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''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, and the last studio album to feature art model Saul Fox on its cover. It was also 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. ==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."〔Keene, Darrin. " Chartattack.com 12 Dec. 2000. Retrieved 2009-10-23.〕 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.〔Bento, Debbie Chartattack.com 09 Nov. 2000. Retrieved 2009-11-16〕〔Chiu, Ellen Chartattack.com 25 Oct. 2000. Retrieved 2009-11-16〕 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''.〔Worley, Gail. "(The Soul in the Machine: An Interview with Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace )" – Ink19.com. Retrieved 2009-09-21.〕 "That was not the most graceful sounding name in the world, so we went with Spiritual Machines instead," Turner said.〔Wirt, John "Popularity doesn't influence Peace's music making" ''The Advocate (Louisiana)'' 6 Apr. 2001.〕 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.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Spiritual Machines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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