News

Beloved Canadian rockers The Tragically Hip planned a year devoted to opening the archives (like a live set released for Record Store Day this spring) and celebrating the 40th anniversary of their founding. This fall, they’ll put out a greatly expanded version of Up to Here, their first full-length album, originally released in 1989.

Available November 8 on three CDs or four LPs and a Blu-ray Disc, the Up to Here box includes the original remastered album, audio and video of a beloved live concert from 1990, and scores of unreleased studio material including demos and outtakes. The first track from the set – a fan-favorite track called “Get Back Again,” the studio version of which is heard here, newly mixed, for the first time ever – is streaming now.

Though the Hip – the late singer Gord Downie, lead guitarist Rob Baker, rhythm guitarist Paul Langlois, bassist Gord Sinclair and drummer Johnny Fay – were an established commodity in their native Canada from the release of their self-titled EP in 1987 (and a rising live act for three years before that), Up to Here served as a further breakthrough both home and abroad. Recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis with producer Don Smith (his first of three consecutive albums with the band), singles “Blow At High Dough,” “New Orleans is Sinking” and “Boots or Hearts” earning consistent rotation on Canadian radio and the country’s MTV equivalent MuchMusic; “New Orleans” became one of a few tunes by the band to cross over into Billboard‘s mainstream rock charts. The album peaked at No. 9 on the Canadian charts – their last release to miss the Top 5 – and helped the Hip earn a Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Group.

In addition to the remastered album, the Up to Here box offers a plethora of previously unreleased content: four outtakes from the original album sessions, including the aforementioned “Get Back Again,” considered by some to be the elusive holy grail of the group’s unissued output; audio and video of full live set from Halifax venue The Misty Moon recorded in 1990 that became a favorite to MuchMusic viewers; 10 demos from the period dating to a year before Up to Here was released; and new Atmos mixes of the original album and outtakes. A book of liner notes documenting this early period in the band’s discography will also be included.

Though the death of Downie from brain cancer in 2017 put an end to the group’s recording and touring, the surviving members have been actively archiving their past in the years since. In addition to deluxe reissues of the albums Road Apples (1990) and Phantom Power (1998), a four-part Prime video documentary is in the works, and a commemorative book by the band will be released shortly before the Up to Here box hits stores.

Full specs for the box set are below. It’ll be available November 8.  “Get Back Again” is streaming now.  Amazon links are not yet active, but the CD and LP boxes are currently available for pre-order at The Tragically Hip’s online storefront.  We’ll update with Amazon links as soon as they go live!

Up to Here (Deluxe Edition) (MCA/UMe, 2024)

3CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD / The Tragically Hip Store
4LP/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD / The Tragically Hip Store

CD/LP 1: 2024 remaster of original album (released as MCA Records 6310, 1989)

1. Blow At High Dough
2. I’ll Believe in You (or I’ll Be Leaving You Tonight)
3. New Orleans is Sinking
4. 38 Years Old
5. She Didn’t Know
6. Boots or Hearts
7. Everytime You Go
8. When the Weight Comes Down
9. Trickle Down
10. Another Midnight
11. Opiated

CD 2/LP 2-3: Live at The Misty Moon (1-14) + bonus tracks (15-18)

1. Crack My Spine Like a Whip
2. She Didn’t Know
3. Highway Girl
4. Just As Well
5. Boots or Hearts
6. Trickle Down
7. Get Back Again
8. Three Pistols
9. Fight
10. 38 Years Old
11. Blow At High Dough
12. I’ll Believe in You (or I’ll Be Leaving You Tonight)
13. New Orleans is Sinking
14. On the Verge
15. She’s Got What It Takes
16. Get Back Again
17. Rain, Hearts and Fire
18. Wait So Long

All tracks previously unreleased. Tracks 1-14 recorded live at Misty Moon, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada – 4/6/1990

CD 3/LP 4: How We Got Here – The 1988 Demos

1. Hailstone Hands of God
2. When the Weight Comes Down
3. I’ll Believe in You (or I’ll Be Leaving You Tonight)
4. New Orleans is Sinking
5. Rain, Hearts and Fire
6. She Didn’t Know
7. Blow At High Dough
8. Boots or Hearts
9. Everytime You Go
10. Just Another Midnight

Blu-ray

• Atmos mix of original album and studio bonus tracks
• Complete video of Live At The Misty Moon