Spiritual Machines
Encyclopedia
Spiritual Machines is the fourth studio album by the Canadian alternative rock
band Our Lady Peace
, released by Columbia Records
in December 2000. Although not initially intended, the project evolved into a conceptual interpretation
of futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil
's 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines
. Short tracks of spoken dialog from Kurzweil himself are interspersed among the actual songs on the album. The Kurzweil K250
keyboard, one of his inventions, was utilized throughout the recording of the album.
The album was written and recorded in two months while the band was still on tour in support of their previous record, Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch, which had only been released 14 months prior. A combination of lead singer-songwriter Raine Maida
's prolific songwriting at the time and lead-guitarist Mike Turner
's discovery of The Age of Spiritual Machines in a bookstore hurried the completion of the album. The band only took a break from recording to organize and perform at Summersault
in 2000. Unlike their previous releases, this one features a more organic, acoustic sound, and less obvious layering and electronic texturing.
Spiritual Machines has been noted as being the end of an era for Our Lady Peace, as it was the last album produced by the band's longtime producer Arnold Lanni
, the last to feature original guitarist Mike Turner in full, the last studio album to feature art model Saul Fox on its cover, and the last album to feature Maida's high-falsetto singing voice prominently. The album peaked at number five in Canada
, where it is certified double platinum.
Lead singer Raine Maida first brought up the idea of a concept album after excerpts from the book began influencing his songwriting. Passing time on the road, he had amassed a backlog of songs and had begun to record demos. He jokingly suggested an album title of Kurzweil. "That was not the most graceful sounding name in the world, so we went with Spiritual Machines instead," Turner said. While the other band-members were less enthusiastic about the idea due to its weighty subject matter, Maida and Turner decided to pursue it and Turner contacted Ray Kurzweil via email to ask for permission to use the title of his book for their project. Kurzweil's excitement at the prospect prompted them to invite him to record spoken excerpts from his book for the album and a correspondence developed. “I think it’s amazing that Ray Kurzweil sent us a bunch of pieces, and for whatever reason, they really tie in with what we were trying to say on this record,” said Maida.
Unlike the band's three previous albums, most of the songs on Spiritual Machines were written solely by Maida. “I think that because this record happened quickly, we just ended up using a lot more of my songs this time,” stated Maida. “Whatever happens, happens, and if there are good ideas lying around, we use them.” Also unlike on their previous albums, this one was recorded sporadically piece by piece with songs being added as others were discarded. Raine had made several vocal demos at his new home recording studio before the Spiritual Machines idea had come into play. Many of these demos were used for the final recordings and Raine was given production credits. “It was more a means to an end." he explained, "I would start off with a 4-track
, then move to an 8-track
, then go to digital. I have a ProTools system set up in my basement, so I just try to finish songs and get them out of the way so I don’t build up this backlog of ideas. We just sift through that stuff, as well as the stuff we do in rehearsal and just pick the best ideas and go. It wasn't like I said I wanted to be a producer or anything, it’s just that the demos I was making came closer to the finished product on one or two occasions, so now, I’m a producer.”
Jamie Edwards, who had helped record and tour for Happiness... was heavily utilized during the recording process and was becoming a big part of the band, considered by some to be the unofficial fifth member of the band at that time. Taggart recounted in 2010, "He’s an amazing guitar player, and he played on the record. People don’t know that he had a lot to do with that stuff. He was very influential. We had him in all our writing sessions. It was a very creative time that was cool because we were all in a room, kind of working together.”
By the time the band was set to perform at Summersault
in August 2000, about eight songs, including "Life
" and "Everyone's a Junkie", had been recorded as demos while the band was on the road touring. Guitarist Turner noted: "After we were done we brought them in for the record company to hear, with an eye to making plans for next year. They heard what we were doing and said, 'Well, let's finish the album you're working on.' And we thought, 'Album? We're just demoing.' But they told us what we had was great, so we went back into the studio with Arn[old Lanni] and did just that." Over the next two months, the band worked to complete the album with Arnold Lanni
at Arnyard Studios in Toronto as well as Avatar Studios
in New York City
. Rumors had surfaced that, while in New York, Our Lady peace had dropped Lanni as producer to work with The Smashing Pumpkins
frontman Billy Corgan
. These rumors were later debunked by Maida. The first songs to be played live were "Life" and "Everyone's a Junkie", which debuted during Summersault in August 2000 shortly after they were first recorded. In an August 2000 interview with Chartattack Raine revealed that a song titled "Yesterday" (later to become "Middle of Yesterday") was almost guaranteed to be the first single for Spiritual Machines.
Towards the end of recording Spiritual Machines, percussionist Jeremy Taggart
suffered a serious ankle injury during a mugging while walking his dog. While he recovered, Taggart's friend Matt Cameron
, former drummer for Soundgarden
and current drummer for Pearl Jam
, filled in for Taggart on the tracks "Right Behind You (Mafia)" and "Are You Sad?", which Taggart had already written the drum parts for. When the final tracks were ready for mixing, the band shopped around before finding a producer they wanted. The album was mixed in Atlanta, Georgia
by Brendan O'Brien
, Pearl Jam's long time producer. "It was an amazing experience working with Brendan, someone who immediately understood what we were trying to do and was able to capture exactly how we heard this album," noted Maida.
