Alive, Has anyone heard the CD?? Options

[Pokey]

Live never played all the tracks from their new materials at shows, why would Ed change that practice now?

They did in the early years when they were really into the music. Doesn't have to be all in the one show or anything but in the later years with TDTH, V, BOP and SFBM a lot of stuff got left out and I have to believe it's because they just wern't that into it themselves, they wern't that proud of it and would rather fall back on older material.
Now I know you're gonna sprout on about how TDTH is stated by some of them as their favorite album and that they have to play "the hits" at a show, but my point still stands. They SHOULD have played all of TDTH at shows. And there's still plenty of space in a set list to add some hits in .. who said a set has to be 17 songs or so? Why not 25? why not 30? Hell so many bands do this, give REAL value for money. I know you're gonna now come up with another line like "TGF aren't doing 30 songs in a show", but they don't have to if they're performing all of their songs, it'd be awesome if they did though.


As for your answers to Fish's posts, I don't know why he bothered really. It's well known the only reason to you why SFBM wasn't the greatest album in the entire world that was universally adored by millions and could have seen Ed take the country's presidency if he wanted to was ... those nasty record companies!
You put the blame everywhere but where Ed is. The music was trash, plain and simple and people didn't care.
Fish gave you some great points at how Live had some really amazing oppertunities that other bands would kill for and they couldn't even capitalise on that.

I have to disagree with Fish on a couple of things though about there not being another TGF album or Ed K solo album ... plenty of bands don't need to have massive sales to survive, if they love what they do and are artistically stimulated they can keep making albums. If Kevin goes back to Candlebox then the other guys might do a different style collaboration with someone else.
I'm not saying this to your personally Fish, but a lot of people musn't see music at a grass roots level. Specifically you Nick.

You musn't go down to your local pubs and get out into your city and explore the local acts that are out there, there is a whole wealth of amazingly talented people out there who enjoy playing music and make great music and they'll never chart, they'll never do more than sell their CD's at the gigs they're at or maybe a few from their website, some of them have been doing it for years and years and don't go "welp we've not made it, might as well quit". They keep doing it because they love it.

I see a guy called Jimi Hocking around Melbourne all the time, maybe only draws 50-100 people per gig. The guy was part of The Screaming Jets, a pretty popular Australian 80s/90s band. He's probably the greatest guitarist we've ever produced, went over to Memphis and won their international blues man of the year award. He's tasted success, but now he just loves to play music, he likes to learn new instruments and get better at doing freaky shit like playing the guitar behind his head whilst doing the splits.
He loves music and it doesn't matter about sales or if his new album will get into the charts. This is the shit you don't understand, there is a whole world out there of music with guys like this who are just doing what they love. If TGF doesn't set the world on fire by their sales and charting then there's nothing to say the guys can't and won't be happy just making music to whoever will listen because they love it.
Same with goes for Ed too ... it's not the end of the world if they're not making millions of dollars and to you if that's all you care about it's just beyond sad.

[thefunkyredcaboose]

I have to disagree with Fish on a couple of things though about there not being another TGF album or Ed K solo album ... plenty of bands don't need to have massive sales to survive, if they love what they do and are artistically stimulated they can keep making albums. If Kevin goes back to Candlebox then the other guys might do a different style collaboration with someone else.
I'm not saying this to your personally Fish, but a lot of people musn't see music at a grass roots level. Specifically you Nick.

You musn't go down to your local pubs and get out into your city and explore the local acts that are out there, there is a whole wealth of amazingly talented people out there who enjoy playing music and make great music and they'll never chart, they'll never do more than sell their CD's at the gigs they're at or maybe a few from their website, some of them have been doing it for years and years and don't go "welp we've not made it, might as well quit". They keep doing it because they love it.

I see a guy called Jimi Hocking around Melbourne all the time, maybe only draws 50-100 people per gig. The guy was part of The Screaming Jets, a pretty popular Australian 80s/90s band. He's probably the greatest guitarist we've ever produced, went over to Memphis and won their international blues man of the year award. He's tasted success, but now he just loves to play music, he likes to learn new instruments and get better at doing freaky shit like playing the guitar behind his head whilst doing the splits.
He loves music and it doesn't matter about sales or if his new album will get into the charts. This is the shit you don't understand, there is a whole world out there of music with guys like this who are just doing what they love. If TGF doesn't set the world on fire by their sales and charting then there's nothing to say the guys can't and won't be happy just making music to whoever will listen because they love it.
Same with goes for Ed too ... it's not the end of the world if they're not making millions of dollars and to you if that's all you care about it's just beyond sad.

