Our Lady Peace "Curve"

OK, before I begin, I have a confession to make: I can't review these guys without bias. The fact is, I have considered Our Lady Peace (henceforth: OLP) my favourite band since I discovered them in 1997 (Yes, a little late, but I'm all the way down here in NZ, and they didn't - and still don't - get a whole lot of radio play down here). Sure, over the years I've got pretty excited about other new bands, and gone all nostalgic for some of my old faves, but I do keep coming back to these guys. Well, all right, there was a pretty big lull over the last few years, because, yes, I am one of those fans who didn't so much like "Gravity", "Healthy In Paranoid Times" or "Burn, Burn". But, as soon as mention of this latest album started on the grapevine, I was excited. OLP kept us up to date with regular chances to watch them recording - especially when they were working on "The Wolf" ("Fire in the Henhouse" on the album). That's one thing I do love about OLP - the fan participation they encourage. I still remember
getting up early many, many years ago and sitting in front of my computer for hours, catching glimpses of them filming the video for "Life" (from the album "Spiritual Machines" - an album that set me up to expect great things from these guys in the future . . . and then they brought out those three I mentioned above).

But this year, they brought out "Curve". And, guess what? I can now put my entire OLP collection on to play and listen to it all, very happily, too. It's not that those three albums were bad, they just weren't what I expected to come after "Spiritual Machines". But, now that I have "Curve", much more like what I would have expected, I can handle those other three. It also helps that I have the "Our Lady Peace LIVE" DVD, which let me hear just how cool a few of the songs off those albums can sound live ("Not Enough", for instance, sounds awesome on the DVD, but loses a lot in the recording).

Side note: While I don't love "Healthy in Paranoid Times", one of my favourite OLP songs is on that album - the opening track: "Angels/Losing/Sleep". I wanted to walk down the isle to that song. But, I listened to the lyrics and decided against it ("Looks like your boat's about to sink, so it's time to prepare . . .").

Down to business: "Curve". I really like it, but I think you know that already. I heard that "The Wolf" is a single, but I can't find a video for it - I assume it's only a single in Canada and, maybe, the US. I am a fan of that one. I also dig "Heavyweight", the only one with an official video on Youtube. So here, I share it:

The rumbling bass of "If This Is It" gets me, too ... Oh, who am I kidding? I like the whole album. Do I think you will too? Well, I'll leave that up to you.