", which Raine said, "..[is] not an 'f-you' to Kurzweil. It's like 'I believe [much of] what you're saying, but we're going to fight it as well because there is a soul and there is a spirit.'" Following "Mafia" is the song "In Repair", which muses on how the human body can be "repaired," whether through heart surgery or after an accident. This song is countered by the following track, "Life" which, explained Maida, "recognizes the pain our minds can experience."
During a 2001 interview with Gary Graff
from Wall of Sound Magazine, Maida recounted the inspiration for the lyrics of "Are You Sad". He was in New York recording "In Repair" at the old Hit Factory studio, which was later known as Avatar Studios
. Following those sessions, Maida attempted to call his younger brother from his hotel room but couldn't get through. "When you're making a record, you kind of go into hiding, especially when I'm writing lyrics or writing music; I tend not to keep in touch with any friends or family or stuff. But my brother and I have a good relationship, and I want to keep it good. I couldn't get a hold of him for, like, a week, and I knew he was going through a shitty time — typical young-20s, no job, having a tough life. I wanted to talk to him desperately, and this song just came out of me, "Are You Sad?" It came out really quickly on a shitty travel guitar". The meaning of "If You Believe" was revealed in a 2001 interview with Cleveland.com, "That song's about having an out-of-body experience and seeing that the afterlife is real," Maida confirms, "and telling people that there's something machines can't have, and we've got it.
Spiritual Machines concludes with the track "The Wonderful Future", which is one of the more unique songs on the album that features minimal instrumentation. Raine explained that the song embraces the outcome of Kurzweil's future and accepts it as something new and exciting.
It is about a woman who builds her "own satellite from an old rusted chair" who will one day realize that a man of flesh and tears can satisfy her future. "That's one of my favourite songs, for that reason," said Maida. "That song's about building the perfect human – this cyber-human – and realizing that you can't really compete." Following several minutes of silence after "The Wonderful Future", there is a hidden track with Ray Kurzweil communicating with 'Molly'. Molly is a robot from 2099, who at the beginning of the book
was a 23-year-old woman who knew nothing about what Kurzweil was trying to explain, and then started to evolve in the way Kurzweil predicted.
In a March 2010 interview with The Montreal Gazette, Maida looked back fondly on the making of the album and while saying it took a while to get it right both musically and lyrically, he said "I appreciate the work I did lyrically; it does all tie together. As I sing these songs, it has that feeling of fixing things, and kind of where Ray was going in terms of being able to fix anything and possibly living beyond the realm of any human being and whatever anyone could think of a human living."
on 13 March 2001. Upon release in the United States, it spent a total of four weeks on the Billboard 200
charts, peaking at number 81. In the United States, the album has yet to be certified by the RIAA. It was released to Asian and European markets on May 9, 2001 under the Epic Records
label. The record was re-released in 2008 under the Sony's Special Markets division.
The lead off single for Spiritual Machines was "In Repair
". It was only promoted in Canada and though reaching number one on the Canadian Rock Radio charts, quickly fell off the charts shortly after its November 15, 2000 release. While the single was a failure in the United States, the music video, directed by Oli Goldsmith
won multiple awards at the MuchMusic Video Awards
including Best Video
and Best Director
. The second single was "Life
", released shortly after the album's Canadian release in December 2000. It was the only single that was commercially released, in Australia (EPK 6718742). It fared better on the charts, reaching number 27 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks Chart on 10 March 2001 after 13 weeks. In Canada, the song peaked at number two on the Canadian Rock Radio charts while the music video eventually reached number one on the MuchMusic Countdown. The third and final single was "Right Behind You (Mafia)
". By this time, Spiritual Machines was proving itself to be commercial failure in the States. The release of the single, set to be in June 2001, was aborted and the promotional copies were instead distributed to the band's fan club. The Oli Goldsmith directed music video's release was also cancelled and the video has not been seen until recently when it was released on the band's official website.
who happened to be reading the same book, to create the artwork for the upcoming album. In total, he made around 200 paintings relating to the project, many of which were used for the album art, promotional singles and the band's website. Based on the success of that commission, the record label asked him to also create and direct music videos for the singles "In Repair" and "Right Behind You (Mafia)", which took his paintings and brought them to life with animation and stylized live motion. His artwork was described as "Integrating photographs, logos, television images, signs, as well as a variety of written forms, such as epigrams and poetry, Goldsmith's art juxtaposes the unexpected, resulting in pieces that are bold, colourful, and energetic." When the album insert is unfolded, it reveals a surrealistic panorama that appears to be set in a hospital. The official photo shoot for Spiritual Machines took place on October 7, 2000 on the sixth floor of St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto
, formerly an intensive-care unit.
