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?

[+Ed+]

Just digging out the old stuff and re-collecting the 2005 paranoya and expectations of the new album

[quote]The new material? I think I won't say anything because it feeds the paranoia of some of the speculative fans out there. I guess they need something to fuel their overactive imagination and constant whining/bickering. oh all right, I'll let this one out - Chad Gracey does not sing on any of the tracks! OMG!! THE HORROR! [/quote]

[quote]www.chadtaylor.net :

"So much has happened since my last LIVE tour diary entry in December of last year. Just over six month's has gone by in what feels like a couple of weeks. I will try and re-cap but honestly it will have to be in random order and scattered to get it half right.

First, I just returned home to Lancaster from 23 days in Santa Barbara, California where Live has just completed it's seventh studio album. Without revealing too much I will say it's a new direction for our band and I really hope it's well received, I'm thrilled with it myself. [/quote]
[quote]Ed attended an event sponsored by Integral Naked last week. At this event, he performed a new song titled "Sophia". However, there is no word yet as to whether this new song will appear on the new album or not. (Credit: Integral Naked and Susan Cutillo of Connecticut) [/quote]
[quote]BREAKING NEWS

It has been confirmed!

Sources over at FriendsofLive.com have confirmed that Live’s new album, entitled “Desert Solitaire”, will hit stores on November 14th, 2005. Their new single, “Never Cry Wolf” has rumored to hit airwaves sometime in mid-October to pump up the release of the new album. Stay tuned for more details! [/quote]

And a feedback:

[quote]There's no truth to any of that' © Lang[/quote]
[quote]. "...gotta rest up for the upcoming run of LIVE dates. I'm sure I'll see a few of you there! Wait until you hear the new LIVE stuff...you're gonna shit. I've posted the entire rough mixes of LIVE's new release on the internet for your listening pleasure...sike. See ya soon!" Adam is also about to finish a new 7 song EP of his own material, so make sure to keep an eye out for it soon. (Credit: AdamAndTheWeight.com) posted july 28th, 2005 [/quote]
[quote]At tonights concert in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania, Live performed 5 new songs that will appear on their new studio album.
Ed announced that the new album will be titled "Songs From A Black Mountain" and will be released circa November 11th.
The first single will be called "The River" and will be released to radio around the end of August.
Other songs to be included on the new album include "Sophia", "Mystery", "Love Shine" and another song beginning with the name "Love".
I have posted the setlist and a couple fan reviews from this concert to the Setlist & Review Section.
(Official confirmation of the new single/album release dates is expected to be announced on Monday).
[Credit: Valerie Pettenati of Pennsylvania, Jacob Saxon of Columbus, Ohio] posted august 6th, 2005 [/quote]
[quote]Review by Valerie Pettenati of Pennsylvania
The show was great as always. The name of the new album is "Songs From A Black Mountain". We heard some songs from the new album. "The River", "Sophia", "Love Shine", "Mystery", and one other I cant remember but it had something to do with love also. It was pretty cool hearing the new stuff before it comes out. My opinion is the new stuff still sounds like Live. Chad said they went in a new direction but I really was liking it. It almost sounds like music from "The Distance To Here".

Review by Jacob Saxon of Columbus, Ohio
The set was pretty short (only an hour; they could have gone longer). The new songs sounded amazing! Love Shines was just alright in my opinion, but the other four were awesome. There were not four new songs, but FIVE. I'm not sure what the fifth one was called, but it also had "Love" in the title. [/quote]

And here was how it all began...

[quote]LISTEN TO LIVE'S NEW SINGLE ONLINE!
Attention Live fans! A streaming version of Live's new single, "The River", is now available to listen to online. It has just been added to the jukebox player on Promosquad's website at http://www.promosquad.com (which streams new songs that record labels send them to get user feedback on). To listen to the jukebox, you must first register a (free) account. Once registered, sign-in and click on the Jukebox to listen to various new songs, including "The River". (Be aware that you must listen to each new song and rate it before the jukebox player gives you a new song to rate. As is the case, it may take awhile before you actually get a chance to hear/rate "The River"). [Credit: Lowell from the band "28N" - http://www.band28n.com ]. [/quote]





Ughhhhhhhh wtf is with the tags???

This post has been edited by +Ed+: May 20 2010, 4:43 am

[dangum]

Ughhhhhhhh wtf is with the tags???

I think there are too many quotes in your post. Try removing a few.