''Gravity'' is the fifth studio album by the Canadian
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Our Lady Peace
Our Lady Peace (sometimes shortened to OLP) is a Canadian rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1992. Led by lead vocalist Raine Maida since its formation, the band currently also features Duncan Coutts on bass, Steve Mazur on guitars, and J ...
. It was released on June 18, 2002 by
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. The album became a worldwide success, charting highly both in Canada and the United States with the hit singles "
Somewhere Out There" and "
Innocent
Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience.
In relation ...
".
The album title, ''Gravity'', was inspired by the chorus lyrics "Falling back to me, defying gravity" from the track "Somewhere Out There". At the time of the album's release, OLP drummer
Jeremy Taggart
Jeremy Ronald John Taggart (born April 7, 1975) is a Canadian drummer, radio host, and author, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace from 1993 until 2014.
Early life
Taggart was born in Toronto, Ontario, later growing up in Mansfield, On ...
said that ''Gravity'' was "by far
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
best album".
''Gravity'' was the first album to feature new guitarist,
Steve Mazur, who replaced
Mike Turner
Michael Ray Turner (born January 11, 1960) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Turner's district, numbered as the 3rd district from 2003 to 2013, is based in Dayt ...
in 2002 after the latter's departure, due to the band feeling limited by
Mike Turner
Michael Ray Turner (born January 11, 1960) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Turner's district, numbered as the 3rd district from 2003 to 2013, is based in Dayt ...
's guitar abilities in the studio. Despite Turner's departure, he appears on half the tracks on the album, having recorded parts for several songs prior to his departure.
This was also their last album with musician Jamie Edwards, who had performed on two prior albums and was briefly an official member, but left the band soon after the album's completion.
It is the band's first album not to be produced by their original producer,
Arnold Lanni
Arnold David Lanni (born May 4, 1956) is a Canadian record producer and former member of Frōzen Ghōst and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, " When I'm with You."
History
Lanni was a founding member of Canadian rock band Sh ...
, who produced the band's previous four studio albums. The band originally wanted Lanni to produce their fifth album but he was busy working with
Simple Plan
Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1999. The band's lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhythm guita ...
and the band instead chose
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, 31 ...
; he also produced their next album.
The album was originally to be a live album based on the Spiritual Machines tour with three new tracks, however,
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, 31 ...
then asked the band if they would like to work on an entire full-length studio album which the band accepted.
Background and writing
After wrapping up the ''
Spiritual Machines'' Tour in late 2001, Our Lady Peace were becoming restless and dangerously close to breaking up. Lead singer
Raine Maida
Raine Maida (born Michael Anthony Maida; February 18, 1970)
– Ourladypeace.cc. Retrieved April 30, 2010. is a C ...
in particular was feeling limited by guitarist Mike Turner's abilities in the studio; frustrations that had been simmering since the recording of ''
Clumsy'' began to boil over. Raine would later state in an interview, "I don't know if Mike was born to be a guitar player. The studio was a tough place for him and we were working too hard to make up for it – we felt like we were cheating ourselves. Four albums is way too fucking long to put up with that. I'm sure he'll do great things, just not with six-stringed instruments."
[Durham, Victoria]
Our Lady Peace - Weight and Bleed
Rock Sound Nov 2002. Retrieved September 21, 2009. They would (by most accounts) mutually decide to part ways following preliminary sessions for the album.
The band decided that they had gone as far as they could go musically with ''Spiritual Machines''. Looking to reinvigorate themselves and change directions musically, they sought a more stripped down sound as opposed to the multiple layers and textures of their previous albums. It was this idea of simplifying that inspired the title of ''Gravity''. Raine discussed the transition in a 2002 interview. "’Spiritual Machines’ was so out there in talking about the future and trying to perceive man turning into machine, it was very heavy. With this record...it kind of felt like we were being pulled back down to earth, hence the title. It's such a simple life out there
awaii, where most of ''Gravity'' was recordedand because of that the album was just based around living day to day rather than looking too far ahead. In that sense ‘Gravity’ is pretty much the opposite of ‘Spiritual Machines’. None of our other albums had been concept records, so it was the right time for us to get away from that whole philosophy. Because of that ‘Gravity’ is probably the most basic album we’ve made since our first.