s alike as being one of Our Lady Peace's finest releases, and has also been proclaimed as being the height of their artistic creativity
. Selena Gomez of the University Star
of Texas State University–San Marcos
called the album incredible, but also pointed out that it was a commercial disaster due to it being "flighty and difficult to palate." MacKenzie Wilson of Allmusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars saying that "They can still deliver pinch-hitting licks and the brash attitude they did when they first formed in 1993, but they are a little older and a little wiser." A review from the Hamilton Spectator noted that the album's concluding tracks "If You Believe" and "The Wonderful Future" demonstrated a particular facility for mixing sonic textures
and that there were "actually moments when vocalist Raine Maida varies from his impersonation of a singing head cold
." Ashley Bird of Kerrang!
noted that the album was packed with crisp, clean songwriting, odd searing post-grunge riffs and Raine Maida's nasal croon. He went on to say that the song "Life" "is one of the most perfectly weighted slices of pop-rock you'll hear."
Eddie Fournier of The New Hampshire
reviewed Spiritual Machines positively but said that "The spoken word sections are intriguing, but in a way, they detract from the overall strength of the album, breaking up the momentum created by the powerful 10 songs." He concluded by saying "Overall, Spiritual Machines is a lovely album from start to finish, and even better, it is an album that will make you wonder." Cheryl Hunter of the Hartford Courant said that "It may sound formulaic, yet Maida's intelligent songwriting and nasally, but forthright vocals make Our Lady Peace more than just another faceless modern rock band." Bartley Kives of Winnipeg Free Press
gave the album 3 stars out of 5, saying that Our Lady Peace had finally gotten control of their sound and calling it "easily the finest thing they've ever created."
in March, 2001 with American Hi-Fi
joining them as an opening act. During May 2001, the band debuted a new song they had written for WWF
pro-wrestler Chris Benoit
that would be included on the soundtrack WWF Forceable Entry
much to the chagrin of Maida. The song had been recorded in early March and was mixed in Seattle.
Several shows during the Summer leg had to be rescheduled or canceled after Maida contracted a throat infection. A cancer scare which turned out to be harmless caused bassist Duncan Coutts to miss six weeks of touring following the shoot for the "Life" video in February. Rob Higgins of the band Change of Heart
filled in for him while he recovered from surgery. Coutts would also miss several shows in June after breaking his wrist in a biking accident. The band wrapped up the tour with a performance at Music Without Borders at Toronto
's Air Canada Centre
on October 21, 2001. This would be their last live performance with Mike Turner. Several songs were recorded live by the band in Syracuse, New York
with hopes of releasing a live album with producer Bob Rock
and then to continue touring for the album. The live tracks were instead spread across various promos and singles and the band decided to record a full length album, Gravity
, with Rock.
, the band announced that they would be "recreating" both Spiritual Machines and their 1997 record Clumsy by performing them live in their entireties throughout a new tour that began in March 2010; nine months before the 10-year anniversary of the release of Spiritual Machines. Prior to this tour, the song "All My Friends" had never been played live and many more songs had never been played by present guitarist Steve Mazur
, having joined the band in 2002.
Studio outtakes
Several known outtakes from the Spiritual Machines sessions were demos carried over from the Happiness... sessions, such as "Ordinary Day" and "Sleeping In". "Ordinary" is seen being played during demo sessions for Happiness... on the band's 1998 holiday fan club video. The lyrics were published in the Pied Piper's Union Christmas 1998 newsletter. A poor quality recording of the latter is available on YouTube
as well as in trading circles. Other song names such as "La Bra" and "A Waste of Violence" (or The Weight of Violence) were revealed on web casts of the recording sessions or seen on original artwork by Oli Goldsmith. A narrative outtake by Ray Kurzweil titled "R.K. Jack" was included as an intro to the track "Life" on A Decade
.
In an August 18, 2000 article, it was revealed at that point that 8 songs were complete with four more being recorded in the past five weeks. This was before heading to New York to record "In Repair" and "Are You Sad", among others. Turner even noted "We've got so much music, we could even put another (album) out."
Musicians
Production
Design
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Our Lady Peace
Our Lady Peace
Our Lady Peace is a Canadian alternative rock band that formed in Toronto, Ontario in 1992. Headed by lead vocalist Raine Maida since its formation, the band additionally consists of Jeremy Taggart on percussion, Duncan Coutts on bass, and Steve Mazur as lead guitarist...
, released by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in December 2000. Although not initially intended, the project evolved into a conceptual interpretation
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
of futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil
Raymond Kurzweil
Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil is an American author, inventor and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition , text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments...
's 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines
The Age of Spiritual Machines
The Age of Spiritual Machines is a book by futurist Ray Kurzweil about the future course of humanity, particularly relating to the development of artificial intelligence and its impact on human consciousness...
