Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch
| Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch | ||||
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| Studio album by Our Lady Peace | ||||
| Released | September 21, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | January - June 1999 | |||
| Studio | Arnyard Studios (Toronto, Ontario) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 43:23 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Arnold Lanni | |||
| Our Lady Peace chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Mike Stagno | |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+ |
| Richmond Times-Dispatch | B− |
| San Antonio Express-News |  |
Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch (written as simply Happiness... on the cover) is the third studio album by Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace. It was released on September 21, 1999 by Columbia Records. The album was very successful in Canada, debuting at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart. The album was certified 3x Platinum in July 2001. Hit singles from the album include "One Man Army", "Is Anybody Home?", and "Thief". The final track on the CD, "Stealing Babies", features Elvin Jones, a prominent post-bop jazz drummer. The photo shoot for this album took place around Staten Island in New York State.
By early 1998, while touring for Clumsy, the members of Our Lady Peace were already eager to get back into the studio. "We're all starting to get that itch," bass player Duncan Coutts said in a March 1998 interview. "We're all writing collectively and individually. Everyone's hovered over their four-track machines, if we're not trying to work things out in sound checks."
Mike Turner and Raine Maida say they wanted to make an album that didn't sound derivative, an accusation that had stung them in the past. Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan infamously accused them of ripping off his band. They tried to counter the remark for their new album. "We've toured so much for the last five years throughout the U.S. and Canada and with all the bands we've played with . . . music became so diluted and so disposable we said: `If we're going to make a record, let's put out something that maybe challenges people.'"
According to Raine Maida, the overall idea of the album is human obsession, "A lot of this record came from obsessions: Definitely seeing those obsessions in the States, the guns, the Gap ads and how the media determines who you are these days.... During the recording of this record, we talked a lot about death, for whatever reason. There's definitely an obsession with death and a huge fear. But in knowing that, it makes you hate these other things more, because it's not what life's about. Buying Tommy Hilfinger (sic) because it's cool has nothing to do with any kind of emotional value or content, and music for me does. So when they hit each other, I get pretty emotional about it."
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Wikipedia