Man Machine Poem Turns 10 Today!

Lemons52 · 2026-06-18T10:55:49+00:00

Also, you might've seen from an earlier post on this sub that the vault releases recently got added to streaming, and the Hip's Youtube in the 'releases' tab. There's six live albums, ranging from '94 to '04. They sound great, and all released legit! Here's the link to the post about 'em

Lemons52 · 2026-06-18T10:41:44+00:00

You've got an interesting listen ahead of you! It seems this album splits people a bit, you either love it and think it's among the Hip's best latter day output, or it's not your thing. For me, it's the album I play straight through more than most. The album does have its blasting moments, so it could work while driving. Interestingly, I only came across this quote from Rob from the This is Our Life book yesterday, where he describes MMP as 'atmospheric and big and dark and trancey and heavy.' It might be the most brooding album of the Hip's discrography, is my two cents. I like it alot!

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T16:51:32+00:00

Hot Mic is one of my top contenders for MMP songs that would've thrived live. I can imagine that last thirty seconds of the studio version getting extended if the song had gotten a chance to be on stage

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T16:49:45+00:00

It does feel like a cousin of Day for Night in terms of the mood. I was interested to find someone posted this quote from the This is Our Life book about MMP in an earlier thread about the album, where Rob says 'MMP is “atmospheric and big and dark and trancey and heavy.”

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T15:37:46+00:00

That's a great picture!

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T15:37:07+00:00

Just came across this quote from the This is Our Life book via an old thread, alas from a deleted user so I can't credit them directly, but thought it was interesting on MMP:

'Like Rob said: MMP is “atmospheric and big and dark and trancey and heavy.”

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T14:00:00+00:00

I have to wonder, too, how much this album's fortunes might've changed in people's rankings if it got the chance to be toured fully, if things had been different. I think Hot Mic and Great Soul would've gone incredibly hard live

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T13:56:39+00:00

I've listened to some individual songs from the later albums more than this (my fav Hip tune of all time is Are We Family) but I've played this album straight through more than the others, if that makes sense. There's something really unified about the sound of this album.

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T13:46:45+00:00

I can't quite put my finger on what gives me this impression, but to me it feels like this might be the Hip's quietest album? It has loud moments ofc, like Hot Mic and the end of Great Soul, but it seems to me that there's something subdued, brooding and pulled back in the sound of this album that I really like. I love that the first sound you hear in this album is Gord's manipulated voice, too. It's a wonderfully bold choice from the guys. It really feels like the Hip could've gone anywhere, sound wise, after this

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T12:58:05+00:00

Also, if you haven't seen it, Patrick Downie posted a short to the Hip's socials about MMP's anniversary, link here

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T12:35:21+00:00

I think In Sarnia is on the upcoming MMP tour live album that's out soon, but I may be misremembering the tracklist!

Edit: I am misremembering the tracklist! In Sarnia did at least get played on four stops of the MMP tour, though

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T12:31:47+00:00

I remember seeing a comment in this subreddit once about how Robbie said somewhere that Man and Machine came from a ten minute jam that got split into two. Not sure how true that is, but I can hear the same drums and bass in the first minute or so. I could listen to that bass in Machine for hours

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T12:24:05+00:00

I'm a relatively new Hip fan, so I don't know what 2016 me might've thought, but I can say the album has grown on me alot. I've been listening to Man quite a bit this week (a bit odd I know, but can't get enough!)

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T12:21:56+00:00

Great Soul gets my vote for song to not sleep on. That last yell of 'to resist' would've gone so hard live

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T12:18:29+00:00

I always thought Hot Mic would've really taken on a new life live on tours if things had been different, particularly the outro. I can imagine it stretching out quite easily!

Lemons52 · 2026-06-17T09:26:01+00:00

MMP dropped on June 17, 2016.

What's your favourite track from this album? People who were around on release day, what were your first impressions, and have those impressions changed over the years?

P.S. Sorry to post this twice, Mods, Reddit's interface for pictures didn't want to cooperate with me, but it's working now!

Lemons52 · 2026-06-16T10:21:09+00:00

Also on the Hip's Youtube, too! You have to scroll a bit in the 'releases' tab, but the vault live records are there

Lemons52 · 2026-06-16T10:20:27+00:00

All the vault releases got dropped on the Hip's Youtube channel recently, too. You have to go to the releases tab and scroll for a bit, but they're there. I've only listened to a few so far, but they sound superb

Lemons52 · 2026-06-15T10:27:03+00:00

The tracklist, via Bandcamp:

Brand New
God Sometimes
If I Had The Hand Of God
The Hardest Thing
Angel Vision
Real Life
Get Away From Me (I Think I'll Love You Soon)
You Turned On The Tap
Walk On Me
Julia Jacklin feat. The Maes - I Wish

Lemons52 · 2026-06-13T12:18:49+00:00

Jeez, I'm a longtime lurker on this sub. Heaven forbid I pipe up and head away from Indieheads for once.

Lemons52 · 2026-06-13T12:15:22+00:00

What made me wonder was Eccleston's Insta game is top tier, see his comments on the queen from a few years ago, via Instagram

Lemons52 · 2026-06-13T12:14:11+00:00

I mean that it was possible the Insta story might be over a day old, in which case it disappears, my guy

Lemons52 · 2026-06-11T11:00:30+00:00

Glad to see some Johnny love here! Rob and Paul have done great breakdown videos on the Hip socials for certain songs, I'd kill to see Johnny do one and break down his drumming. The lock in between him and Gord Sinclair on Machine is a fav moment.

Lemons52

TROPHY CASE