. Short tracks of spoken dialog from Kurzweil himself are interspersed among the actual songs on the album. The Kurzweil K250
Kurzweil K250
The Kurzweil K250 a.k.a. "Kurzweil 250", "K250" or "K-250", manufactured by Kurzweil Music Systems was the first electronic musical instrument which produced sound derived from sampled sounds burned onto integrated circuits known as Read Only Memory without the requirement for any type of disk...
keyboard, one of his inventions, was utilized throughout the recording of the album.
The album was written and recorded in two months while the band was still on tour in support of their previous record, Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch, which had only been released 14 months prior. A combination of lead singer-songwriter Raine Maida
Raine Maida
Raine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...
's prolific songwriting at the time and lead-guitarist Mike Turner
Mike Turner (musician)
Mike A. Turner is a musician and producer. He is the former lead guitarist of the band Our Lady Peace. After his departure from OLP he began producing music and played guitar in the Canadian band Fair Ground, with Harem Scarem guitarist Pete Lesperance...
's discovery of The Age of Spiritual Machines in a bookstore hurried the completion of the album. The band only took a break from recording to organize and perform at Summersault
Summersault
Summersault was a Canadian music festival organized by the band Our Lady Peace in 1998 and again in 2000. Summersault 1998 was held in Barrie, Ontario, at Molson Park, St...
in 2000. Unlike their previous releases, this one features a more organic, acoustic sound, and less obvious layering and electronic texturing.
Spiritual Machines has been noted as being the end of an era for Our Lady Peace, as it was the last album produced by the band's longtime producer Arnold Lanni
Arnold Lanni
Arnold David Lanni is a Canadian record producer, and former member of both Frozen Ghost and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, "When I'm With You."-History:...
, the last to feature original guitarist Mike Turner in full, the last studio album to feature art model Saul Fox on its cover, and the last album to feature Maida's high-falsetto singing voice prominently. The album peaked at number five in Canada
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...
, where it is certified double platinum.
Background
While touring rigorously in support of Happiness... in mid-2000, Mike Turner came across The Age of Spiritual Machines, a 1999 book by inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. "I happened to be lucky enough to discover a really shiny book cover in a book store." Turner stated, "I wish I could say it was like, 'Well, I've been on this intellectual quest.' I picked it up, read it and went mental." Becoming fascinated by the futuristic ideology of the book, he proceeded to share it with the other band members, reading them passages on their tour bus over the next several months.Lead singer Raine Maida first brought up the idea of a concept album after excerpts from the book began influencing his songwriting. Passing time on the road, he had amassed a backlog of songs and had begun to record demos. He jokingly suggested an album title of Kurzweil. "That was not the most graceful sounding name in the world, so we went with Spiritual Machines instead," Turner said. While the other band-members were less enthusiastic about the idea due to its weighty subject matter, Maida and Turner decided to pursue it and Turner contacted Ray Kurzweil via email to ask for permission to use the title of his book for their project. Kurzweil's excitement at the prospect prompted them to invite him to record spoken excerpts from his book for the album and a correspondence developed. “I think it’s amazing that Ray Kurzweil sent us a bunch of pieces, and for whatever reason, they really tie in with what we were trying to say on this record,” said Maida.
Recording and production
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
, then move to an 8-track
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
, then go to digital. I have a ProTools system set up in my basement, so I just try to finish songs and get them out of the way so I don’t build up this backlog of ideas. We just sift through that stuff, as well as the stuff we do in rehearsal and just pick the best ideas and go. It wasn't like I said I wanted to be a producer or anything, it’s just that the demos I was making came closer to the finished product on one or two occasions, so now, I’m a producer.”
Jamie Edwards, who had helped record and tour for Happiness... was heavily utilized during the recording process and was becoming a big part of the band, considered by some to be the unofficial fifth member of the band at that time. Taggart recounted in 2010, "He’s an amazing guitar player, and he played on the record. People don’t know that he had a lot to do with that stuff. He was very influential. We had him in all our writing sessions. It was a very creative time that was cool because we were all in a room, kind of working together.”
By the time the band was set to perform at Summersault
Summersault
Summersault was a Canadian music festival organized by the band Our Lady Peace in 1998 and again in 2000. Summersault 1998 was held in Barrie, Ontario, at Molson Park, St...
in August 2000, about eight songs, including "Life
Life (Our Lady Peace song)
"Life" is a song by Canadian rock group Our Lady Peace. It was the second single released from their fourth studio album, Spiritual Machines and the most successful from that album...
" and "Everyone's a Junkie", had been recorded as demos while the band was on the road touring. Guitarist Turner noted: "After we were done we brought them in for the record company to hear, with an eye to making plans for next year. They heard what we were doing and said, 'Well, let's finish the album you're working on.' And we thought, 'Album? We're just demoing.' But they told us what we had was great, so we went back into the studio with Arn[old Lanni] and did just that." Over the next two months, the band worked to complete the album with Arnold Lanni
Arnold Lanni
Arnold David Lanni is a Canadian record producer, and former member of both Frozen Ghost and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, "When I'm With You."-History:...
at Arnyard Studios in Toronto as well as Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios, formerly known as The Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street in Manhattan, New York City.The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant; but after a period of vacancy, it was used as a sound stage for the television game show Let's Make a Deal...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Rumors had surfaced that, while in New York, Our Lady peace had dropped Lanni as producer to work with The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
frontman Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan
William Patrick "Billy" Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet best known as the frontman and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the...
