SFBM Fan Reviews Options

[fearisnottheend]

I got up early and went to Wal-Mart to get my copy of SFBM and they didn't have it. I called later on while at work and they found "them" in the back. So i drove down the street on break and picked it up.

I'd only heard the 30 second clips of most of the album before today. I was pleasantly suprised that i liked several songs i didn't expect to like much like Home, WDWGFH, Get Ready.
Show and Sofia are just ok but i'm sure they will grow on me. Right now, Wings is my favorite. It makes me smile just like They Stood Up For Love. Night of Nights is awesome. I like the slower verses more than the chorus but the change makes the song interesting. The slower verse part has that magical feeling that Pillar of Davidson and Gas Head Goes West had for me. Love Shines chorus is awesome. Can't wait to play these songs on guitar.

Reading on-line reviews on this site and many others, i got the impression that this album would be terrible. Mostly negative reviews wanting the band to get back to being "angry".
Now, if it would get us another Lakini's Juice than i'm all for that. I've found that, growing up listening to Live and being just a few years younger than them..........i feel like as they've matured and gotten older....i have to. It seems like the music fits me. I'm really enjoying it so far.

Its way to early to tell where this album will rank overall but i am happy with it. It is so cool to go pick up a new Live disc and anxiously listen to each song. I was thinking as i listened to it...after this listen the song won't really ever sound exactly the same. You only get that one "first time listen". Awesome experience. And this is the only band that i get hyped up about.

Can't wait to see them in concert again.

[bajaguy]

I'm new to this board but have read alot on here. I've been a fan of Live since Mental Jewlery, and started going to their concerts since 1995. Obviously everyone has an opinion on this album and here's mine.

I almost gave up on Live after Birds of Pray. I thought that album had 3 decent songs on it. It was the same thing on V, just 1 or 2 decent songs. So I contemplated buying this CD on Tuesday. I thought well I heard Mystery and like it so i'll give it a shot. So I bought it and put it right into my cd player. I liked the first 2 songs, very pop (which Chad T said). Then I got to Get Ready, and the other 9 tracks and just wondered why. Since it said Ed wrote the songs I wondered why would he just put blah tracks on this? One of the other songs (I don't remember which one) has the same chord progression as The River, a few songs talk about being "Free", and in the end I really felt like I was listening to an album that should've been made in 1983. To me Ed's vocals sound more like that guy from Rush. I give it 2 out of 5 stars. The Distance To Here was definately their last great album, everything went downhill from there. Ed might want to think about writing with the other guys in the band, and trying a new producer or going back to Jerry Harrison.

This is just my opinion.

[craig]

Yeah, I am afraid that I am entirely with you on this one. I first saw Live perform at Temple University in 1992, and I've been hooked since. During these 14 years or so, I've witnessed their evolution, and to my disappointment, it is obvious that the edginess and what intrigued me most about the music of Live has disappeared. That is not to say they are not still a respectable band. They are. But from V on, I have received little but disappointment every time I throw a new Live CD into my player and listen. This one continues that trend, and I suspect that it won't grow on me the more I listen to it, like TDTH did (which, by the way, is an incredible album)

Oh well. As one critc put it, SFBM may be the best soft rock album of the year. That says a lot. Live is now a soft rock band. I know we all age, and with age comes new perspective and life experiences to draw from. But to me they seem to have gotten lazy and seem to lack direction musically. They are like watching your favorite athlete who you idolized as a teenager, and realizing that he cannot perform anywhere near the level that he used to. It's also the uncomfortable feeling of wondering if he realizes how bad he's become, and why he continues to go on like this.

I know there will be folks who blast me and say that I just don't get it. Perhaps they are right. But this album does not even resemble--in any manner whatsoever--the great works of this band from just a couple of years ago. It hurts me to write this, but I feel as though I have to. SFBM is a real disappointment to this dedicated LIVE fan.

By the way, I would take MJ over V any day. MJ is actually a great album with lots of energy and youthful angst and questioning. V is a great attempt to sell lots of CDs. And because of that, it failed miserably.

Hang in there fellas.