"
Although Raine Maida had begun living in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, The band came together in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
to start writing new material towards the end of touring for ''Spiritual Machines''. They did it this time without the usual help of producer Arnold Lanni, who at the time was working with fellow Canadian band and management-mates
Simple Plan
Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1999. The band's lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhythm guita ...
on their debut album, ''
No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls''.
[Bliss, Karen]
OLP to Record with Bob Rock
- ''Canoe.ca'' October 25, 2001. Retrieved December 10, 2009 Jamie Edwards was credited for the only time as a songwriter on this album.
Three songs written by the band made the record but most were written by Maida during the 2001 holiday season. Steve Mazur's late official entry into the band meant he took no part in songwriting.
Recording and production
For this album, Our Lady Peace sought a new producer rather than long-time collaborator
Arnold Lanni
Arnold David Lanni (born May 4, 1956) is a Canadian record producer and former member of Frōzen Ghōst and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, " When I'm with You."
History
Lanni was a founding member of Canadian rock band Sh ...
to help with their search for a new sound. According to the band, it was Lanni's idea for them to pursue a new venue lest they regret not trying other producers later on.
[McCoy, Heath "Rockers Set the Record Straight: Our Lady Peace Regroups with Help from Bob Rock" - '']The Calgary Herald
The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
History
''The C ...
'' January 23, 2003 After visiting with several producers in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
including
Josh Abraham
Josh Abraham is an American record producer, songwriter, and music executive. He has worked with artists including P!nk, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Kelly Clarkson, Shakira, Weezer, Linkin Park, Velvet Revolver, Carly Rae Jepsen, Adam Lambert, Alk ...
, the band seized the opportunity to work with
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, 31 ...
because they liked his work with artists such as
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
and
American Hi-Fi
American Hi-Fi is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1998. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stacy Jones, lead guitarist Jamie Arentzen, bassist and backing vocalist Drew Parsons, and drummer Brian Nolan. Prior t ...
as well as his general passion for music.
[Williams, Rob]
Ghosts in the machine: Spirits moved Our Lady Peace during recording of Gravity CD
- ''Canoe.ca
Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' i ...
''. Retrieved June 17, 2009 Raine was particularly convinced he wanted to work with Rock after watching ''
A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica
''A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica'' is a two-part documentary about the process of making the ''Metallica'' album (or "The Black Album") and the following tour. It was produced by Juliana Roberts and directed by Adam Dubin.
''A Year a ...
'', the documentary about the making of the Black Album. In the studio, they would even record with the same guitars and
amplifiers
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...
used by Metallica as well as
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s.
Townsh ...
and
The Cult
The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's ...
.
They first visited Rock's studio in September 2001 to meet him and even wrote and recorded a song while there.
They flew to
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
in November 2001 to Rock's studio in
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
after their last live show of the season at Music without Borders. They had initially booked ten days of studio time that month to record three tracks that would be included on a live album based on the ''Spiritual Machines'' tour.
They began recording on the day of their arrival, laying down the initial tracks for "A Story About a Girl", which was written on the spot within 20 minutes after Raine heard Duncan and Jeremy tuning up in the next room.
[Hamlett, Laur]
Interview With Our lady Peace
- ''Playback St. Louis'' 2002. Retrieved November 29, 2009 According to Taggart, the making of that song set the pace for the whole album. "He saw us as a rock band as soon as we got there, and the way we recorded it was live off the floor as a rock band as opposed to layering things," Maida stated. "He was a great leader who got the best out of us immediately".
Metallica was originally scheduled to begin work on a new album with Rock in the following months but this was postponed when front man
James Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder and a main songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionall ...
checked himself into
rehab for
alcohol abuse
Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of unhealthy alcohol drinking behaviors, ranging from binge drinking to alcohol dependence, in extreme cases resulting in health problems for individuals and large scale social problems such as alcohol-relat ...
.
[Pacienza, Angela]
Our Lady Peace Finds Gravity in Maui
The Winnipeg Free Press
The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well a ...
June 29, 2002: C6 Rock then asked the band if they would like to work on an entire album, which they accepted.
