Songs from Black Mountain was released in 2006 and was the 7th and last album to feature the original band line-up. The album is a far cry from the first two releases Mental Jewelry and Throwing Copper. Where those two album established Live as a premier "alternative rock" band, Songs From Black Mountain comes across as an "alternative lite" where Ed Kowalczyk exerts even more influence on the bands direction musically and lyrically. Ed was always the lyric force within the band and his lyrics always had a religious/spiritual overtone to it and those theme continue on this album. In addition to those themes, Ed has added an intensely anti-war message throughout as well. Musically the album is weak and uninspiring, consisting mostly of acoustic, ballads or mid-tempo full electric with orchestration enhancing the tracks. The song "The River" was the alone single from the album and by 2006 radio and Mtv/VH1 had moved to new platforms and genres as that there was no audience The band presented the album "as a back to basics" but it is not "a return form" which is unfortunate. In 2009, it was announced that the band would go on a two-year hiatus but it eventually became a break up of the band. The band reformed minus Kowalczyk in 2012 and released one album with him in 2014. In late 2016, it was announced that Ed would be returning to band and that they would be touring throughout 2017 with a possible new album in 2018. You can hear Songs from Black Mountain here: Live - Songs from Black Mountain
No comments:
Post a Comment