Live - Songs From BlackMountain

Wed 14th Jun, 2006 in Music Reviews

American band Live’s achievements have always been in the shadow of one U2, which seems a little unfair, as the group have managed to quirk their morals out in a more than decent way over the past decade or so. The cover of Live’s newest album then, Songs From Black Mountain, may make you want to faint upon sight – it’s the kind of extreme pose that everyone’s favorite Creed frontman has already populated with his debut solo album – a gesture of love that makes it all too clear what’s to come.

In truth, though, Songs is probably a step forward for the band of late, as although they allowed themselves to get tied up with experimentation that has evolved their image with each album until now, none of their albums have been as strong and resounding since 1994 and ‘97s Secret Samadhi and Throwing Copper, respectively, tending to bog down in their proclamations and get lost in the thick, sickly sweet production.

So from the outset, lead singer Ed Kowalczyk and Co. look like they’re tightening the strings – or loosening them in truth, as these twelve indie-flavored tracks use a lot of acoustic guitars with whiffs of electronica and seem a lot more relaxed than 2003’s altogether urgent release Birds of Pray.  Let’s not go so far as to say it’s a return to comeback, though… Songs does fall short on Live’s biggest most well-known strengths, and it shows in the record’s quality.

Lead single ‘The River’, a sex song through and through, shows this new display quite nicely.  Well-spoken acoustic riffs come through as the vibe, and Kowalczyk emotes in a comforting falsetto that’s easy to like.  Elsewhere, tracks like ‘All I Need’ and ‘Night Of Nights’ also turn up the seduction for maximum effect, although it becomes a little too metaphorical and shrill after a while. That’s where shortcomings come up: a couple of odd tracks that do try to drive a nail into the political scene home, ‘Home’ and ‘Mystery’ to name a few, sound now so dumb that it wasn’t something worth bothering for.  “My eyes have seen the worst inside of men”, Kowalczyk boasts on the latter, and the hook’s intended for impact: “We’re not coming home!” without the throbbing music to back them up fall flat as a half-hearted attempt at real pain.

The highlight, though, is ‘Love Shines’ (A Song For My Daughters About God)... as the title suggests, it’s written to the lead singer’s children, and finally gets around to addressing just why he is standing with arms outstretched in front of a waterfall on the cover. The words, a gentle teaching of love, are none too shabby, throwing out religious cliches like nothing else, but it’s the music behind it that really shines (no pun intended) – a spread-out experiment with synthesizer that makes Kowalczyk sound more agreeable and preachy then he’s done in a long time. Counted on any other artist’s record, that could well be a bad thing, but that’s really what a Live record underneath it all’s trying to achieve, and even if you’re not buying into the whole ‘love and peace,’ idealism you’ll be interested to see what kind of changes have taken place if you know anything about the band’s history.

So, what’s the problem?  Songs From Black Mountain just doesn’t have enough energy at any point, and pointless flat-songs like ‘Get Ready’ are something for the skip barrel, while it’s too freaking ‘sweet’ to make any decent point, the album overall is like Live goes Unplugged, and overall it’s worth a purchase.