Lady Bhang - What Will It Mean? Options

[Hoodstock]

At this point it's apparent that Live's heyday has passed. The original band has dissolved, their genre of music currently is not mainstream, they haven't had a hit single in forever, and they haven't produced an album of significance since 1999. For all intensive purposes Līve has become a 90's nostalgia act. Mostly a draw for people in their 40's and 50's who want to go out for a evening to hear a few hits that they remember from high school or college.

Yet, on August 16, Līve will deliver it's newest single- Lady Bhang (She Got Me Rollin'). Like any new music this song could be amazing, meh, horrible, or somewhere in between. Since Līve does not frequently put out new music (the last time was an effort in 2018 that consisted of four new songs and a cover that were generally not well recieved) this is a pretty big deal for the remaining hardcore fans.

When the studio version drops on the 16th what will it mean to you? If you feeel it's amazing will it renew your interest and investment into the band? If it's just alright will that be okay with you? If it is absolutely horrible is that a final nail in the coffin of hope that Līve will remain on the extreme fringe of relevancy in the music scene?

I would love to hear where people are mentally at prior the the studio release!

This post has been edited by Hoodstock: Aug 10 2024, 1:43 pm

[Merica]

You know what, I actually quite like this. I dig the blues rock vibes, which kind of feels like something Live almost touched on a bit over the latter years. Walk The Line, Purifier, even things like Radiant Sea, Like I Do(?), some of SFBM's more interesting moments like Sofia. When they split, you had the bluesy rock of TGF, and Ed's early acoustic Zion is one of the best things he did. This feels in that same area to me. It's not particularly inspired musically or lyrically, sure, it's a well trodden path generally (and specifically with Ed and the water again), but to me it comes off like a reasonably successful go at what it's trying to be. So I'll give him props.

As for the whole is it Ed or Live thing, well... I've no idea to what degree it's changed since the Goose Blackstone original, who has or hasn't written on it then or now (if it *has* been changed) etc. God knows. But it's released as Live, so it's Live whether you like it or not. In the same way The Turn is. Is it worthy of the Live name? Maybe that's a better question. For me, it's comfortably better than Local 717. And like, what can you reasonably expect a Live song to sound like in 2024, given it's essentially Ed solo, and all the time that's passed since 'Live' released anything good (outside of the The Turn).

Basically, my current feeling is: this is a step in a better direction. I'm interested to see what follows, and will try to enjoy it for whatever it's worth.

[Voodoo Lady]

You know what, I actually quite like this. I dig the blues rock vibes, which kind of feels like something Live almost touched on a bit over the latter years. Walk The Line, Purifier, even things like Radiant Sea, Like I Do(?), some of SFBM's more interesting moments like Sofia. When they split, you had the bluesy rock of TGF, and Ed's early acoustic Zion is one of the best things he did. This feels in that same area to me. It's not particularly inspired musically or lyrically, sure, it's a well trodden path generally (and specifically with Ed and the water again), but to me it comes off like a reasonably successful go at what it's trying to be. So I'll give him props.

As for the whole is it Ed or Live thing, well... I've no idea to what degree it's changed since the Goose Blackstone original, who has or hasn't written on it then or now (if it *has* been changed) etc. God knows. But it's released as Live, so it's Live whether you like it or not. In the same way The Turn is. Is it worthy of the Live name? Maybe that's a better question. For me, it's comfortably better than Local 717. And like, what can you reasonably expect a Live song to sound like in 2024, given it's essentially Ed solo, and all the time that's passed since 'Live' released anything good (outside of the The Turn).

Basically, my current feeling is: this is a step in a better direction. I'm interested to see what follows, and will try to enjoy it for whatever it's worth.

I agree with all of this and I can’t write it any better myself, Merica.

I purposely did not listen to the song early. I waited until this morning. It grabbed me right away. Not to the extent Operation Spirit grabbed me back in the day of course, but this is a different age and time. I listened to Lady Bhang seven times in a row on my commute and it was stuck in my head all day. —All great signs!! Plus, it was totally obvious DeLeo was on guitar and this is cool to hear. My number one and two favorite 90’s bands collaborating. I’ll take it!!
You know DeLeo will jump on stage with Ed for this song and I can’t wait to see that next week. We better see it in the setlist, anyway!!!