Alive, Only for those who have actually listened to it please! Options

[LiveRoCkS77]

Honestly??? Probably the single worst album I've ever listened to start to finish.

Sucks a hundred times worse than anything I could've ever imagined. Utterly disgusted. SFBM was so far better, it's not even worth measuring. Anybody who likes this contrived drivel is a fucking idiot in my opinion, sorry. You're both forcing and fooling yourself. This music is utter fucking garbage.

Espceially coming from a guy who continues to preach love and all that bullshit. While having just stolen from his best friends. Fuck you Ed, your music reeks of shit and filth even more than you do buddy.

[LivesMeltdown]

Honestly??? Probably the single worst album I've ever listened to start to finish.

Sucks a hundred times worse than anything I could've ever imagined. Utterly disgusted. SFBM was so far better, it's not even worth measuring. Anybody who likes this contrived drivel is a fucking idiot in my opinion, sorry. You're both forcing and fooling yourself. This music is utter fucking garbage.

Espceially coming from a guy who continues to preach love and all that bullshit. While having just stolen from his best friends. Fuck you Ed, your music reeks of shit and filth even more than you do buddy.

So, you don't like it?

[LiveRoCkS77]

So, you don't like it?

Hehehe, no....guess not!

[FishOutaWater]

Right now, let's classify Alive as my "guilty pleasure". It's like marshmellows. It's light and fluffy and lacks real substance. It's overly sweet. I don't want to have too much or I'll get sick. But I like marshmellows when I'm in the right mood. And they're better when they're toasted, or when I'm toasted, to keep this anaolgy "Alive" (pun intended).

I hate to quote myself, but I want to continue my anaolgy.

If Alive is like marshmellows, then The Gracious Few is like a nice steak dinner. Heavy and full of complex flavor. Very satisfying. Lots of sizzle!

By the way, I prefer I nice steak dinner to marshmellows any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

So if this analogy was lyrics in an Ed Kowalczyk song, it would go like this:


Oooooh oooooh
Oooooh oooooh, child

Alive is like a marshmellow
So fluffy and sickeningly sweet

The lyrics are about as challenging
As an Eddie K LOL Tweet

Ed could be telling me about philosophy
With that amazing singing voice

But instead he prays to Jesus in song,
Oh well, I guess that's his choice


TGF is like a nice sizzling steak
Cooked to medium rare

It would make the Mona Lisa smile
While lighting fire to her hair

No mention of God in the lyrics
And no drummer trapped in plexiglass

Just hard driving rock n' roll
That knocks you on your ass.


Oooooh Ooooooh, child.
Oooooh Ooooooh, Lord.

Take me to the desert.
Let me drink water.
Let me eat your bread.
Sweet surrender.
Love, love love.
I'm surrounded by razor blades and fire and enemies.
Bla bla bla. [Very catchy melody to follow]

This post has been edited by FishOutaWater: Jul 9 2010, 9:55 am

[Sakhmet2]

First it was Krishnamurti jolting Ed out of his stoic Catholic upbringing. Then Ed found Wilber. Wilber is a deep thinking genius. I have gotten into conversation with Ed about Ken Wlber. Around the time when Ed was into Genpo Roshi, who is one of Ken Wilber's spiritual faculty members, Ed signed an autograph for me that said "Everything is happening in Big Mind". He told you "you have to try this! It will blow you away!"

You are forgetting the Adi Da years. While all-in-all this is a good thing (wish I could) they were a nasty shock to me when SS came out.
(Does Ed still have that tattoo on the back of his neck inspired by his years with AD?)

[OutToDry]

I hate to quote myself, but I want to continue my anaolgy.

If Alive is like marshmellows, then The Gracious Few is like a nice steak dinner. Heavy and full of complex flavor. Very satisfying. Lots of sizzle!

By the way, I prefer I nice steak dinner to marshmellows any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

So if this analogy was lyrics in an Ed Kowalczyk song, it would go like this:


Oooooh oooooh
Oooooh oooooh, child

Alive is like a marshmellow
So fluffy and sickeningly sweet

The lyrics are about as challenging
As an Eddie K LOL Tweet

Ed could be telling me about philosophy
With that amazing singing voice

But instead he prays to Jesus in song,
Oh well, I guess that's his choice


TGF is like a nice sizzling steak
Cooked to medium rare

It would make the Mona Lisa smile
While lighting fire to her hair

No mention of God in the lyrics
And no drummer trapped in plexiglass

Just hard driving rock n' roll
That knocks you on your ass.


Oooooh Ooooooh, child.
Oooooh Ooooooh, Lord.

Take me to the desert.
Let me drink water.
Let me eat your bread.
Sweet surrender.
Love, love love.
I'm surrounded by razor blades and fire and enemies.
Bla bla bla. [Very catchy melody to follow]

Too f'in funny Fish

[Hoodstock]

Honestly??? Probably the single worst album I've ever listened to start to finish.

