If Live Returned To Their Roots for the Next Album..., ...What "Roots" Should They Return To? Options

[PurdueSteve]

You obviously have no clue what you're talking about, so this debate doesn't really do anything for me. As Pokey explained to you, I was pointing out the fact that TDTH did contain the acoustic guitar.

Do you honestly believe that the inclusion or otherwise of acoustic guitars is a deciding factor on an albums quality?

Read the thread.

I personally do not believe that the inclusion of an acoustic has any forbearing on whether or not the album is good. However, someone in this thread earlier mentioned that ED needs to drop the acoustic for their next album to be good. TDTH was brought up as a counter point to his claim because it contained some acoustic, by you. I then mentioned that most of the album was NOT acoustic and some of the less popular songs were the ones with an acoustic.

It's not of my opinion but the amount of acoustic guitar on an album like TDTH is grossly different than the amount of acoustic guitar on SFBM. With that in mind the conversation goes deeper than the binary presence of acoustic or not.

[Senghe]

I'm not even sure if Live are capable of capturing the zeitgeist like they did on TC, SS and TDTH any more. Not without slapping Ed's solar system sized ego down to size and kicking Chad Taylor's lazy, complacent ass into gear. He's never been the most exciting guitarist, but he's just been turgid and predictable on the last three albums. The whole band give me the feeling they're just coasting. They also need a decent producer as the last album sounded like it had been mixed in a plastic bucket. It's a shame, because you occasionally glimpse a spark of the old passion and brilliance, then it fizzles out again.

I'd put it down to them being in their 30s but hell, Jared Leto's older than Ed and to be honest, the last 30 Seconds To Mars album was far more exciting and passionate than any album Live have done in a decade and I would in no way class myself as a 30STM fan.

[Merica]

I like to think LIVE have another good album in them. I don't think anything could top Throwing Copper, but I think they can put something out that's back "on form" so to speak.

[SJN1279]

I like to think LIVE have another good album in them. I don't think anything could top Throwing Copper, but I think they can put something out that's back "on form" so to speak.

Sales and popularity wise, there will never be another Throwing Copper. I like all of Live's albums, so I'm the wrong person to answer this question.

[LiveRoCkS77]

What technically constitutes a bridge?

A bridge is a contrasting part of a song that breaks its monotony from the simple chorus verse, chorus verse structure. It also prepares the listener for a climactic point of any given song. For example in Like I do where the song breaks and Ed sings "don't leave" and the songs is in a kind of pause mode with instrumentation not really common to the rest of the song. If you notice in Like I Do, the bridge ends with a guitar lick and blast into an even faster chorus, climaxing with a mash of frantic guitar and drums leading to the end.

In The Dolphins Cry where Ed sings "and all these wars are over...over....la lala la laaa...come to me, come to me." Then blasts into an even harder and more urgent chorus.

That is a bridge.

[SJN1279]

A bridge is a contrasting part of a song that breaks its monotony from the simple chorus verse, chorus verse structure. It also prepares the listener for a climactic point of any given song. For example in Like I do where the song breaks and Ed sings "don't leave" and the songs is in a kind of pause mode with instrumentation not really common to the rest of the song. If you notice in Like I Do, the bridge ends with a guitar lick and blast into an even faster chorus, climaxing with a mash of frantic guitar and drums leading to the end.

In The Dolphins Cry where Ed sings "and all these wars are over...over....la lala la laaa...come to me, come to me." Then blasts into an even harder and more urgent chorus.

That is a bridge.

Thanks for the clarification. I was listening to BOP yesterday and I think Sweet Release has an awesome bridge. Life Marches On has a rockin bridge as well, although it is pretty brief

[+Ed+]

A bridge is a contrasting part of a song that breaks its monotony from the simple chorus verse, chorus verse structure. It also prepares the listener for a climactic point of any given song. For example in Like I do where the song breaks and Ed sings "don't leave" and the songs is in a kind of pause mode with instrumentation not really common to the rest of the song. If you notice in Like I Do, the bridge ends with a guitar lick and blast into an even faster chorus, climaxing with a mash of frantic guitar and drums leading to the end.

In The Dolphins Cry where Ed sings "and all these wars are over...over....la lala la laaa...come to me, come to me." Then blasts into an even harder and more urgent chorus.

That is a bridge.

Isn't "When suddenly out of the blue she's singing" part in The River actually a bridge, Luke? I always thought it was smth that appears over and over in one song.

[PurdueSteve]

Isn't "When suddenly out of the blue she's singing" part in The River actually a bridge, Luke? I always thought it was smth that appears over and over in one song.

that is just part of the chorus.

The bridge in "The River" is when Ed is singing "I'll give you life" repeatedly. The chords are derivative of the verses but the rhythm and strumming pattern change.

[disciple_de_+LIVE+]

Their best album since TDTH?

Carefully avoiding the fact that TDTH has The Dolphins Cry as the first song, contains a fair amount of falsetto, and definitely features the acoustic guitar.

It's bullshit anyway. There're no rules for making a good album, especially since in the end we're hoping for work that the old Live fan base will subjectively enjoy, regardless of artistic merit. (Though the old material was more original and better written, so perhaps subconsciously they go hand in hand..)

And I completely disagree with needing a 'rocker' song to open the album. The vital element we're missing from Live's music isn't rock. It's passion. Live clearly doesn't rank high on the individual members priorities. Perhaps if it did; if they still felt they could induce change with their music, if Ed stepped aside from his parental 'look at my daughters!' mindset, if they set out to make their best work yet... for themselves, then maybe we would receive what most of the Live community wants.

Of course this is conjecture, but I feel it's more accurate than a few simple rules for making their best work post TDTH.

Obviously I was oversimplifying what they need to do.

But to your post, the falsetto on TDTH for me wasn't great, but it was cool to hear something different from them, and it fit the style of the album.

Of course there is no formula for a good album, but I feel that Live has been following the "radio-friendly" formula with 3 to 3.5 min songs predominantly acoustic and pretty standard. I put radio friendly in quotes because I don't think they are making songs to get airplay, but I do see a similarity in the length and style of every song on their last 2 efforts.

I would like to them experiment more with progressive, expansive, epic songs. POD, W,D, Gas Hed, Ghost, are all examples of what I am talking about. 6 min plus and complicated (or at least not just repeating the same structure over and over). You can't name a song on V, BOP, or SFBM that could be considered epic. not even close....they should get back to that. JMHO

I agree that the passion is missing from their recent albums, but its obviously not missing from the band. if you've seen them even once in the last year you will see they still have passion for music and specifically their music

[disciple_de_+LIVE+]

Read the thread.

I personally do not believe that the inclusion of an acoustic has any forbearing on whether or not the album is good. However, someone in this thread earlier mentioned that ED needs to drop the acoustic for their next album to be good. TDTH was brought up as a counter point to his claim because it contained some acoustic, by you. I then mentioned that most of the album was NOT acoustic and some of the less popular songs were the ones with an acoustic.

It's not of my opinion but the amount of acoustic guitar on an album like TDTH is grossly different than the amount of acoustic guitar on SFBM. With that in mind the conversation goes deeper than the binary presence of acoustic or not.

Every Live album has acoustic guitar on it. Its part of their sound. But the difference between using it on Beauty of Gray or Horse and using it on Home is tremendous. On early Live albums, they use the acoustic very powerfully on songs like PLOTR, MEISVC, 10,000 Years.

When I said put down the acoustic, what I meant was stop strumming like you're a country singer in every song and lets get back to ROCK...