This, all of this. Clap clap clap clap clap.

[LivesMeltdown]

They did in the early years when they were really into the music. Doesn't have to be all in the one show or anything but in the later years with TDTH, V, BOP and SFBM a lot of stuff got left out and I have to believe it's because they just wern't that into it themselves, they wern't that proud of it and would rather fall back on older material.

I think the only song not played in concert from TDTH is "We Walk in a Dream". In later years, besides Throwing Copper...songs from TDTH was most represented in concert. I think they are proud of that album, but I may be a little biased because that's my favorite album ever.

[Pokey]

I think the only song not played in concert from TDTH is "We Walk in a Dream". In later years, besides Throwing Copper...songs from TDTH was most represented in concert. I think they are proud of that album, but I may be a little biased because that's my favorite album ever.

Was Sun ever played? I know Face and Ghost got a couple of outings, as did Meltdown before the album was released, likewise the outakes like Don't Wait .. if Sun did I assume it was before the album release?
I guess TDTH was a bad example, but I knew if I didn't put it in then Nick would probably ignore the rest of my post and just say "all of TDTH wasn't played".

[thefunkyredcaboose]

Was Sun ever played? I know Face and Ghost got a couple of outings, as did Meltdown before the album was released, likewise the outakes like Don't Wait .. if Sun did I assume it was before the album release?
I guess TDTH was a bad example, but I knew if I didn't put it in then Nick would probably ignore the rest of my post and just say "all of TDTH wasn't played".

There are a couple of live versions of Sun, but not many.

[LivesMeltdown]

Was Sun ever played? I know Face and Ghost got a couple of outings, as did Meltdown before the album was released, likewise the outakes like Don't Wait .. if Sun did I assume it was before the album release?
I guess TDTH was a bad example, but I knew if I didn't put it in then Nick would probably ignore the rest of my post and just say "all of TDTH wasn't played".

I know Sun (loop version) was played at their Millenium concert. Don't why I remember that, I didn't go to the show nor any during that era...haha! I really wish I went to see them particularly from 94-99.

I also remember reading that Sun was played in the pre-TDTH shows. But I don't necessarily know if that's considered in TDTH era.

This post has been edited by LivesMeltdown: Jun 29 2010, 10:41 am

[Sakhmet2]

Good points! Not to doubt your view (cuz I agree with it for the most part), but I think this Mystery thing was a little different story. If it's true what I heard from that period, the label totally dropped them and refused to promote the Mystery single. In fact, there never was a real Mystery single, only some promo-ones that were sent out. I think if it was promoted even a little bit, it could have been a giant hit. Also, not releasing the duet with Daughtry (especially in that TIME, PERIOD and MUSICAL IDOL-DAUGHTRY-HYPE-TIME), was the the most stupid thing that Live (or I think more likely Live's label), did. Well... let's say very close behind the number one supid thing, refusing to release Hold Me Up since 1994.

Tru Dat.

About 2 weeks before the American Idol performance they also appeared on Howard Stern. They gave a fantastic interview. It was very funny (this was the interview in which they talked about their marriages in a way that made Howard Stern interested - let's not say any more than that).

I think that would be a riot. I wonder if anyone got this interview.


This post has been edited by Sakhmet2: Jun 29 2010, 8:33 pm

[SinfulEyes]

Just listened to the whole album a third time straight through. Ever more depressed at how far Ed's music and lyrics have fallen. What happened to this man? Kind of makes me wonder how he got here. This album seemed so rush and just about every song sounds the same; generic and bland.

[OutToDry]

Perhaps his rush to hurry a solo effort out and not to take his time was bore out by a certain person close to him who's given bad advice before.

