Songs From Black Mountain, Appreciation 101 Options

[Wambangalang]

The dust has settled. The cows have come home. The live universe has come to a heat end. Insert cliché here.

It’s been half a decade since ‘The River’ la-da’d itself into our collective consciousness and signaled the apocalyptic end of the great band Live. We laughed. We cried. Then we cried some more. In fact, we haven’t stopped crying. I evoke memories of the video: The desert. Eds dancing. Gracey in a hooded jumper…IN THE DESERT!!!

And here we are. Does time truly heal all wounds? Shall we allow this great evil bestowed upon us to have dominion over our musical souls? Certain proponents of modern therapy would have us believe that to overcome such a traumatic experience we attach positive attributes to the evil doers and perhaps in doing so recognize or understand where they were coming from, what their intentions and motivations were, why they did what they unfortunately did. Walk a mile.

While I realize that this will always be a sensitive topic for many a live fan and quite conceivably an impossible endeavor for some, I thought it would be interesting and cathartic to discuss the 7th and final studio effort of the band +live+ in a coherent and ultimately positive fashion for a change. We’ve heard all of the arguments for the other side. We’ve all voiced our disapproval and (in most cases) genuine disgust at the direction the boys took their sound and, most notably, of the lead singers approach to and maybe mutilation and caricature of his former artistic glory. I am certainly one of the haters. To some this was more commonly expressed as boredom to the material which is fair enough.

I was thinking since we have in the past gone into some depth with lives material, song meanings interpretations etc. , yet I cant recall much discussion surrounding the songs on this album, maybe it would be interesting to hear some opinions. Im not a muso, have no understanding of technical musical language, so maybe some comments or discussion from the more technically inclined (funkyredcaboose I think is good at that) with some reviews and so on. I know fish is good at song interpretations, (im positive he was the one who gave a smashing awesome breakdown of gas hed goes west a few years ago. search that shit up its worth it). Before I get too drunk just yeah, I think maybe we can hold off on the hating for this album for one thread and try get someityng different out of it. I know someone will come on right away and say “ed is a fag who took too much extacy”/. Or “but the album really is a turd” and as funny or true its been done for the last 6 years. The band is over, we have new things on thd horizon. Maybe I feel we suold give a respectful, deserved sayonara to the band with a comprehensive and constructive discourse of their final album.,

but ill start it off by asking opinions on Where do we go from here”? I particularly like this song and I don’t kno why. It isn’t uplifting in anyway. Nor is it overly memorable in the way lightning crashes obviously was designed to be but I find myself enjoying it a lot when I listen to it. What was the motivation for this song, what did he want to convey or emote. I find it a rather depressing song, again I cant articulate why, im not good at that. I get the strong sense there is dissatisfaction with something, maybe spiritual, maybe concerning a relationship, something not fulfilled, the source is never explicitly stated. What do we think? It has taken me 16 beers to get here and I guess I cant realistically expect people not to jump in and start bashing the hell out of the song/album, but for the sake of the topic ill say lets hear what u like about it?

[OutToDry]

Popping around and found an Amazon.com customer's review of Songs From the Toilet. Love the last line.

1.0 out of 5 stars Uninspired, June 21, 2006
By Fred (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Songs from Black Mountain (Audio CD)
Even the most ardent fans of Live must admit that this is possibly the most lame effort the band has made in their entire career. Every artist/band has missteps in their career, and here it is in all its shining non-glory. The problem, though, is that releasing your most boring album at a time when your popularity is already pretty much in the cellar is career suicide. This is a time when a band should sound refreshed, re-energized and ready to play. Unfortunately, "Songs From Black Mountain" may be an indication that the boys just don't have it anymore. All the songs drone on with mediocrity, a lack of melodic hook and missing the raw energy that we've grown accustomed to hearing on every Live album. It sounds as though they've taken the unreleased studio throwaways from previous albums and lumped them together on this disc. This is truly a shame, as I have loved these guys since the beginning.

If you want a lesson on how to do it right, you need to turn to Pearl Jam. After a couple of mediocre, career-threatening albums, they came roaring back with a a re-invigorated and truly inspired effort. The public loves a comeback, and these guys did it right. They ended up debuting at #1 on iTunes and #2 on the Billboard charts. Their first single shot to #1 on modern rock radio. I was so excited to hear that both Pearl Jam and Live had new releases this year, only to be blown away by one and disappointed by the other.

Someone argued that Ed Kowalczyk's having a daughter may have dragged them down somewhat. Guess what? Lots of rock bands have families and still know how to write great songs. It's not Ed's daughter that is the problem here...it's Ed!

This post has been edited by OutToDry: Apr 8 2010, 11:47 pm

[ridley]

Popping around and found an Amazon.com customer's review of Songs From the Toilet. Love the last line.

Great review that, spot on about Pearl Jam - 2006's self-titled album was pretty damn good and 2009's Backspacer was even better - like TDTH it is truly uplifting and full of positivity (without sounding lame and corny with lines like "think of the booo-dah...")

PJ have done right what Live/Ed did oh so wrong...

This post has been edited by ridley: Apr 12 2010, 6:30 pm