REVIEW: Live, The Distance to Here (Radioactive)
- Scott Hudson
Just as a great athlete, well past his prime, tries in vain to recapture the level of consistency and greatness that characterized his career, in reality the effort, although noble, will be futile. Factors such as age and injury contribute not only to the erosion of skills, but of agility and creativity that was once formally possessed.
Any great performance left will be sporadic at best, while most performances in general will be forced in an attempt to regain what is lost. The same analogy can be applied musically, and certainly does apply to Live.
In 1994, Live released their second album, Throwing Copper, a record that spawned five mega-hits, sold seven million copies worldwide and catapulted the band to stardom. The band rode the crest of that wave for three years until the release of its much anticipated third offering, Secret Samadhi. It was a creative and commercial flop.
With Live's newest release, The Distance to Here, one gets the sense that Live's potential for creating a consistent and compelling album is slowly eroding. Although the record is as energetic as any previous release, it comes across as a forced and unimaginative effort.
The lyrical depth once possessed by Ed Kowalczyk has dissolved into nothing more than spiritual meanderings which grow tiresome by the minute.
Although a better record than Secret Samadhi, The Distance to Here exhibits no real creativity or originality. There are however, some good songs here. "The Dolphin's Cry," "The Distance" and "They Stood Up For Love," are good songs, but hardly of the same caliber of previous classics like "I Alone," "Lightning Crashes and "Selling the Drama."
Because of the album's lack of musical substance, The Distance to Here tends to wear thin fast, and waiting for the record to grow on you could be as time-consuming as watching grass grow.
It would seem that Live's musical prime consisted of one great album, Throwing Copper, and trying to recapture the raw energy and emotion of that well-crafted effort should be their lone aspiration.
The Distance to Here clearly demonstrates that subsequent releases to Throwing Copper are just that...subsequent releases!