[Existentialist]

I just listened to the whole thing and here's my opinion. Most of the songs are complete shit. Without going back and looking, I think some people mentioned Rome and Soul Whispers as intriguing tracks, but these are just pathetic. The lyrics in the chorus to Rome are laughably bad. However, a few songs, such as Drive, Grace, Stand, Drink and Zion are halfway decent and I could listen to them again. However, my girlfriend who is what I'd consider an average music listener said they are all so generic she couldn't listen and I kind of agree. They all have good hooks and I am a sucker for those, though. However, these all would be better suited performed by Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana, Kelly Clarkson or Adam Lambert. Ed is clearly trying to break into this market, but what he fails to realize is that nobody wants a pop star who is pushing 40s and is a bald freak. For that reason alone, no matter how good the hooks on his songs are, he will not be successful in pop. I would have advised him to send acoustic demos of these songs to management of the aforementioned pop stars and just try to sell them the songs for the stars to perform. In short, this album blows, the few times it approaches decency it just sounds like generic pop performed by an old washed up nutcase, and it is extremely forgettable. I am glad I listened though, so I can just laugh at that gay cunt. I believe in one song he says something alone the lines of "it's not what you say but what you do." Well, his whole album is chock full of him saying he's so happy and peaceful and thankful, but what he does is fuck his lifelong friends out of money they were clearly owed. What a hypocritical nutcase fruit fucker. If I ever listened to this shit again, I would make damn sure I was alone or if I'm driving, that it's on the interstate and my windows are up. It's embarrassing.

This post has been edited by Existentialist: Jun 30 2010, 12:26 am

[Nobody Knows]

I stood there in the shop, with Ed's cd in my hand, pondering on what to do.
After much thought I bought it.....................

I get home, and the first lyric I hear is about a desert. I guess I just bought it out of curiosity even though I knew it would be a waste of money.

Skipped through the first 5 tracks... the first song I listened to the end was Zion.

[Nobody Knows]

I listened to all songs now and I'll try and give a song by song review.


Drive: it starts off with Ed oooh'ing and lyrics about deserts and water. The instrumental work is pretty decent in the beginning of the song, but Ed's oooh'ing ruins it for me.

The Great Beyond: The chorus is bad, just bad. He sings with a high-pitched voice and the instruments just sound extremely bland.

Grace: One of the better songs of the album. Catchy chorus... could have been a good song if it wasn't so predictable.

Stand: Starts off with Ed oooh'ing right off the start again. His voice in the rest of the song is mixed and produced and whatnot. Like most popular music these days; I don't like it, but that's just me. Again, not surprising in any way and the instruments sound so bland.

Drink (Everlasting Love): As soon as he starts singing Drink me like water!, I skip to the next track. The worst track in my opinion... the chorus simply horrifies me.

Zion: Decent song. It starts off pretty decent... but the chorus is not that good. Lots of background oooh'ing and the instrumental work is nothing exciting, not as bad as some other things, but still nothing special.

In Your Light: Argh, is it almost over!?! More of the same. Next song, please!

Just In Time: Another happy song. Bland, boring and more of the same.

Rome: I can't take it any more! The torture! Argh!

Soul Whispers: Ah, another decent song. I actually like this one; catchy chorus, and not a hell of a lot of oooh'ing.

Fire On The Mountain: Slow song, kind of like Soul Whispers. I have nothing more to say.


To summarise: Way too much oooh'ing, yeah'ing, lalala'ing and more of that shit. I can't believe the instrumental work is SO bland. It sounds exactly the same on all songs to me. When the chorus hits in on most songs, there is oooh'ing and I can barely hear which different instruments are being played. All at the same sound level (someone posted about that some weeks back).
There is not a single moment in any song which I can remember cos of some guitar work that stood out or anything like that. Maybe that's not what Ed wants, cos it's pop music, but still it's all the same and bland, and unsurprising and too happy.

The only songs I would listen to again are Grace, Zion and Soul Whispers.

Congratulations, Ed, on the creation of an utter piece of crap!


NOTE: This is merely my opinion, no need to feel offended!

[Pokey]

What I can't believe is how theres like 12 tracks that all basically say the exact same thing, the exact same message. There's no variety. He sings a lot without actually saying anything. They're all basically the same song in slightly different versions. I miss how with MJ, TC and SS you had so many different themes going on. Each album had songs going off in all different directions about a multitude of topics.

[Merica]

What I can't believe is how theres like 12 tracks that all basically say the exact same thing, the exact same message. There's no variety. He sings a lot without actually saying anything. They're all basically the same song in slightly different versions. I miss how with MJ, TC and SS you had so many different themes going on. Each album had songs going off in all different directions about a multitude of topics.

Agreed.

Also, I've still not got over hearing him sing "groove with me Mama, into the summer."

[Pokey]

I still wanna know what the hell a child is doing driving a car!