. These rumors were later debunked by Maida. The first songs to be played live were "Life" and "Everyone's a Junkie", which debuted during Summersault in August 2000 shortly after they were first recorded. In an August 2000 interview with Chartattack Raine revealed that a song titled "Yesterday" (later to become "Middle of Yesterday") was almost guaranteed to be the first single for Spiritual Machines.
Towards the end of recording Spiritual Machines, percussionist Jeremy Taggart
Jeremy Taggart
Jeremy Ronald John Taggart is a Canadian drummer, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace since 1993.-Early life:Taggart was born in Toronto, Ontario and has two brothers and one sister. Music was a central part of his youth, as his parents were also musicians, and Taggart learned to play drums...
suffered a serious ankle injury during a mugging while walking his dog. While he recovered, Taggart's friend Matt Cameron
Matt Cameron
Matthew David "Matt" Cameron is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden...
, former drummer for Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
and current drummer for Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
, filled in for Taggart on the tracks "Right Behind You (Mafia)" and "Are You Sad?", which Taggart had already written the drum parts for. When the final tracks were ready for mixing, the band shopped around before finding a producer they wanted. The album was mixed in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
by Brendan O'Brien
Brendan O'Brien (music producer)
Brendan O’Brien is a record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician.At age 14, O'Brien played guitar for the Atlanta-based cover band Pranks. In the late 1970s, he moved on to writing, performing and recording with the Samurai Catfish band...
, Pearl Jam's long time producer. "It was an amazing experience working with Brendan, someone who immediately understood what we were trying to do and was able to capture exactly how we heard this album," noted Maida.
Music and lyrics
The songs for Spiritual Machines were written and partially recorded during a year in which the band was doing extensive touring of Canada, the United States, and Europe. According to lead singer Maida, the live stage-context inspired the band to "keep it really basic and not try to add too many textures... to not overdo it." and giving the technically inclined record an ironically acoustic feel at times. According to Maida, half of the record was completed before the book and its ideas even entered the equation. During an interview in late 2001, he stated, "... even though it seems quite intrinsic to the record, really, it only represents about four or five songs." While the lyrics of several songs were inspired by the futuristic theories of Kurzweil, they were also written as a response to them, saying that the human spirit would always prevail. "Lyrically, this album is about finding the spirituality within ourselves." This is the case with the opening song, "Right Behind You (Mafia)Right Behind You (Mafia)
"Right Behind You " is the title of a song by Canadian music group Our Lady Peace. It was the third and final single released from their fourth album, Spiritual Machines and their only single released in 2001. The single did not perform well, ultimately causing its release as well as that of its...
", which Raine said, "..[is] not an 'f-you' to Kurzweil. It's like 'I believe [much of] what you're saying, but we're going to fight it as well because there is a soul and there is a spirit.'" Following "Mafia" is the song "In Repair", which muses on how the human body can be "repaired," whether through heart surgery or after an accident. This song is countered by the following track, "Life" which, explained Maida, "recognizes the pain our minds can experience."
During a 2001 interview with Gary Graff
Gary Graff
Gary Graff 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 received his Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri...
from Wall of Sound Magazine, Maida recounted the inspiration for the lyrics of "Are You Sad". He was in New York recording "In Repair" at the old Hit Factory studio, which was later known as Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios, formerly known as The Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street in Manhattan, New York City.The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant; but after a period of vacancy, it was used as a sound stage for the television game show Let's Make a Deal...
. Following those sessions, Maida attempted to call his younger brother from his hotel room but couldn't get through. "When you're making a record, you kind of go into hiding, especially when I'm writing lyrics or writing music; I tend not to keep in touch with any friends or family or stuff. But my brother and I have a good relationship, and I want to keep it good. I couldn't get a hold of him for, like, a week, and I knew he was going through a shitty time — typical young-20s, no job, having a tough life. I wanted to talk to him desperately, and this song just came out of me, "Are You Sad?" It came out really quickly on a shitty travel guitar". The meaning of "If You Believe" was revealed in a 2001 interview with Cleveland.com, "That song's about having an out-of-body experience and seeing that the afterlife is real," Maida confirms, "and telling people that there's something machines can't have, and we've got it.
Spiritual Machines concludes with the track "The Wonderful Future", which is one of the more unique songs on the album that features minimal instrumentation. Raine explained that the song embraces the outcome of Kurzweil's future and accepts it as something new and exciting.
