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]

After BOP, the record deal was over with the greatest hits Awake. The Sony deal was bad because the original person who signed them was ousted and the new person buried Live to the backburner. I think that was a one off anyway.. I don't know the whole story though. I think this confounded with the musical direction, gave the indication to me that the deathnell was coming for Live. Pains me to say it, but they were done the second I heard Charred Mountain. From that day on hoped the 3 would go their separate ways and do what's right by them and create the music they are capable of.

[LiveRoCkS77]

After BOP, the record deal was over with the greatest hits Awake. The Sony deal was bad because the original person who signed them was ousted and the new person buried Live to the backburner. I think that was a one off anyway.. I don't know the whole story though. I think this confounded with the musical direction, gave the indication to me that the deathnell was coming for Live. Pains me to say it, but they were done the second I heard Charred Mountain. From that day on hoped the 3 would go their separate ways and do what's right by them and create the music they are capable of.

They were done WAYYYYYYYY before that. These guys have been at odds for a long, long time now. They pretty much stopped hanging out after shows and being best buddies almost 10 years ago. Anybody who thinks this was a recent thing is dead wrong.

This band simply will not reunite. There is actually some pure hatred developed there. Ed became an unbearable fucking dickhead to the point where nobody would even speak to him. He demanded control over everything and stopped treating the other three as friends. Even demanded his own separate section on the tour bus.

But does it really surprise you people that Ed would turn out to be the almighty one? Did he not strike a lot of you as the arrogant jerk off at the meet and greets unless you had tits and a pussy? Even Nick experienced that, as have hundreds of other people.

But what was the consensus about Pat Chad and Chad?? Seems to me EVERYTHING I've read is about how nice and friendly they were. How down to earth and warm they were. How willing they were to pose for pictures and shake your hand or give you a hug. Never anything ever negative about them or Adam was there? NO.

Fact is, and it is fact, that Ed turned into an egotistical douche bag who wanted control over everything. Does common sense not tell you that both Chads weren't lying in saying what they said? That their personalities dictate that they'd have no reason to attack Ed without reason?? Common fucking sense and logic tells me with 100% certainty that this would not happen.

Ed however, has shown himself to be a fucking jackass. Through his meet and greets and his selfish, bullshit attitude. When all is good for him, he wants utmost privacy and shuns everybody from knowing shit about him. When things are falling apart and he needs his fans, all of a sudden he's mister friendly, selling coffee mugs with his kids pictures on them, offering to talk to people on the phone for a FEE and bloggin nonstop and putting up videos of himself singing at home of all places.

He's a fucking user. He manipulates people according to when he needs them and when he doesn't? He discards and ignores them. I have first hand knowledge of hundreds of occassions where he was rude and distasteful backstage to the very fans who supported him and his music and allowed him to be where he is. Now all of a sudden, he needs those fans and he's mister nice guy with his "love and peace to all" bullshit.

The guy is a complete and utter fucking asshole. As fake and phony as they come. It doesn't surprise me at all that he backstabbed his lifelong friends in order for future financial gain.

People like Nick who stills upport this guy are either flat out stupid, or just don't care. Either way, those people are pathetic. To me, it matters what kind of human being a person is. I refuse to support people who use and abuse other people. People like this guy who think they're better than everyone else.

SFBM and the 2 previous albums sucked and they sucked because all the guys weren't involved like they were for the first four. Ed like a fucking child, wanted it his way. Ed's way was a disaster and it speaks for what kind of artist he has become. Scream a lack of promotion all you want Nick, it doesn't explain a decline from selling over a million each album, to less than 1 hundred thousand. The reason is because the music is flat out bad. Make all the excuses you want, people just stopped liking the music. Just because you didn't doesn't mean it was good. Or that it lacked promotion.

Those are excuses that children make up in order to avoid taking responsibility or facing up to the truth. Big problem in todays society, people just want to blame everthing on somebody else.