1995. Gordon Downie (revised ed.). ECW Press. ISBN 9781550229929.
  6. "Tragically Hip has no identity problem". The Province, March 1, 1991.
  7. Jane Stevenson, "The Tragically Hip's new album, Saskadelphia, 'feels like it's honouring' Gord Downie". Toronto Sun, May 20, 2021.
  8. "Top Albums/CDs – Volume 53, No. 18, April 06 1991". RPM. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  9. "Canadian Recording Industry Association" (Requires running a searches for Artist). 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  10. Tim Peacock, "The Tragically Hip Announce Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition Of ‘Road Apples’". UDiscoverMusic, September 16, 2021.
  11. Alex Hudson, "The Tragically Hip Announce 'Live at the Roxy' Concert Album". Exclaim!, May 12, 2022.
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