Alive - How do you feel about it now?, A new poll. Options

[SinfulEyes]

Now that most of you have had and listened to this album for a few weeks now, what is your impression of it?

[Pokey]

Great post fish! You're spot on. I just wish Ed thought more about the sound in a broader aspect than just himself. What stops him from going "ok I have this really cool bass riff in mind to feature heavily in this song!". He doesn't, it's all about him. You can say that's fair enough now that he's solo, but that doesn't mean neglecting the other instruments he doesn't play. No one would think less of him if he'd written in a really kick ass bass line for example. This just stems from one or 2 reasons. Pure ego where only he may feature. Or he just doesn't have the ability to write in place of a whole band. I think it's a bit of both and it really damages the end result. Alive like Fish said is just written from the top down and the top isn't even that good. Then again what do I know, he was the driving force behind Live after all!

[FishOutaWater]

Great post fish! You're spot on. I just wish Ed thought more about the sound in a broader aspect than just himself. What stops him from going "ok I have this really cool bass riff in mind to feature heavily in this song!". He doesn't, it's all about him. You can say that's fair enough now that he's solo, but that doesn't mean neglecting the other instruments he doesn't play. No one would think less of him if he'd written in a really kick ass bass line for example. This just stems from one or 2 reasons. Pure ego where only he may feature. Or he just doesn't have the ability to write in place of a whole band. I think it's a bit of both and it really damages the end result. Alive like Fish said is just written from the top down and the top isn't even that good. Then again what do I know, he was the driving force behind Live after all!

I gave T.B.D. as an example of a song that wouldn't be the same if someone wasn't thinking about the bass while the song was being written.

Here are a few more examples off the top of my head. I can't get Crying Time out of my head. I am going to repost something that I wrote over at TheGraciousFans.com about Crying Time:

It is moody. It's somber. It has smooth guitar chords. The bass line is reminiscent of a solatary person, walking alone, at night, in the fog, on a bridge, hands in his pockets, head down, pensively contemplating life. The drums skillfully carry the song from melody to chorus, to guitar solo. The guitar solo has a mood - like it is asking a question - "why?" I love the layering of Kevin's deeper, somber voice, with his high-pitched scream, especially at the end.

So there is a song that has all of the pieces working together, and the pieces become greater than the sum of the parts. It's music. Crying Time wouldn't work without that bass line going:

Doo, doo, doo, dooo, doo
Doo, doo, doo, dooo, doo
Doo, doo, doo, dooo, doo
Doo, doo, doo, dooo, doo

All the way through the song. I can't get that bass out of my head.

Honest Man starts with that attention grabbing guitar solo. Ed's songs wouldn't start with that. It would have to start with an Oooh oooh. Think about the Lakini's Juice riff too. That's the work of art in that song. The lyrics are just the frame.

Think about the drums in Mother Earth If a Vicious Crowd. That song would be nothing without the apocolyptic sound of those drums.

Think about the bass in Negation and that U2-like screaming guitar toward the end of Negation when the song breaks loose.

Think about how the drums and the guitar and the bass in Good Pain herald the turning point of the song. It works hand-in-hand with the lyrics and the message of the song. All of the pieces fit together to make music. Right at the part where the lyrics declare an enlightenment and a realization of the teachings of Krishnamurti, Ed says, don't you know now "I'll never be the same again... no more bitter sweet, no more good pain...." Then Ed screams "HEY!!" and those drums start slamming: "Ratt, tat tat... Rat, tat, tat!" and the tempo picks up and the bass and the guitar go nuts. This is a turning point in the song and it is brought on by the music. The lyrics go from stating "he said.. he said" to Ed screaming the realities of these teachings in the first person. "So many of us stand in the middle, looking back to the worst, looking forward to the fall".

This is what you get when a whole band of great musicians work together to create songs together. Each bringing his talents into the room. Each adding to the song.

The result is better than what you get when the singer brings pre-baked songs to a bunch of session musicians and asks them to just take it out of the box, and warm it up in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

This goes to the very issue of the lawsuit and the decline in Live's music and why Ed was wrong to push the other three out of the songwriting process and why Ed is wrong to say that the other three are not songwriters in any meaningful respect and who was responsible for making Live great and who was responsible for causing Live to die! It took all 4 guys to make Live! Ed isn't Live without the other three, and TGF isn't Live without Ed.

This post has been edited by FishOutaWater: Aug 30 2010, 12:15 pm