The sound on this album is more drum-and-bass than anything else they ever put out, and Raine Maida's vocals sound amazing. The only slight drawback is that he hasn't really fully developed his vocal skills yet, and he doesn't go far out of a basic range. Anyway, we've got all sorts of great singles - "Naveed," "The Birdman," "Starseed," and "Hope." Pretty good for a debut, eh? The non-single songs are great, too. "Neon Crossing" and "Julia" are probably some of OLP's greatest songs. The music and vocals come together to create this sensation of insanity that covers the entire record, like it's going to come apart at any moment. I think this is the CD's greatest point.
The only downside is that some songs are a bit long and drawn out, as that was the style at the time. But overall, this CD is great. It's classic 90's alternative without being too cliche. Aww yeah.
Anyway, I can't see how the band could have possibly topped themselves with this one. It's the perfect mid-90's alternative album. They still have their trademark confusing yet not pretentious lyrics, and the sound's mellowed out a bit. But not crummy mellowing out - we-know-what-we're-doing-now mellowing out! They rock just as hard, but now it's more controlled and focused, rather than the crazy ramblings of Naveed. Just listen to "Automatic Flowers" or "Hello Oskar" if you don't believe me. The singles are just as good as the rest of the CD, which in those crazy days, was a feat!
As a plus, while creating the album all alternative albums would bow before, they're even moving beyond the standard formulaiac realm of the genre, however gradually! You can hear it best on "4am," which is the greatest sad song ever, (screw emo!) and in the crazy bass beats of "Car Crash." This album was the pinnacle of greatness to little Tressa, and I hope I've done it justice with this review. Man, it's so much easier to go on about things you hate than go on about things you love. Do I have a problem?
Anyway, what this album does have is really catchy rock tracks, like "Consequence of Laughing" and "Annie," which is such a great song that it's not even funny. And the lyrics are just as crazy as ever, without being compromised for the sake of popularity or catchiness. It's sad that I didn't appreciate this fact until years later, though. While some people might not like the track "Stealing Babies," I think it's an awesome album closer. You just need to give the people something to make them go "huh?" at the end of every album!
Some of the slower songs are great, but some are just missing that spark to make them better. It beats most slow songs put out today, though! And if you want pretention somehow done right, (?) just take a listen to "Happiness and the Fish." By which I mean the title track, not the entire CD. But listening to the entire CD is something you should do, too. Now do it! *Shakes fist*
So I finally got the attention span to listen to it again, and it's really not that bad if you're in the right mood for it. (The mood for it to be perfect is probably "on drugs.") It's a lot slower and more introspective than the other releases, though, which is why the average OLP fan will be weirded out the first several dozen times. If you're into that kind of thing, though, you might like it a lot better than I did. Personally, it was really hard for me to get into, and I still really haven't. I'm no fan of lyrics that are weird just for the sake of being weird, and I really wish there was just one cool rock track to keep my attention span for the rest of the album. Ah well, I guess all bands go through their psycho experimental phase!
But to summarize, this is a horribly bland rock album. It's just like everything else on the radio. Why does the music scene have to be so commercial? We've become almost as bad as the 80's! The instrumental work is poppy, especially the guitar work. The lyrics are straight forward; any rock band could've written them. There's nothing on this album that sets it apart from any other rock album out there. What a let-down.
This gets three thumbs up for the only three remotely good songs on there: "All For You," "Bring Back The Sun," and "A Story About A Girl." Oddly enough, these were the only three the entire band wrote, with Mike Turner, instead of just Raine Maida! I didn't even know that until after I decided I liked them. That just proves the lack of Mike is what's making new Our Lady Peace so horrible. Don't buy this album unless you are some lame teeneybopper, or you will regret it like I did. And if you are some lame teeneybopper, kindly slit your wrists. No matter how many albums the new Our Lady Peace puts out, I refuse to spend my money on 'em. They betrayed me worse than any of your lame mortal break-ups, and for that, I will have my revenge! Hahahaha!