The Distance to Here

by

Live

Edit

This record obviously marks a huge turning point for Live. It has HAPPY LYRICS! Who'd ever have thought of Live with happy and hopeful sounding lyrics? Not to mention the brilliant musical styles as well. Live pours out all it's emotion into this cd, making what Kowalczyk calls "Just a bunch of love songs." A band has to have good music to back up a title like The Doplhin's Cry, and they do. The brilliant emotion of Run To The Water has made it a favorite among many Live fans. Sparkle rocks the most I think. This album is the end of Ed's spiritual quest that he has been going through in the other albums, but just the beginning of his career. Dance With You sets a new standard for Live ballads, surpassing Turn My Head as a love song. The darker sounds of Voodo Lady sound as if they belong on Secret Samadhi, but just give the album a new twist and makes it even better. The string parts in Where Fishes Go elude to the gentle rolling of the waves, as Ed calls us out of the darkness to come dance in the light of love. In the very beginning of We Walk In The Dream Ed admits he was wrong about us not having a soul or spiritual self, as he said in his previous albums. Also, Ed's little brother Adam Kowalczyk takes adds his guitar parts to the new album as well. He's also been touring with Live and taking Ed's acoustic guitar parts so Ed is "Free to be a madman on stage." There is no doubt about it, The Distance To Here is a another hit record for Live, and may even challange Throwing Copper as the top Live album. This new explosion of emotion and peace together with brilliantly rocking music brings a new style into the music world as we enter the next decade.

With Live's new release "The Distance to Here," I was expecting more melodic grungy alterna-rock that they have provided in the past, and except for a few diamonds in the rough ("The Dolphin's Cry," and "Sparkle,"), most of the tracks seemed to be well-constructed, but reeked of radio friendly pop. They lacked the vitality and energy of the band previous albums. The trouble is not in the songs themselves, nor in Ed's voice, and much of guitar work is wonderful. I've spent a lot of time trying to pin-point the problem, and i think i've found it: the mixing! While the previous records were mixed like a rock record should be, with drums and guitars in the foreground, "The Distance to Here," seems to focus more on Ed's voice. As awesome and emotive as it is, it is NOT an electric guitar, and it cannot take on the responsibility for shaping a song. One really has to search to find the riffs, and the guitars aren't nearly loud enough to back up the vocals. I may be sounding like a metal head here, pleading for louder guitars, but i have a reason. It just seems that Live wrote the songs as rock tunes, guitar heavy, melodic and powerful, but they ended up reaching for a pop sound. It just doesn't quite work, and leaves the songs sounding flat. For their next offering, i think live should record all their songs at a concert, and live up to their own name, because all the tracks on "The Distance to Here," are incredible live, but the album versions are definitely missing something.