Birds of Pray Options

[deepenoughtodive]

I haven't listened to this album in a long time. I am surprised that i'm enjoying a lot of it. Somewhere in my mind I had this notion that LIVE had just quit rocking the last few albums but that's not true. Now SFBM was way too poppish for my taste but BOP was pretty good. I'm ok with Heaven as a single but Run Away was a horrible choice. That has to be one of my least favorite LIVE songs of all time. I think She or Like I Do would have been much better.

Of the 13 tracks on the album, only 3,4,5, and 12 should have been left off in my opinion.

What do y'all think of this album?

[Merica]

It's not bad. Not their best, and not really too artistic, but worth a spin.

[FishOutaWater]

I haven't listened to this album in a long time. I am surprised that i'm enjoying a lot of it. Somewhere in my mind I had this notion that LIVE had just quit rocking the last few albums but that's not true. Now SFBM was way too poppish for my taste but BOP was pretty good. I'm ok with Heaven as a single but Run Away was a horrible choice. That has to be one of my least favorite LIVE songs of all time. I think She or Like I Do would have been much better.

Of the 13 tracks on the album, only 3,4,5, and 12 should have been left off in my opinion.

What do y'all think of this album?

BoP is my least favorite Live album. I can't even listen to it anymore. There is something about it that I don't like. It may "rock" more than SFBm or V, but it lacks something to me. It is too shallow and simple-minded. I remember when they played Life Marches On for the first time ever at Franklin and Marshal College in Lancaster. I imediately liked it because I thought the riff was cool. But now when I listen to it and Ed is singing:

In the country
The farms and the orchards swell
With oranges and peaches
A little bit of truth as well

I actually vomit a little in my mouth. Bad lyrics on this album.

And Sanctity of Dreams - Paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa, drive a Harley through the heart of danger?!?! That song makes me want to break into Ed's house, find the lyrics sheet and tear it up.

The Crucifix Ain't no baseball bat?!?! Bad lyrics. At a time when they could have come out and taken a real position against an immoral war in Iraq, Live (Ed) chose to take a mealy-mouthed, neutral, politics-aside approach with What Are We Fighting For. I was disappointed in the easy way out that was taken with that song, and I don't particularly like the song.

It's my understanding that Like I Do was the offering of CCP, which made it through to the light of day only after much cajoling. Funny how that was the one song on the album that everyone went nuts for when they heard it and everyone whined that it should have been the single that launched the album.

I like Bring the People Together and Heaven.

I will tell a little secret that I have never told anyone before. Before BoP was released, I heard a rough version of the demo tracks for the album - and it sounded better than the ultra-glossy-polished final product.

[Hoodstock]

I will tell a little secret that I have never told anyone before. Before BoP was released, I heard a rough version of the demo tracks for the album - and it sounded better than the ultra-glossy-polished final product.

Do you recall anything you heard that didn't make the final cut?

[FishOutaWater]

Do you recall anything you heard that didn't make the final cut?

Not that I recall.

[deepenoughtodive]

Not that I recall.

I agree about the album being pretty bad lyrically. Well, simplistic more than bad. Nothing they write will ever compare to V as far as bad lyrics. ("wrote a song so good it make a midget grow)

I think the album rocked but artisically (as previously mentioned by Merica) it is lacking compared to the first 4 albums.

[OutToDry]

It's my understanding that Like I Do was the offering of CCP, which made it through to the light of day only after much cajoling. Funny how that was the one song on the album that everyone went nuts for when they heard it and everyone whined that it should have been the single that launched the album

Fish, this is what made me salivate for the album when Ed went on the Florida station after they mastered the track....and had to play it....we all talked up the guy who called the station saying if that tune is onthe record, he'd buy it.....the guy wasn't a normal live fan.

After hearing the whole record and feeling again let down........yours truly became Out To Dry.

[thefunkyredcaboose]

Funny, I've been going through CDs to sell and this was one of the first ones I dumped off. The only songs I can even stomach now are Like I Do and Lighthouse.

The album is loud though. I think the sound was right, but the songs were just so mediocre.

[Pokey]

I didn't mind a large portion of BOP. Certainly Like I Do and Lighthouse are the stand out tracks, head and shoulders above everything else. I have a soft spot for Out To Dry and Every time I see your face ... mostly because at the time I believed, or hoped that this was Live experimenting with a little light hearted pop rock. The fact that it was more so a clear direction of where they/Ed were going to take the whole band and do it even worse wasn't what I was hoping for.
Ed sings his guts out on a lot of BOP, he sounds like he gave it his all for the recordings. His lyrics as Fish stated left a lot to be desired, but once again they went to a whole new level of low on SFBM. So BOP will never be my least favorite album. Sanctity of Dreams is a bit wtf and cheesey, but it was still a song about something different before he got stuck in a space of only being able to write about 2 topics (love and God). BOP at least had songs covering a few different themes on it. Poorly, yes, but still some variety.
BOP also has the 2 previously mentioned stand out tracks, SFBM to me doesn't even have 1 stand out track, it's all garbage. So yeah, BOP isn't my least favorite.

To me it almost felt like they did want to go back to a mid 90s sound but they couldn't quite remember how to do it. It's nowhere close to TC sound, but i guess I was hoping it was a small building block back in the right direction.

[+Ed+]

I love BoP.


I love every single Live record. Live has been my fave band for 12 years

[Aitkens]

I love BoP.
I love every single Live record. Live has been my fave band for 12 years

You scare me.

[World Dreamer]

To me BoP was a massive let down. I accept it for what it is but originally I thought the album that was going to come after "V" was going to be filled with all the negative emotion "V" caused. I thought it was going to be a big "Fuck you!" to everyone that was involved in more or less forcing the band to do something they didn't really want to do.

I don't really listen to BoP simply because there are always 4 better options that are always more appealing.

It's like why watch Rocky 5 when I can watch Rocky 1-4?

[FishOutaWater]

Yeah. After The Distance To Here, V came like a sucker punch. When you thought Live might reach out a hand and help you off the mat, BoP was just a spit in the face while you were down. And SFBM made you just want to walk away from the whole mess. When else in history had something so great become so feeble? Maybe we need to go as far back as the Roman Empire to find an appropriate example.

[OutToDry]

I didn't hear no bell!!!!

[World Dreamer]

Yeah. After The Distance To Here, V came like a sucker punch. When you thought Live might reach out a hand and help you off the mat, BoP was just a spit in the face while you were down. And SFBM made you just want to walk away from the whole mess. When else in history had something so great become so feeble? Maybe we need to go as far back as the Roman Empire to find an appropriate example.

Having TDTH and then V is like holding up a Picasso painting next to piece of wet cardboard that someone threw up on.