Our Lady Peace: Live
While OLP are largely unknown internationally (heaven knows why, quite frankly), they are given the recognition they deserve in their native Canada, which this superb live album shows. Recorded on tour after the release of their Gravity LP, the ability of the band’s live sound to surpass that of their studio recordings is very much evident. The songs are inevitably less polished but are more ambient and heavy sounding, and it’s good to see so many of their best songs played back-to-back.
The opening track, All for You, begins with the dialogue lifted from the ‘hidden’ track from Spiritual Machines, accompanied by some brilliant other-worldly guitar riffs courtesy of new recruit Steve Mazur before going into the pounding intro to the song itself. This is followed by Superman’s Dead in which frontman Raine Maida gets the whole audience singing along and perfectly shows the rapport the band can whip up with their fans. The remainder of the album is a mixture of the highlights from Gravity and a best-of compilation of sorts: there are plenty of old favourites including Clumsy, One Man Army and tender ballad Are You Sad? which shows their softer, more emotional side. A stunning and extended intro to the title track of their debut Naveed blends seamlessly into the uplifting Life and a blinding rendition of Starseed is followed by the album’s conclusion, the soaring single Somewhere Out There.
To many of their fans Gravity, their most recent studio effort, was something of a disappointment after the brilliance of Spiritual Machines. Indeed, this record seems to support these criticisms. The likes of Innocent and Bring Back the Sun are melodic enough but sound somewhat simple and straightforward alongside the likes of Naveed and Is Anybody Home?. Nevertheless there are one or two little extras on offer here in the form of rarity Whatever and completely new (not to mention energetic) Our Time is Fading which may allay fears as to how the new album will sound.
In Summary
A well-recorded and amazingly performed rendition of one of rock’s most underrated bands that gives a whole new dimension to their studio recordings. The wide variety of material included also make it a great record to introduce the band to new fans.
Tracklisting
- All for You
- Superman’s Dead
- Not Enough
- Naveed/Life
- Innocent
- Bring Back the Sun
- One Man
- Is Anybody Home?
- Our Time is Fading
- Are You Sad?
- Whatever
- Clumsy
- Starseed
- Somewhere Out There
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