“Clumsy″ by Our Lady Peace – Song of the Week

After about a six month hiatus, Rizzo Music is back and better than ever. Armed with the new Wordpress platform, www.rizzomusic.com is here to bring you more of your favorite 90s music.

This week's song, "Clumsy" by Our Lady Peace, was chosen in honor of Our Lady Peace's fairly new album, Burn Burn, that I have seen advertised heavily throughout imeem.com. The album was released July 21, 2009, their first album in about four years. Needless to say, it was a welcome return to a band that has topped the Rock Charts for the last decade and a half.

By now, you probably have heard the single, "All You Did Was Save My Life" and I can't say that it blew me out of the water, but it takes a step back in the right direction from the singles released in their previous album, Healthy in Paranoid Times, a album in which I found to be fairly disappointing at times.

Unlike, most of the songs on Healthy in Paranoid Times, "Clumsy", off of their album of the same name, is a song that has an undeniable likeness. Released in 1998, "Clumsy" has been their biggest hit on the Modern Rock Charts, peaking at #5. While packed with rather dark lyrics, the song itself is formed with a change of pace rhythm that keeps you coming back for more. It starts out with a memorable repetition of four simple notes on the piano, before breaking into the first verse. The song really embodies the sound of Our Lady Peace and shows why they have been so popular for so long.

According to the Wikipedia page on "Clumsy" (no citation) guitarist Mike Turner and vocalist Raine Maida have said this about the song,

Clumsy is about making decisions. There is a connection between the song Clumsy and it being the title of the album. The lyric; 'I'll be waving my hand/watching you drown/ watching you scream' is about seeing something, but not seeing it for what it really is. You may decide to help... or to just wave back."

A little food for thought. Something the band hasn't shied away from in their lyrics.

"Clumsy" is just a taste of what the band has to offer and most of their stuff from the 90s is rock solid. Their album, Happiness is not a Fish That You Can Catch, still remains to be one of my favorite rock albums from the 90s.

The music video has that classic 90s rock vibe to it. Also a little dark, like the lyrics but if you like to see your favorite band play with a strobe light going and see a ordinary spilt glass of water fill up a room, then this is the video for you.

Check it out below and be sure to check in next week for another classic 90s song of the week.


"Thief" by Our Lady Peace - Music Video Tribute

This is one of those songs that not many people know about but it is one of my all time favorites. The music video itself isn't anything tremendous but the song is something to be treasured. The video basically just shows the band members getting drenched by a downpour. They don't seem phased and they have some pretty cool slow motion shots of the water falling on their faces. The song itself is actually about a young girl they knew that had a brain tumor. The "Thief" inside her head refers to the tumor itself.

The video does a good job to portray the mood of the song and you can almost see the helplessness in the band member's eyes. The rain doesn't seem to bother them because they are too concerned for the young girl's life and feel that they can do nothing to help her. The song starts out with such powerful lyrics, that if you listen carefully to the words, it almost gives you the chills. "I don't want to understand this horror / There's a weight in your eyes that I can't admit...". It is such powerful song and the video does a good job of capturing the essence of the song. Without further explanation, here it is... Hope you find it as moving as I did.


Our Lady Peace - A Decade Album Review

Our Lady Peace - A DecadeOur Lady Peace is a gem that I discovered around ten years ago. These guys have consistently produced hit after hit since they formed and the album, A Decade, is a great tribute to the work that they have done. If you only have one of their albums or flat out never decided to go out and buy an OLP album then I highly suggest purchasing this one. It includes one of my all time favorite songs from any band, "Thief". This song can be summed up in one word, fantastic. "Thief" is a slow moving, powerful song that is one for the ages. A Decade contains 12 songs that I have heard in the past and have thoroughly enjoyed. The album has a run time of 1:17:22 with a total of 18 songs including a previously unreleased track and a demo from their Healthy in Paranoid Times album.

