I’ve followed Our Lady Peace’s career since the release of their major label debut, ‘Naveed’. As far as debuts go, that album was okay; it showed a band who were more than musically competent and they had a great vocalist in Raine Maida. There was room for improvement though… Aside from the Cult sounding ‘Starseed’ and the title track (which was one of the only tracks to feature Raine’s brilliant vocal quirks), the rest of the album was made up of solid but ultimately ordinary post-grunge rock tunes.

By the time of their second album, ‘Clumsy’, Our Lady Peace had progressed substantially. The album had similar post-grunge roots to their debut, but the band had expanded their sound, lightening up in places and bringing in traces of power pop and occasional pianos. Their songwriting approach was far more varied and Raine Maida had really learnt to use his voice in an interesting way, changing pitch erratically at times – although never purely for dramatic effect and never at the expense of the songs. The band took those elements that made their second album great and really worked on them over the next few years, resulting in two brilliant albums, ‘Happiness…Is Not a Fish You Can Catch’ and ‘Spiritual Machines’.

The band resorted to a more straight ahead stadium rock sound, harking back to parts of ‘Naveed’ for 2002’s ‘Gravity’ – possibly at the suggestion of heavyweight producer Bob Rock, best known for his work on Metallica’s multi-platinum selling Black Album. While not as interesting as the previous three albums, it was better than ‘Naveed’ thanks to the band being more confident and turning in some great songwriting. At this point, it seemed the band could do no wrong.
And then, after a three year recording hiatus, Our Lady Peace released ‘Healthy In Paranoid Times’ – an album which has nothing of any real worth within its 12 songs. On that album, the band sounds as if they’re going through the motions. Raine Maida slips even farther away from the quirky vocal traits he used on ‘Happiness…’ and ‘Spiritual Machines’ and this only serves to make the album feel even more laboured. The sleeve notes claim the band wrote and recorded 43 songs during the album’s sessions, so I can only but wonder how they came to choose 12 really dull ones for the end product.

In the five year gap between the release of ‘Paranoid Times’ and ‘Burn Burn’, vocalist Raine Maida embarked on a solo career; his solo album ‘The Hunter’s Lullaby’ adopted more of a stripped down singer-songwriter slant. After a five year band absence, I had major reservations about Our Lady Peace’s return. Since they took three years to deliver ‘Healthy In Paranoid Times’, were they about to disappoint a second time after so long away? Would Raine Maida’s solo activities have any impact on the band’s sound? I knew if the album turned out to be as forgettable as ‘…Paranoid Times’ it would be time for me to part company with a band I’d followed for a decade and a half.

With a lot riding on it, ‘Burn Burn’ made an immediate impact with me. For a majority of the album, Our Lady Peace opt for a mid-paced rock sound; one that rocks stadiums and fills airwaves. Raine Maida steers away from his old style quirkier vocals again, but here, it doesn’t matter so much as it did before, since the songs themselves are incredibly strong. The simplicity running through ‘Burn Burn’s ten songs gives the album a solid backbone and with that, Our Lady Peace play to their strengths.

‘All You Did Was Save My Life’ begins the album with one of the more upbeat numbers. Driven by Steve Mazur’s choppy guitars, it’s a track which is unmistakably Our Lady Peace. I may still wish on occasion that Maida would revert to his old vocal style, but it cannot be denied that even with this more conventional approach, his voice is still a strong one, even if not as distinctive as it once had been. This track is also notable for having been co-written with Zac Maloy (one-time frontman with post-grunge band The Nixons – possibly one of the most under-rated bands ever).

The big chorus and ringing guitars during ‘The End Is Where We Begin’ call to mind a couple of the songs from ‘Gravity’; here each band member plays a key role – the rhythm section of Duncan Coutts and Jeremy Taggart drive the song with a gentle chug on the verses, but it’s the chorus where things shift up a gear. The song hangs on a giant chorus and if you need a timely reminder of why Our Lady Peace are great, this is it. Also adopting a stadium rock approach, ‘Dreamland’ is a high point. Another mid paced affair, it features a tack piano on the verses before resorting to a more predictable heavy guitar riff for the big chorus. It’s typical of the kind of thing 30 Seconds To Mars wish they could have written, but just don’t have enough chops.

