*1/2 Our Lady Peace

HAPPINESS . . . IS NOT A FISH THAT YOU CAN CATCH

(Columbia)

Our Lady Peace singer Raine Maida has one of those annoyingly nasal rock voices that lots of teenagers swoon over and everyone else avoids like the plague. And the stale grunge tendencies of his band don't exactly make up for it. Still, the third disc by these pretty Canadians has its moments. On "One Man Army," Maida apes Thom Yorke's haunting falsetto and the band steal a surging rave-up bridge from Pearl Jam's Vs. to great effect. Producer Arnold Lanni once had a huge hit with the '80s hair band Sheriff, and the twin power ballads "Waited" and "Lying Awake" show he's still got that gooey metallic touch. But on the rest of Happiness . . . , Our Lady Peace offer up the kind of boring, midtempo mush that once made Kurt Cobain offer to find Eddie Vedder a real band. And subjecting legendary Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones to the indignity of cameoing on the incongruous fake-jazz ending that's tacked onto the disc's last song is inexcusable.

-- Sean Richardson

(Our Lady Peace open for Creed this Saturday, October 2, at the Tsongas Arena. Call 423-NEXT.)