Following preliminary recording sessions in Maui, Mike Turner left the band in December 2001 after having recorded
rhythm guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...
parts for several songs that would appear on the album. Band members in interviews said that he and the band weren't seeing eye to eye anymore but according to official press releases the split was amicable. Duncan Coutts said of the split, "We weren't allowing him to do what he really wanted to do, and he wasn't playing what we wanted to hear. ... This recording process magnified that, but it was a long time coming." The remaining band members then commenced a 2-month public search during which the band received thousands of demo tapes, videos and CDs from all over the world, including
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
They chose
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
native, Steve Mazur, who Coutts and Taggart knew through mutual friends in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. After his inception into the band was announced in April, Raine Maida noted: "
tfelt like a cohesive unit...It just felt incredible. It felt like a new band, totally fresh."
During the band's holiday break from recording, Raine received a phone call from Rock on
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
, asking him if he had anymore song ideas to consider before they returned to the
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
studio in January. The call prompted him to write seven songs over the next ten days. Upon returning to the studio, sections from two of Maida's demos were combined to form the hit song, "
Somewhere Out There" at Rock's suggestion. Maida explained "It was like a last minute song done really quickly. I demoed a bunch of songs over Christmas, when we had a break for 10 days. I wrote, like, seven songs and brought them back. Bob listened to all seven songs and then listened to song number three halfway through and song number six halfway through and said, 'OK,' told the engineer to stop the CD, and got us to go put the verse from song three and the chorus from song six together and was like, 'That's the song.'"
For the ten weeks they were in Maui recording (spread over 4 months), the band lived together and would surf and ride mountain bikes in the mornings then work on the album in the evening, usually recording one song in one day and only for a couple of hours before and after dinner.
"Leaving Toronto and holing up in a beach house in Maui was a very important step for us," explained
Duncan Coutts. "We lived, ate, and breathed music together away from all distractions.
[Anon (2002). Ourladypeace.com at the Internet Archive. Retrieved September 19, 2009]" The band recorded most of the album at Rock's Plantation Studio in
Haiku, Hawaii
Haiku ( haw, Haikū) is an unincorporated community in Maui County on the island of Maui in the state of Hawaii. For United States Census purposes, it is part of the Haiku-Pauwela census-designated place, which also includes Pauwela.
It wa ...
and finished recording and mixing with
Randy Staub
Randy Staub is a Canadian recording engineer. He has been nominated for the Juno Awards' " Recording Engineer of the Year" award 12 times. He won in 2002 for the songs "How You Remind Me" and "Too Bad" by Nickelback.Peebles, Frank (April 4, 2008). ...
at
The Warehouse Studio
The Warehouse Studio is a multi-media recording facility and photography studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, owned by Bryan Adams.
Building
Originally built by the Oppenheimer Brothers in June 1886 as Vancouver's first wholesale g ...
in
Vancouver, B.C.
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
in March 2002.
The track "Made of Steel" was recorded three separate times during the sessions with the last take being used. "Do You Like It" was not recorded until after most of the mixing had been completed in Vancouver. According to Raine, "We had gone back to Maui to finish some small details on the last two songs to be mixed and 'lo and behold!' a new song was born and recorded.
"
The recording technique for this album began a trend of recording songs live in the studio together with minimal overdubs that continued on their later albums. According to the band, doing it live works to create a more realistic set of sounds, "a vibe" reminiscent of
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
or early
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
, mistakes and all. In earlier albums, they would record each instrument separately and at different times. They began recording "Bring Back the Sun" before the lyrics were even finished. The final version as heard on the album is only the second take of the song, live to tape, with strings overdubbed.
[Anon]
Challenging The Forces of Physics: OLP's Career Reaches New Heights, Thanks To 'Gravity.'
- ''Vox (magazine)
''Vox'' was a British music magazine, first issued in October 1990. It was published by IPC Media, and was later billed as a monthly sister-magazine to IPC's music weekly, the ''NME''.
Although ''Vox'' was seen as IPC's response to EMAP's ''Q ...
