Somethingness Volumes 1 and 2

[A2K]

I love, love, love! Nice to Meet You.

[carleiu]

I somewhat agree on Raine's voice but I don't think it's THAT different than it's been in the past decade or so. Not bad but there are definitely moments he sounds tone deaf-ish lol.

Just finished listening though. Drop Me in the Water still doesn't really do anything for me. Hiding Place for Hearts is alright; hard to tell if it's something I'll think is cool but not really play much or if it'll be a grower. Fall into Place easily stood out to me as the best song here. Really catchy and not what you'd expect. Nice to Meet You is a decent enough pop rock song. Not exactly my kinda thing but I'll take it over the Burn Burn singles haha. Definitely has single potential though and I think it'd be a wise decision to build some hype for Somethingness Vol 2.

It kind of reminds me of how I feel about The New Pornographers whenever I'm getting into something new from them in the sense that it takes a few listens for all the intricacies to fall into place and catch on.

Hell yeah, one of my favorite bands.

The New Pornographers are absolutely amazing. I'll take an album (or concert) by them or Wilco any day of the week over more popular rock bands!

As far as Raine's voice, I think it sounds as good as it's sounded in a number of years. The biggest mistake this band ever made was caving to the pressures of the music industry after Spiritual Machines didn't sell. Listening to Bob Rock's band-ruining "guidance" such as telling Raine to work with a vocal coach to basically get rid of what had been his signature sound, forcing Mike Turner to pretend to be some kind of lead guitarist, which basically destroyed the established sound of OLP, and, worse of all in my opinion, telling Raine to "sing what you mean" instead of being mysterious with his lyrics. That's the reason for the quality degradation that we witnessed from Gravity to Burn Burn in my opinion. Raine never that great of a singer and always pretty tone-deaf (just watch Woodstock 99 on Youtube for evidence of this). He just had his individualistic sound before Mr. Overproducer came in and tried to get them to fit the mold that record companies were pushing for in 2001-2002.

Speaking of Wilco above, they were under the same pressure, but instead of caving, they told the record company to go fuck themselves and quickly had their contracted voided. But they got the last laugh as the rejected album went on to be one of the most critically-acclaimed rock albums of the era. I often wish OLP had taken the same approach, although I completely understand why they didn't. At the time, that move probably seemed like it would be career suicide. It's all water under the bridge now, though, and I'm glad to see the band getting back on track with a sound that is perhaps poppy but different enough to not sound like AYDWSML (I hate that song with a burning passion )

[greenyboy10]

My problem with hiding place for hearts is that it builds up all this tension but never releases it. It's very similar to Kasabians song switchblade smiles. All this tension is built but there's no release. And example of songs with release would be ion Square by Bloc party or the 17th by the Courteeners.

Drop me in the water is about a minute too long and has a really weird bridge. Also I just don't know what has happened to their background vocals as of late they seem to just be a bit shrimp. With all that new OLP is better than nothing.

[Flynner]

Highlights for me on this album are the "Drop me in the water" chorus ripping in after the bridge with the guitar solo and love the "look at the guns look at the gold" part in nice to meet you

[bd007h]

is October 6th the official release date for vol. 2 or is that just tentative?

[xjsb125]

Not sure. I would think they would have Volume 2 out before they hit the road in late October.

[johnpeterson]

if this total lack of posting in 3 entire days (despite a brand new album release) isn't indicative of OLP's death and irrelevance, i don't know what would be.... when curve came out this place was hopping, and when burn burn came out it was busier than twitter.

damn....

[xjsb125]

Four songs, the majority felt the same about them all. Everyone that still comes by here said their piece on it, and there wasn't anything else to debate. I guess we could fight, but the reality is we all have kids and full time jobs and don't have hours on end to sit here and fight about Raine being an octave off on his falsetto, or how we wish Steve wore decorative headphones like Mike. Someone did take time to hate Bob Rock (and remembet Bob Clause is watching you!). Most people came by and acknowledged they enjoyed the new songs, and some felt different about them. What else were you looking for?

[DG]

Agreed, everyone's kinda said their piece. I've still been checking in to see if anyone's made any new input on it, but I don't have much to repond to. I love this place 'cause we're a bunch of die hards. However, we're not nearly as active as other various platforms that the band is actually using a lot more than in previous "eras," so I tend to get my fill/news/other peoples feedback from the source, via OLP social media, since I check that more often for other various things.

[Tinman]

if this total lack of posting in 3 entire days (despite a brand new album release) isn't indicative of OLP's death and irrelevance, i don't know what would be.... when curve came out this place was hopping, and when burn burn came out it was busier than twitter.

damn....

This place seems to be a small pocket of long-time die hards, but the band is still active every day on instagram, twitter, facebook, and I'm sure other social media outlets I don't subscribe to. I'd say the lack of comments here are more of an indication of the decline of internet message board forums than OLP's irrelevance. Quite a few of my forums have shut down over the last handful of years with the reason being "everyone is posting on Reddit now anyways".

Your own post history on these 4 songs is really sparse. Maybe you'd like to contribute to the talk with more input? Did you even listen to Falling into Place? It was my least favorite track, but it's grown on me. Each song's got a pretty catchy hook, and i'd say all 4 have ended up stuck on repeat in my head since the release.