It is about a woman who builds her "own satellite from an old rusted chair" who will one day realize that a man of flesh and tears can satisfy her future. "That's one of my favourite songs, for that reason," said Maida. "That song's about building the perfect human – this cyber-human – and realizing that you can't really compete." Following several minutes of silence after "The Wonderful Future", there is a hidden track with Ray Kurzweil communicating with 'Molly'. Molly is a robot from 2099, who at the beginning of the book
The Age of Spiritual Machines
The Age of Spiritual Machines is a book by futurist Ray Kurzweil about the future course of humanity, particularly relating to the development of artificial intelligence and its impact on human consciousness...
was a 23-year-old woman who knew nothing about what Kurzweil was trying to explain, and then started to evolve in the way Kurzweil predicted.
In a March 2010 interview with The Montreal Gazette, Maida looked back fondly on the making of the album and while saying it took a while to get it right both musically and lyrically, he said "I appreciate the work I did lyrically; it does all tie together. As I sing these songs, it has that feeling of fixing things, and kind of where Ray was going in terms of being able to fix anything and possibly living beyond the realm of any human being and whatever anyone could think of a human living."
Release
Promotion
Following a virtual listening party on the band's website where the full ten songs from the record were made available to listen to, Spiritual Machines was released in Canada on 12 December 2000. For those who pre-ordered the album, a limited edition version of the CD was released in a black jewel case in which the artwork was not visible, only the band's name and logo in embossed lettering. Spiritual Machines sold 36,394 copies in its debut week, and would sell a total of 100,000 units in the first month after its release, making it their fastest selling album to date. It went on to be certified 2X Platinum in Canada. As was common practice, the album was released several months later in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on 13 March 2001. Upon release in the United States, it spent a total of four weeks on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
charts, peaking at number 81. In the United States, the album has yet to be certified by the RIAA. It was released to Asian and European markets on May 9, 2001 under the Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
label. The record was re-released in 2008 under the Sony's Special Markets division.
The lead off single for Spiritual Machines was "In Repair
In Repair (Our Lady Peace song)
"In Repair" is a music single released by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace in 2000, under the album Spiritual Machines. It was the first single from the album, and was followed by "Life" and "Right Behind You ".-Meaning:...
". It was only promoted in Canada and though reaching number one on the Canadian Rock Radio charts, quickly fell off the charts shortly after its November 15, 2000 release. While the single was a failure in the United States, the music video, directed by Oli Goldsmith
Oli Goldsmith
Oli Goldsmith is a Canadian artist whose best known work is for rock-band Our Lady Peace's 2000 album Spiritual Machines. Goldsmith currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario with his wife Caroline Bacher, an emerging artist, sculptor and jeweller....
won multiple awards at the MuchMusic Video Awards
MuchMusic Video Awards
The MuchMusic Video Awards are annual awards presented by the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic to honour the year's best music videos....
including Best Video
Best Video (MMVA Award)
The following is a list of the MuchMusic Video Awards winners for Best Video....
and Best Director
Best Director (MMVA Award)
The following is a list of the MuchMusic Video Awards winners for Best Director....
. The second single was "Life
Life (Our Lady Peace song)
"Life" is a song by Canadian rock group Our Lady Peace. It was the second single released from their fourth studio album, Spiritual Machines and the most successful from that album...
", released shortly after the album's Canadian release in December 2000. It was the only single that was commercially released, in Australia (EPK 6718742). It fared better on the charts, reaching number 27 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks Chart on 10 March 2001 after 13 weeks. In Canada, the song peaked at number two on the Canadian Rock Radio charts while the music video eventually reached number one on the MuchMusic Countdown. The third and final single was "Right Behind You (Mafia)
Right Behind You (Mafia)
"Right Behind You " is the title of a song by Canadian music group Our Lady Peace. It was the third and final single released from their fourth album, Spiritual Machines and their only single released in 2001. The single did not perform well, ultimately causing its release as well as that of its...
". By this time, Spiritual Machines was proving itself to be commercial failure in the States. The release of the single, set to be in June 2001, was aborted and the promotional copies were instead distributed to the band's fan club. The Oli Goldsmith directed music video's release was also cancelled and the video has not been seen until recently when it was released on the band's official website.
Packaging
The band contacted local Toronto artist Oli GoldsmithOli Goldsmith
Oli Goldsmith is a Canadian artist whose best known work is for rock-band Our Lady Peace's 2000 album Spiritual Machines. Goldsmith currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario with his wife Caroline Bacher, an emerging artist, sculptor and jeweller....
who happened to be reading the same book, to create the artwork for the upcoming album. In total, he made around 200 paintings relating to the project, many of which were used for the album art, promotional singles and the band's website. Based on the success of that commission, the record label asked him to also create and direct music videos for the singles "In Repair" and "Right Behind You (Mafia)", which took his paintings and brought them to life with animation and stylized live motion. His artwork was described as "Integrating photographs, logos, television images, signs, as well as a variety of written forms, such as epigrams and poetry, Goldsmith's art juxtaposes the unexpected, resulting in pieces that are bold, colourful, and energetic." When the album insert is unfolded, it reveals a surrealistic panorama that appears to be set in a hospital. The official photo shoot for Spiritual Machines took place on October 7, 2000 on the sixth floor of St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, formerly an intensive-care unit.
