Ed interview '99, Timely words of wisdom Options

[swamiscott]

Came across this October 1999 interview with Ed. I find this particular section interesting:

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Men With A Message

10/15/1999 4:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Gail Worley

Live's charismatic singer-songwriter, Edward Kowalczyk, is reluctant to take on the guise of New Age Pop Guru. Nevertheless, the allegiance to a spiritual path that permeates his lyrics is so deeply enmeshed with his being that it is, in fact, written on his body.

....

LAUNCH:
Live enjoyed phenomenal success with Throwing Copper, yet Secret Samadhi was, relatively speaking, a disappointment. What are your thoughts on why that record failed to go all the way for Live, and also, what did the band gain from doing that record?

ED:
The use of the word "samadhi" [a state of meditation] was something that was so personal to me, but it did in some sense distance us from a large portion of the population that doesn't necessarily know what that word means. The record was never designed, conceptually or in any facet, to be a Throwing Copper Part Two, which is what people wanted. It was really a record that we needed to make as a band at the time, that we felt we needed to do to grow as musicians and songwriters. I, personally, as a lyricist, was kind of hiding for awhile from the "man with the message" persona that I had come into with Mental Jewelry and Throwing Copper. I think it was a growth record. It was a band searching to find a level of comfort in itself.

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"...a record that we needed to make ... to grow as musicians and songwriters."

OK, we've heard this before. But when I revisit those words post-Samadhi, and I think about where Live is now, I'm more convinced than ever that the band needs a personal and experimental album. The River, I don't think, shows much promise of that happening on Black Mountain, but it's only one song.

The point, if there's one at all, is that Live did find "a level of comfort in itself," and it's stalling the band artistically. The Distance to Here was a natural extension of Samadhi, and V was a cute little experiment with the notion of Limp Bizkit-lite angst and cockiness. Bird of Pray - grossly underestimated in my view - was never-the-less a retreat to comfort. Will Black Mountain continue this trend? Or we in store for Bird of Pray II in the same way that the band opted not to make a Throwing Copper II in the mid 90s?

So many questions and so many release date delays. Time enough, though, for Ed to think about making another personal record. An artist should constantly strive for growth; push the comfort level; dwell in vulnerability.

[andthelettuce]

I agree about those songs being attempts at varying structure, but none of them is truly a great song in my opinion. However, I am sort of stretching it here and will admit that the quality is down, but I don't think it's as bad as people are saying.