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During the past decade, Live has managed to craft a powerfully diverse yet often underrated career as talented and original rockers with a uniquely spiritual message. These works were never better than on 1991's
Mental Jewelry, never more mainstream than on 1994's Throwing Copper, and never more experimental than on their latest effort,
V.
As with most experimental projects, a band's real strengths are often diluted among weaker, incongruent moments. Ed Kowalczyk's vocals are truly a thing of beauty. "People Like You" opens gently with the glorious Kowalczyk pipes, before steam rolling to his bellowing high-end range, recalling earlier hits like "All Over You" and "I Alone." This record, however, starts to lose the Live fan when oddball attempts at rap rock lead the band to empty lyrics and disposable songs. On "Like A Soldier," Kowalczyk talks out,
"Let's vote for Nader / What are we waiting for / I'm gonna live to be 164 / To the crib then back to the studio / To write a song so good make a midget grow."
Later, "OK?" is a similar disaster, when a full-blown rap performance fails to find any common link within this or other Live records.
"Forever May Not Be Long Enough" offers haunting piano accompaniment and interesting background vocals, but again tries to blend excessive tempos and cumbersome arrangements in a way that is sloppy and unnecessary. As with most Live projects, however, there are several successes here. "Call Me A Fool" is simple, serene and perfectly produced. "Overcome" is a gorgeous ballad, released in a timely manner, as it has already been used in documentaries about the recent World Trade Center tragedy. Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows steps in and provides background vocals on "Flow," a typically brawny Live hit that should have no problem finding alternative radio waves.
V is likely a short pit stop in an otherwise brilliant career for Live. They could have wandered much further from their proven format, but instead Kowalczyk and company chose to dabble with unfamiliar resources while weaving a few familiar threads. The overall result is decent at times, but mostly scattered and uneventful.
~Red Rocker
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