Disco de Our Lady Peace: “Healthy in Paranoid Times”

I discovered OLP on what, according to fans on this site at least, was one of their "worst" albums. I'm speaking, of course, of Gravity. Call it what you will, I loved every single song on that album. Yes, it was more commercially made and appealed to a wider base of people, but I really did enjoy it. I loved the hardness of the rock, the passionate and very mercurial voice of Raine, and the lyrics that invoked people like Jack Kerouac. It made me pick up their earlier albums and, with a couple of exceptions, I mostly loved them as well. I just wanted to let people know where my review comes from.

What I enjoyed about Gravity was the mix of the crunching guitars and the sing-along lyrics. In the same way, I loved songs like Superman's Dead from earlier albums. I was hoping Healthy in Paranoid Times would continue what I felt was their evolution. I do like this cd, but there are times where it doesn't excite me in the way earlier OLP did. For instance, Apology, with its sections of Raine just singing "Ah" up and down scales goes on too long. What I was hoping this cd would carry over at least from their prior one was the vehemence of tone.

This album could be angry. The lyrics definitely suggest it with songs like "Wipe that Smile From Your Face" or "Will The Future Blame Us." And there are times that the music hits that, but overall there is a poppy feeling that belies the tone of the lyrics. I still like the album. I don't think its their best and, like some reviewers have mentioned, I'm curious to see what the other 31 songs that were recorded sound like. It does seem like they are at a crossroads. But I think they have been ever since Gravity.

Bands tend to mellow out as they go along, but after Gravity I thought OLP was doing just the opposite. Healthy in Paranoid Times is, in my opinion, a step back. I know that I will probably get a ton of "unhelpful votes" by saying that. The music is well played, Raine's voice is still uniquely his and aurally interesting. There are some songs that have a strong passion in them, like "Don't Stop."

I think the most intriguing portion of this CD as a whole is the booklet insert. It helps put into focus what people spend their time, money and energy on in our society while pointing to causes that truly need our time, money and energy on. What is interesting, to me, was that they even point the fingers at themselves as a musical band. We do spend more time than we should on "celebrities" and I think the booklet itself has a ton of passion, while at the same time the wit that the band has shown throughout the years. However, what its lacking *overall* (i.e. an album as a whole) is the passion that earlier songs had. And for a subject as inflamed today, as debated and as needed to be discussed (and as hinted at in the booklet which is devoid of everything BUT the reminder), Healthy in Paranoid Times is surprisingly tame.

I tried copying this CD, not knowing that it was protected. So, I ripped it to my hard-drive and burned it. But, when I inserted the burned copy into my computer, the screen froze for a while, and an installer icon appeared on the taskbar in the bottom right. It installed somthing - and now I cannot burn anything, with any program. I've even tried using a different, external CD burner. A disk error comes up during burning, even if I am not not burning audio CDs.

This was not a fluke. I've talked to other people this has happened to. Avoid anything with "copy protection." Sony might as well burn viruses onto the CDs they distribute.

I've been a fan of these guys since my highschool days, started listening in 1996, saw them in concert with a little band called "Black Lab". I understand what this album is about, but I agree with some of the other reviews that Raine and the guys are catering to the high-schoolers angst of today. They shouldn't. They should get Arnold Lanni back and start creating albums like "clumsy, spiritual machines and happiness", those were truly creative albums that carried me through the years when everything else on the radio (then and now) sucks. Raine used to write about worlds and characters, and the fantastic photography and artwork on their album covers presented the visual picture of those worlds. They need to go back to that. Raine needs to start using his voice again and the band needs to start making it "artfully complex" again--I guess that's how I could say it. I still love listening to their old stuff and hearing the little things, noises, sound fx, ect that were interwoven into the songs. I always got a weird "twisted circus" sound from them. That's not a bad name for their next album. And bring OSCAR back!

In my opinion, the first track, "Angels/Losing/Sleep," is justification enough to buy this album (I don't know about it's status as a single, but I think it is far more sophisticated and a more accurate representation of the album than is "Where Are You").

Unlike other long time fans of the band who've posted reviews here, I didn't think Gravity was out of character for the band - if people were afraid of a "radio-friendly"/mainstream trend in OLP, then I think Clumsy posed a greater threat (but I don't put much weight into the "we must hate the mainstream" logic). I have a hard time comparing Gravity, Clumsy, HIPT, etc. because I think each album possesses unique strengths.

As for HIPT, I think the album does a great job of showcasing Raine's unique vocals. Songs like "Will the Future Blame Us," also contain very powerful lyrics (which I suspect are politically-motivated - from Raine and Chantal's work with War Child). I, too, wonder about the songs that were left off the album and after listening to it a few more times, I think I'll watch the DVD and see if I can better understand the band's logic.

My advice to skeptics: Give the album another listen - I wasn't terribly impressed the first time through, but I think the second time around I just "got it."

The best part of this cd is that none of the songs suck. I will say there are more good songs than really really great songs. There are a few great songs on here, for example wipe that smile off your face, may be my favorite. The cd does have a more upbeat mood to it than traditional OLP, yet a couple songs, sound like vintage OLP. Overall, this cd is pretty solid, but I will say, you have to have an ear for OLP to fully appreciate their music, and this cd. An average listener may not be impressed, but a fan of OLP, will be very excited.