We have a title!

nikki4982 · Post by **nikki4982** » 12/20/2008, 1:06 am

Uhh. You guys know I love you. And you know I hate the endless Gravity discussions as much as anyone... but this isn't one of those. Being called "pathetic" and having "ban" thrown in here is really uncalled for.

We're talking openly, non-accusingly, and constructively about music that the band is currently about to put out. Nobody's said anything out of line or offensive in any way.

I got excited when melody got mentioned. I honestly can't remember the last time OLP's melodies have been discussed. Or, heck, if ever! And like I said, melody is very important to me with music.

If we can't discuss our opinions about the music, why are we even an OLP board anymore?

Post by **saman** » 12/20/2008, 9:27 am

okay, you're right, the "ban" was uncalled for, and the melody discussion is very interesting, but it's also slowly turning into an "older era olp vs newer era olp" discussion, which even i'm getting sick of, and i have a fairly high tolerance level.

but hey, why should you guys care about that? if you want to talk, then you should talk. i can't stop you.

MindsOnLoan · Post by **MindsOnLoan** » 12/20/2008, 11:03 am

I have a bit of a good feeling about the melody aspect of this album though. From what I can tell, the studio seems to be much more laid back than the HIPT sessions. Since it's more laid back, they won't really have to try so hard this time around. You can tell in some songs that they were trying so hard to make it something great, but sometimes you can try too hard. With the studio being more laid back, they should be more likely to kind of stumble upon something great, or something of that nature.

Also, I would imagine there is a bit of anger or angst back in the band. After the type of recording sessions they had for Healthy, it wouldn't be hard to guess why. Plus, all of the things the label was pushing on would only add to it. I could be wrong here, but I'm just kind of thinking here...

The songs we've heard live so far don't show much of either of these, but these three songs (if they even make the album) might not speak for the other seven.

Heavy Alibi · Post by **Heavy Alibi** » 12/20/2008, 10:56 pm

Well two of the three songs they've played (Dreamland & The Right Stuff) were both identified by Raine as sort of "themed" songs... Dreamland was a "lullaby", and TRS was a "Backstreet Boys cover"... so I think we can look to White Flags for a best guess of what the album should sound like overall, and I think it's a pretty great song, I really like the chorus.

And I don't understand all this anger about discussing the music... I don't see Gravity having been mentioned anywhere, we're just discussing OLP's new album, which is what you are expected to do on an OLP message board a month or so prior to a new OLP release. And comparing it to older works is just natural.

nikki4982 · Post by **nikki4982** » 12/21/2008, 12:09 am

You guys make some really interesting points.

Less stress in the studio could go either way, really. Some bands seem to need that pressure; I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it affects OLP. For their sake, I hope it does them good. I love the guys too much to wish stress upon them. Haha.

As far as these songs being examples of what we'll get on the album, that is hard to judge. I guess it depends on how cohesive the album is as a whole. While I want the album to have great flow and be a real "album" album rather than a collection of songs... with how I'm currently feeling toward the songs we've heard so far, I'm not sure if I really do want that or not. If that makes any sense.

I'm also very very curious to hear these songs in person. I know that a live recording is never the best way to hear a song the first time, so hopefully seeing them for myself will change my opinion completely. Or, if not that, the studio versions (though if the songs are only good in studio form and not live, that's not exactly a great thing).

Heavy Alibi · Post by **Heavy Alibi** » 12/21/2008, 3:19 am

Nikki wrote:While I want the album to have great flow and be a real "album" album rather than a collection of songs... with how I'm currently feeling toward the songs we've heard so far, I'm not sure if I really do want that or not. If that makes any sense.

Yeah, it does make sense. But I don't think we should jump to any premature conclusions... it's possible that all three songs we've heard were just "testers" that they used in concerts... remember they recorded 17 songs and only 10 are in the album.

Plus TRS is a rockin' song so maybe they just wanted to pump the audience. I have my doubts that TRS is in the album, but hopefully we won't have too much longer to wait and see! I must admit it was a relief that the rumor about TRS being released as a single in November was false!

MindsOnLoan · Post by **MindsOnLoan** » 12/21/2008, 6:39 pm

Good point about the stress. Eddie Vedder would be a good example. He has stated that he does terrible when the studio is in a comfortable setting, so he would do things like sleeping in the back of a truck during freezing cold weather just to inspire himself. It does make sense though, as it would get a fire inside going. We'll just have wait and see though...

nikki4982 · Post by **nikki4982** » 12/21/2008, 9:11 pm

Haha, wow, that's pretty extreme right there.

Driven · Post by **Driven** » 12/22/2008, 12:39 am

Eddie Vedder is the kind of guy that gets inspiration from stuff like that though.

If you look at bands like R.E.M. and Pearl Jam, they've had comeback hits recently after a string of unsuccessful albums. Well, I don't know if I'd call Pearl Jam's albums unsuccessful, as they were still very good and probably what the band wanted. But they weren't commercially successful.

Both of their latest albums were rockers, though. Pearl Jam's was quite a bit longer while R.E.M's was 36 minutes long. Both are what the bands needed though.

