As break-ups go, the end of Live couldn’t have been much uglier. Frontman Ed Kowalczyk reportedly signed a new publishing deal without the rest of the band’s knowledge, demanded a “lead singer bonus” for Live’s Pinkpop Festival appearance last year and allegedly withheld royalties from his bandmates. The remainder of the band announced that Live’s hiatus had become a dissolution and that they would never play another show with Kowalczyk, ostensibly making their side project, The Gracious Few, their new permanent gig. Kowalczyk went on an acoustic tour with Art Alexakis and Leigh Nash, recorded his solo debut and remained relatively quiet about the end of Live as we know it.

What Kowalczyk has said is that he was looking for fresh inspiration and that his new solo direction is more experimental than his work with Live. Perhaps that inspiration and experimentalism will be reflected in his sophomore effort, because Alive merely seems like evidence that Kowalczyk can make a Live album on his own. And not the viscerally slashing, anthemic Rock of the band’s earliest successes, like “I Alone” and “Lightning Crashes,” but the subdued and rather pedestrian output of Live’s later years. Even the title seems to allude to both Kowalczyk’s past and his album’s generic nature (A Live).

There are moments where Kowalczyk exhibits flashes of moving beyond his band accomplishments (the dramatic “Grace,” the Middle Eastern Blues buzz of “Zion”), but too often Alive seems rooted in songs, arrangements and performances that are simply average. Faithful Live fans will likely be pleased with Alive (as long as they’re not taking sides in the band’s messy divorce), but hardcore followers may be disappointed that Kowalczyk has taken such a safe and uneventful first step in his solo career.