Review: 'V' from Live

I love the intensity of their lyrics, especially their view of love and life. Yes, it can be rather negative, but it's realistic. Love is a battle, to be fought for by soldiers; it is something powerful, outside of time and space; it is something that overcomes and drowns.

'Overcome' is an all-time favorite song, showing the versatility and flexibility of this band. This song, unlike the typical Live song, is beautifully serene and calming, written in a minor key, with the piano as the primary instrument. The mood created by the music is the perfect backdrop for the lyrics, "I am overcome... holy water in my lungs... this beautiful drowning..."

Many songs on this record are what I would so eloquently refer to as "angry music." But, in my mind, Live can get away with chaotic hard rock and screaming. Even in the midst of their shouting, they maintain an artistic hue and a depth that other "angry music" fails miserably to achieve.


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Review: 'The Distance to Here' by Live

Live puts a new twist on love songs; the majority of their music has to do with love and its peaks and valleys. They stand out, however, in their focus on the intensity, and even dangerousness, of love. Live's description of love is rarely something warm and hopeful; instead, it is described as something dangerous, something that can cut extremely deep, and something overwhelming. Love is sublime; it is an overpowering, uncontrollable force.

My favorite song on this CD is 'Run to the Water', in which love is described as something that burns to the core, and consumes you. It is "... light and rainbows, smashed to smithereens..."

I love how Live weaves the elements into their songs, creating powerful visual images in the listener's mind. They are able to visualize and paint pictures of emotions and the intensity of feelings better than any artist I've seen.

Their religious references are also interesting; I don't know where exactly they are on their spiritual journey, but their music is filled with allusions to everything from Christianity to Eastern religions to Atheism.


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Review: 'Time to Say Goodbye' by Sarah Brightman

This is the perfect CD if you need a dose of mellow, beautiful classical music. The first song with Andrea Bocelli (if you or someone like you knows why he never shows his eyes, please let me know!), like many others, is in Italian. I've always loved songs in other languages... you can learn a little and get the feel of the language, but it's also nice music for reading and relaxing, because although you can listen to it, and there are words, you can't fully understand it and sing along. It's perfect!

'In Trutina' by Carl Orff (think: 'Carmina Burana') is also nice... most of Orff's work I've heard has been sung primarily by choirs and tenors, so hearing Sarah sing something of his was a refreshing change.

'Alleluja', by Mozart, is definitely a favorite on this CD. It's typical Mozart, very upbeat compared to the rest of the songs, and makes for a lovely ending to a dreamy and sleepy (in a good way) CD.

Review: 'Fly' by Sarah Brightman

In a purely musical and emotional sense, this CD is brilliant. This perfect mixture of classical, pop and techno music has a way of overpowering you and drawing you in. In 'A Question of Honor', she begins by singing fragments of Catalani's 'La Wally', a classical piece. A touch of techno, along with Sarah's notorious back-up singing guys, creates a lovely transition to her singing of the main chorus, which is rockish-pop music. The song builds, and as it climaxes, I expected a more rocky finish, but she surprised me by transitioning back into 'La Wally', ending with a classical feel.

'You Take My Breath Away' has an eastern spiritual aura about it... this seems to be a pattern with certain musicians who have spent time in the Orient... you can definitely see eastern influence in the later Beatles songs; Live (the band) did a song about levitation and such in the east; Alanis couldn't stop singing about and thanking India after her trip there... her song Utopia definitely has meditative elements and references in it. It's interesting.

Of all her CDs, she seems to have the most fun (for lack of a better word) with this one. It's random, with an unusual mix of sounds and styles. Lyric-wise, Sarah will never match Alanis' depth, but she has a beautiful and powerful voice, and it's interesting to see her use her voice in a more popish manner.

This CD was difficult to find because it's an import... I finally purchased it new from germanmusicexpress.com, which seemed to have the best deal, even when compared with ebay and half.com. Yes, it took a little over a week to arrive from the Netherlands, but it was definitely worth it.