SFBM Press Reviews Options

[livefan86]

Allmusic.com has just posted a review of SFBM. The review was one of the best Live has ever recieved and the album got 4 out of 5 stars. Here is the review:

Fifteen years after their debut and ten years after the peak of their popularity, Live finally settle down into a comfortable groove with Songs from Black Mountain, their seventh album and first for Epic/Red Ink. The quartet embrace the change in labels as a fresh start, moving away from the faintly desperate attempts at hard rock and grand statements that plagued their work since Throwing Copper and easing into quieter sounds and modest ambitions. Not that Live's leader Ed Kowalczyk has abandoned his signature spiritual pursuits, nor has the band departed from their U2-fueled anthems, but neither are they nearly as heavy-handed in their attack as they have been in the past. There is a gentleness and genuine sweetness here, a warm mellowing of their signature sound that's appropriate for a veteran band now in their thirties. It also happens to suit Kowalczyk's 12 new songs well. Unlike the tortured tunes that comprised the unsettled 2003 album Birds of Pray, the songs here are warm declarations of love, faith, and family; sometimes they're filled with angst, sometimes they're sweet (and sometimes they still bear his typically overly earnest lyrics), but they're tied together by a soft, understated touch in both his writing and his singing -- never once does he approach the vocal histrionics that could make some Live albums a little hard to bear -- that constitutes a genuine new wrinkle in their music. It's the sound of the band maturing, and while it's certainly more laid-back than any of their previous records, that low-key approach feels right for the music on Songs from Black Mountain and helps make it one of their most consistent and successful records.

[NectarDan]

Here's a new one from redandblack.com...

LIVE releases Creed-like album

By KELLY SKINNER
Published , June 15, 2006, 06:00:01 AM EDT

There was once a group of musicians collectively called LIVE. It was a rock band that rocked hard and angry and beautiful too.

Ed Kowalczyk had that distinct, charged voice that could be recognized anywhere. Songs like “The Dolphin’s Cry” or “Lightning Crashes” could send chills down a person’s back. They were energy songs and passion songs.

This was the LIVE of the ‘90s, and, as bands are known to do, the band kept making albums.

Since it’s close to impossible to do better than a No. 1 album (1994’s “Throwing Copper”), LIVE’s done with its most recent album what many artists have done before — reinvented itself.

LIVE has reinvented themselves into Creed in order to create “Songs from Black Mountain.”

Maybe these were wise financial decisions, but how much does a person need in exchange for his soul?

LIVE has transformed itself, true, but not necessarily into a better band.

Listeners that crave raw emotion and the overall intensity of the old LIVE will be dumbfounded.

The album’s tracks are forced and cheesy and guitar riffs are repetitive and bland. In addition, variety from song to song is non-existent.

This album is not necessarily “bad.” It will actually be a big hit for a few key groups of listeners:

1. Creed fanatics who don’t mind their favorite band being royally ripped off. Either that or they don’t realize that they have actually bought a LIVE album instead of a Creed album. They may think this is a great Creed performance recorded LIVE at a place called Black Mountain.

2. People that need some music for cleaning the house or doing long distance driving — monotonous, steady and loud enough to ensure them they’re not falling asleep.

Just because this album is a dud doesn’t mean that Creed — I mean, LIVE — can’t redeem itself.

Johnny Depp has had his share of bad “experiments,” and Gwen Stefani, without a doubt, has had her ups and downs.

In all honesty, this album isn’t terrible. It just doesn’t meet the expectations of someone hoping for a great new LIVE album.

But then again, not everyone can be a renaissance band.

Save that for people like The Beatles, or Beck.

LIVE
Album: “Songs From Black Mountain”
Grade: C-
Verdict: For those hoping for another “Throwing Copper,” LIVE is DEAD.

[Lively Chick]

1. Creed fanatics who don’t mind their favorite band being royally ripped off. Either that or they don’t realize that they have actually bought a LIVE album instead of a Creed album. They may think this is a great Creed performance recorded LIVE at a place called Black Mountain.

Did this fool ever listen to Creed at all. I love Creed's albums and that yummy Mark Tremonti but come on now, Live is absolutely nothing like Creed. Live is my fav band and is just in ( or was, hopefully again ) a class by themselves. I know a lot of you hate Creed but they rocked hard and as much as I love Chad T, his guitar riffs, even on his best days, can't even hold a candle to Mark Tremonti's kick ass guitar riffs . That fool needs to go listen again. Creed is the only band I liked that did not yodel . But man, Stapp wrote some great lyrics and those Tremonti riffs seduced the hell out of me

[sandkind]

Did this fool ever listen to Creed at all. I love Creed's albums and that yummy Mark Tremonti but come on now, Live is absolutely nothing like Creed. Live is my fav band and is just in ( or was, hopefully again ) a class by themselves. I know a lot of you hate Creed but they rocked hard and as much as I love Chad T, his guitar riffs, even on his best days, can't even hold a candle to Mark Tremonti's kick ass guitar riffs . That fool needs to go listen again. Creed is the only band I liked that did not yodel . But man, Stapp wrote some great lyrics and those Tremonti riffs seduced the hell out of me

i agree, i hear no creed whatsoever in live's music. i don't care for creed, but i agree that tremonti is a technically superior guitarist. don't like stapp at all and think their split was the best thing that could have happened to them. i have not heard very much altered bridge, but i did like what i heard.