Critical reception
Although Spiritual Machines was not as successful as Our Lady Peace's previous three albums, it was highly praised by fans and criticCritic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s alike as being one of Our Lady Peace's finest releases, and has also been proclaimed as being the height of their artistic creativity
Artistic inspiration
Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other artistic endeavour. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. The Greeks believed that inspiration came from the muses, as well as the gods Apollo and...
. Selena Gomez of the University Star
University Star
The University Star, also called The Star, is a student-run newspaper for Texas State University-San Marcos. The Star provides news and information on issues that affect the Texas State community as well as San Marcos news.-Distribution:...
of Texas State University–San Marcos
Texas State University–San Marcos
Texas State University–San Marcos is a doctoral-granting university located in San Marcos, Texas...
called the album incredible, but also pointed out that it was a commercial disaster due to it being "flighty and difficult to palate." MacKenzie Wilson of Allmusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars saying that "They can still deliver pinch-hitting licks and the brash attitude they did when they first formed in 1993, but they are a little older and a little wiser." A review from the Hamilton Spectator noted that the album's concluding tracks "If You Believe" and "The Wonderful Future" demonstrated a particular facility for mixing sonic textures
Space music
Space music, also called spacemusic, is an umbrella term, synonymous with a segment of New Age Music and Ambient Music, used to describe music that evokes a feeling of contemplative spaciousness. Space music can be found within a wide range of genres. It is particularly associated with ambient, New...
and that there were "actually moments when vocalist Raine Maida varies from his impersonation of a singing head cold
Common cold
The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...
." Ashley Bird of Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
noted that the album was packed with crisp, clean songwriting, odd searing post-grunge riffs and Raine Maida's nasal croon. He went on to say that the song "Life" "is one of the most perfectly weighted slices of pop-rock you'll hear."
Eddie Fournier of The New Hampshire
The New Hampshire
The New Hampshire, or TNH, is the "University of New Hampshire's student newspaper since 1911," published by the student organization of the same name. The newspaper is published weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays during the academic year, with a printed circulation 6,000...
reviewed Spiritual Machines positively but said that "The spoken word sections are intriguing, but in a way, they detract from the overall strength of the album, breaking up the momentum created by the powerful 10 songs." He concluded by saying "Overall, Spiritual Machines is a lovely album from start to finish, and even better, it is an album that will make you wonder." Cheryl Hunter of the Hartford Courant said that "It may sound formulaic, yet Maida's intelligent songwriting and nasally, but forthright vocals make Our Lady Peace more than just another faceless modern rock band." Bartley Kives of Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
gave the album 3 stars out of 5, saying that Our Lady Peace had finally gotten control of their sound and calling it "easily the finest thing they've ever created."
Touring
Original tours (2000–2001)
Our Lady Peace toured in support of Spiritual Machines from November 2000 until September 2001. The first leg of the tour began with a university warm-up tour in Ontario, then a cross-Canadian fan club appreciation tour from Vancouver, BC to Ste-Foy, Quebec in which members of their fan club received free tickets. The tour continued into the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in March, 2001 with American Hi-Fi
American Hi-Fi
American Hi-Fi is an American pop punk band from Los Angeles, California, which originally hailed from Boston, Massachusetts. The band consists of vocalist Stacy Jones, guitarist Jamie Arentzen, bassist Drew Parsons, and drummer Brian Nolan...
joining them as an opening act. During May 2001, the band debuted a new song they had written for WWF
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
pro-wrestler Chris Benoit
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael "Chris" Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler whose career and life ended in a murder–suicide...
that would be included on the soundtrack WWF Forceable Entry
WWF Forceable Entry
WWF Forceable Entry is a compilation album released by the World Wrestling Federation in 2002. This was the last album sold under the WWF name . It features mostly rock bands performing versions of each wrestlers entrance music. The album had a sequel released in May 2006...
much to the chagrin of Maida. The song had been recorded in early March and was mixed in Seattle.
Several shows during the Summer leg had to be rescheduled or canceled after Maida contracted a throat infection. A cancer scare which turned out to be harmless caused bassist Duncan Coutts to miss six weeks of touring following the shoot for the "Life" video in February. Rob Higgins of the band Change of Heart
Change of Heart (band)
Change of Heart was a Canadian alternative rock band. They had one Top 40 hit, "There You Go" in 1992, as well as several hits on Canada's modern rock charts, including "Trigger" and "Little Kingdoms".-History:...
filled in for him while he recovered from surgery. Coutts would also miss several shows in June after breaking his wrist in a biking accident. The band wrapped up the tour with a performance at Music Without Borders at Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's Air Canada Centre
Air Canada Centre
The Air Canada Centre is a multi-purpose indoor sporting arena located on Bay Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.The arena is popularly known as the ACC or the Hangar ....
on October 21, 2001. This would be their last live performance with Mike Turner. Several songs were recorded live by the band in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
with hopes of releasing a live album with producer Bob Rock
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock, , is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing bands such as Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, The Offspring and most recently Bush.-Payola$ and Rock and Hyde:Rock began his music career in Langford,...
and then to continue touring for the album. The live tracks were instead spread across various promos and singles and the band decided to record a full length album, Gravity
Gravity (Our Lady Peace album)
Gravity is the title of Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace's fifth studio album. It was released on June 18, 2002 by Columbia Records in North America. The album became a worldwide success, charting highly both in Canada and the U.S...
