Live
Throwing Copper

THE REVIEW

Tonight is one of those nights when I'm afraid. I'm afraid of new things. I know, I'm immature. I'm growing up and I don't like it (as the Righeira also said). What a bummer... everyone changes but it doesn't mean they improve. Everyone is suggesting new music to me... but I'm fed up with Gnu-metal, I can't stand the new English bands, electronic rock is now made by anyone and everyone, Lo-Fi was invented by Sid Barrett... so what the heck am I feeling like tonight? I need pure rock... without compromises, without frills, sincere, with a touch of class, no, nothing trashy... I want violent rock that still winks at pop, otherwise how can I sing along? I need to scream, to feel alive... here, alive... LIVE!

LIVE - THROWING COPPER! You've been in my room for 11 years and you're still so beautiful! Smack!
How I loved this album! And here on DeBaser no one talks about it!?!? Crazy maniacs!
LIVE, they're a band from Pennsylvania that emerged with an interesting debut ("Mental Jewelry" dated 1991), and in 1994 released this surprising album.
So, 1994 we were saying, a spectacular year, full of great albums, a truly generous harvest: SUPERUNKNOW by SOUNDGARDEN, VITALOGY by PEARL JAM, GRACE by JEFF BUCKLEY, THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL by NINE INCH NAILS, MELLOW GOLD by BECK, GEEK THE GIRL by LISA GERMANO, DUMMY by PORTISHEAD, NO NEED TO ARGUE by THE CRANBERRIES, the first by KORN... (how many great records in a year, but do you realize?!?!)... All this, to understand what era we were in and to consider the fact that releasing an album 11 years ago and making good songs was much more difficult and perhaps more stimulating than now.
LIVE managed to blend the mechanics of melodic singer-songwriting with prog-rock nuances, sprinkled with a touch of neo-folk rock, shaking it all with a bit of ’90s grunge cunning. They borrow from REM and riff off perfect pop-rock songs like the straightforward "Selling The Drama" (a radio hit single everyone thought was really by REM!), the touching "Lightning Crashes" (full of Springsteenian pathos, dedicated to a certain Barbara, who died at 20 in a car accident) and the lively "Shit Towne" ("Shitty Town," dedicated to their dear hometown).
But don't be fooled by Ed Kowalczyk's Michael Stipe-like timbre: if anything, his passion-infused singing is closer to early Eddie Vedder, but without the hoarseness (the wonderful "I Alone" seems to have come from "VS."). Live know how to borrow something interesting from all the great alternative-power-folk masters, but at the same time, they are very good at detaching themselves from any cliché that encapsulated the bands of that time. You can still feel the heavy metal and hard rock influences ("Stage" and "Waitress"), but the band is a star player in the messy ballads.
Guitarist Chad Taylor is a craftsman of the instrument: a virtuoso in his own right who offers us the only solo worthy of the name in the whole record (it's in the thunderous finale of "White, Discussion"), but despite this, he has memorized all The Edge's tricks and spreads the sonic carpet by laying down his guitar with various delays, feedback, and noise so cleverly that we absolutely don't miss (the solos)! Besides, with a fabulous bassist like Pat Dahlheimer, the band can afford to play around with the rhythm like few can. Ed Kowalczyk is a great singer but, above all, an excellent interpreter. His always engaged and above-average lyrics do not lack social denunciation and intimate poetry.

Confident, LIVE dare to look forward with the opening track ("The Dam At Otter Creek") experimenting with distorted and hyper-filtered vocals, and then mid-album they strangely tease us and go classical by arranging the melody of "All Over You" until they turn it into a madrigal! Even though one of my favorites remains the very intense "Iris" (with drummer Chad Gracey working overtime), the track that undeniably makes the album worth buying (or downloading) is the cryptic "Pillar of Davidson": with that bass that regularly marks the beginning of each verse, with that sinister bridge you want to whisper (Oh bad eyes... almighty fear) even if you already want to sing that chorus that you don't know you're not able to sing but you sing anyway because it comes from the heart (The shepherd won't leave me alone, he's in my face and I want you here by my heart...). That damn catchy chorus stays in your head all the way to the end of the record and forces you to press the "play" button again on track no. 12 another 3-4 times.

No, please don't tell me LIVE are just angrier REM because with all due respect to Stipe, I am convinced that Michael could never sing like this and that REM could never play like this.
What a beautiful dive into the past... I needed it, I feel better, I feel ALIVE.