‘Monkey Brains’ is another up tempo track; I’d say it’s not quite as memorable as most of the album but still has some great moments: Duncan Coutts’s bass work is aggressive and upfront during the closing section, but for me, it’s the acoustic mid-section which is the song’s best feature. It has a quality which will seem instantly familiar to anyone who’s followed the band for some time. There’s a moment I could swear Maida is about to break into ‘Superman’s Dead’; it’s great to know that despite the band having become more commercial over their previous couple of releases, this album brings out just a little of the Our Lady Peace of old. The falsetto vocal parts may be a past luxury, but maybe the world’s still a subway after all.

‘Escape Artist’ is a pop/rock track driven by a bass drum and tambourine rhythm during its verses, which is played against a subtle guitar part. The song’s hook isn’t anywhere near as big as some on the album, but the track still features some great elements – namely wah-wah guitar and understated piano work. Although not especially obvious in the overall mix, it’s great to hear the piano playing a role, since it was the piano part on the title track from the ‘Clumsy’ album which caught my ear and really pushed Our Lady Peace up in my estimation, back in 1997.
The piano comes to the fore for the brooding ballad ‘Never Get Over You’, a track with a very 21st Century “alternative” sound – and obviously, by that, I mean it fits in with the post millennium trend of labelling anything vaguely guitar driven as “alternative”. This is probably going to sound like a put-down, but the song’s slightly plodding nature reminds me a little of Snow Patrol, if they were slightly tougher and could write more interesting songs. Even so, if this track represents ‘Burn Burn’ at its weakest, it’s obvious that with this album Our Lady Peace are on a winning streak.

‘Paper Moon’ finds the band rocking out a bit more, but it’s still in the mid-paced mould of a lot of the songs on ‘Burn Burn’. It’s notable, since it’s one of the tracks which utilises backing vocals most obviously; they add weight to the chorus by mirroring the lead vocal, but can also be found bubbling under a blistering lead guitar courtesy of Steve Mazur. Since it’s probably Mazur’s most aggressive work on the album, you could be forgiven for not taking much notice of whatever else happens to be going on!

There are no dud songs here. Those who liked the more straight ahead approach of ‘Gravity’ (in particular, those listeners whom became fans with the release of that album) will find ‘Burn Burn’ enjoyable. It’s restored my faith in the band and while it’s not as inventive as some of the band’s earlier works, it’s certainly a very welcome addition to the Our Lady Peace catalogue.

June 2010

Back in 2005 when the Go! Team’s debut (‘Thunder, Lightning, Strike’) was released, there seemed to be a genuine buzz of excitement among the indie/alternative community. However, despite having a broad musical taste, I just couldn’t take to their mish-mash of guitar pop, dance loops and occasional cheerleader-esque vocals. Within a few months of its release, I forgot about them. Their sophomore album (‘Proof of Youth’) bought them bigger chart success, and yet its release passed me by at first; even though I was mixing with the same people, for some reason, they’d stopped talking about the Brighton sextet.

At the beginning of 2011, The Go! Team returned with their third release, which presents a similar mix of styles as before; some parts of which, naturally, work better than others. The opening track ‘T.O.R.N.A.D.O’ mixes blaxploitation sounds with a danceable groove and ends up sounding like a Beastie Boys cast off. While that end groove has something of appeal, the beats are hard and the sampled horns are potentially headache inducing; this drowns out the vocal line – though I suspect Ninja’s bad rap stylings are of an empty sentiment. A swift u-turn in sound follows with ‘Secretary Song’(featuring Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof)- a track which brings a mix of twee indie pop (a la Saint Etienne) and fuzzy guitar lines. There’s a sweet tune hiding within the hard beats and, once again, the vocals are a bit fudgy sounding, but there’s enough here to get a sense of what the band were aiming for musically.

