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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The darkest OLP album, June 16, 2002
Naveed was a light affair. Simple grungy rock songs with typical lyrics and typical vocals. Good stuff to listen to without much depth. Our Lady Peace's second album, Clumsy, immidiately lays waste to the sound established on Naveed. The first spin I gave this album, I was almost appalled. My mind was not ready for the transition from Naveed to this. But, this album, except for Spiritual Machines, is the one I come back to the most because of the fact that it has what Naveed lacks, and that is depth. Let's talk about the sound a little more. The spacey guitar chords and lazy tempos have been dropped for tight riffs and tense beats. The real strength in this album though, is not it's dark heavy rockers, but it's quiet and reflective ballads. 4 AM and the title track show true emotion and talent. 4 AM goes from a lone guitar and a hushed voice, to a beautiful climaxing finale that shows maturity of a band way beyond OLP's age, and is easily the best track on the album. It's not to say the heavy music isn't noteworthy either, Superman's Dead, Automatic Flowers, Big Dumb Rocket and the Story of 100 Aisles all rock mightily and are great songs. One song that really is worth mentioning in detail is the 3rd track, Carnival. The music and lyrics combine during the verses to really put your mindframe in an apocolypitic carnival, which blasts into an anthemic chorus that is most likely the strongest on the album. This one is an experiment that could have gone both ways, but luckily, stands out as one of the albums best tracks. OLP never again visited the pure anger displayed by Clumsy, and went on to make great uplifting music in Spiritual Machines and Happiness. But this album spotlights more dark feelings, brooding melodies and a sense of urgency in every song. It's an experience that should not be missed out on. OLP freaking rocks by the way, and Gravity's release is a mere 3 days away! Enjoy and thanks for reading. Dan
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If there was an album that changed my life..., September 10, 2003
When I bought this CD, I already owned Gravity, Spiritual Machines, and Happiness...is not a fish that you can catch. I would have considered myself a fan, but not nearly to the extent I would now. What made that transfer was Clumsy. And I will tell you why in my review/best parts.
1. Superman's Dead- An excellent start to this excellent albumn. Great guitar, and if you're a fan of Naveed you'll see that Maida's vocals have expanded. Best part: Doesn't anybody ever know that the world's a subway?
2. Automatic Flowers- This song paints an interesting picture of a girl whose pop-up book is driving her insane. This song is actually sort of personal to me because there have been many days where I'll be alone in my room, doing anything to keep myself afloat.
3. Carnival- The tune at the beginning is actually the type of music you would expect to be played at a carnival. It has melodic verses with a harder chorus, keeping it interesting. Best part: You worry about the future, sign said, "Yoga Class for Cats".
4. Big Dumb Rocket- The humming at the beginning is brilliance.
5. 4 A.M.- Called this because it's when Raine wrote it and his father's initials are "A.M." By far, it is OLP'###### personal song. Very well written.
6. Shaking- This is my least favourite song on the disc. The verses aren't bad, in fact it's rather catchy. But it's just the way he says, "Why"- dragging it out. It sort of hits a nerve. Best part: You're rushing to meditate, should eat but probably wait. And when they clap.
7. Clumsy- This is sort of reminiscent of Carnival. It's the encouraging I'm-here-for-you type song Our Lady Peace has on every albumn. Best part: You realize that sometimes you're just not okay, you level off...but it's not alright now.
8. Hello Oskar- I love this song. It has such a momentum. You could crash a car to this song. Best part: He'll build up a bridge then walk around, don't ever call him dumb. He's not that bright, he's just not himself.
9. Let You Go- The beginning isn't great, but it gets better I promise. It's a weird song, a different beat. But it's still really good. Best part: There's a cigarette theif, stealing cigarette disease and I wish I was there.
10. 100 Aisles- This probably isn't a really popular song. But I think it hits something, with the yelling and the bass solo. It hits something and then it's stuck in your head. Best part: This is not what you wanted, this is pain, this is pain: Anacin.
11. Car Crash: Hello Oskar was my favourite song until I discovered this one. It's slower, but heavy, and Raine experiments with his vocals wonderfully. It's intriguing. Best part: They'll wake up today to the papers that say, "oh well", it was too hard to tell- he was swerving, they were swerving much to late.
I truly advise you to get this albumn. I think it shaped who Our Lady Peace is today, and you can't appreciate them until you appreciate Clumsy.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clumsified, September 1, 2003
Clumsy wasn't quite up to Naveed's quality, yet it was close. Mike Turner had some great guitar on this, Raine had even more vocal tweaking parts, Jeremy had important drums on tracks such as 4a.m. Duncan Coutts, the bassist of OLP had an intro on Car Crash that stood out, but wasn't as good as the bass on Naveed.Superman's Dead- The best track on the album. Uses a twelve string acoustic for the intro and stuff. Raine really had some creative parts for this song, with the "Ah awhoo woo" parts. Excellent song. Automatic Flowers- Another great song, not quite as good, but played a great part in the success of Clumsy. This kind of went back to the style of Naveed, but posseses more anger (as does this CD over any of OLP's others). Carnival- This song uses the "Don't step on a crack or you'll break your mother's back" thing to produce a good song. Big Dumb Rocket- There was a nice guitar in this song, and it helped the song get stuck in my head at least. 4am- The slowest track on this CD until around the last third, where it speeds up. Very great lyrics than mean a lot. Jeremy has good drums on this track. Shaking- The second worst song on this album. Not much more to say than that. Clumsy- This song goes up with Automatic Flowers in a way. The guitar part was nice. Hello Oskar- The worst song on the album by far. Let You Down- A so so track that is kind of weird in the beginning. Not top notch OLP. The Story of 100 Aisles- A great song, but makes you wonder. The instruments really helped on this one. Car Crash- Seems like OLP went back to the Naveed (the song) formula, as they tried the little bass part. I consider this the Little Known Naveed. The angst in this album was dropped and is yet to return in an OLP album.
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by Our Lady Peace 
