Posted on: July 14, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Our Lady Peace – A Decade / 2006 Columbia / 18 Tracks / http://www.ourladypeace.com / http://www.columbiarecords.com /

Our Lady Peace is yet another Canadian act that was big in America for a song or two, but reached massive levels of success for years (almost a decade) in their own home country. I still remember when I first was introduced to Our Lady Peace. It was a year or so before “Clumsy” first came out, and it was a video for the first track on the disc, “Starseed”. I absolutely hated the song at the time, as it was seriously overplayed by Muchmusic. Anyways, this is a greatest hits album with two tracks that individuals may not have heard in the past; “Kiss On The Mouth” and “Better Than Here”.            

Of course, their biggest hits are present; “Superman’s Dead”, “Clumsy”, “4am”, and “One Man Army” represent a four song swath of musical destruction. There seems to be pretty much a chronological nature to the tracks on “A Decade”. I can understand the band wanting individuals to hear how they evolved, but considering that America only lauded the band for a few years, perhaps another method of sorting would be in order. This would allow individuals to hear some new (to them) Our Lady Peace tracks instead of just wearing out the CD between tracks 4 and 7.

Of course, there is “Something Out There” present on this (which was another American hit), but there are quite a few tracks on the disc that never charted in the United States. The tracks are new enough that there is not much that Columbia could do to them; the greatest hits only has these two new tracks, so completists may just want to stay away and find rarer pieces by the band instead of plunking down $20 on the disc. As with most greatest hits compilations, this will act as something that will get individuals interested and back into following the band. While there could be more extra features with “A Decade”, this album would be a perfect gift for a parent to their child, or as an introduction to an individual to a band that has been around for several years.  Check this disc out if you want to hear what Our Lady Peace has contributed to alternative rock in the last decade. If you have all of the albums, you should avoid this album until that point when more material is placed alongside it.  It’s nice to hear Our Lady Peace again.

Top Tracks: One Man Army, Thief

Rating: 6.3/10

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