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The Potential of Gravity

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The Potential of Gravity

Postby MindsOnLoan » 4/18/2011, 1:11 pm

I think everyone here is aware of how good some songs on Healthy in Paranoid Times are, how some of the album tracks started better than they ended up, and how some great tracks never saw the light of day. We've discussed, and will probably discuss for years to come, how that album didn't meet the great potential it had. However, I don't think we have discussed the potential that Gravity had too much.

What are the problems with this album? Overproduction. Dumbed down drums and bass. Dumbed down lyrics. Some cheesy songs. Didn't meet the band's vision.

Bob Rock gets a lot of hate around these parts. He did bring about a few good songs from both Gravity and HIPT, but overall I can see why he gets hate. Based on interviews we've seen from around that time, we found that he is the one who told Jeremy to go a simpler route with his drums and to stop playing so complex. Raine stated that when writing lyrics, Bob didn't quite get what he was trying to say and would have him rewrite songs numerous times to take a simpler, straightforward approach. The band spoke positively about these changes at the time of the album's release, but fans were left disappointed by these changes. Those were both aspects of the band's music that fans loved: the rhythm section and Maida's poetic, cryptic lyrics.

The band didn't exactly achieve their goal with this album. If I remember correctly, their goal was to capture their live sound on record, which I believe they have said for every album since. The album doesn't have much of a live feel at all... Tons of guitar overdubs aren't exactly the path to go to achieve this vision. The album, along with Happiness, are probably their most "in-studio" sounding albums, although it isn't a problem on Happiness as the songs, writing, vocals, and musicianship are spot on.

What are the positives that give it so much potential?

Listening to certain songs gives me the feeling that this album had more potential than was reached. Gravity had the potential to be the band's most rocking album since Naveed (It arguably is, but the quality of these two albums are quite different). The album starts off with ominous piano which quickly goes into the rocking All For You, a song about Maida's father. Even for people who hate this album, this is one song that's usually pointed out as a highlight. Gravity also gave birth to the fan favorite Not Enough, which is considered another highlight. A song that does not get enough love around here is Sell My Soul. I love the sound the song has in the verses.. the guitar, bass, and the filtered sound that the drums have. The backing vocals also make the chorus. Sorry isn't a bad song, but isn't quite fully there... A Story About a Girl is a pretty good song as well. It gets cheesy around the part of "All my faith and all my heart, all those simple things you are," but it isn't a bad song overall. I waited to mention Bring Back the Sun last as I feel its easily the best song on Gravity. It wasn't plagued with overdubs and overproduction. The simplicity of the production is a key factor of why it shines. That bassline is one of the most memorable things about the album. I'm usually not much of an orchestra guy as I think a lot of times it makes ballads sound corny, but the way it's used in BBTS flat out works. It's one of Turner's last on-record moments with the band, and it's a magical one.

When you listen to other songs from around this time as well, it shows what the album could have been. Our Time Is Fading is such an OLP-sounding, hard rocking song (and yes, I do realize it was recorded after Gravity, but it was written when Mike was in the band and is from this time period). It sounds like amped up Spiritual Machines song. Then when you look at Whatever (recorded a year before), while OLP didn't write the main riff, they turned the track into something great. Also, Whatever was a DEMO. They weren't even finished working on the track when the WWE (then WWF) decided they wanted it right then and didn't give the band the opportunity to finish it. There was also six Turner tracks recorded, three of which made the album (All For You, Bring Back the Sun, A Story About a Girl [although he also played on Innocent]). We have found two of these songs' titles within the past year or so on the BMI website, those being Angelina's Song and Stop Screaming. One has to wonder how these sound... It was also on the Gravity tour that the band began playing Not Afraid and Talk Is Cheap. These were written after the tours began, but once again, I'm showing that some good, hard rocking songs could have came out of this time period.

Maida's voice is also spot on on Gravity. While he toned down on the falsetto, he has passion in his voice that is much harder to find on HIPT and Burn Burn, and doesn't sound lazy, bored, sleepy, or not in key as he does at points of both these album. Whether he's pissed off in All For You and Do You Like It or desperate in Sell My Soul and Bring Back the Sun, the emotion is there.

I personally don't hate the album like some. I can however say that it isn't really that good of an album... I would classify it as a guilty pleasure. Yes, I do sometimes put on songs like Do You Like It and Made of Steel and sing along, but in no way are these great songs. The album does have great songs such as All For You and Bring Brack the Sun, but the good songs aren't as back-to-back as they were on past albums. A good portion of this album is skippable and lacks substance. If the rhythm sections was more up to par, or just helped the vibe of the songs more, and Raine had more of his way with lyrics, this album would have been much better. If it had been like the album's bright spots, or like some of the tracks from this time period, it would be held in higher regard by fans. You can blame it on whatever you want: the departure of Mike... Lanni wanting the band to work with different producers so they wouldn't have regrets and "what if's," leading to work with Bob Rock (although the band's original plan was to record a live album on the SM tour, and have a few Bob Rock produced tracks as an EP with it, but when Rock had time to record with them, they decided on a full album)... Either way, the album could have been better than it ended up.

