Gravity (Our Lady Peace album)

Last updated

The Spiritual Machines tour cemented the connection we have with our fans and inspired us to make Gravity as quickly as we did. The four live songs are a small glimpse of that special tour." - Our Lady Peace

Critical

Gravity
Our Lady Peace - Gravity.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJune 18, 2002
RecordedNovember 2001 – February 2002 at Plantation Mixing and Recording, Haiku, Hawaii
Genre
Length41:27
Label Columbia
Producer Bob Rock
Our Lady Peace chronology
Spiritual Machines
(2000)
Gravity
(2002)
Live
(2003)
Singles from Gravity
  1. "Somewhere Out There"
    Released: April 1, 2002
  2. "Innocent"
    Released: August 13, 2002
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [27]
Bullz-Eye.comStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [28]
Edmonton Journal Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [29]
Kerrang! Star full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [30]
Kludge 6/10 [31]
Jam! Canoe neutral [32]
SputnikmusicStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [33]
SputnikmusicStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [34]
Winnipeg Sun Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [35]

Despite its success, reviews from critics were mixed to negative. They said the album developed a more extreme "mainstream sound" and was "overproduced" in order to appeal to the American market, this may have been partly due to new producer Bob Rock of Aerosmith and Metallica fame. [31] [36] Some reviewers went as far to call it a "plea for mainstream American acceptance." [37] On the other hand, one publication said the album was noteworthy for its simple, direct approach. [4] A reviewer from Vue Weekly stated that "It sounds like a brand new band, but the jury is out on whether it’s better." [38] Gravity was a big change from their last successful album, Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch . Vocalist Raine Maida's signature falsetto is scarce on the album, with his overall tone changing as well or as a reviewer from Kludge put it, "Gravity is almost completely void of Raine Maida’s urgent, almost-squaking, one-of-a-kind vocals and, save three tracks, almost any sense of creativity." [31] Andrew Bonazelli of CMJ New Music Monthly criticized the album's "soul-deadening production" as well as string arrangements for several songs being a "contrived lunge towards accessibility." [39]

In the June 22 issue of Billboard , Larry Flick wrote: "Gravity is a giant leap forward...emerging with a crisp, highly commercial collection of guitar-driven jams." That sentiment was shared by Guitar World's Gary Graff who praised the record in the magazine's August 2002 issue: "...OLP have turned in an album more streamlined and punchy than their previous recordings. Most impressive is the wide assortment of styles here -- a tuneful anthem ('Innocent'), crunchy metal ('All for You') and spacey prog ('Bring Back the Sun') -- with which OLP defy the 'gravity' that personnel changes can have on a band." [40]

Impact

With the mainstream success of Gravity and "Somewhere Out There", Our Lady Peace's fan base was split between fans of the new material and fans of the old material who, like several critics, cited the band's new direction as sell-out tactic. In 2010, online music magazine Popmatters looked back on the rift saying:

A clear and sudden change from the experimental, art-rock vibe of Spiritual Machines, Gravity not only disappointed a section of Our Lady Peace’s fans, but it drove them away from the group altogether, disappointed and unhappy. [41]

Recently, Gravity`s single "Innocent" received widespread media attention when American Idol winner David Cook performed it on the program. Many, including American Idol judges, criticized both Cook's performance and song choice. Vocalist Raine Maida reportedly contacted Cook and they have since written some songs together. [42]

Two songs from the Gravity sessions were used in World Wrestling Entertainment. The song "Not Enough" was used to make a WWE "Desire" tribute video to Jeff Hardy and Lita. "Whatever", a song not released on the album, was used as WWE wrestler Chris Benoit's entrance theme from 2002 until his death in 2007.

Singles

The lead single for Gravity was "Somewhere Out There", released on April 5, 2002. Four versions of the single were released. In the United States and Canada (SAMPCS11757), a one-track promotional CD was sent to radio stations only. In Australia and Europe, where the single was commercially released respectively on September 9 and 16, 2002 (Columbia 672965 2), three live bonus tracks, "Starseed", "Whatever", and "4 AM" were included. They were recorded in June 2001 in Syracuse, New York during the Spiritual Machines tour. [43] "4 AM" is sung entirely by the audience. The fourth version (Columbia 79943) contains the live version of "Bring Back the Sun". "Somewhere Out There" became one of Our Lady Peace's most successful singles, generating the most chart activity of any of their songs released to radio. The song reached #7 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart, their highest on that chart since "Clumsy" in 1998. The song also became their second number one in the Canadian Singles Chart peaking at number one and becoming a massive success in Canada.

