Our Lady Peace

Started by ono, April 11, 2006, 12:42:47 AM

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ono

No real mention of these guys here save one or two posts.  I first heard them about the time Life was making the rounds.  They're from Canada, and they haven't really broken through to the states yet, and I can't think of a reason why.  It's really earnest emotional rock, not as beautiful as Coldplay (but more affecting as a result), not as unique as Radiohead (heh -- few are), but still powerful all the same.

Some suggestions from their albums:

Naveed: Starseed (you may recognize it -- it was in Armageddon)

Clumsy: Carnival, 4 AM, Clumsy, Superman's Dead, Automatic Flowers

Happiness Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch: Is Anybody Home?, Happiness & The Fish, Potato Girl

Spiritual Machines (their best): Right Behind You (Mafia), Life, Are You Sad, Made to Heal

Gravity (their second best, and these songs are amazing on their live album): All For You, Somewhere Out There, Innocent (probably my favorite -- amazing live), Made Of Steel, Bring Back The Sun

Healthy in Paranoid Times (an incredibly solid album for all the criticism it gets -- suffers 'cause it's their newest, and therefore not their old stuff): Angel Losing Sleep, Will the Future Blame Us, Wipe That Smile Off Your Face, Al Genina (Leave A Light On), The World On A String.

They take a while to grow on you, much like most solid bands.  Rane's voice is ... unique.  "Affected" is one way to put it.  The first criticism is a lot of their stuff sounds the same, but such is a criticism of a lot of guitar bands.  It isn't really true here.  Give it a chance, and their unique sound will come out.

polkablues

I love Our Lady Peace.  I paid money for every one of their albums.  Raine Maida's voice is truly unique, and (kind of like Brian Moulko from Placebo) I can totally empathize with someone not liking it.  I, on the other hand, think it's amazing (kind of like Brian Moulko from Placebo).  What really sets his voice apart is his raw, almost uncontrolled falsetto, which he never really uses by itself, instead kind of lets it sneak out in strange places in the middle of lines or even the middle of words.

He seems to have put a rein on the falsetto a little bit in their last two albums (especially Gravity), which is a little disappointing to me.  Spiritual Machines is by far their best album, but I would put Clumsy in at number two.  That was back when he just let his voice go crazy, and I love it.

Here's a few other bands for anyone who's into OLP: Pilate, Paloalto, Year of the Rabbit, Unified Theory, My Vitriol, Mayfield Four, Stereophonics, Something for Kate, Ours, and The Gufs.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Pedro

Superman's dead was a pretty big rock hit when it came out in the sates.

polkablues

Quote from: Pedro the Alpaca on April 11, 2006, 09:03:24 PM
Superman's dead was a pretty big rock hit when it came out in the sates.

And if you saw a trailer for xXx, then you've heard Somewhere Out There.
My house, my rules, my coffee

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

Somewhere Out There actually kept me from liking them.  Plus, a friend of mine was really into them, but he was a douche bag.  I've never gone out of my way to hear them, but maybe I should.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Ghostboy

I really liked them a lot back when Clumsy and Happiness Is Not A Fish came out - I really loved both of those albums, saw them live, etc. Then they dropped off my radar for a while, only to come back with Somewhere Out There, which I really sorta hated.