I’d like to guess that the title of Live’s new album, The Distance To Here, expresses the changes they have undergone since their first album, Mental Jewelry. That album was vibrantly alive with youthful exuberance, whereas The Distance To Here feels more calculated and worldly. It seems that Live has gracefully aged like another small town band turned legend, REM.
The first track, “The Dolphin’s Cry”, strikes you with a powerful message (“Love will lead us, alright/ Love will lead us, she will lead on/ Can you hear the dolphin’s cry?”). It can mean different things to different people. That sort of imagery is exactly what you want in a great song. “The Distance” follows and runs, throws and catches like Michael Stipe. “Where Fishes Go” ranges from gentle to raging. “Face And Ghost (The Children’s Song)” brings back the mellow ache that REM introduced us to on Automatic For The People. This track is the most precious on the album. Its delicacy is the song’s best attribute. “Feel The Quiet River Rage” has a less ferocious feel than its name would imply, but it’s a great song that stays with you. “They Stood Up For Love” goes on and on, though it doesn’t seem that it does. The last track, “Dance With You”, is brilliantly simple and pleasant to the ear.
This album doesn’t boast of the energy and angst of Throwing Copper, but that’s what is so appealing. Live proves they can shift gears, and do so successfully. It seems that anger has been replaced by love. From one song to the next, love is the running topic. It’s more uplifting, it’s about searching, wondering, and the power of loves both lost and won. And your experience may be much different from my own. What I like most about this album is the diversity in the meanings that can be derived from it. Good storytellers and songwriters don’t paint the complete picture; they leave something for us to finish. Job well done.
+ rae gun
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