Hailing from York, Pennsylvania, the group is comprised of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals & guitar), Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums). Since approximately 1999, Live has toured with Ed’s younger brother, Adam Kowalczyk as a rhythm guitarist, and, previously, British keyboardist Michael “Railo” Railton.
Kowalczyk, Taylor, Dahlheimer, and Gracey first came together for a middle-school talent show in the Pennsylvania blue-collar town of York. The group remained together throughout high school, going through a handful of band names and new-wave covers before settling on the moniker Public Affection and recording a self-released cassette of originals, The Death of a Dictionary, in 1989. Frequent trips into New York to play at CBGB helped net the band a deal with Radioactive Records in 1991. With the new name Live, the band entered the studio with former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison that year and began recording the EP Four Songs. The single “Operation spirit (the tyranny of tradition)” went to #9 on the Modern Rock chart, and paved the way for the band’s Harrison-produced, full-length debut, 1991’s Mental Jewelry (#73). The album lyrics, penned by Kowalczyk, were heavily inspired by Indian guru Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Fueled by heavy touring (including billing at Woodstock ‘94 and Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD tour) and a string of hit singles (“I Alone”, “All Over You” and the #1 Modern Rock hits “Selling the drama” and “Lightning crashes”), their next album, Throwing Copper, went to #1 in 1994. It is their best-selling, and often most highly regarded by fans and critics, album to date. The band was even asked to perform on Saturday Night Live where they performed their hits “I Alone” and “Selling the Drama” and to this day, they are the only band to receive a standing ovation at the party after the broadcast.[citation needed]
The momentum continued long enough to help 1997’s Secret Samadhi (coproduced by the band and Jay Healey) debut at #1. Deriving its name from a state of Hindu meditation, the album spawned four Modern Rock hit singles, but failed to match its predecessor’s success, with sales topping off at 2 million. The band performed “lakini’s juice” and “Heropsychodreamer” from this album on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Harrison came back on board as coproducer for 1999’s The Distance to Here, which debuted at #4 and featured the minor US hit single “The Dolphin’s Cry.”
In September 2001, the more experimental V (originally scheduled to be titled “Ecstatic Fanatic”) was issued to mixed reviews, preceded by “Simple creed” as the first single. However, with the events of 9/11—which occurred a week before V ‘s release—the melancholic “Overcome” began receiving significant airplay, superseding “Simple Creed” and becoming V’s selling point. Unfortunately, Live’s commercial stock—compounded by their petering radio airplay—had fallen further since The Distance to Here, with V merely reaching #22 at home, failing to reach gold status.
Birds of Pray appeared in May 2003, bolstered by the unexpected success of “Heaven”, Live’s first US Hot 100-placing since “The Dolphin’s Cry.” Reaching #28, Birds of Pray ultimately outsold V, although it too received mixed reviews and failed to reach gold status.
In November 2004, Live released Awake: The Best of Live, a career-spanning compilation that included “We deal in dreams”, a previously unreleased song from the Throwing Copper sessions, and a cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line”, as well as Birds of Pray’s “Run Away”, re-imagined with Shelby Lynne on co-lead vocals.
In 2005, Live signed with Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Epic label, and released a new album entitled Songs From Black Mountain in June 2006, preceded by “The river” as lead single. Thus far, while the album has achieved international success, it has proven Live’s lowest-seller yet domestically, only reaching #52 in the US before quickly disappearing from the charts.
While Live remain only moderately popular in terms of record sales in the United States, much of their current sales come from places in Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Ed Kowalczyk has said that “Holland is the center of the Live universe” [citation needed].
The group made news in January 2006 as three band members (Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and touring rhythm guitar Adam Kowalczyk) and two members of the band’s road crew were on a United Airlines flight when smoke filled the cabin, requiring the pilot to make an emergency landing.
On season 5 of American Idol, finalist Chris Daughtry was accused of performing Live’s rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” and calling it his own. This angered some Live fans, but one week later Daughtry acknowledged it was not his own rendition, even saying Live was one of his favorite bands. In May 2006, Live appeared on The Howard Stern Show and addressed this issue.
On May 24, 2006, the band and Chris Daughtry performed “Mystery” on the season finale of American Idol, and on June 7, a new version of “Mystery” was released on the Friends of Live website featuring Chris Daughtry on guest vocals.
The members of Live announced in June 2009 that the band would be taking a two-year hiatus as they work on other projects. On November 30, 2009, guitarist Chad Taylor confirmed that the hiatus of the band was most likely a permanent rift. See the Wikipedia page for more. During the first European tour of the new band of Taylor, Gracey and Dahlheimer (The Gracious Few), Taylor commented both on stage and in post-show discussions that he believes Live may still come back together, though he also stated that the chances of Kowalczyk joining them in this effort may be very small. In an exclusive blogpost[1] on website The Comet, Taylor confirmed that the remaining members of the band would be working on new material for Live in Nashville early July 2011.
The band returned from their nearly three-year hiatus on March 12, 2012, with Chris Shinn, formerly of Unified Theory, as their new lead singer. The new line-up performed before an invited audience at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in York. The band performed as a six-piece with The Gracious Few's Sean Hennesy on guitar and Alexander Lefever on keyboards
[1]: http://thecomet.com/posts/exclusive_blog_chad_taylor_talks_the_gracious_few_and_live
There's another band with the same name:
2. Live was a 70s-era Progressive Rock group from Germany. Formed in 1971, the outfit appeared to be a strangely named band indeed.
