Musical Review Therapy Part 2: "Paranoid"

Our Lady Peace Healthy in Paranoid Times
"It took 1165 days to record Healthy in Paranoid Times ..." and from this reviewer's perspective, it was time well spent. Again it should be noted that I am a long time OLP fan, but I can still be reasonably objective. This album is not the vintage OLP of Clumsy, Naveed, or Happiness... but it appears with this sixth studio effort that they have retraced some of their steps, and in the process produce a much stronger overall effort than 2002's Gravity.

HiPT opens with an impressive trio of track covering a broad range of styles and emotions. The opener Angels/Losing/Sleep seems to project a message of patience while providing images of the trouble times ("Looks like the holy ghost is gone... Even the angels are losing sleep") and confusion ("Looks like the war was in your head") that serve as a backdrop for much of the album. The second track is the much more up tempo "Will the Future Blame Us?" which builds upon the confusion theme, but seems to emphasize keeping those close to you in core thought rather than being distracted by the events and questions that can't be explained as the ability to "come home" and regroup is key to survival in this environment. Third in the trio is the obligatory relationship song "Picture" which while using a standard plotline for a song of the type is very well written and serves as a good change of pace between "Will the Future..." and "Where Are You?".

The middle of the album is hit or miss. The lead single "Where Are You?" is a high-speed almost anthem-like tune with solid lyrics depictions of a struggle through adversity while waiting for one break that could change thing. While the verses and the initial portions of the chorus seem downtrodden and at times hopeless, the chorus ending restate the importance of a positive outlook as "this could be the best day of our lives." This leads in to the brooding confrontational "Wipe That Smile Off Your Face" which is probably the second best song on the album (although I have a tough time between it a "Will the Future Blame Us"). Love and Trust", "Boy", and "Apology" and "Walking in Circles" (from the album's end) were decent songs but nothing special when compared with the beginning and end of the album.

The album rallies in a big way at the end with the fantastic "The World on a String" which is very well-written and lyrically driven with a very catchy melody that gets it stuck in my head more than it should, but as my favorite track there are worse problems to have. "Don't Stop" is a well-crafted song which has is very lyrically driven and uses musical changes of pace nicely. The acoustic closer "Al Genina" almost brought back memories of "Car Crash" from Clumsy. Admittedly, without knowing the back story, the song would be a mere nice closer with little understanding on my part of the song message; however, having heard Raine explain that Al Genina is a village he visited in Iraq the lyrical imagery takes a vivid turn and the emotional aspects seem much more clear.

Overall, A strong album which while by no means perfect is destined to remain on the playlist for a significant amount of time

8.5 out of 10