Feature Review

Live: The Distance to Here

****

It was almost a decade ago that Live burst onto the scene, fresh out of high school, with their first hit "Operation Spirit." Crowds cheered as Edward Kowalczyk sung his progressive notion of empirical reality and how religion, especially Christianity, only serves to distract us from our true potential. While Live's early flirtation with secular humanism galvanized their core audience of non-believers, their music had always contained a steady undercurrent giving a nod to the mysterious, the metaphysical other, and the power of the imagination. With the release of Secret Samadhi, their dark and fairly ponderous third album, that current became a raging river--a metaphor which has itself become a focal point in each of their four records, producing some of their most powerful songs.

The Distance to Here is an attempt by Live to deal with their own spiritual selves and the transition that they have made from when they were kids trying to save the world--to men unsure about whether or not they will be able to save themselves. This is a concept album, twelve of the thirteen songs are about spirituality, religion, reality and dreams, god, God, goddesses--you name it, it's in there. The one exception being the first track, "The Dolphin's Cry" a pop-song which is already in danger of being overplayed, burdened with the task of trying to make the album move off of store racks. The Distance to Here is not radio friendly--it's not the safe kind of spirituality that gets airplay, it's not about lighting candles or freeing Tibet, but discussing the nature of the soul, if it exists, dialoguing with the Platonic idea of The Good and The One of Plotinus. There's some serious stuff here, folks. Though the concept of an abstract power of love will make most of us cynics chuckle, it can have quite an effect on you if you do just as Live did--let your walls come down.

The Distance to Here is a surgical strike--while beautifully executed, with technically rock-solid music and well developed lyrics--its narrow focus is sometimes too much to take in a single sitting. This is not going to be an album that you listen to everyday, or even every month for that matter, but sometimes--it might be exactly what you need to hear.

by Richard Leader