This isn't a Gravity hate thread. We've just discussed the potential that HIPT had, so why not discuss the potential Gravity had? Sure, HIPT has more solid evidence for how the album could have turned out, but Gravity also has certain aspects that if utilized better and a few more songs had been written, the reception to this album could have been entirely different.
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Postby faninor » 4/18/2011, 1:40 pm

Gravity took OLP to Europe 3 times and did very well in the charts -- IMO the record lived up to its potential. It was pretty well received at the time but a lot of individuals' opinions changed in one way or the other over time, either as the newness of the album wore off and some people felt it didn't stand the test of time like their earlier albums, or as the different-ness was accepted and some people decided that the album was not bad at all even if it wasn't the type of album they were expecting or hoping for.

Did they fail at capturing their live sound? Sure, there are overdubs and all sorts of effects used. But the album was pretty much full of instrumentation and arrangements that translated easily to live versions which sounded just as good as the album.
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Postby John Bob the Great » 4/18/2011, 2:28 pm

You writing a book MOL? :D I really love Gravity because it's the album I discovered OLP with. After delving into their earlier material I see what it could have been but I love it just the same. Nostalgia!

We discovered earlier that two fully realized songs were lopped off the album at the last minute, "Angelina's Song" & "Stop Screaming". These songs were written with mike Turner and may have been very old OLP-ish. The inclusion of these songs could have made Gravity a completely different album but to Rock they probably made it more lopsided towards the old band when Raine wanted the new heavy OLP to be noticed. I REALLY wish we could hear those two songs..
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Postby Heavy Alibi » 4/18/2011, 3:31 pm

Raine's vocals are definitely one of the highlights of Gravity. The album proves that his nasal falsetto is not at all needed for his vocals to be excellent.

I think it's a good thing that Gravity gives us some more relaxed, down-to-Earth simple songs to listen to, after the highly complex Spiritual Machines. Some of the songs like Innocent and Made of Steel got a bit too mainstream, uninspired and poppy though, and this drags down the album. The lyrics are generally pretty good on Gravity, but as you mention there are some cheesy and cliche points. I agree with John Bob the Great about the two songs that were omitted from Gravity, and I really wish they could be released. Another reason why OLP really needs to do a B-sides album, even if it's their last-ever release.

Because of my conflicting feelings about Gravity, I find it very difficult to rank. I think it will always be 5th place at the highest, but I find it increasingly difficult to decide whether I prefer it overall to HIPT or even Burn Burn. There are definitely a few more unique and creative songs on HIPT and Burn Burn, but Raine's voice is severely lacking in the latter 2 albums compared to Gravity, which is when it arguably hit its peak. I still don't know if it's just because Raine's getting older and less able to dominate the music with his vocals, or that he's just not completely dedicating himself to making sure the studio album's vocals are the absolute best they can be. It could very well be a combination of both.

I like to think of Gravity as sort of a 2000s-style rock response to the 1990s-style rock album of Naveed. They both have the same raw energy and emotion, the same powerful hooks and stripped-down rock feel, but one is suited to the popular Nirvana-style grunge and post-grunge rock of the time in 1995, and the other is perhaps a response to the popular "rock" bands like Creed and Third Eye Blind in 2002.
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Postby xjsb125 » 4/20/2011, 4:41 pm

I meant to get in on this a few days ago. For it's place in time, Gravity achieved what it was supposed to, aside from capturing the band's live sound. That only happened on BBTS. No official live recording has ever really captured it all that well, except the 4 track EP that came with Gravity. That one came close.

The slick overproduction of the album is what helped it achieve its commercial success. The record label needed that success after Spiritual Machines didn't meet sales expectations.

As Josh pointed out, the instruments and arrangements, particularly the string arrangements, were great. Unfortunately Jamie Edwards never received the recognition he deserved for it.

I agree with MOL, Raine's voice does have a lot of passion and energy that has been lacking on albums since. The falsetto might have been what what set him apart, but the album was about doing something different, and he went in a different path vocally. I think it worked for the songs on that disc.
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Postby Illusion » 4/22/2011, 11:05 pm

I'd say this album has stood the test of time second only to Clumsy. I still routinely hear Innocent and SOT played on canadian radio waves. Innocent even got a second wave of life when it was re-imagined and performed by David Cook on American Idol a few years back.
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Postby ivewaited » 4/26/2011, 8:07 pm

Gravity is solid for being such a different record for points that everyone has already said; Raine sounds convinced as hell, the production is excellent--the best production yet IMO-- the songs are easier to relate too which the general public thrives & lives for. the meanings are right there and topics of love, relationships & hurt never get old.

i've looked up and down to find a record like gravity by any other band but it hasn't happened yet and i don't think it will. it's so timeless. i'm a musician and I've heard so much BS music, but gravity has a lot of heart.

I would have taken another gravity for HIPT but it sounds like they are getting back on track with this new one.. hopefully.. (clumsy, happiness, sm)
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