You know how sometimes you go, "Gee I wonder whatever happened to those guys?" Sometimes its better for bands to stay lost in obscurity. I don't know whether Ed Kowalckzyk has lost his ability to write original compelling lyrics or if he intended on writing a sort of Sept. 11th tribute album to faith in God, but Live's new release, Bird's of Prey's, weak point is definitely the lyrics. Kowalckzyk spends too much time asking questions like "Who is going to save your soul?" and not enough time working on metaphors or even looking for a thesaurus.

Although the music on Bird's of Prey does return to a more organic sound that was lost shortly after Live's Throwing Copper days, it gets stuck in the variety department- every song is has a similar ballad sound that has some sort of god-enhanced uplifting aim. The songs themselves are tight and demonstrate musical ability on the part of the band, but the tunes are simply generic. Even the movement from more upbeat cries to slow down inspiration is predictable.

Its not that Bird's of Prey is a bad sounding record, its just been done before and comes off more like a born-again-Christian-easy-listening-rock -album than a release from one of the biggest names in the mid-90's.