'' 2002. Retrieved November 29, 2009
Music and lyrics
Raine stated his intent for the album's sound, "Basically what he
ock Ock or OCK may refer to:
* River Ock (disambiguation), three rivers in England
* Ok (Korean name), also spelt Ock
**Ock Joo-hyun (born 1980), South Korean K-pop singer and musical theatre actress
* Océano Club de Kerkennah, a Tunisian football cl ...
did with Metallica on the 'black record', we talked and wanted to take that kind of approach. Let him simplify stuff. Let him take away... We always usually try add as many layers as we can to our music, and Bob said, 'Let's try to add not so many.'" The goal was also to make the album's sound more akin to what the band sounded live and to make the songs easier to reproduce on stage. "We'd record a song, sit back and ask, 'Why isn't this sounding like everyone is hearing it in their heads?' Bob would say 'let's simplify the drums,' or 'let's make that bass line simpler.' He was able to pull out why we didn't sound on albums like we do live."
[Anon]
Our Lady Peace's Day in the Sun
- ''Maclean's
''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
'' June 3, 2002. Retrieved November 28, 2009
Raine said in an interview that most of the lyrics on ''Gravity'' were rewritten because producer Bob Rock felt that the songs would be stronger with simpler lyrics, so that listeners could understand what Raine was talking about. "I was really open to him musically, but I wasn't ready to be challenged lyrically like he challenged me. He kept telling me to rewrite stuff because he didn't understand what I was trying to convey in my lyrics. He would say, 'Raine, I don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about. Convince me. Explain to me what you're trying to say in your lyrics better.' I would keep rewriting and rewriting, and sometimes I felt I would never please him. I would say, 'Jesus, I don't know what you're asking me to do here. I don't think I can do whatever it is you want.' He would say, 'Yes, you can, get back in there.' And I did it. Looking back now, I'm a better writer for it."
[Cronick, Scot]
Frontman promises OLP will rock Marina
- ''At The Shore'' Oct. 2002. Retrieved November 30, 2009 The stress caused by this challenge eventually led to Raine having to go to a hospital; contracting
shingles
Shingles, also known as zoster or herpes zoster, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. ...
. Raine had also cited his and his wife
Chantal Kreviazuk
Chantal Jennifer Kreviazuk (; born May 18, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist. Born in Winnipeg, she played music from a young age before signing with Columbia Records in the 1990s. Her debut studio album, ''Under These ...
's recent trips to
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
with
War Child Canada
War Child International is a network of three independent non-governmental organisations: War Child UK, War Child Holland, and War Child Canada, each legally, operationally, and financially independent but sharing a common brand identity and m ...
as inspiration to simplify his lyrics and to 'get to the point'.
The results were considered some of Raine's most personal lyrics to date while others lamented the loss of Maida's more ambiguous lyrical style.
Release and reception
Commercial
The album was originally planned to be released on June 11 but was pushed to June 18 because the artwork was not ready in time following the departure of Jamie Edwards, who had become an official member of the band just long enough to take part in the initial photo shoots for the album.
[Joelle.]
Everywhere Out There: OLP
Planet Verge June 6, 2002
''Gravity'' debuted at #2 on the
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocea ...
, selling close to 25,000 copies in Canada in its first week. The album debuted at #9 in the United States, making it the band's highest position in the United States yet.
By October 2002, it had been certified Gold by the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
in the U.S. and on November 23 of that year won a
CASBY Award
The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You.
The ...
for Best New Album.
[Anon.]
OLP Bandology
" - ''Ourladypeace.cc''. Retrieved December 8, 2009 By November 2003, ''Gravity'' had been certified double-platinum in Canada (200,000 units).
On November 26, 2002 a deluxe limited edition version of the album was released as part of the Sound Plus Collector's Series. This version, with a different cover, came with a special bonus DVD of live tracks and the music videos for "Somewhere Out There" and "Innocent" (see below) as well as footage from the ''Gravity'' tour. The back cover states that the live tracks were recorded on the ''Spiritual Machines'' Tour of 2001. The following text is also included:
Critical
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
Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, 31 ...
of
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...
and
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
fame.
Some reviewers went as far to call it a "plea for mainstream American acceptance." On the other hand, one publication said the album was noteworthy for its simple, direct approach.