[xjsb125]

The CM just turned 15 this month, if I'm not mistaken. That's a hell of a lifespan compared to some message boards. We've already existed longer that the Clumsy Congress, One Man Army, and Rich and Shelley's OLP.cc. When I took over in 2004, I could barely keep up. To be honest, I couldn't do that now with my job, a wife, and two kids. This is highly manageable for me. In fact, I do better at keeping this place updated than I do my own personal website, haha. This is a very small pocket of fans, but I keep the doors open so those die hard fans can still come and discuss whatever as they feel the need to. If it's daily, or monthly, we'll still be here for that place to come in and speak your piece. Come in once a month, or once a year, we're here for you.

[myownsatellite]

Maida sounds like pure garbage on each track. It's like someone drunk tried to cover him in a crappy bar on karaoke. The guitar, bass and drum might as well be royalty free crap you can download on a random website. Maida has to have multiple backing singers so much that it's embarrassing. I've been in denial since Gravity. (*casino dealer hand clap*) Peace, CM.

No one will miss you, I'm sure.

[Hugh23]

The CM just turned 15 this month, if I'm not mistaken. That's a hell of a lifespan compared to some message boards. We've already existed longer that the Clumsy Congress, One Man Army, and Rich and Shelley's OLP.cc. When I took over in 2004, I could barely keep up. To be honest, I couldn't do that now with my job, a wife, and two kids. This is highly manageable for me. In fact, I do better at keeping this place updated than I do my own personal website, haha. This is a very small pocket of fans, but I keep the doors open so those die hard fans can still come and discuss whatever as they feel the need to. If it's daily, or monthly, we'll still be here for that place to come in and speak your piece. Come in once a month, or once a year, we're here for you.

Matt, thanks for keeping this site open. I enjoy coming here. The members are friendly and I like the diverse & educated topics/opinions discussed on the board.

[MindsOnLoan]

There does seem to be a strange lack of hype behind this in general though. When you search it or the band, the results are pretty slim. No articles, interviews, few reactions/reviews, etc. The tracklist is missing the lead single on streaming apps, and they're about to tour in support of an album that come out 20 years ago.

It seems to be victim of a sloppy rollout more than anything. The marketing for it just doesn't make sense.

[OLPManiac]

There does seem to be a strange lack of hype behind this in general though. When you search it or the band, the results are pretty slim. No articles, interviews, few reactions/reviews, etc. The tracklist is missing the lead single on streaming apps, and they're about to tour in support of an album that come out 20 years ago.

It seems to be victim of a sloppy rollout more than anything. The marketing for it just doesn't make sense.

Well after Gravity (and maybe healthy) the band disappeared from the international scene.. They were a little bit famous also before them but I think that is thanks to that 2 albums that they were a famous band.. I discovered them because I was following wrestling.. Unless this probably I won't know OLP.. It's also true that the band almost doesn't want to expand anymore.. They are fine with Canada (and maybe US considering Clumsy 20th anniversary tour), for me this is a shame.. There are a lot of songs on their catalog (also catchy) that can make them good in international scene.. But it seems that they don't want (or can't probably) and I think that this is the mirror of actual band's situation that you told..

[xjsb125]

I won't disagree with the marketing comment at all. Luke. A week before the Pledge release they were still working on promotional material and had no plans for a pre order other than through Pledge. It seems very quickly thrown together, and on top of that Volume 2 isn't finished. I would hope that they weave in a lot of this new material.

As for touring, outside of Canada they typically take a financial loss. So they make little to no money on those tours. So you guys can imagine what would happen with an international your. US tours are purely for their enjoyment, or for the enjoyment of the fans.

[faninor]

As for touring, outside of Canada they typically take a financial loss. So they make little to no money on those tours. So you guys can imagine what would happen with an international your. US tours are purely for their enjoyment, or for the enjoyment of the fans.

That's crazy! For whatever reason, I've never bought a shirt from their merch table. This year I'm buying the shirt.

[OLPManiac]

I won't disagree with the marketing comment at all. Luke. A week before the Pledge release they were still working on promotional material and had no plans for a pre order other than through Pledge. It seems very quickly thrown together, and on top of that Volume 2 isn't finished. I would hope that they weave in a lot of this new material.

As for touring, outside of Canada they typically take a financial loss. So they make little to no money on those tours. So you guys can imagine what would happen with an international your. US tours are purely for their enjoyment, or for the enjoyment of the fans.

I agree...i was pretty surprised when i read that the Vol 2 isn't finished and that they will be in studio in September to putting "finish touches"...However really guys there isn't any marketing...like i told a lot of songs in the past years that probably we also don't like a lot (Won't Turn Back for example) can be a radio international success (considering what we have in these days) but really it seems that they don't care...probably they're good like they are...as for international tour well is a shame because in this way for me is really hard to see the guys live unless i'll come to States or Canada one day...but i understand also that they can't tour to lose money

[SpiritualJunkie]

Here's a review of Somethingness Vol.1 in case anyone's curious.

https://lehighvalleyunderground.com/2017/08/25/review-our-lady-peace-somethingness-vol-1/

[Flynner]

Good review, short and sweet like the album