The Distance To Here turns 20!, Love will lead us. Two decades later. Options

[swami]

"The Distance To Here" by Live was released 20 years ago today. TWENNNY FUCKING YEARS!!! Bill Clinton was president. The towers were alive and well. Not a single one of you was texting a Goddamn thing. Where HAS the time gone? Sadly, this would be the last decent record this band would go on to produce.

If you remember it at all, it's for the songs "The Dolphin's Cry" and "Run To The Water"...but most of you won't. This was a solid record by the band, but it definitely exemplifies in no uncertain terms the loosening of the fabric that made this band so exceptional in their earlier years. The Distance To Here was a very strange entry in Live's then relatively short catalogue, although to some degree that judgement could be assigned to its predecessor "Secret Samadhi".

Secret Samadhi had the distinct privilege (and ominous task) of being the band's response to the album that brought them fame ("Throwing Copper"). Secret Samadhi was a raw, dark, mysterious and sexy album by all accounts. It was the last album I can honestly say was still fully invested in by the whole band. An appropriate follow-up to worldwide success. Its debut single "Lakini's Juice" can remove the undergarments of just about anybody without much effort. Live wasn't fucking around with this one. ....And then after a few years of tapping into people's freaky side they close off the millennium with The Distance To Here - a complete 180 from Secret Samadhi in absolutely every way. The album artwork alone could tell you that. The Distance To Here was swirly, ultra-colourful, playful.....Secret Samadhi was, well, black. But much more important is the musical direction this album foretold. If I could have predicted the eventual resale value of the band's collectibles in 1999 I would probably have 6 figures in the bank today. But, hindsight is 20/20.

This isn't meant to be a review, but a retrospective. The Distance To Here was, and still is, after having listened to it again this morning on its 20th anniversary, a solid record. It's very upbeat and positive, which I think reflects the sentiment of the time. Technology was advancing quickly, and the world was on edge wondering what would happen when the clock ticked into the year 2000. The future was uncertain, but we treated it like a blind date. Not really sure where it would take us, but open to endless possibilities. The Distance To Here will always be that record for me. The record of endless possibilities. The record that risked it all because the end was in sight. The Distance To Here was, in a word, brave. Sadly for the band, they could not hold it together after this record and would never be able to collectively rediscover their roots or amicably move on to some non-existent next phase. It all went downhill after The Distance To Here, and that's a shame, but I cherish this record and what it represents both in my personal life and in the life of this once-formidable force of music.

A solid and unquivering 10 out of 10 from me here, 20 years later. ❤️







This post has been edited by dangum: Oct 5 2019, 7:21 pm

[swami]

Easily my favorite album, by Live, and one of my top 5 of all time. I can't believe it's 20 years old, but I sorta can't believe it's only 20 years old, too. I remember driving around Phoenix listening to TDC on the radio and it being the first time in quite a while I was truly anxious for an album to be released. And it totally changed my whole life. Guess I know what I'm listening to tonight. Thanks Swami!

It got its fair share of spins up in this guy's apartment today too, I assure you