SFBM Press Reviews Options

[livefan1999]

Here is another review combined with a brief interview of Ed.

Asbury Park Press

MUSIC: CLIMBING UPWARD

Band brings lighter touch to "Mountain"

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/28/06
BY ALAN SCULLEY
CORRESPONDENT

The members of Live talk about their new CD, "Songs from Black Mountain," as representing a new era for the band. That would seem like an obvious enough observation.

The CD, after all, is the band's first under a new contract with Epic Records. It comes after the band finished a career-long, seven-CD run with Radioactive/MCA Records by releasing the compilation CD "Awake: The Best of Live" in 2004.

But to Ed Kowalczyk, the band's singer and chief songwriter, the talk of a new era applies on a musical and fundamental level.

"I think it's just the energy of the record," Kowalczyk said in a recent phone interview. "There is a new sort of depth to the band, definitely to the music, that I sense. It's sort of 100-percent uplifting now, but it's an authentic kind of uplifting.

"It's not that the record doesn't have some deep, dark elements to it. It does have songs like "Show' and "Where Do We Go From Here?,' which are much more sort of that existential sort of angst that people (read) into Live on "Throwing Copper' and all those records. It's just with these songs like "The River' and "Mystery,' which I think are new moments for the band in some way, I think they signal a kind of change in the atmosphere of the band that's really new."

The freshness of the songs Kowalczyk mentions is apparent enough in listening to them on the CD. "The River" opens "Songs from Black Mountain" on a particularly warm note. Lyrically, the song evokes a romantic feeling in its images of a man and woman in an embrace and its idea of letting love ease one's pain.

"Songs from Black Mountain" finds Live bringing a lighter touch to much of the music, embuing many of the songs with graceful melodies. The singer said the musical shift wasn't so much a product of the songwriting itself as the production and instrumentation that went into the CD.

"We went for some different guitar sounds," said Kowalczyk, whose band will perform this weekend at Toms River Fest. "We went for a cleaner, sort of more classic guitar sound, big guitars, but not necessarily the sort of compressed, crunched (sound) we were sort of typecasted into."

online review

[livefan1999]

iafrica.com

LIVE
Songs of Black Mountain
Rebekah Kendal
Thu, 25 May 2006

Four stars

'Songs From Black Mountain' is the seventh album from Live — the post-grunge rock band probably best known for their 'Throwing Copper' album.

Although it has been three years since their last release, this latest offering took a mere three weeks to record, but that doesn't really show. Rather mellow, it might disappoint fans who are looking for something heavier though.

Exploring spirituality and the idea of the muse, the album gets its title from a place in California where the trees grow thickly, creating a sense of mystery — a mystery that, on the track 'Show', frontman Ed Kowalczyk likens to the songwriting process. But it's not the only time — the notion of the muse guiding the musician through the creation of songs is a strong theme throughout the album.

The first track, 'The River', already a hit single, warrants its mainstream success. 'Get Ready', which is basically about living in the present and not being tied down by the past, although slightly limited lyrically, has some really deep smooth bits that compliment Kowalczyk’s velvety voice.

And 'Love Shines (A Song For My Daughters About God)', essentially about universal spirituality, has potential and the chorus is great, but the lyrics don’t really go anywhere. Kowalczyk’s girls are going to be left with a very vague idea about the nature of God.

Lyrically, 'You Are Not Alone' is probably the best on offer here, particularly the lines "Spendin’ their time just standin' in line/Tuggin' on society’s coat". However the Michael Jackson title and the last two lines, which seem to be completely disconnected, render this song mediocre.

'Home', as the only topical track, addresses the subject of war as a persistent universal tragedy (instead focusing specifically on the war in Iraq). It's appropriately tense and powerful with the effective use of silences.

So too is the final track, 'Night of Nights', musically the most creative here. It has an intriguing intro, is slightly heavier than the rest and the constant change in tempo forces you out of complacent listening.

All in all, the album is pretty good. There aren't any tracks which stand out as strikingly poor and a few are really worth listening to. The strongest criticism of the album is that it lacks diversity — both musically and lyrically. Certain words appear so frequently that 'Songs from a diamond mine where the sun shines' might have been a better album title.

review here

[aLIVEinNORWAY]

Heres to more from Norway. From Norways to biggest newspappers called VG and Dagbladet.

Dagbladet. 2 out of 6 stars
Live

Heavens, so ‘syrupy’ pathetic!

«Songs From Black Mountain»

CD: 12 years have passed since «Throwing Copper» was released and was responsible for the breakthrough for the quartet from York, Pennsylvania. As a post grunge band they balanced between noise, melodies and an acceptable dose of attitude against an epic backcloth.
I must confess that I liked it, even though the durability wasn’t impressive.
My interest for the band dropped parallel with them getting unduly large self-confidence and an importunate poseur image – at the same time as the musical integrity sank.

With «Songs From Black Mountain» the band leans over backwards for market power and American radio producers. This is tacky, turgid, calculated and sickening. A lot of people will buy, play and like this rubbish. Even though millions of flies prefer stools, it doesn’t mean that muck is good. Welcome to the cliché mire Pearl Jam and R.E.M. never fell into.

From VG 3 out of 6 stars
Live
Nice and easy

Live are a faithful million-seller on the American market and during the years have also acquired a loyal following in Norway. This is understandable as Ed Kowalczyk and his friends provide melodious and easily understood pop-rock that has never scared anyone. In a way we have in fact heard this record before. Everything is very nice and very proper, never directly bad, but seldom exciting. Only with one song «Show» do Live manage to create the extra nerve that gives this album an extra dimension.

But this happens – I would nearly say ‘as usual’ – far too seldom

[gotigrz]

i agree w/ his thought on "show" being the one track that sticks out..... "show" sounds like LIVE, and in my opinion, so does "where do we go from here"

and, i'll never, for the life of me, understand why in the world "the river" was put out as the albums first single. there are 4 other songs that are so much better. it's ashame.

[aLIVEinNORWAY]

and, i'll never, for the life of me, understand why in the world "the river" was put out as the albums first single. there are 4 other songs that are so much better. it's ashame.

Radio, radio, radio...maybe that's the reason?

[gotigrz]

Radio, radio, radio...maybe that's the reason?

maybe in norway, but i have yet to hear one song from SFBM on the radio here in the south of USA. i KNOW that if they would release "show" it'd be a hit.

[aLIVEinNORWAY]

maybe in norway, but i have yet to hear one song from SFBM on the radio

Havn't heard them on the radio in Norway...but I was meaning that they probably think that The River was the most radio friendly song

This post has been edited by aLIVEinNORWAY: Aug 18 2006, 5:00 pm