by Furious George » 7/26/2010, 10:12 pm
1. Happiness...
2. Spiritual Machines
3. Naveed
4. Clumsy
5. Gravity
6. Healthy
7. Burn Burn
These ordered lists are deceptive because they don't take into account how far ahead or behind certain albums are in my perception - so I'll give a little breakdown.
You'll notice I placed the first 4 albums on top. That doesn't mean I dislike 5-7 though.
I feel Gravity and Healthy, in particular, had fantastic songwriting. So why are they lower than the first 4? Because, they felt just a little too restrained both in energy and in style.
Let me get more indepth:
Gravity is an incredible album by itself. Sonically it definitely "simplified" things, but I think this album showcases more than almost every album they've put out their maturation in their ability to write cohesive and solid rock songs. Almost every song on that album feels good by itself. Even throughout major albums like Naveed and Clumsy I felt didn't have as "solid" a feel, though the same thing certainly cannot be said for the songs that are popular from those albums. So why did I rank it below the first 4? Because as hit or miss some of their songs on Naveed and Clumsy might have been, when OLP was on the ball, my god were they. it's almost unforgettable when you hear the sheer frenetic craziness of things like The Birdman or those crazy falsetto moments in Superman's Dead or Car Crash, and those many many moments in the first 4 albums where fantastic vocals, guitar, and drumming just coalesce into sheer awesomeness. But those moments were powerful, and a big reason why so many people here are into them in the first place. Gravity I sometimes see as kind of an exercise in how great OLP can be with a lot of restraints put on them.
Healthy in Paranoid Times... very interesting. Lately I've been finding myself listening to it quite a bit. I think there are a lot of good songs and ideas in the album- which is why I've been listening to it alot. However I do share the sentiment that it "doesn't feel quite OLP." and I'd chalk that up really to the production. Everything feels very ..weak. From the guitars, to too many overdubs on Raine's voice. It's a little too refined and lacks the punch and edginess that defined OLP previously. Even though Gravity was a reserved side of OLP, it still contained lots of power and heaviness. Still, I do like the songs themselves. Angels Losing Sleep? Wipe That Smile Off Your Face? These are classic OLP songs.
Also unlike other OLP albums there is little continuity. It really does feel like a collection of songs rather than an "album" where the songs meant to complement each other. I don't think that this is necessarily a huge minus though since I do like the songs on the album.
I'd put Healthy closely behind Gravity.
Burn Burn.. hoo boy. This is a tough one. There are some good tracks on here. However, it just seems like the whole album could've been punched up more. I think it's a pretty good album, by the standards of most bands out there - just needs to be more in it shouting for attention. If they included songs like The Right Stuff though.. damn that is just a fuckin awesome straight-up rock song.. it would've given the album a whole lot more of the energy that it needed. I don't dislike the album, but I would put this at the bottom.
It's admirable that OLP keeps doing something different each album, so I wouldn't want OLP to regress back to the first 4. However, I'd also say that there is much to be learnt from them. I think it'd be great for OLP to put out an album with their, by now, very mature and solid songwriting, but also featuring the lack of restraint and sheer expressiveness of the first 4 albums.