Hey all - newcomer to the board. Been a Live fan since Mental Jewelry - heard Waterboy on a mix tape and went out and bought MJ and TC that same day.............

Just reading through a lot of threads here, I can tell a lot of older live fans have the same issues with their new material as I do. Obviously bands evolve and they lose the desperation/angst/intensity in their albums. I see that happening with almost every band I like.

But with Live (and maybe I am too critical because they are my favorite band) I feel like they have been just writing songs to fill an album. I recently read an interview in which Ed said something like he would prefer to just release music as singles or EPs rather than full length albums. I think that V, Birds of Pray, and Black Mountain all features songs that were created as fillers for the album. I have a couple reasons to think this:

1.) There are numerous songs on those albums that they have never played in concert. If you were proud of these songs, wouldn't you get them in the mix at least once to see how they are received?

2.) a lot of these songs are between 3 - 4 minutes in length. Seems that they are sticking to a certain formula and just chunking out songs. Whatever happened to the 6 and 7 min epic songs that really defined their early career? PoD, WD, Ghost, GHMO. I would love to hear a 10 min studio song where they jam out with tons of verses and solos and general craziness. Anyone who has seen the band knows how hard they rock and these short songs on the end of their new albums don't do that any justice

Here are the songs I consider filler on those albums:

V - Flow, The Ride, OK

BoP - Rivertown, Out To Dry, Bring the People Together

Black Mountain - Home, All I Need, You Are Not Alone

Obviously some of you will like these songs I mentioned, and to each his/her own. But for me those songs are listenable but seem like B-sides more than anything else. Anybody out there feel the same?

I hate for my first post to be so critical, but I think its good discussion material...