Live - Secret Samadhi
It’s about time America sent us over a great band. After all, we gave them Bush, Republica and even the Spice Girls and yet the best they’ve managed recently is a ska-punk band who get to Number 1 with a pop ballad (No Doubt about who I’m referring to, I’m sure you’ll agree). Thankfully, Live are here, fresh from selling nigh on 10 million copies of their second album Throwing Copper, better described as the glorious sound of REM playing heavy rock and one of the albums of 1994.
Given the splendour of that opus it would not have been too much of a surprise if Secret Samadhi had turned out to be a monumental disappointment. That this is in no way the case is a testimony to the song-writing brilliance of this Pennsylvanian quartet.
New single (and a top 30 one at that) Lakini’s Juice proves the point perfectly. It has everything - a gargantuan guitar riff, beautiful orchestral strings, wrenching vocals courtesy of Ed Kowalczyk and a final chorus that is begging to be shouted by thousands of people at Live gigs everywhere. Elsewhere, the likes of Rattlesnake, Graze and Heropsychodreamer continue the‘‘semi-acoustic verse, all-electric chorus’ formula to great effect, while Turn My Head and in particular Ghost are totally gorgeous slabs of American melancholia. If there’s a fault, it’s that the album is a little "samey" and that the last two songs, Merica and Gas Hed Goes West, sound like mere add-ons compared to the other ten almost-masterpieces. But this is a minor quibble, especially when you contemplate the possibility of Live performing such great songs when they play here in April. Let’s hope that they really live up to their name...(8)
Vi
