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After a brief fling with hip-hop beats on their previous album (which didn’t quite work), one of the bestselling college rock bands of the 90’s are back with an album that returns to their roots; straight, driving, rock and roll. In other words, Live doing what they’ve done since hitting their zenith on 1995’s Throwing Copper. 

As comebacks go, Birds of Pray is fairly unremarkable musically; that is, there no dramatic change of style or experimentation with any new directions. Any of these songs could have come straight off The Distance to Here, which wasn’t a bad album, but also didn’t explore any new ground. Perhaps following the mostly negative reviews of their drum-looped 2001 release V, the band decided they would go back to what they know. 

In my opinion, I wish they had gone a little further back. I loved the light-and-shade atmospherics of Throwing Copper and the jarring chords, Gothic imagery, and extended feedback that echoed throughout Secret Samadhi. The Distance to Here was lighter in comparison, preferring to fade tracks out, keeping them short, sweet and, ostensibly, made for radio.

Birds of Pray follows the same formula, with only a couple of tracks daring to extend beyond the four-minute mark. Still, it’s simultaneously more upbeat and down-to-earth than Distance. There are no obvious, cheesy key changes and enough emotional urgency from the early days to get your head banging, but it is still primarily radio-friendly fare. But enough comparisons; it’s Live, and after six albums and numerous successful radio singles, you know what you’re going to get. 

Lyrically, it’s an intriguing album. Lead vocalist Ed Kowalczyk’s body of lyrics across the Live catalogue reflect a belief system that is a hodge-podge of Christian, Eastern and New Age philosophies. It is interesting here to see him exploring a more purely Christian understanding, although clearly on his own terms and with a good dose of anti-fundamentalism. 

With a simple pop hook and catchy chorus, the first track “Heaven” has Ed at perhaps his most explicitly reflective ever on things eternal. 

You don’t need no friends / Get back your faith again
You have the power to believe / Another dissident / Take back your evidence
It has no power to deceive / I’ll believe it when I see it for myself
I don’t need no-one to tell me about heaven
I look at my daughter and I believe
I don’t need no proof when it comes to God and truth
I can see the sunset, and I perceive
(“Heaven”) 

I believe in the sanctity of dreams
No more running from these masqueraders
I believe that society will never dream like me
I dream of love and of the empty graveyard
I dream of Vegas and the transcendental wildcard
A place where no-one waits to die before they go into the light
And just the blind have sight. 
(“The Sanctity of Dreams”) 

After all that, the penultimate track can only be described as nothing less than a balls-out, chunky rocking protest anthem. It’s a little corny with that sixties-style, ‘everybody-sing’ chorus, but the cause is worthy nonetheless. 

I was lost, I am found / All the buildings are burnt to the ground
Do you see your son down on the street? 
Is that a gun or just the father that he needs? 
In the early morning there were revelations in my mind
I can hear the masters crying out from their graves most every night
Bring the people together / Bring the people together 
For the sake of these children we leave behind
It’s a crime, this dark time / We wait for presidents who never turn the tide
I’ve had enough, I think I’m done / So sell me down the river, I’ll be waiting there in love

Even more explicit is the album closer, “What Are We Fighting For?”; a superb anti-war anthem for a generation living under governments obsessed with “holy” wars fought with bunker-busting bombs. With patriotism still running high in the US following the bloody, questionable rout of Iraq, it will be interesting to see if Live are persecuted Dixie Chicks style for daring to record this song. 

Battleflag in the bassinet / Oil and blood on the bayonet
Crowded downtown, hit the floor / What are we fighting for?
The world’s got smaller but the bomb’s got bigger /
Holocaust on a hairpin trigger
Ain’t no game, so forget the score / What are we fighting for?
What will I tell my daughter? What will you tell your son?
Where were all the doves? That we were nothing but a shadow
A faceless generation devoid of love?
The crucifix ain’t no baseball bat. Tell me what kind of God is that? 
Ain’t nothing more Godless than a war, so what are we fighting for? 
(“What Are We Fighting For?”) 

I thought a song or two on Birds of Pray might expand on the prayer reference in the album title, but no such luck. Still, there are enough faith-provoking thoughts on this new album to keep spirit-minded rock fans glued. With this return to form, it’s good to know Live ain’t dead yet. 

Brendan Boughen 5/26/2003