Article From Many Moons Ago.., Them's fighting words! Options

[Ed Addict]

Hope this link works It may have been posted before - I'm new here

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/02.../live-9709.html

LOVE Secret Samadhi! One of my favourite albums. So this pissed me off.

[dangum]

That article is brutal! Secret Samadhi wasn't well received upon release, even fans of Live questioned the lyrics and sound. What did you think of the album when you first heard it?

[alexou]

The sound is awesome, the best sonically for sure.

Some of my old time favorites are there (Rattlesnake, LJ, Hero, Ghost, Insomnia)

But we gotta admit that a lot of these songs have same kind of chord progressions and it's not very diversified.

It clearly misses a bit of the originality that TC has with some different kind of songs with different song structures. Like TDAOC or even WD, you know songs that are not stuck with verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-choruses---ending.

The TV reviewer from my music station at the time gave it a 9/10 because of the sound plus he loved that chain saw LJ sound.


After reading it, I mean, OK, we understand they get a point with the lyrics, but I thought a record was about music too. So for that, yeah it's brutal. You can say all you want that they are not the best musicians out there, but you got to admit the tones on this one are excellent.

And you Dan, what are your thoughts about it?

This post has been edited by alexou: Jan 12 2021, 12:04 pm

[Ed Addict]

That article is brutal! Secret Samadhi wasn't well received upon release, even fans of Live questioned the lyrics and sound. What did you think of the album when you first heard it?

OK to be honest and I confess I am a new LIVE fanatic. I mean LIVE has always been there in the background, however after watching their performance at Woodstock 99 a little while ago, I was hooked and have become a hardcore LIVE fan only in the last 6 months! I mean, where the F*!K have I been?!! and why didn't somebody throw MJ or TC at me back in the day and say "you need to listen to this!!" I was in reality probably too busy having a family and listening to Matchbox 20 So I've bought all the albums and googled every concert/film clip/interview there is and to be honest my obsession is now bordering unhealthy.. ..midlife crisis??

In regard to Secret Samadhi, I initially didn't like it. It was very different and dark. But as a loyal LIVE fan, I needed to give it a chance and I'm so glad I persevered. Yeah some of the lyrics are a bit out there (special thanks to the gardener in Jamaica) but the music is brilliant! Every song on that album is a favourite of mine. I can listen to it over and over again and not tire of it. Secret Samadhi is up there with Throwing Copper in my opinion. Big call hey.

Yeah the article was very brutal and over the top.

[Voodoo Lady]

I’ve always had a thing for Secret Samadhi. I was in college when it was released and I’ve never, ever been so anxious and excited for an album to drop. I remember going to the record store in the mall to get it. I remember everything about that day. It was gray and cold which added to the “mood.” I didn’t open the CD until I got back to my dorm room where I could focus on it and have “my moment.” I vividly remember peeling it open & seeing the pics for the first time & how those liner notes smelled as I studied those lyrics. It was serious and dark and I loved it. But I’ve always preferred edgier and harder stuff, so it was perfection IMO. What anyone said in a review or article at the time really didn’t change anything or matter for me. I suppose some say there is a weakness in that the lyrics are strange. I still don’t know what some of those lyrics mean and I don’t think they do either. But it’s really up to the listener to interpret their own meaning, just like poetry. A certain type of poetry isn’t going to be for all types of people. This album was definitely my type of thing. What really was the pinnacle of the time was the Lakini’s Juice performance on Saturday Night Live. They KILLED it and Ed seemed absolutely insane (those eyes!). Following up with Heropsychodreamer (my fave SS track) and Ed’s smug face at the end of that one. Yea, they knew they blew the roof off that place. It was just the icing on the Secret Samadhi cake. My favorite Līve moment. What a great album and time. Miss those days.

[Hoodstock]

I don't care what some old article says, I love the album.

Secret Samadhi wasn't well received upon release, even fans of Live questioned the lyrics and sound. What did you think of the album when you first heard it?

This is a great question that I think deserves its own thread.

I remember seeing LJ on MTV before the album came out and thinking to myself "man, that song is awesome and it's only the first song they've released from the album". I probably watched for hours waiting for it to come back on again.

I went to the record store to buy SS the second it came out at midnight. I was the first in line. I remember listening to it that night and feeling a little disappointment, especially after the high expectations that LJ had set. The album was darker and nothing like TC. After a few listens the album began to grow on me and as I said I love the album.

The only song I've never liked at all is Ghost. Every once on a while I'll give it another shot but I just don't like it.

[san_sao]

The only song I've never liked at all is Ghost. Every once on a while I'll give it another shot but I just don't like it.

I love Ghost. It took me a while to get into Samadhi overall, though.

[JonSnow]

That article is brutal! Secret Samadhi wasn't well received upon release, even fans of Live questioned the lyrics and sound. What did you think of the album when you first heard it?

Severely disappointed that the rest of the album was unlike LJ. But the more I listened the more I appreciated the songs for what they were. Eventually it came to be my 2nd favorite album of theirs.

I haven't read the article, btw. I don't need those words to tell me how I should have felt about about that album 23 years ago. Fuck a whole bunch of that shit.