Burn Burn (album)

Burn Burn
Studio album by Our Lady Peace
Released July 21, 2009
Recorded February 2007 – June 2009
Los Angeles, California, US[1]
Genre Alternative rock
Length 38:03
44:54 (Deluxe edition)
Label Coalition Entertainment
Producer Raine Maida
Our Lady Peace chronology

The Very Best of Our Lady Peace
(2009)
Burn Burn
(2009)
Curve
(2012)
Singles from Burn Burn
  1. "All You Did Was Save My Life"
    Released: May 25, 2009[2]
  2. "The End is Where We Begin"
    Released: September 14, 2009
  3. "Dreamland"
    Released: May 23, 2010[3]

Burn Burn is the seventh studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released in North America on July 21, 2009.[2][4] The album's title is based on a quote by Jack Kerouac from his 1957 novel On the Road.[5]

The album, recorded at vocalist Raine Maida's home studio in Los Angeles between 2007 and 2009,[1] was released independent of any major label under the band's longtime management company Coalition Entertainment. Sony Music (the band's previous label) distributed the album in Canada,[2][6] and WMG's Independent Label Group did so in the United States.[2]

Burn Burn is Our Lady Peace's first album not to have involved collaboration with an outside producer, having instead been produced by band vocalist Raine Maida.[6] The album's release marked the longest gap between Our Lady Peace studio albums to date, with their previous album, Healthy in Paranoid Times, having been released in August 2005. At 38 minutes, Burn Burn is also their shortest album.

Album history

"It took us six other records to figure out how we truly wanted to make records."

Raine Maida in a Metro Canada interview[7]

Production on Burn Burn began in February 2007, several months before the release of bandleader Raine Maida's solo album The Hunter's Lullaby. According to Maida, Burn Burn is a "proper rock album"—featuring a return to the raw originality of the band's first album Naveed, though a "little more mature".[6]

Maida produced the album himself, noting how he was excited to "not have anybody intrude on sessions".[6] The band had previously worked with producer Bob Rock for their two preceding albums, as well as Arnold Lanni for their first four albums.

Having been defunct since 2007, the official Our Lady Peace fansite was relaunched on March 11, 2009 in anticipation of Burn Burn.[8] The album's original cover was revealed with the relaunch,[8] and on May 1 was officially changed to portray a darker and more simplistic tone than the original.[8]

Burn Burn finished production in early March 2009, and the first single "All You Did Was Save My Life" was released on May 25. The album, as well as a deluxe edition entitled Burn Burn Burn, was released in North America on July 21, 2009.[2] Burn Burn debuted at #3 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling over 11,000 copies in its first week.[9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 65/100[10]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [11]
Alternative Addiction [12]
Billboard [13]
Boston Globe (positive)[14]
Chartattack [15]
Melodic.net [16]
PopMatters [17]
Sputnikmusic [18]

Burn Burn received generally favourable reviews,[10] with PopMatters calling it "their most intimate, immediate album to date". Allmusic compared the album's sound to latter-day Goo-Goo Dolls and 1980s U2, but also noted that the album "remain(s) deficient in hooks and melodies", and that the music "simmered" instead of having "boiled with indignation"[11] as it did in the band's previous albums.

Billboard praised the seventh track "Never Get Over You" as a "killer ballad", but ultimately criticized the album for being too "ballad-heavy" and "one dimensional".[13]Burn Burn doesn't particularly sound like anything Our Lady Peace has done in the past, according to Sputnikmusic, but "maybe that is what is so exciting about (it)".[18]

Charts

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Canadian Albums Chart[19] 3
U.S. Billboard 200[19] 41

Songs

The album contains 10 tracks of the 16 that were composed[20]—and is approximately 38 minutes in length. Lyrics were mostly written by Raine Maida, and the first track was co-written by Maida and former The Nixons vocalist Zac Maloy.

The official tracklisting for Burn Burn was released in May 2009, but was altered in early June to replace the track "The Right Stuff" with "The End is Where We Begin".[21] Sequencing of remaining tracks was also affected by the change. A Deluxe Edition of the album was also released, retitled Burn Burn Burn, with bonus tracks "The Right Stuff" and "Time Bomb" included, as well as a bonus DVD with studio performance footage and music videos for All You Did Was Save My Life and bonus track The Right Stuff.

Single chronology

Track list

No. TitleNotes Length
1. "All You Did Was Save My Life"  First released single 3:49
2. "Dreamland"  Third single 3:36
3. "Monkey Brains"    4:31
4. "The End Is Where We Begin"  Second single 3:23
5. "Escape Artist"  Original title of the album was this song's title 4:02
6. "Refuge"    4:16
7. "Never Get Over You"  The title of the album originates from a lyric in this song 3:57
8. "White Flags"    3:18
9. "Signs of Life"    3:14
10. "Paper Moon"    3:57

Bonus tracks (from "Deluxe edition")

No. TitleNotes Length
11. "Time Bomb"  formerly titled "Waiting for Something to Happen" 3:31
12. "The Right Stuff"    3:24

Personnel

Additional background vocals on "Signs of Life" by Eladio Reyes.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Our Lady Peace album and tour in JulyRockstarweekly.com. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Our Lady Peace set to release their seventh studio album July 21Tradingmarkets.com. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  3. Our Lady Peace premiere new video for "Dreamland"Puregrainaudio.com. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
  4. OLP Play CMW ThursdayCHARTattack. Retrieved on March 13, 2009.
  5. Our Lady Peace burns the past for a better futureThe Vancouver Sun. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Transcript - Interview with Raine MaidaCanoe.ca. Retrieved in 2008.
  7. Our Lady Peace avoids burn-outMetronews.ca.. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Official Our Lady Peace fansiteOurladypeace.net. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
  9. "OLP's 'Burn' heats up charts". Jam!. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Metacritic score
  11. 11.0 11.1 Allmusic review
  12. Alternative Addiction review
  13. 13.0 13.1 Billboard review
  14. Boston Globe review
  15. Chartattack review
  16. Melodic.net review
  17. PopMatters review
  18. 18.0 18.1 Sputnikmusic review
  19. 19.0 19.1 "Burn Burn - Our Lady Peace". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
  20. "melodic.net: Our Lady Peace recording new album". Melodic.net. Retrieved on July 20, 2008.
  21. Amazon.com: Burn Burn (Deluxe Edition): Our Lady PeaceAmazon.com. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
  22. Shanae Grimes hooks up with Our Lady Peace in the 905Eonline.com. Retrieved May 2, 2009.