, with Rock.
Recreation tour (2010)
In December 2009, after a poll on FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, the band announced that they would be "recreating" both Spiritual Machines and their 1997 record Clumsy by performing them live in their entireties throughout a new tour that began in March 2010; nine months before the 10-year anniversary of the release of Spiritual Machines. Prior to this tour, the song "All My Friends" had never been played live and many more songs had never been played by present guitarist Steve Mazur
Steve Mazur
Notable InstrumentsGibson Trini LopezSteven Theodore Mazur is an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for alternative rock band Our Lady Peace...
, having joined the band in 2002.
Track listing
- "The Wonderful Future" ends at 4:30, and is followed by roughly 12 minutes of silence, after which a hidden conversation between R.K. and Molly is heard.
Studio outtakes
Several known outtakes from the Spiritual Machines sessions were demos carried over from the Happiness... sessions, such as "Ordinary Day" and "Sleeping In". "Ordinary" is seen being played during demo sessions for Happiness... on the band's 1998 holiday fan club video. The lyrics were published in the Pied Piper's Union Christmas 1998 newsletter. A poor quality recording of the latter is available on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
as well as in trading circles. Other song names such as "La Bra" and "A Waste of Violence" (or The Weight of Violence) were revealed on web casts of the recording sessions or seen on original artwork by Oli Goldsmith. A narrative outtake by Ray Kurzweil titled "R.K. Jack" was included as an intro to the track "Life" on A Decade
A Decade
-See also:*Our Lady Peace discography*The Very Best of Our Lady Peace...
.
In an August 18, 2000 article, it was revealed at that point that 8 songs were complete with four more being recorded in the past five weeks. This was before heading to New York to record "In Repair" and "Are You Sad", among others. Turner even noted "We've got so much music, we could even put another (album) out."
Personnel
As listed in liner notes.Musicians
- Matt CameronMatt CameronMatthew David "Matt" Cameron is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
on "Right Behind You (Mafia)" and "Are You Sad?" - Duncan Coutts – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Jamie Edwards – keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker... - Ray Kurzweil – narration
- Tyler Lanni – singing on "R.K. 1949–97"
- Raine MaidaRaine MaidaRaine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...
– vocals - Jeremy TaggartJeremy TaggartJeremy Ronald John Taggart is a Canadian drummer, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace since 1993.-Early life:Taggart was born in Toronto, Ontario and has two brothers and one sister. Music was a central part of his youth, as his parents were also musicians, and Taggart learned to play drums...
– drums, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Mike TurnerMike Turner (musician)Mike A. Turner is a musician and producer. He is the former lead guitarist of the band Our Lady Peace. After his departure from OLP he began producing music and played guitar in the Canadian band Fair Ground, with Harem Scarem guitarist Pete Lesperance...
– guitars
Production
- Angelo Caruso – studio engineer
- Rich Chycki – digital editing
- Chris Gauthier – digital editing
- Arnold LanniArnold LanniArnold David Lanni is a Canadian record producer, and former member of both Frozen Ghost and Sheriff. He wrote Sheriff's most successful song, "When I'm With You."-History:...
– producer - Raine MaidaRaine MaidaRaine Maida , is a Canadian musician best known as being the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. He has come to be known for his unique countertenor nasal falsetto singing voice, as well as his cryptic and poetry-influenced song lyrics...
– co-producer - Stephen MarcussenStephen MarcussenStephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer of Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California. Marcussen is one of the most sought-after mastering engineers in the music industry and his expertise has been coveted by a wide range of artists over the years...
– masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced... - Brendan O'BrienBrendan O'Brien (music producer)Brendan O’Brien is a record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician.At age 14, O'Brien played guitar for the Atlanta-based cover band Pranks. In the late 1970s, he moved on to writing, performing and recording with the Samurai Catfish band...
– mixer - Rob Waite – digital editing
Design
- Oli GoldsmithOli GoldsmithOli Goldsmith is a Canadian artist whose best known work is for rock-band Our Lady Peace's 2000 album Spiritual Machines. Goldsmith currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario with his wife Caroline Bacher, an emerging artist, sculptor and jeweller....
– artwork, layout - Clay Patrick McBride – photography
- Catherine McRae – art direction
- Our Lady Peace – art direction
External links
- Spiritual Machines lyrics at RhapsodyRhapsody (online music service)Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...
- Spiritual Machines artwork at Oli Goldsmith's FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...