The album kicks off with one of their biggest hits, "Starseed", from their first album Naveed. This song is one of those hit singles that you might have forgotten about because I know that I did. You probably heard on the radio all the time but never took the time to look it up. Its a good song and one of the few that I previously did not own but now enjoy. Next up is "The Birdman" and "Naveed", both again from their first album. These are two songs that I had never previously heard before but aren't too bad. I like "Naveed" better, it's a little slower and is a little more mellow. Those three represent their first album, and moving in chronological order we come to their next album, "Clumsy". They put in three songs from this album as well, all fairly big radio hits, "Superman's Dead", "Clumsy", and "4am". This might be the best trio of songs of any of their albums and though I think Happiness Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch is their best album overall, these three songs are gold. "Clumsy" is probably my favorite from this group, with lyrics like this, you can't really go wrong.

"I'll be waving my hand...Watching you drown...
Watching you scream...Quiet or loud...
And maybe you should sleep
And maybe you just need...A friend
As clumsy as you've been, there's no one laughing
You will be safe in here, you will be safe in here..."

Next up is my favorite album, Happiness Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch, with another trio of songs, "One Man Army", "Is Anybody Home", and the previously mentioned "Thief". "One Man Army" is a great song about reminiscing and marching through your troubles whereas "Is Anybody Home" is a fairly depressing song about loneliness but none the less a good one. I have already went over my thoughts on "Thief"; it's one of my favorite of all time. Spiritual Machines is next in order with their two songs, "In Repair" and "Life". "In Repair" is a song that I had not previously heard before reviewing this album but I have since found out why they selected this song for their greatest hits album. It is a song with a solid beat that will have you coming back for more. "Life" was one of the band's biggest hits at the height of their career getting significant radio play. This song has some universal lyrics that will have you singing along and give you hope for a better tomorrow.

We are already up to 2002 with Gravity and the two songs that they chose from this album, "Somewhere Out There" and "Innocent", another two big hits. "Somewhere Out There" is a song about hope and longing for a connection and "Innocent" is about kids who have great obstacles in their life and there is hope just around the corner. We have finally made it to the last original studio album for OLP, with "Healthy in Paranoid Times" and another trio of songs, "Where Are You", "Angels/Losing/Sleep" and "Will The Future Blame Us". My favorite of this trio is "Angels/Losing/Sleep" a classic OLP song highlighting front man Raine Maida haunting voice. "Where Are You" was their main single of this album and got significant radio airplay. "Will the Future Blame Us" was another song that I had never heard before but was not in the least disappointing, with strong vocals and very creative verses. The album wraps up with a unreleased song and a demo from their last album. "Kiss On The Mouth" and "Better than Here" are great treats for the hardcore fans and decent incentive for the dedicated fans to go out and buy their greatest hits even if they own all their other albums.

I would highly recommend this album for the Our Lady Peace fan that somehow lost sight of this group somewhere in their long and lustrous career and also for the alternative rock fan that somehow missed this superb group. I'll giv
e it 4 and a half stars, a great buy for all music fans. Once again thanks for listening, and go check it out.


Top 10 Songs You Should Know Playlist: Week #4

It is once again time for for another playlist. This time I tried to stick to introducing artists I have not mentioned before, but I don't know how long this will last. I tried to mix this playlist up a little with some really famous artists, some not so famous artists, and lead it off with one of my favorite songs even though it was fairly popular when it was released. "Fast Car" kind of goes against what this playlist is all about, since it was her one of her most famous songs but since it came out eighteen years ago, you might not of heard it yet. These are some of my favorite songs of all-time so please at least check some of them out. It is so hard to choose a favorite from this list but if you are only going to listen to one of them, I would have to go with "Compliment" by Collective Soul. This song is just too good to pass up.

Top 10 Songs You Should Know - Week 4 - Dec. 4-10 2006
1. Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
2. Compliment - Collective Soul
3. Lucky Man - The Verve
4. My Big Mouth - Oasis
5. Stealing Babies - Our Lady Peace
6. Swallowed in the Sea - Coldplay
7. Change Your Mind - The Killers
8. With a Bullet - Sam Roberts
9. Gone to the Movies - Semisonic
10. Have You Seen Me Lately - Counting Crows

Looking for more playlists? We've got plenty.