Sucks a hundred times worse than anything I could've ever imagined. Utterly disgusted. SFBM was so far better, it's not even worth measuring. Anybody who likes this contrived drivel is a fucking idiot in my opinion, sorry. You're both forcing and fooling yourself. This music is utter fucking garbage.

Espceially coming from a guy who continues to preach love and all that bullshit. While having just stolen from his best friends. Fuck you Ed, your music reeks of shit and filth even more than you do buddy.

Things aren't going to change with Ed's direction. So I guess the question becomes when are you going to be ready to move on?

[SinfulEyes]

Only 49 votes? Come on people!

[TheBeacon]

Things aren't going to change with Ed's direction. So I guess the question becomes when are you going to be ready to move on?

I would agree, this is obv who Ed is now. He used to change from album to album but after three consecutive albums of mainly writing love pop rock songs, it seems clear that this is who Ed is and going to be. Also, I will say that Alive is way better than SBFM. That album absolutely was garbage with the exception of about two or three songs. Alive is not garbage. I think it could have been alot better if he would have had some real time and musicians work on it but there are a six to seven songs that are decent which makes it a decent album. I think Zion and Soul Whispers still have that LIVE esscense about them. Drve and Grace sound like material that could have been on BOP similar to Like I Do, Heaven, and Lighthouse. I am starting to really dig Eat Your Love as well. The lyrics are cheesy but it could it reminds me of material from TDTH or V days. I also think if Ed would have had someone write some really cool music for The Great Beyond and make it a like a 6 or 7 minute song it could have been great. Somthing similar to The Distance or TSUFL from TDTH. Yes there are some shitty songs on there though, such as In Your Light and Just In Time. These songs are an embarrasement but thats the greatness of the digital era. Just delete them off your playlist now!

[NectarDan]

Not a big fan of the new material. I'm not saying that it's bad though, just not my cup of tea.

[ItchyTriggerFinger]

Only 49 votes? Come on people!

Not sure that there are all that much more than 49 actual active members.

[Megan1111]

I wan't going to listen to this cd but maybe I'll buy it so he can make 20 cents from me for his kids (according to the msn breakdown :/ )... but in all seriousness, I doubt Ed has become a strict christian he appreciates all forms of spirituality. In fact, many of his cd's have a lot to do with all religions, meditation, allegories of jesus, and even the yin/yang ideas, ...... and I've had a major realization that the yang to the yin of the video for the river from songs from black mountain, is actually this video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqFLXayD6e8

[TheBeacon]

Alright - I waited for my album in the mail and gave it a ton of spins. Here's my 2 cents:

Quick Thoughts On Some Songs:

Drive - Great opening song for this album. Works well.

The Great Beyond - Not the best song on the album but it is my favorite by far. Love the riff. Reminds me of Magnum PI.

Stand - Even though Daughtry helped with Drink, this song seems like a Daughtry song. Another solid song.

In Your Light - Was Eh at first, but this song is about Ed's wife. With a hot wife and two kids of my own I can relate and respect it.

Rome - The only song on the album I don't care for. I don't hate it, I just don't dig it at all.

Soul Whispers - Cool song

Others Not Mentioned - I enjoy them all

Bonus Material: Eat Your Love should have been Need Your Love. The title is cheesy. The music is good (almost like a Stage type song) but the vocals do not match the intensity. A New World is a fantastic song that should have been on the album.

The biggest thing I noticed compared to Live wasn't the drums, it was the guitar work. It was different, but not in a bad way.

Overall: I have to say after reading the boards I was skeptical but hopefully optimistic for this album. After listing to it since Tuesday I have to say I actually love this album. I enjoy it more thatn V, BOP, SFBM, and MJ (keep in mind that I never liked the MJ album recordings, I do enjoy some of the songs live much more).

In my opinion this is the best album Ed has worked on post TDTH. I'm actually thrilled about it and plan to enjoy it all summer long.

Ok, first of all, I will say I do like Alive. However, Alive and MJ should never be mentioned in the same thread ever again. That's like comparing a Bentley to a Ford Taurus ok. Yes they both have four wheels, a steeringwheel, and some windows but thats about it.

I also dig the bonus tracks and wonder again why Ed decided to leave two of the best tracks out of tha actual tracklisting which means the majority of people will never hear these two songs. I think Eat Your Love is a good title for the song. That is the chrous. I also think A New World should have been named " Night of the Last Living Day". !!!!

This post has been edited by TheBeacon: Jul 14 2010, 4:27 pm

[+Ed+]

Who asked about the guitar?

(Ed K.) Congratulations to David Wilson of St. Louis, MO, winner of the brand new Takamine acoustic guitar (signed by me :-) Everyone who pre-ordered "Alive" was placed into the running, so congrats David!

[Live inside]

How do you mean "who askes" The guy just won the guitar?