OUR LADY PEACE: NAVEED (1994)

Our Lady Peace got a ton of video play back in 1994 when the debut Naveed hit the streets. MuchMusic loved OLP and so did the public as the this album or I guess I should say CD’s were flying out the door here in Canada.

I’ll admit I didn’t hop aboard right away. OLP sounded good but I never got around to picking up Naveed until the summer of ’95 when me and The Boss were in Toronto as we had tickets to both Van Halen shows and opening both those shows were OLP.

After witnessing OLP open for the Mighty Halen over the two nights made me seek out Naveed on my own. What hooked me that night as I watched OLP was the drums of Jeremey Taggert who was friggin young back then and could lay some serious damage to those drums. He’s that good.

Over the years though OLP kinda lost me but last summer when I was cruising Amazon I came across Naveed on vinyl for a real decent price.

It was a quick click and once I dropped the needle on the record it was such a great revisit with an old friend really. Speaking of vinyl check out the record itself.

Is that a thing of beauty or what?

The album still sounds current and still has  that real pop in the tracks as producer Arnold Lanni dialled it in perfectly.

Course you have to wrap your head around singer Raine Maida’s vocal delivery which is a totally different vibe than what any other rock singer’s were doing but he somehow makes it work.

A few radio staples at classic rock radio those being “Starseed” and “Naveed” have stood the test of time.

I will add my two cents that “Supersatallite” is one strong friggin track. Crank that sucker!

This band could play. Mike Turner is a great guitar player as he never overstays his welcome come solo time. His playing throughout the albums 12 tracks speaks volumes in that respect.

Drummer Jermey Taggert and Bassist Chris Eacrett form a very reliable rhythm section as they add some serious muscle behind the vocals and guitar.

For a debut this is a pretty strong record from start to finish.

Worth seeking out Folk’s.