Okay...I FINALLY watched the DVD and listened to the CD. Got them yesterday.

The performance was excellent. They were really into it. I don't think Ed sounded whiny at all.
There is nothing wrong with his voice.

I am very pissed off that they left TSUFL and Mirror song off the CD. Numb nuts.

Anyway....YAY!! Definitely worth the wait!

That woman crying in lightning crashes....awesome. She mirrored what htousands of people feel when music really touches the soul.

Ed doesn't sound whiny? Hey in the Dark Continent, do you guys have those free hearing test places? Look into it...

As for leaving off TSUFL and Mirror Song, numb nuts indeed. Who the fuck picked that setlist? Pat?

Actually, I got the free version of TSUFL from iTunes (well, I suppose everyone saw it on the DVD...), and I didn't think it was that great. Maybe it's just my personal preference (what else would it be?), but that song really needs keyboards to be good.

The song needs to be retired from the setlist for quite some time is what it needs.

This new album is further proof that the guys just need to go back to recording together instead of recording asynchronously to click tracks and whatnot. I am convinced that V, BOP, and SFBM would've been much better albums if that element had been present. Some of the live renditions of the SFBM songs are REALLY good. They are loose, full of energy and life. People wonder if Live is the same band... of course they are. It's their recording and production techniques that have changed.

Live is, always was and always will be a LIVE band. That element was evident in all of their albums pre-V. They just need to get that element back into their albums.

I don't know if the band ever worked together. Ed has always pretty much had the band by the balls because he wrote all the early songs and plastered the songs with his vocals instead of letting anyone else have the spotlight. I've never read an article where he gives credit to another band member. Ed has never been creative musically but he is pretty good lyrically... maybe... he's no Conor Oberst that's for sure. I wish he would just make another V honestly but instead of being rap influenced it should be influenced by a NIN or Radiohead sound or something. Or better yet prog or blues sounds. Sadly this is just me dreaming out loud.

I don't care if Live is ever successful again, I just wanna hear some different crap if they can't go back to the 90s sound.

He gave credit to CT for the "I Walk the Line" cover. He said he didn't want to do it so dark in an interview a couple years back. Also, he mentioned "Like I Do" was a group effort. A special trip to Nashville really allowed them to get "creative" on that song.

Sweet, this is exactly what I wanted. So some of the newer stuff has been a group effort but the older stuff is still up for debate?

not to look too much into it, but it's interesting how if you listen to older interviews (like on the Secret Samadhi Concert Broadcast), Ed mentions the writing as a group effort. Even on the Awake DVD, he implies that the band hung out and wrote as 'bros'. I think even listening to everything pre-V, you can easily tell the tone and the mood of the music and lyric is really dynamic and different. Everyone seems pretty chuffed with the way Purifier has turned out. Perhaps that's got something to do with ChadT being involved in the writing of the song? He's credited in the liner notes.

And you can add as well that when I walk the Line was first played (I guess the mp3 is from 2000), he says that Patrick chose to cover the song. And ChadT is mentioned almost everytime Ed talks about making Lakini's Juice. Just a few examples.

The CD / DVD is finally being released in Australia.
February 28 is the day

I was hoping that would be coming just before a tour.

about freaking time. I caught the end of forever on the radio once, and i listen to the radio a lot

Found a good review of Forever and Paradiso here:

http://mrsverdantgreen.onsugar.com/tag/Ed+Kowalczyk

Live at the Paradiso - Amsterdam
Posted By mrsverdantgreen on Jan 18, 2009 at 11:50PM
I’ve heard of the band Live since I was in college. Though I never got any of their CD’s or seen them live I enjoyed hearing them on the radio when they were played. My wife had purchased some of their CD’s and once seen them live. A couple of weeks ago I was listening to 100.3 FM The Sound and they played “Forever”, a new studio track included on their new live album. I enjoyed the new track and since I didn’t mind having some Live music I decided to get the CD.

We downloaded the CD from Napster and had some trouble downloading the song, “Forever”. After sending Napster an e-mail and receiving their response we got it to work. The CD consists of 14 live tracks recorded at shows in the Netherlands on June 30 and July 3, 2008 and two new studio tracks. Most of their live tracks are their well known hits such as “Selling the Drama”, “I Alone”, and “Overcome”. Some weren’t so well known to me such as “Simple Creed” and “Operation Spirit”. One live track is a cover of “I Walk the Line” though I think Live’s arrangement of it is original. The audience at the Paradiso Amsterdam is featured prominently. They sing many of the main chorus lines and they sound good. They are especially featured on “Lightning Crashes” and “Dance with You”. The crowd and live recording make songs sound differently from the studio recordings but still good.

The studio tracks come at the end: #15 and #16. The last one, “Purifier” is a playful song that seems to be about cleansing sins. Live’s songs often seem to contain quasi-religious and Medieval or Ancient World references. This one also mentions “Vegas Baby Vegas.” The instrument sounds seem to include a prominent harmonica. It sounds different from the other songs, less epic and serious. It’s a fun track, but the track that really makes the CD for me is the one before it, the other studio track, the one that caused me to get the CD. “Forever” also seems different from the live tracks. It has a faster rhythm, involves less shouting, and builds up slowly. Its sound is minimal, almost acoustic, but it’s no less passionate. I can relate to the lyrics especially lines such as “Keep holding my hand tonight as we face this furnace”, “we can run from this place or we can stand together in vain”, “I stay here with you ‘til the end of the storm”, and “trouble times, they will come.” When I listen to this song I can’t focus on anything else. This morning (Jan. 6) on the way to work, I was stressed and frustrated. I missed the 7:20 am train because the parking machine wouldn’t take my money. After paying with my credit card and catching the 7:40 am train, I listened to “Forever” and felt better.

I’ve known many songs that spoke to me at times in my life, times of transition or stress. The Cure’s “Doing the Unstuck” and U2’s “Walk On” come to mind. I think the songs of late 2008 and early 2009 are Hockey’s “Work” and Live’s “Forever”. With all the “Lightning Crashes” “Selling the Drama” as we “Walk the Line”, Live gives us a “Simple Creed” to help us “Overcome.”