[Keene, Darrin]
Our lady Peace Enjoy The Simpler Life
- ''Chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
'' July/August 2002. Retrieved on November 15, 2009 A reviewer from ''
Vue Weekly
''Vue Weekly'' was an alternative weekly newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with issues released every Thursday. It covered topics on artists and events that are often ignored, marginalized, or misrepresented by the mainstream med ...
'' stated that "It sounds like a brand new band, but the jury is out on whether it’s better." ''Gravity'' was a big change from their last successful album, ''
Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch''. Vocalist
Raine Maida
Raine Maida (born Michael Anthony Maida; February 18, 1970)
– Ourladypeace.cc. Retrieved April 30, 2010. is a C ...
's signature
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
is scarce on the album, with his overall tone changing as well or as a reviewer from ''
Kludge
A kludge or kluge () is a workaround or quick-and-dirty solution that is clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend and hard to maintain. This term is used in diverse fields such as computer science, aerospace engineering, Internet sla ...
'' 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."
Andrew Bonazelli of
CMJ New Music
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
Monthly criticized the album's "soul-deadening production" as well as string arrangements for several songs being a "contrived lunge towards accessibility."
In the June 22 issue of ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', 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
''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...
s
Gary Graff
Gary Graff (born 1960) is an American music journalist and author.
Biography
Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Graff attended Taylor Allderdice High School where he wrote for school newspaper ''The Taylor Allderdice Foreword''.
He receiv ...
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."
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:
Recently, ''Gravity''`s single "Innocent" received widespread media attention when ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' winner
David Cook David Cook may refer to:
Entertainment
* David Cook (game designer) (active since 1980s), American game designer for TSR
* David Cook (singer) (born 1982), winner of the seventh season of ''American Idol''
* David Cook (writer) (1940–2015), Briti ...
performed it on the program. Many, including ''American Idol'' judges, criticized both Cook's performance and song choice. Vocalist
Raine Maida
Raine Maida (born Michael Anthony Maida; February 18, 1970)
– Ourladypeace.cc. Retrieved April 30, 2010. is a C ...
reportedly contacted Cook and they have since written some songs together.
[Lane, Laura]
An Interview with David Cook
- ''ESPN Magazine
''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year i ...
''. Retrieved November 16, 2009
Two songs from the ''Gravity'' sessions were used in
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
. The song "Not Enough" was used to make a
WWE "Desire" tribute video to
Jeff Hardy
Jeffrey Nero Hardy (born August 31, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and musician. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Hardy is widely considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time and is regarded ...
and
Lita. "Whatever", a song not released on the album, was used as WWE wrestler
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael Benoit (; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the WWE, World Wrestlin ...
's entrance theme from 2002 until his
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
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
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
(SAMPCS11757), a one-track promotional CD was sent to radio stations only. In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, 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
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
during the
Spiritual Machines tour. "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 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
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
'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. 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
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
contestant
David Cook David Cook may refer to:
Entertainment
* David Cook (game designer) (active since 1980s), American game designer for TSR
* David Cook (singer) (born 1982), winner of the seventh season of ''American Idol''
* David Cook (writer) (1940–2015), Briti ...
, who revealed himself to be a huge OLP fan, sang it on the show.
Raine Maida
Raine Maida (born Michael Anthony Maida; February 18, 1970)
– Ourladypeace.cc. Retrieved April 30, 2010. is a C ...
and he have since written together.
The third and final single, "Made of Steel", was released only to radio on January 11, 2003. It made no appearance on any charts.
The band discussed the release of more singles from the album such as the popular "Not Enough"
but single releases after "Made of Steel" were supplanted by those from the 2003 ''
Live
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
*'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD)
Music
*Live (band), American alternative rock band
* List of albums ...
'' 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
Letters to Cleo is an American alternative rock band originating from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for the 1994 single, "Here & Now", from their full-length debut album, '' Aurora Gory Alice''. The band's members are Kay Hanley, Greg McKe ...
