Odyssey Number Five

Powderfinger

2000

3.01

Rating

113

Votes

25%

50%

19%

Distribution

Rock

User Submitted Album

Album Summary

Odyssey Number Five is the fourth studio album by the Australian rock band Powderfinger, produced by Nick DiDia and released on 4 September 2000 by Universal Music. It won the 2001 ARIA Music Award for Highest Selling Album, Best Group and Best Rock Album. The album is the band's shortest yet, focusing on social, political, and emotional issues that had appeared in prior works, especially Internationalist. The album produced four singles. The most successful, "My Happiness", reached #4 on the ARIA Singles Chart, won the 2001 ARIA Music Award for "Single of the Year", and topped Triple J's Hottest 100 in 2000. The album also featured "These Days", which topped Triple J's Hottest 100 in 1999. The album ranked at number 1 in Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time poll in 2011. Many critics lauded the album as Powderfinger's best work, one stating that the album was "the Finger's Crowning Glory"; however, others were critical of the "imitation" contained in the album. Overall, the album won five ARIA Music Awards in 2001 and was certified platinum seven times, and earned an eighth in 2004. Odyssey Number Five was Powderfinger's first album to chart in the United States, as well as the most successful to chart in the U.S. and the band extensively toured North America to promote its release.

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Reviews

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Dec 04 2025 Author

this is a masterpiece!! For me is the best Australian band and this the best album of any band from Australia... All songs one by one perfect.. top 3 favorites with 1st leading is Up & Down & Back Again 2.We Should Be Together Now 3.These Days My Happiness is close to top 3. Well done to the person put it here..You have excellent taste in music..Cheers from Greece!!!

Sep 20 2025 Author

Odyssey Number Five by Powderfinger is an ok rock album with lots of slower songs. Not bad or awful, but also not outstanding in any way.

Oct 01 2025 Author

Really solid rock album. I just sat back and chilled to this and it made for a really nice evening.

Dec 31 2025 Author

Genius. Always nice to see more Aussie representation too

Sep 24 2025 Author

Enjoyed the album. But no outliers really

Oct 03 2025 Author

Catchy in places but I was never a huge Powderfinger fan. They had some bangers on earlier albums, but by this point they were going pretty soft and getting very samey. Still, my happiness is a great song. These days has a really great hook, too. Always been a fan of that song. 4/5.

Oct 21 2025 Author

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Waiting for the sun, My happiness, The metre, Up and down and back again, Thrilloilogy

Nov 06 2025 Author

I am a big Powderfinger fan, for a non-fan, but the best album from any of them is Bernard Fanning's solo debut Tea & Sympathy. This album is good but has holes - even Fanning thinks a couple songs are so-so. The last 3 songs in particular drag and the opener Waiting for the Sun is sort of up and down. They nail melodic melancholy perfectly with the second song My Happiness (perhaps their most well-known), which feeds perfectly into The Metre and later My Kind of Scene and These Days. All beautiful tracks. Like a Dog is the one song that doesn't quite fit this album, being more rocking, but it's solid. I mean, the best songs are 5s but overall this album is closer to a 3.5. I'm rounding up to 4 because I do really like these guys.

Nov 29 2025 Author

This is what the user list was made for. A solid album by a band that isn’t well known that someone knows is a treasure and should be shared. Not every album is gonna hit but it’s better than getting some that feel like obvious jokes. This aussie band created such a cohesive 90s rock album that’s worth plenty of listens. This was solid. My happiness and my kind of scene are heavy replays. Excellent album. 8.5/10

Dec 19 2025 Author

This is nice songwriting. Vocals, instrumentation, and production are all fine. That’s not really where their focus was, though. Lyrics and chord progressions and things of that nature are where this thing really shines. I enjoyed it, but it isn’t the most exciting record. Not quite by the book, but they aren’t doing anything very experimental. Just good quality, inoffensive songs. 4/5

Jan 02 2026 Author

Some great variety keeping a fun throughline

Jan 03 2026 Author

Competent rock from a band I've never heard, or heard of. I enjoy this little venture for its ability to introduce me to new artists and music. I'm not unhappy about having a listen to this. Solid, respectable 4.

Sep 26 2025 Author

Another just fine album

Oct 05 2025 Author

A couple of ok singles, but very same-ish, and is that kind of rock that doesn’t really rock at all. Very safe and very plain.

Oct 10 2025 Author

I listened but I didn’t hear. It can’t have been too bad though. Not as bad as being fired. Yay me.

Oct 13 2025 Author

Rock alternativo. Ni fu ni fa.

Oct 14 2025 Author

Okay !

Oct 15 2025 Author

October 14, 2025 HL: "The Meter", "Like a Dog", "These Days" First I'm hearing Powderfinger, of Brisbane. Decent, sometimes great pop-rock with the occasional singalong chorus. I give it a 7 outta 10

Oct 26 2025 Author

Pretty intereating

Nov 06 2025 Author

It definitely had that late 90s / early 2000 feel. I was hoping for a more angular feel since they are named after the Neil Young song. It was... okay. A few of the songs hit me, but a lot of it just felt forgettable to me. Top tracks: "Like A Dog," "We Should Be Together Now"

Nov 06 2025 Author

I've not come across these guys before and although formulaic the songs hit me this morning in a good way. There's some interesting sounds here.

Nov 14 2025 Author

Incredibly generic. Incredibly inoffensive. I'd play this for my mom and she'd say "that's nice"

Nov 14 2025 Author

Apple Music told me this is the sound that defined late 90s early 00s Australian rock and I guess, sure

Nov 17 2025 Author

Australian alt rock darlings that never quite broke through to the Americans. The songs are pretty good but it never felt quite special enough to warrant to acclaim that it received. Were Australians just too burnt out on pub rock from the 20th century that they needed something, anything, to bring a fresh take to guitar music? Was Nick Cave too artsy for them? Either way, it warrants some recognition despite the high likelihood that I will never return to this band again. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: I think Australia has had better success stories than Powderfinger.

Nov 29 2025 Author

I enjoyed this, although I felt like the sound was maybe a little lacking in cohesion. Elements of 60s psychedelia and 70s rock and early metal over mostly straight down the middle alternative rock. It seemed lyrically smart though I did not dig very deep there, and well sung.

Dec 05 2025 Author

Why would you waste one of your wishes making an Australian Crowded House?

Dec 21 2025 Author

Fine. Catch at times but not in a way that will stick with me after I stop listening.

Jan 02 2026 Author

Alright, I guess

Oct 02 2025 Author

Odyssey Number Five is a bit dull for my tastes, too safe, too soft rock, and the vocals are a bit pitchy and annoying. 2/5, it's just boring. Give me Airbourne if you're giving me some Australian rock.

Oct 14 2025 Author

This is a bit like if music was soundwaves arranged in a specific way.

Nov 02 2025 Author

Just kinda bland early-aughts alternative? I don’t have much to say here, nothing bad to say about the execution or instrumentals but it seems like the kind of music you’d hear playing softly in a waiting room and think oh yeah, those guys.

Nov 07 2025 Author

I couldn’t get into this one at all, it was kind of dull and generic sounding.

Dec 22 2025 Author

Slow rock that slid directly off my brain. Few too many ballads

Dec 13 2025 Author

boring and derivative