The Tragically Hip’s best-selling greatest hits compilation, Yer Favourites, will be available on vinyl for the first time ever on June 2nd, 2023.

Originally released digitally and as a two-CD set on November 8th, 2005, Yer Favourites, for which tracks were selected by the band’s fans directly via their website, has soared past Diamond status at 14X Platinum (Diamond is 10X Platinum) and has over half a billion streams globally.

The Tragically Hip is now the first Canadian band to achieve four Diamond-certified albums. Yer Favourites is the second best-selling compilation album ever in Canada only behind The Beatles’ 1.

As a nod to fans for their continued support and in the lead-up to the band’s fast-approaching 40th anniversary in 2024, the Yer Favourites vinyl release will be split into two double LP sets on 180g vinyl, Volume #1 and Volume #2, each packaged in a single sleeve in an effort to reduce packaging and make the release more affordable for fans.

Yer Favourites has been entirely remastered for 2023 and now includes the original versions from Fully Completely that were not found on the CD version of Yer Favourites released in 2005.

This special vinyl release is a must-have for any new or long-time listener of The Tragically Hip. Each volume also includes a 24 x 36 fold-out poster. The Yer Favourites vinyl release is set to be followed by a deluxe edition of Phantom Power later this year.

In 2024, to celebrate four decades of The Tragically Hip, the band will release a deluxe set of their breakthrough album Up to Here, a previously announced four-part Amazon documentary, and much more.

Yer Favourites, Vol. 1
Side A:
1. No Threat
2. Grace Too
3. Music At Work
4. 38 Years Old
5. Gift Shop

The first volume opens on the drum-led, window-washer’s head, rocker No Threat and the masterpiece of sounds, textures, lyrics, riffs, power chords, of the shudderingly ambiguous Grace Too, and then we get the Foo Fighters-esque Music At Work (and which was accompanied by one of the most underrated music videos of all time), then a song about a guy who justifiably killed his sister’s rapist, 38 Years Old and the shimmering synergy of flawless musicianship within Gift Shop brings the first side to a close.

Side B:
1. Ahead By A Century
2. Vaccination Scar
3. Three Pistols
4. So Hard Done By
5. Fiddler’s Green

Flipping the first vinyl over we get one of the greatest songs ever written, Ahead By A Century (No dress rehearsal; this is our life), which is backed by one of their melancholy tunes, albeit with great guitar, Vaccination Scar, the long car ride, windows down rocker Three Pistols, the griminess within So Hard Done By, the side rounding out on the acoustic brilliance of Fiddler’s Green.

Side C:
1. Looking For A Place To Happen
2. Cordelia
3. It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken
4. Blow at High Dough
5. Wheat Kings

The second vinyl of the 2LP set opens on the rocker Looking For A Place To Happen and the beautiful lyrics, powerful blues-tinged rock ’n’ roll of Cordelia and then we are brought forth a track that, to me, is like Pink Floyd with a Canadian twist, the veritably prog-glistening It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken, then Gord does what Gord did on the blistering Blow at High Dough and the atmospherically-hued Wheat Kings.

Side D:
1. Fully Completely
2. New Orleans Is Sinking
3. Escape Is At Hand For the Travellin’ Man
4. Fifty Mission Cap

Flipping the vinyl over and we get the truly intense, visceral and emotional cut Fully Completely and the take no prisoners track New Orleans Is Sinking, the first volume coming to a close on the evoking, heart breaking even, Escape Is At Hand For the Travellin’ Man (and where you can actually hear the sadness in Gord’s voice) and then the beloved Tragically Hip cut Fifty Mission Cap (a 50 mission cap was worn by pilots who had successfully flown 50 missions over enemy territory during WW2).

Yer Favourites, Vol. 2
Side A:
1. Courage (For Hugh MacLennan)
2. Lake Fever
3. Poets
4. Fireworks
5. Twist My Arm

The second volume opens on the rip-roaring Courage (For Hugh MacLennan), noted as being for MacLennan, as the third stanza is lifted almost directly from his novel, The Watch that Ends the Night, and a track where they lower the level of the drums, especially the snare, which allows for the heart to beat through on Lake Fever, then comes a microcosm of the band live - the tight musicality and their sense of humor stuffed in all the nooks and crannies - within Poets, the indie rock of Fireworks, and then Canada’s poet and national treasure brings us the blues-rock, riff-heavy brilliance of Twist My Arm.

Side B:
1. Bobcaygeon
2. Nautical Disaster
3. Highway Girl
4. Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park

Flipping the record over, next we get one of my own personal favorites from the late 90’s, the blissfully bittersweet nostalgia that ebbs and flows through Bobcaygeon and that is followed by the powerfully deep, spine tingling Nautical Disaster, the foot-to-the-floor, Southern grit rocker Highway Girl, and then comes the guitar of Rob Baker rocking throughout Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park.

Side C:
1. At The Hundredth Meridian
2. Long Time Running
3. The Darkest One
4. Locked In The Trunk of A Car

Flipping the vinyl over and we get the timeless rock bounce of At The Hundredth Meridian and the glowing, fluctuating guitar work within the impassioned blues masterwork Long Time Running, then comes the boys jammin’ and rockin’ out on The Darkest One and another of my own personal favorite Hip tunes of all time, the totally slaying Locked In The Trunk of A Car.

Side D:
1. Little Bones
2. Boots Or Hearts
3. Scared
4. Something On
5. The New Maybe

Flipping the second record over and they open on the melodiousness of the riff-tastic and pure vocal magic of Little Bones and the campfire thigh slapper, foot-tapper Boots Or Hearts, and then the last few songs we are privileged to hear on these two double albums are the beautiful song Sacred (a track chock full of symbolism, esoteric, poetry, and composition all in equal measure), the jam of Something On, coming to a close on, perhaps, the most under-appreciated Hip song, next to Coconut Cream, the aching yearn within The New Maybe.

The Hip, as they are affectionately known, were an iconoclastic, yet, ironically, iconic) Canadian band who got their start in the 80’s college-rock scene - similar to R.E.M., albeit different colleges.

This original compilation was done true to their nature as a people’s band, allowing their fan base to choose the content, which meant the beauty of this approach was that these four vinyl LPs contain not only the obvious big hits, but also many great album cuts that the fan base truly love.

Official Purchase Links