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
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
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
Pointfest is a large outdoor rock music festival held once a year by radio station KPNT in St. Louis, Missouri at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre (formerly known as Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, UMB Bank Pavilion, and Riverport Amphitheate ...
in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
. The tour continued through September 2002 dipping in and out of Canada with the bands
Ash
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
,
Greenwheel
Greenwheel was an American alternative rock band formed by friends Ryan Jordan, Brandon Armstrong, Andrew Dwiggins, Douglas Randall, and Marc Wanninger in November 1998. The band was formed in St. Charles, Missouri, in a local record shop. Thi ...
and
Audiovent
Audiovent is an American alternative rock band from Calabasas, California. Initially forming as "Vent" in the early 1990s, the band changed their name to Audiovent upon signing with Atlantic Records in 2001. The band released their one and only a ...
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
Finger Eleven is a Canadian rock band from Burlington, Ontario, formed in 1990. They have released seven studio albums (six as Finger Eleven and one as Rainbow Butt Monkeys), with their album '' The Greyest of Blue Skies'' bringing them into th ...
as well as comedy troupe
Trailer Park Boys
''Trailer Park Boys'' is a Canadian mockumentary sitcom television series created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his 1999 film bearing the same name. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer pa ...
and South African band
Seether
Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion wit ...
. The band's arena shows in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
and
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
would be recorded and released as their first official ''
Live
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
*'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD)
Music
*Live (band), American alternative rock band
* List of albums ...
'' album later that year.
They returned to Europe in March as an opening act for
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, ''Let Go (Avril Lavigne album), Let Go'' (2002), is the ...
. 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
''Healthy in Paranoid Times'' is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace, released on August 30, 2005, by Columbia Records. The disc was released on a standard CD as well as a DualDisc, with the reverse side containing a docu ...
''. 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. The tour concluded in September 2003.
Track listing
All lyrics written by
Raine Maida
Raine Maida (born Michael Anthony Maida; February 18, 1970)
– Ourladypeace.cc. Retrieved April 30, 2010. is a C ...
. All music is also composed by Maida except where noted.
Limited edition bonus DVD
The four live tracks were also released on a promo CD.
# "
Naveed" (live) - 6:47
# "
Whatever" (live) - 4:02
# "
Starseed" (live) - 7:38
# "
4 AM" (live) - 5:01
# "Somewhere Out There" (music video)
# "Innocent" (music video)
# "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" and "Stop Screaming") were cut off at the last minute. 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.
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. 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.
BMI Repertoire page for "Our Time is Fading"
/ref> 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
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
*'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD)
Music
*Live (band), American alternative rock band
* List of albums ...
'' album in 2003.
Personnel
As listed in liner notes.
Musicians
* Duncan Coutts - bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
*Jamie Edwards - keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, guitars
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, string arrangements
*Raine Maida
Raine Maida (born Michael Anthony Maida; February 18, 1970)
– Ourladypeace.cc. Retrieved April 30, 2010. is a C ...
- vocals
* Steve Mazur - guitars on "Do You Like It", "Somewhere Out There", "Made of Steel", "Not Enough", & "Sell My Soul"
*Jeremy Taggart
Jeremy Ronald John Taggart (born April 7, 1975) is a Canadian drummer, radio host, and author, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace from 1993 until 2014.
Early life
Taggart was born in Toronto, Ontario, later growing up in Mansfield, On ...
- drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
*Mike Turner
Michael Ray Turner (born January 11, 1960) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Turner's district, numbered as the 3rd district from 2003 to 2013, is based in Dayt ...
- rhythm guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...
on "All For You", "Innocent", "Sorry", "Bring Back the Sun", & "A Story About a Girl"
Additional string arrangements by Bob Buckley
Production
*Zach Blackstone - assistant mixer
*Mike Gillies - digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
engineering and editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
*Eric Helmkamp - 2nd engineer
*George Marino - master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
*Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, 31 ...
- producer
*Randy Staub
Randy Staub is a Canadian recording engineer. He has been nominated for the Juno Awards' " Recording Engineer of the Year" award 12 times. He won in 2002 for the songs "How You Remind Me" and "Too Bad" by Nickelback.Peebles, Frank (April 4, 2008). ...
- mixer
Release history
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
''Gravity'' lyrics
at Rhapsody
Rhapsody may refer to:
* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time
** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry
Computer software
* Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gravity (Our Lady Peace Album)
Our Lady Peace albums
2002 albums
Columbia Records albums
Albums produced by Bob Rock
Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year albums