Live

What to say about Live...

It's a cliche to say that a band's early stuff rules and their new stuff sucks. Too many people rely on that criticism for too many bands. I avoid it in most cases. But in Live's case it's painfully true.

Live's first four albums were tremendous. Mental Jewelry is a strange record. I've never heard anything like it before or since. It's such a good CD. Then Throwing Copper is CLASSIC. It's got great song after great song. It's just an amazing disc. Secret Samahdi is an interesting, dark twist. It's my personal favorite Live record, it also has many great songs. The Distance to Here is a very good record. At the point of its release, it was Live's worst record, but it was still enjoyable.

HOWEVER, then we have V. V was an experiment that included some rap/trip-hop. While I respect Live for experimenting, it was a failed experiment. There are only a few decent songs on it and most of it is crap. After that, Live seemingly tried to go back to their old style but with putrid results. Birds of Prey is one of the most generic, soulless, awful CD's I've ever heard. It is so painful to listen to I had to get rid of it. I ended up getting rid of V as well. At least V was respectable though because it was an experiment, Birds of Prey was just embarrassing.

I haven't heard the new stuff yet, but because I still love Live's first four albums, I'll give it a shot. Hopefully they've gotten some feeling back and have written some interesting songs again.

go see Black Mountain live

Live is a great band and kick ass in concert, all there albums are great some better then others. I cant wait for there new cd songs from black mountain.

Live is pretty good, i saw them live and i was impressed for the most part, but disappointed when they didnt play the song "heaven." its such a good song and it kind of felt like something was missing when i left the concert.

I love Live. Seen them 4 times. Here is what I say (my friends and i talk about Live a lot, so I have given this a lot of thought)...


The Good...

1. Even though Pearl Jam is, was, and will always be my favorite band, Live's "The Distance to Here" is my all time favorite record. I think "They Stood Up For Love" and "Run to the Water" are 2 of the most incredible songs ever, plus, "Dance With You" was my wedding song.

2. "Throwing Copper" is awesome. 'Lightning Crashes' is still one of my favorite songs. "Secret Samadhi" is also great, with songs like 'Gas Hed Goes West' and 'Freaks,' you can't go wrong.

3. "V," "Mentle Jewelry." and "Birds of Pray" aren't perfect, but have a lot of good songs.

4. They are a very talented live (sorry for the pun) band. They play really well in concert and rarely charge a lot.


The bad...

1. For every 2 amazingly deep, lyrically beautiful songs they write, they seem to write one awful one.

2. As good and inexpensive as their shows are, they are SO repetitive. They don't mix the sets up at all. And not just the same on one tour. They play a lot of the same stuff every night on every tour. While we're bitching because Pearl Jam plays everything on "Vs." except 'Leash,' Live never plays album cuts from any album but the new one. I didn't catch the Secret Samadhi tour, so 'Lakini's juice' is the only song from that album I've ever heard in concert. Three of the four times I've seen them were after that tour, so it would have been nice to get a song or two.

3. I've only heard 1 or 2 songs from the new album, and I am not impressed. That is fine, except, I think Live knows they have a stinker on their hands. All I've heard from downloaders is how bad it is and the band keeps pushing it back....not too confident.

But, all in all, Live really does deliver. You could probably fill 2 really good mix cd's for your car filled with Live songs and have hours of fun listening to them

It almost pains me to say it, because I've been a fan of this band for close to 15 years now, but Live has officially lost me on this new album. It's like any trace of their former glory has been sucked out and replaced with a hollow, nauseating, overwhelming Creedness. Except, it's like a Creed that doesn't rock out. It's that mellow.

Don't get me wrong; I'm all for some quiet moments here and there ("Pillar of Davidson" and "Turn My Head" are among my favorites). But this album is SO subdued, SO lifeless... It makes "Birds of Prey" look like "Seasons in the Abyss".

To put it frankly, "Songs From Black Mountain" is one of the greatest disappointments I have ever experienced in my 20+ years of loving music.

Pearls&Stones wrote:

So, do you all agree with me that Live knows this and that is why it was scheduled for release in November then pushed back a hundred or so times?

I think they kind of had to know the work was subpar. Personally, the fact that it was delayed so much makes it more disappointing. After the lukewarm at best reaction to "The River" when it hit in late December/early January, followed by the subsequent delays, I was kind of hoping that, having seen this, they were working at making changes. Turns out that, if that was the reason behind the wait, the changes were all for the worse.

With all of this said, though, I think I feel more sorry for Epic than anyone else. Here they had a multi-platinum selling act added to their roster, promising a new beginning. I'll bet the people at Epic were even thinking (even if it was subconsciously) that Live would help fill some of the void left by the departure of Pearl Jam. Well, when I compare sales at my store for Pearl Jam and Live's new albums over their first three days on shelves, Pearl Jam owns Live by a 45:1 ratio.

Bottom line: Live's new album needs a miracle to go gold, and somebody's ass is probably getting fired at Epic as we speak.

melodyman22 wrote:

I love it how people are saying songs from black mountain is bad, get real people it may not be there best work but still a great cd, i cant wait to buy it.

yeh it's definitely a good effort.
there are some very good songs like "Where Do We Go From Here?", "Sofia", "Mystery" and "Night of Nights"
the next single "Wings" is good too
the album has such a uplifting and happy feel to it..it's a pleasant change.

I'm not too much of a fan. I was interested in them for a little while, but not anymore.

Live blows kids.
listen to the real thing .....