other special effects and ended up recording for the album. The band was looking to make a sonic leap forward from their previous albums. "We took the things we thought were original from 'Clumsy' and 'Naveed' and tried to overdo them." said Raine Maida, "As well, our songwriting really improved." Raine Maida has stated that the album is so tight and so well executed because the band only recorded 12 songs during the Happiness sessions, instead of recording 20 or more like they did with their previous two albums. They strove to achieve a much simpler method of songwriting than on the previous albums which included tightening up songs and forming more cohesive tracks. This allowed each song to have the utmost attention given to it while being written and it sometimes took one week or more to record one song. "Annie" for example, took over two weeks of jam sessions to become a fully realized song. This was the first album of theirs to not be mixed by their producer Arnold Lanni. It was instead sent to Kevin Shirley at Avatar Studios in New York City. The mixing of the album was completed by late June 1999 when they played many of the songs for the first time for a large audience at Woodstock 1999. Release and reception To promote the upcoming release of their album in September, Our Lady Peace performed a live in-studio concert and Q&A which was aired to 12 Canadian radio stations simultaneously utilizing satellite and ISDN technology. Listeners to any of the stations could call in and ask the band members questions. On September 13, 1999 a special listening party was held on a newly redesigned ourladypeace.com where fans could listen to the entire album via streamlink. The band also held an online chat with fans for a Q & A session. Happiness... was released in Canada on September 21, 1999. The album was very successful in its first week, selling 40,090 copies and debuting at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart. Upon its release, Happiness... was panned by many critics who cited it as being over-ambitious and too dour in subject manner. In the band's hometown, Ben Rayner, the reviewer of The Toronto Star said, "...there's something curiously unmoving and dispassionate about it - it's canned angst ordered from some overstocked and increasingly disused alt-rock warehouse outside of Seattle, too studious and sterile