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.
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.
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.
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
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"
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.
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.
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.
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