Angst and motivation are the key to comeback albums. That is what a lot of bands lose. For R.E.M., they needed to go back to their roots. For Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder, it was politics.

Raine and OLP need to find that angst back. I feel that Raine has that angst, but it may only appear in his solo stuff. It translated well on a Hunter's Lullaby, but not so well on HIPT.

What about the rest of the band? What can they bring to the table.

The one thing that this record will be for certain is... it will be OLP, and nothing but OLP. This is their music and their sound. Whether we like it or not is a different subject, but this IS them.

I do feel like they are having fun out there. I also agree that the Right Stuff won't be on the album. I hope that Dreamland is and that White Flags is.

This album needs to be a straight forward rocker. Right to the point. Starts off fast, ends fast. These songs need to be raw.

I also REALLY hope they somehow bring back Joel on tour. That guy did so much for the band, live.

Driven · Post by **Driven** » 12/22/2008, 12:54 am

A Strong Alibi wrote:
Nikki wrote:While I want the album to have great flow and be a real "album" album rather than a collection of songs... with how I'm currently feeling toward the songs we've heard so far, I'm not sure if I really do want that or not. If that makes any sense.

Yeah, it does make sense. But I don't think we should jump to any premature conclusions... it's possible that all three songs we've heard were just "testers" that they used in concerts... remember they recorded 17 songs and only 10 are in the album.

Plus TRS is a rockin' song so maybe they just wanted to pump the audience. I have my doubts that TRS is in the album, but hopefully we won't have too much longer to wait and see! I must admit it was a relief that the rumor about TRS being released as a single in November was false!

I agree with you, but I just read this as well:

They even performed a pair of tracks that Maida announced will appear on the forthcoming album.

The first, "Right Stuff," was more or less the same calibre a song as the New Kids On The Block hit from the early '90s (at the odd chance the comparison generates confusion - it really shouldn't - I mean "not all that great").

The next, "White Flag," seemed much more deliberate in reverting to the band's former raw rock 'n' roll style.

http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=171150&sc=84

MindsOnLoan · Post by **MindsOnLoan** » 12/22/2008, 12:30 pm

I may be wrong, but didn't Raine say a lot of the songs that ended up being unreleased tracks from the Healthy sessions were going to be on the album? A lot of things might have changed in the past three months.

Random Name · Post by **Random Name** » 12/22/2008, 2:58 pm

Driven wrote:I agree with you, but I just read this as well:

They even performed a pair of tracks that Maida announced will appear on the forthcoming album.

The first, "Right Stuff," was more or less the same calibre a song as the New Kids On The Block hit from the early '90s (at the odd chance the comparison generates confusion - it really shouldn't - I mean "not all that great").

The next, "White Flag," seemed much more deliberate in reverting to the band's former raw rock 'n' roll style.

http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=171150&sc=84

No offence, but thats basically the least credible source ever.

nikki4982 · Post by **nikki4982** » 12/22/2008, 9:39 pm

Credible or not, BUUUUURN!!!!

Post by **xjsb125** » 12/22/2008, 10:00 pm

MindsOnLoan wrote:I may be wrong, but didn't Raine say a lot of the songs that ended up being unreleased tracks from the Healthy sessions were going to be on the album? A lot of things might have changed in the past three months.

Not to my knowledge. Raine had talked about getting some of the songs out to people, but it never happened. The only tracks from those sessions that made it to a released disc were Not Afraid, Kiss On The Mouth, and Better Than Here. I doubt we'll ever hear any of the other stuff. Out of the songs recorded between Gravity and HIPT, that were performed live, only 2 made the cut for HIPT. The other songs, No Warning, Talk Is Cheap, and Not Afraid didn't end up on the album.

Fallen Leaves · Post by **Fallen Leaves** » 12/28/2008, 6:47 pm

I was a bit disappointed to hear the length of the album, too, but at least I'll be hearing something from the band. It's better than nothing. I'm a bit worried about what's going to be on the album, but I'll just trust them to make another solid album. They'll pull through.

Post by **xjsb125** » 12/28/2008, 9:28 pm

I remembered one other song that was played live that made HIPT. Will The Future Blame Us started out as "Don't Ask Why", had a few changes, and made the album.

MindsOnLoan · Post by **MindsOnLoan** » 12/28/2008, 10:29 pm

I'm also wondering if any of these three songs will go through dramatic changes like Will the Future Blame Us (as it originally used a piano), or if the lack of demos for this album will stop such things from happening.

And I thought it was said that Not Afraid would make the Healthy?

Post by **xjsb125** » 12/28/2008, 10:32 pm

No, it only made the Labatt sampler. I would assume the current recording process reduced the dramatic changes.

Shanae · Post by **Shanae** » 12/29/2008, 8:17 pm

I don't mean to sound crude or anything, but I really, really hope TRS doesn't make it onto the album.

And sorry if I repeat anything that's already been said, by the way, I'm much too lazy to read over all of the threads. I read this one though. I like Escape Artist better as a title, too, but Burn Burn/Burn, Burn is fine as well.