In October 1972 their guitarist Martin Knaden went to Curly Curve. Throughout their history only one member has remained, the multi-talented keyboards and flute player Norbert Aufmhof. Although in existence for a decade Live never got to record a proper studio album, or gain a contract, which surely they should have. Maybe the band name was a bit of a jinx?!
Their earlier history was originally just documented by a single. Only more recently did an LP surface collecting 1974 recordings. Quite obviously a collection of rehearsal session tapes, the LP reveals a band with promise albeit rather grottily recorded with often barely understandable muffled lyrics in English. Musically, there are nods to early Satin Whale and Jane, but with lots of classical touches, notably Grieg and Bach, and a penchant to meander rather nicely during the instrumentals.
Based on the ROCK OFFERS track "Sea Fever", they had blossomed and changed focus somewhat, as a much more sophisticated symphonic progressive of the Pancake and Jane type, typical of the mid/late-1970's.
In all, during their history, three different versions of Live existed, but eventually the band split in 1976. A full history of the band is included in the GEVELSBERG CD, which documents other oddments, sessions, and a live recording!
Face and Ghost
Live Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You saw the sun, like you knew that you would
Gotta make this better
Gotta make this right
Ain't no peace in the valley, babe
'Til the darkness turns to light
Can you hear that children's song?
High above the lamentation
Upon the desert plain along
Do you hear that children's song?
Can you take me there?
Lost in the maya, overboard in the sea
There was void and then that water broke
Then something called me
Now a trip to the desert, to look at the sky
It's like never ending mirrors
Playin' tricks on my eyes
Can you hear that children's song?
Can you take me to that place?
High above the lamentation
Upon the desert plain along
Do you hear that children's song?
Can you take me there?
The face and ghost my guide
I must move on
It's the face of one ravaged by love
It's both dead and alive
You got it bad lover, no you got it good
You saw the sun, like you knew that you would
In spite of my confusion
Up above all my pain
I gotta death grip on this vision
Here we go again
The face and ghost my guide
I must move on
It's the face of one ravaged by love
It's both dead and alive
Aye yea
Sha la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la
Can you hear them singin'?
(Sha la la la la la la)
(Sha la la la la la la)
Can you hear them singin'?
(Sha la la la la la la)
Oh, can you hear that children's song?
Can you take me to that place?
(Sha la la la la la la)
Do you hear that pilgrim's song?
Can you take me there?
(Sha la la la la la la)
The lyrics of Live's song "Face and Ghost" seem to be exploring the journey of a person who is trying to find redemption, peace and a sense of purpose. The opening lines "You got it bad, you got it good, you saw the sun, like you knew that you would" set the tone for the song, acknowledging the ups and downs of life while still maintaining a sense of optimism.
The chorus with its haunting melody, "Can you hear that children's song, Can you take me to that place?" can be interpreted as the singer's desire to return to a simpler time, free from the complexities of life. The lines "It's like never ending mirrors, playin' tricks on my eyes" suggest that they are lost and unsure of their path.
The lyrics "Lost in the maya, overboard in the sea, there was void and then that water broke, then something called me" could be a reference to a near-death experience where the singer is given a renewed sense of purpose or a spiritual awakening. Similarly, the reference to "the face and ghost" could be interpreted as a guide or a force that is leading them on their journey to find peace.
In the end, "The face and ghost my guide, I must move on, it's the face of one ravaged by love, it's both dead, and alive" can be seen as a symbol of the pain and struggle that the singer has endured, but also as a sign of hope and resilience.
Line by Line Meaning
You got it bad, you got it good
You have both good and bad in your life
You saw the sun, like you knew that you would
You had faith in your life and knew that you would see a brighter day
Gotta make this better
We have to improve our current state
Gotta make this right
We have to fix our mistakes and do what's right
Ain't no peace in the valley, babe
There is no calmness in life
'Til the darkness turns to light
Until things become better than they are right now
Can you hear that children's song?
Are you able to listen to the songs of youthfulness?
Can you take me to that place?
Will you help me get there?
High above the lamentation
Above the sadness and grief
Upon the desert plain along
Across the wide wilderness
Lost in the maya, overboard in the sea
Felt lost and drowned in confusion
There was void and then that water broke
There was nothing, and then life began
Then something called me
Then I was suddenly awakened
Now a trip to the desert, to look at the sky
Going to the barren land to gaze at the heavens
It's like never ending mirrors
It seems like an unending reflection
Playin' tricks on my eyes
Messing with my mind and perspective
The face and ghost my guide
My guide is the seeming contradiction of both real and apparition
I must move on
I have to keep going forward
It's the face of one ravaged by love
It's the visage of someone destroyed by their emotions
It's both dead and alive
It's something that is both real and not real, alive and not alive
You got it bad lover, no you got it good
You have ups and downs in life, but it's all for the better
In spite of my confusion
Despite my bewilderment and disorientation
Up above all my pain
Above all the hurt and anguish
I gotta death grip on this vision
I have to hold on tight to my dream
Here we go again
Starting the cycle again
Aye yea
Sha la la la la la la
Can you hear them singin'?
Do you hear the choir?
(Sha la la la la la la)
Oh, can you hear that children's song?
Oh, are you able to listen to the songs of youthfulness?
(Sha la la la la la la)
Do you hear that pilgrim's song?
Are you able to listen to the songs of the wanderers?
Can you take me there?
Will you help me get to that place?
(Sha la la la la la la)
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHAD ALAN GRACEY, CHAD DAVID TAYLOR, EDWARD JOEL KOWALCZYK, PATRICK DAHLHEIMER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind