Birds of Pray, What do you think of it anno 2010? Options

[SecretInsomnia]

Live fans on these board often say that Live didnt make anything goo after TDTH.
V, BoP and SFBM are regarded as 'Live going downhill'. Although I can enjoy some parts of each of those 3 albums, BoP is (for me) still an album that I can listen very often and to which I always look back to with joy for some reason. (must also have to do with the period it was released, it had some quite hopefull and upflifting energy for me in spring/summer 2003).

Ofcourse not all on the album is as creative as in the 90ies, certainly not. But for me it's for some reason still a really "Live" album and for some part breathes the atmosphere that I think about when I think of Live in general. I don't really have that with "rapping and experimental V" or "too much Ed focussed SFBM" (although, as I said, they had their "Live" moments as well).

Heaven is still (commercial sounding or not) a very nice song. Like I do is for me up with Live's best work. And Lighthouse touches me again each time I listen to it. I really like Sanctity of Dreams (and yes I know most don't), as it just grabs you from beginning to the end. Out to Dry is POP, but not pop like most of Alive, for example.

Listening to SoD, I also notice that back then, Ed still wrote about different topics on the album. Compare for example topics in: SoD, Heaven, River Town and Out to Dry.
SFBM had not much variety in topics, and on Alive it seemed to be gone completely.

What do you think about Birds of Pray, now 7,5 years after its release? For me it's not a bad album at all, although I know it's not their best work ever.

This post has been edited by SecretInsomnia: Dec 8 2010, 6:51 pm

[Deku]

For me BOP is a decent album, with moments of shame and hints of brilliance. It was the third Live record I got, and I hadn't heard any of Live's material prior to TDTH so I could listen to the record objectively, take it for what it is, without yearning for what Live were before.

And I think that's why to this day I still like it. For most part it's full of straight-up rock songs, that capture some of the intensity of their earlier stuff (Like I Do, Lighthouse) but lack the complexity and intrigue associated with pre-naughties Live. There are some great melodies and riffs on the record, and I've found more of an appreciation for songs like She, Like I Do, Rivertown as I've got older. I still love Out To Dry though, but don't share Pokey's appreciation for Everytime I See Your Face. There are perhaps too many middle-of-the-road tracks like that that hold the album back a bit.

I definitely agree with Secret Insomnia & Pokey that Ed had more to say back when this was written, as opposed to SFBM/Alive. And if it was a song about a girl, it was done more inventively. For some reason I too feel this as a positive album. I remember listening to it on a family holiday in Italy. It kind of worked.

things I like: The outro lead guitar riff to Heaven, the foggy, siren-like guitar in the SOD verses, the pounding intensity in the last minute of Like I Do, the bridge in Lighthouse giving way to its soaring chorus and the uplifting sing-along that is Out To Dry

I could go into things I'm not so keen on, but I don't think BOP gets enough credit as it is. Sure, it's not amazing, and I don't listen to it that much. But when I do it's worth it.