The instrumental cut ‘Bust-Out Brigade’ really hits the spot with its huge (sampled) horns and general funkiness. There’s a sassiness which would befit a 1970s cop movie, even though the sounds of a glockenspiel occasionally gives the feeling of a marching band! As a long time fan of the Beasties’ ‘In Sound From Way Out’ compilation, this really appeals to me and I wish The Go! Team would do this sort of thing more often. Featuring a guest vocal from Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino (very much the indie/alternative pop flavour of the month by the end of 2010), the lead single, ‘Buy Nothing Day’ is a decent slice of guitar-driven indie-pop, all ringing guitars and sunshine – the kind you’ve heard hundreds of times before – but stylistically, it really suits The Go! Team.

‘Voice Yr Choice’ is a proper dud. Against a very synthetic sounding arrangement (bar some live drums, rather loud in the end mix), Ninja delivers a really awful rap performance. It’s the kind that’s so bad, you realise that maybe Betty Boo wasn’t so bad after all. Luckily, it becomes a distant memory quickly; as soon as it ends, The Go! Team swiftly move on to something more enjoyable. ‘Yosemite Blues’ is a busy (mostly) instrumental number which fuses funk, banjos, more glockenspeils and live drums in a way which sounds like a cross between alternative rock/pop and a 1970s theme tune for a western.

Following a slightly out of tune instrumental played on an old upright piano (‘Lazy Poltergeist’),the title track brings with it plenty of punch and fuzzy guitars. A hushed vocal gives the performance an odd contrast. Listening to it, it’s hard to believe it’s the work of the same band that has a penchant for bad rap, sassy horns and busy sampling. That diversity is either very cool, or The Go! Team’s biggest weakness, depending on your personal viewpoint.

For almost pure pop, ‘Ready To Go Steady’ is a standout, with twee sixties influences and almost surfy vibe. The sampled drum fills are put to good use and its simple vocal hook is effective, creating something sounds like The Postmarks meets Saint Etienne. Also, fully exploring kitsch, a short instrumental, ‘Super Triangle’ utilises a simple retro synth tune over acoustic guitars. To those of a certain age, its hard not to listen to this and visualise the old BBC Testcard.

Occasionally, you’ll get a track where all of most of The Go! Team’s elements come together, as they do during ‘Apollo Throwdown’. The live drums are punchy, the sampled beats drive things along and the music has a very retro vibe, echoing the disco era. The rap elements aren’t as embarrassing (though not entirely to my tastes) and a chorus employs an almost cheer-leading aspect. These elements feel far more natural here than on some other tracks.

As before, it’s sometimes difficult to work out at whom The Go! Team are aiming their smorgasbord of sounds. Listening to ‘Rolling Blackouts’, I like them far more than I ever did before (even being inspired enough to revisit their previous works). There’s a lot here to enjoy, providing you can get past the often claustrophobic nature of the end product. As good as some of this is, though, there’s still a feeling that The Go! Team still haven’t fully realised their potential.

January 2011

One Day as a Lion is an alliance between Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha and ex-Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore. That’s it. Two guys: one with a loud drum kit and the other with a message. No band. …And ultimately, very little in the way of music – just vocals, lots of very distorted Fender Rhodes keyboard noise and that aforementioned drum kit.

This EP lyrically contains the anger and passion of the best Rage Against The Machine material. Witness Zack during the title cut: “Blood soaked earth that you call home, close your eyes but don’t sleep / We comin’ like a people’s army for those who don’t eat” […] “smashed in his dome with a club of a white fed / No food, no water, no rights read”. Elsewhere he says “Your god is a homeless assassin who roams the world to save / He’s digging for buried treasures, leaving nothing but fields of graves” (‘Last Letter’). There’s enough lyrical bite to potentially make this thrilling.

This EP could have been great, but falls very short of mark, since musically, One Day As A Lion have relatively little fire and in addition, the keyboard drones become grating over the course of the twenty minute playing time. While Theodore’s drum work is aggressive, it’s just not enough to carry Zack’s message effectively.

Zack’s socio-political rants certainly work far better with Rage Against The Machine’s more sophisticated musical style. …And as for the rest of Rage, judging by the Audioslave releases, their musical tricks and style sound tired and lame without Zack. Although Zack’s 80s hardcore band Inside Out had their moments and Tom Morello’s melodic rock/funk metal outfit Lock Up showed signs of greatness, the release of that first RATM album truly raised the bar. For best results, all four guys really need to work together, but you hardly needed me to tell you that…did you?

February 2010