LIVE: “Throwing Copper” (Radioactive)

IT’S NOT hard to see why Live are absolutely huge in the States. They sound like an amalgamation of the best, or at least the most popular, bands America has thrown at us over the last decade or so. The REM and Pearl Jam influences are easy to recognise, but there are also threads of Nirvana and The Lemonheads woven into the tapestry that goes to make up Live. Throwing Copper is a very good album, and it gets better with each listen.

‘The Dam At Otter Creek’ gets proceedings off to a gentle start, with vocalist Edward Kowalczyk sounding like an American Nick Kelly as he whimpers the opening lines, while the tortured guitar weeps, before the song proper takes off. ‘Selling The Drama’ sounds like The Tragically Hip meets REM, a country-ish opening that leads into a foot-stomping rocker. The grungy ‘I Alone’ is excellent: plaintive, poetic lyrics on the verse, with a snarling chorus a la Eddie Vedder & Co.

Live could hardly be accused of being the most romantic of poets. Take the wonderfully sparse ‘Lightening Crashes’ for example, with its opening couplet, “Lightning crashes, a new mother cries/Her placenta falls to the floor.” It’s a long way from Keats. A lot closer to Cobain.

When Live decide to rock they really let loose. ‘Top’ is all jangly guitars with a catchy tune and a great chorus.

‘Shit Towne’ is a condemnation of small-town America, but it could just as easily refer to a one-horse, ten-pub village in Kerry, as Edward croons about his town full of weavers, crack-heads, pets and postmen. Substitute whiskey-noses for crack-heads and Bob’s your uncle, or your aunt, or both. ‘Waitress’ is like The Lemonheads cranked up their amps and roped in Michael Stipe on vocals, all laid-back cool.

On the down-side, ‘Stage’ is a guitar-driven metal track like thousands of other would-be rock ’n’ roll messiahs around the world. Either this is particularly sad, or the irony is so deep-rooted Jules Verne would have trouble unearthing it. Also, they tend to wear their influences emblazoned on their t-shirts instead of just on their sleeves.

Still, Throwing Copper is an extremely fine debut from a band that have the potential to be a force, even if they do owe a lot to those who paved their way.

• John Walshe