The Distance To Here

Around the time of their Throwing Copper album, Live were being heralded as the next REM. In fact, along with the aforementioned foursome from Athens, Georgia, Neil Young and Nirvana, this band recorded one of the best MTV Unplugged shows I have ever seen. Unfortunately, that was then and this is now, and the band seem to have left their promise behind and disappeared into the confines of their own egos.

The Distance To Here is a huge disappointment. It starts OK, with recent single ‘The Dolphin’s Cry’, all gentle guitar and Ed Kowalczyk’s vocals, but then they crank the amps up to 11, let rip on their poor strings and you start to realise the utter awfulness of the lyrics: “Life is like a shooting star/It don’t matter who you are/If you only run for cover, it’s just a waste of time/We are lost ’til we are found.” Most people get over writing drivel like this when they turn 16.

When you consider that this is the band who brought us tracks like the brilliant ‘Selling The Drama’, ‘I Alone’ and their sublime cover of Vic Chesnutt’s ‘Supernatural’, you start to wonder how they could ever produce rubbish like ‘Voodoo Lady’, ‘Meltdown’ or the truly execrable ‘Run To The Water’, which is about as pointless The Dave Matthews Band at their worst.

Live had the potential to carve their own niche in 90s’ rock music. Instead, for most of The Distance To Here, they come across as a watered down amalgamation of The Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots. Shame, that.