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!
Lightning Crashes (Album Ver
Live Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Her placenta falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The confusion sets in
Before the doctor can even close the door
Lightning crashes, an old mother dies
Her intentions fall to the floor
The confusion that was hers
Belongs now, to the baby down the hall
Oh now feel it comin' back again
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it
Lightning crashes, a new mother cries
This moment she's been waiting for
The angel opens her eyes
Pale blue colored iris, presents the circle
And puts the glory out to hide, hide
Oh now feel it comin' back again
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it
I can feel it
I can feel it comin' back again
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it
I can feel it comin' back again
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it
I can feel it comin' back again
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it
I can feel it
I can feel it
"Lightning Crashes" by Live is a haunting and emotional song that explores the cycle of life and death. The lyrics describe the moments after a new life has entered the world, juxtaposed with the passing of an old life. The first verse describes the birth of a new baby, and the confusion and overwhelming emotions that come with it. The second verse is about the death of an older woman, and how the confusion and mystery surrounding her death is transferred to the new baby in the adjacent hospital room. The chorus repeats the phrase "I can feel it coming back again," which could refer to the cyclical nature of life, and how the birth of the new baby represents a renewal of life.
The song is filled with vivid imagery, such as the reference to the placenta falling to the floor, which adds to the raw, emotional feeling of the song. The use of the angel metaphor also adds a sense of spiritual or otherworldly significance to the events that are occurring. The song touches on the beauty and tragedy of life, and how both are interconnected.
Line by Line Meaning
Lightning crashes, a new mother cries
A lightning strikes while a woman gives birth causing her to emit a cry of pain
Her placenta falls to the floor
As she gives birth, the placenta which serves as the connection between her baby and her womb falls to the ground
The angel opens her eyes
The baby is born and it opens its eyes for the first time
The confusion sets in
Despite the euphoria of birth, there is some degree of anxiety as to what the future holds
Before the doctor can even close the door
The doctor hasn't even finished examining the mother and child before the latter is already delivering another birth
Lightning crashes, an old mother dies
Another lightning strikes, this time leading to the death of an elderly woman
Her intentions fall to the floor
The woman's plans and aspirations for the future are unfulfilled and go to waste upon her demise
The angel closes her eyes
The elderly woman passes away and the metaphorical angel representing death closes her eyes
The confusion that was hers
The previous anxiety felt by the mother who just gave birth now belongs to the family of the deceased woman
Belongs now, to the baby down the hall
Despite the sadness and confusion in the aftermath of the death, life goes on and another baby is born nearby
Oh now feel it comin' back again
The cycle of life and death continues as lightning crashes anew
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
The impact of the lightning is likened to loud thunder and the wind blowing it towards some unknown direction
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
The forces of nature, symbolized by the earth's center, are once again at work
I can feel it
The singer, who might be someone witnessing everything or a personification of nature, senses the recurrence of the phenomenon
This moment she's been waiting for
The new mother is filled with joy and relief upon finally holding her baby
Pale blue colored iris, presents the circle
The baby's eyes have a pale blue color and it presents a perfect circle when inspected
And puts the glory out to hide, hide
The glory and wonder of childbirth fades into the mundane everyday life, perhaps hinting at how easily we take the gift of life for granted
Contributed by Katherine N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@badhabit31
Dear person whoever reads this,
Hey, you, yes, I am talking right to you. I hope you will see yourself with the eyes I see you one day, because I can tell you have some awesome music taste :) You’re such a beautiful human being and worth and enough. I hope you know that you do only need yourself to be happy, I know society build up the standard that whenever you’re alone you’re not living a happy live. But in fact that is not true, if you start to realize that you actually deserve all the good things happening to you, you will treat yourself a lot nicer. I hope you let yourself rest, don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes, over regret, and over everything your mind wants to destroy you. I wish I could remove all those demons inside of your head because you deserve to feel happy. If you ever feel lonely then watch the sky, because you know, someone, at the same time is watching the sky too, maybe feeling the same way..I am glad you exist and I hope you won’t ever remove your own spot in this world, maybe you don’t feel like you belong here but, Angel, then build your home here. I don’t want you to leave this world unhappy. I want you to live every little second, I want you to feel alive, I don’t want you to see yourself just existing. You deserve it. Whatever happened, it’s not your fault, the demons in your head recognize that you have a beautiful heart, they want to take it because they have never seen such beautiful heart as yours, so why let them win over you? . You’re not selfish for isolating yourself, but you deserve to talk to someone. If you’re reading this than please never forget to breath and smile.
Don’t live up to other standards! It’s your story and not theirs.
Life for those who couldn’t, smile for those who forgot what a genuine smile is, love like there’s no other, hug like its your last one.
I love you and send you hugs.
You’re so strong, you’re still here, and I am proud of you.
YOU ARE NOT USELESS. READ THAT AGAIN.
YOU ARE WORTH IT. READ THAT AGAIN.
YOU ARE LOVED. READ THAT AGAIN.
I AM GLAD YOU EXIST. READ THAT AGAIN.
YOU ARE NOT A PROBLEM. YOU ARE HUMAN AND YOUR FEELINGS ARE VALID. READ THAT AGAIN.
YOU ARE NOT BEING DRAMATIC.
You’re not a burden to anyone, don’t be afraid to talk, to use your voice.
I WISH I COULD HUG YOU RIGHT NOW, SO A VIRTUAL HUG WILL DO.
@ncpbenjamin92
Shout out to all those still rocking this song here in 2024 🤘
Nothing quite like listening to it laying in the dark at 1am.
@jimdshea
I just saw them play this tonight. They kicked ass.
@joshcantrell9701
100% not wrong 🤘🤘
@ncpbenjamin92
@@jimdshea No way! Whereabouts did you see them?
Been a dream of mine to see them in person 😭
@jimdshea
@@ncpbenjamin92 They are playing catch-up shows that got cancelled because of COVID last fall. It was supposed to be "Unplugged," but it certainly wasn't. So there are some of those shows right now you might be able to catch.
They are also touring with (I think Incubus) this summer.
I also saw them with BUSH at Woodstock amphitheatre a few years back and they stole the show.
Still have it for sure.
@jaysoncruz5644
Still in my everyday playlist for 10 years
@taniadee14
Truth: you're on a nostalgia binge just like me.
@lanecasey6416
Stop and let me remember the good music before reminding me it’s gone.
@ReverendBrown.
Weather Channel brought me here. True story.
@phxtonash
@@lanecasey6416 9