The second and final single, "Innocent", was released to radio during August 2002. It was commercially released in Europe and Australia with the live tracks "Naveed", "4 AM" and a live cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" as well as the music video for "Innocent". Innocent was also a massive hit in Canada as well peaking at number 2 in the Canadian Singles Chart. [44] The live tracks from this single and "Somewhere out There" were included on the limited edition releases of Gravity. While not as successful as the first single, "Innocent" achieved minor success with its music video. The song received some attention in 2008 when American Idol contestant David Cook, who revealed himself to be a huge OLP fan, sang it on the show. Raine Maida and he have since written together. [42]

The band discussed the release of more singles from the album such as the popular "Not Enough" [22] [24] but single releases after "Innocent" were supplanted by those from the 2003 Live album, which included a live version of "Not Enough".

Tour

Our Lady Peace embarked on one of their biggest tours in support of Gravity a month before the album's release. For most of the tour, Mike Eisenstein of the band Letters to Cleo joined the band as a stunt musician following Jamie Edwards' departure in April due to creative and personal differences. They opened on May 15, 2002 in Dayton, Ohio where many of the songs from Gravity were premiered.

They followed this up with appearances at various music festivals across the United States including Pointfest in St. Louis, Missouri. The tour continued through September 2002 dipping in and out of Canada with the bands Ash, Greenwheel and Audiovent opening for many shows. For most of November the band toured in Europe, their first visit to Europe since 1998. Touring resumed in January 2003 with a Canadian arena tour dubbed "Fear of the Trailer Park". Opening for Our Lady Peace were management-mates Finger Eleven as well as comedy troupe Trailer Park Boys and South African band Seether. [45] The band's arena shows in Calgary and Edmonton would be recorded and released as their first official Live album later that year.

They returned to Europe in March as an opening act for Avril Lavigne. [46] During this leg of the tour two new songs, "Not Afraid" and "Talk is Cheap" were premiered. "Not Afraid" would later be recorded for and rejected from their following studio album, Healthy in Paranoid Times . Following the European tour, the band took off most of June 2003 to begin recording Healthy... and resumed touring throughout America for the rest of the year with 3 Doors Down opening for the majority of the shows. [47] The tour concluded in September 2003.

Track listing

Original release

All lyrics written by Raine Maida. All music is also composed by Maida except where noted.

No.TitleComposer(s) [2] Length
1."All For You"Maida, Jeremy Taggart, Duncan Coutts, Jamie Edwards, Mike Turner 4:14
2."Do You Like It" 3:58
3."Somewhere Out There" 4:11
4."Innocent" 3:42
5."Made of Steel" 3:41
6."Not Enough" 4:33
7."Sell My Soul" 4:20
8."Sorry" 3:18
9."Bring Back the Sun"Maida, Taggart, Coutts, Edwards, Turner5:11
10."A Story About a Girl"Maida, Taggart, Coutts, Edwards, Turner4:18
Total length:41:27

Limited edition bonus DVD

The four live tracks were also released on a promo CD.

  1. "Naveed" (live) - 6:47
  2. "Whatever" (live) - 4:02
  3. "Starseed" (live) - 7:38
  4. "4 AM" (live) - 5:01
  5. "Somewhere Out There" (music video)
  6. "Innocent" (music video)
  7. "On the Road" (live video clip, directed by Micha Dahan)

Studio outtakes

According to Jeremy Taggart, twelve songs were completed (including mixing) for the album but two ("Angelina's Song" [48] and "Stop Screaming" [49] ) were cut off at the last minute. [50] Duncan Coutts stated in an interview that six songs written by the band including Mike Turner and Jamie Edwards were recorded while only three ("All For You", "Bring Back the Sun" and "A Story About a Girl") made the final cut for the album. [11]

In the midst of touring in October 2002, Our Lady Peace briefly returned to Bob Rock's studio in Maui to finish two songs left off of Gravity for an upcoming soundtrack. Maida mentioned on the band's website that they are both riff based songs that probably sound closer to "Whatever" than anything else. [51] One of these songs was "Our Time Is Fading" a.k.a. "The End Always Comes Last", which was one of the last songs written with Mike Turner. [52] The song never made the soundtrack and a studio version was never released but the song was played live multiple times and a live version was released on the Live album in 2003.

Personnel

As listed in liner notes. [2]

Musicians

Additional string arrangements by Bob Buckley

Production

Release history

RegionDateLabelFormatCatalog
United StatesJune 18, 2002 Columbia CDCK 86585
Canada-
November 26, 2002CD + DVDCK 80823
AsiaJuly 31, 2002 Sony CDSICP 195
United KingdomSeptember 30, 2002 Epic CD5087802
AustraliaOctober 7, 2002CD-
FranceOctober 14, 2002 [53] CD-
Europe-
Southeast Asia2002ColumbiaCSCT 86585
CanadaOctober 4, 2017ColumbiaLP88985459881

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [61] 2× Platinum200,000^
United States (RIAA) [62] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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