Our Lady Peace/Live(2003)

Oinks was the first guy I knew that bought OLP’s Naveed  disc back in 1994. Of course i seen the video Starseed video over and over again on Much Music but it wasn’t Til i seen Van Halen on there Ambulance Tour (1995 )for two shows in Toronto and opening was OLP!

OLP was a interesting opening act for Halen. VH as we know are party rock!(PoooooundCake!) OLP not so much. Case in point OLP covered Neil Youngs Needle And The Damage Done both nights in Toronto  so Ummm there ain’t no party rock happening there!

OLP did however find there niche somewhere in the upper registers of my noggin once Clumsy came out! Like thousands of others I was onboard and of course Supermans Dead with Raine Maida’s nasal drawn voice and there my friends is the difference from OLP and many others. Raines voice,you either dig it or you don’t,no in between  and fair enough the other cats in OLP had some real serious chops,Steve Mazur(guitar),Duncan Coutts(bass) and Jermey Taggart(drums) so there a band I dug my heels in with pretty much until the Burn Burn Burn (2009)album.

2003 and the chaps release a live album and thanks to my good friend Rockstar Supa Paulie he scored me copy (Thank Ya Kind Sir!) and well OLP called it LIVE!

Live was recorded in Calgary,Edmonton, Montreal on there 2003 tour and  it was also released along with a live dvd as well! Let’s explore shall we!

ALL FOR YOU-so you hear the crowd along with a bunch of feedbacking guitar with a little snippet of O Canada thrown in and BAM just like that OLP takes off with some real slower paced heavy crunch riffs courtesy off Mazur. Taggert on the drums is solid! Maida is interesting to say the least he weaves in and out with his lyrics and vocals and this is a big bombastic of a opener with a slower groove!

SUPERMANS DEAD-I’m sure most of us know this one right! ‘Whyyyyy why is Supermans  Dead’ hollers Raine in his off tempo off key vocal but man it works in this band. The Sonics of this track are heavy in a groove kind of way! Taggert drives the OLP Bus man! Seriously behind every band I like the drummer propels the ship! OLP dip in and dip out of grooves and that’s because Jeremy has spoken!(ha!) Get it!

NOT ENOUGH-this tune is a slow builder! Real atmospheric guitar almost spacey tripped out starts off but when we hit the chorus its a full out Rock Attack complete with driving drums,throbbing bass and power chords galore! Raine is off his high horse here but he keeps himself amused by hollering “it’s not enough,” over an over! When I think of big 90s Rock this track comes to mind! Always have been a sucker for slow builds and a  ramped up chorus followed by loud rock guitar! But you already know that!

NAVEED/LIFE-big time longish guitar kind of beginning and Mazur is locked in with Taggert and his snare while Coutts fills out the bottom end! This is a great  track man the prechorus into  the chorus just rock man and OLP mixes in there other tune Life and revert back to Naveed for the big send off! Ass kicker of a track!

INNOCENT- this is a good track in that I like the vibe of the verses better than than the actual chorus! The chorus itself is good not great I mean Raine does his high tweak “I’s” I dunno just something about this tune that just doesn’t resonate with me as much as other OLP tracks….

BRING BACK THE SUN-is a chill vibe kinda tune once again we’re in that part of the live show that I’m not feeling it with this song. In other words if I was at this show this would be the point where it would be a Beer Run or a T Shirt Run or a Piss Break! Maybe one of the three or all three. Who knows…..

ONE MAN ARMY-I like the studio version of this tune as well as this live version! Off beat drums super cool hooky chorus and man I’m a One Man Army! Cool driving bass line from Coutts as well! Love the goofy swirly fuzzy Synthy sound. Glad OLP ramp it back up with a real good solid rock rock track! Hey Tbone! You awake!?

IS ANYBODY HOME-OLP slam the breaks on and Raine sings about loneliness and he’s trying to send the message across via synthy swirls and a bit of a kick into the chorus. Mazur plays a decent chill guitar and rocks it when duty calls.

OUR TIME IS FADING-Raine tells the crowd if anyone wants to hear a new track that no ones heard! So be it now we all have heard it and to be fair even though it’s a full out rock track I don’t get it! Jeremy slams down  off timing beats and such but Raine goes all Squirrely vocaly and man I’m missing the plot here! Just a little too bizarro for my liking! Give me Wham Bam Amsterdam from Halens Balance than I know what your talking about….

ARE YOU SAD-OLP goes all trippy on this 8 minute performance! For my liking it’s about 4 minutes too long/slice and dice fella’s! I’m sure if your at the show and there doing there trippy off time chill vibish tunes complete with swirling lights(I’m guessing here) than that’s  one thing but to listen to it on the iPod walking it’s not a real foot mover! Song itself isn’t bad just live it drags ……

WHATEVER-tons of interplay between Raines vocals and Mazurs guitar. Whatever is late 90s hard rock post apocalyptic Grunger rock! Complete with kicking guitar feedback  and heavy devy drums.

CLUMSY-Wowzers! Now this is how a live song is done that blows away the studio version! Yep I said it! Clumsy is that song! Kudos for Taggert for adding some real cool added percussion bits! The guitars here are crunchy! How I like it live! Captain Crunch Sonics! A little more bite in the live guitar! Hey say what Ya want but this is a well written piece of Rock! The verses with Raine going off on tripping on shoe laces scuffing your skin just shrug it off,shrug it off Sez Mr Raine and by golly I will! The pre chorus and chorus are the  money shot as the band just lay down a infectious groove that will leave Ya humming! Ha! Watch the vid …..

STARSEED-we must be getting to the end of the show folks! Here comes the biggy track from the debut and Starseed is rocked! Pumping bass line and once the bass,guitar and drums lock it’s a loaded sonic attack! Raine is all over the map with his voice at times but this  one he steers the rock bus to the next stop! He’s meaning business and Starseed is one of those catchy tunes that 20 years later is still a good rock track! That’s saying something especially for this Ol Buzzard yammering about this…..

SOMEWHERE OUT THERE-Another biggie track from these guys it’s almost a post grungey power (gulp) ballad kinda,sorta and it doesn’t get soft but keeps a decent rock vibe clip going. A good well written piece of hard rock! Hey! Some bands can’t destroy the endings of there shows all the time! OLP just kinda rock it in a  different kind of way!  I mean this isn’t Bret Micheals show where your twizzling off pyro and ending your night with Talk Dirty To Me! No siree this is OLP leaving you all for some hope! Chances are you will get laid later after the show so what’s the big friggin deal?

IN CONCLUSION- Bada Bing….OLP for the most part deliver a pretty decent live album but there’s a few bumps along the way but overall I guess I’m being bitchy! These guys had a pretty decent run and by all accounts there still going today…….albeit the days of Arena runs are over for lot of these guys but there still out there  so give them that!