V [Enhanced]

Okay, first of all, the songs I love:
Simple Creed, Forever May Not Be Long Enough, Flow and Hero Of Love are all superb, classic live songs. And Overcome is intensely moving - one of their best songs from any album. Favourite track is Deep Enough - really edgy and sexy!

Nobody Knows was going great until Ed started whistling!
Like A Soldier is a bit mediocre - I just can't take to it.
Transmit Your Love - an absolutely sublime chorus spoiled by the rest of the song. Needed a bit more work in the lyrics department if you ask me.
The rest of the songs just don't do it for me.

To sum up, it's not a bad album by any means - I'd be very happy with 'V' if it was by many other Artists. But I expect nothing but perfetion from Live and this is the only time I've been disappointed. If you already have Secret Samadhi, The Distance To Here and Throwing Copper (in that order of preference), buy V. If not, get the others first as they're definitely all ***** material - then buy V, then Mental Jewlery.

Once again you've gone and written another Live album. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Of course it's a good thing, but true to form Ed's written a load of songs that are strangely catchy but yet elusive enough that whenever you want to listen to something it *has* to be this album. The same was true of 'Throwing Copper', 'The Distance From Here' and to a slightly lesser extent 'Secret Samedi'. Anything else you've been listening to recently will be soon be a faint memory.

The worst thing is that not only do I now have to listen to *this* album over and over until it melts, but I also have to revisit all their previous material for comparative purposes. Once more, damn them. Each album release increases the pile of Live I have to listen to. ...I'm also going to disagree with most people that 'Throwing Copper' was their finest hour. It's more accessable than this album or 'The Distance To Here', but it feels dated now. Besides, it hurts my throat when I listed to 'I Alone' and try to sing along in the car.

To my mind there aren't any real stand out songs on the album, but that's what you expect from Live. They make albums. Damn fine albums. Damn them. They don't let you skip over the bad bits to get to the catchy fluffy songs.

I'll give it 5 out of 5 until I stop listening to it in about 3 months. At that time it'll be consigned to the back of a drawer, only to re-emerge when Live release another album.

Damn them.

From the start, the album pumps out one catchy rock number after another. Edward Kowalczyk’s vocals are dynamic and diverse throughout the album, switching from tone and style to another. The songs are all well-written with a different and creative approach to their construction, breaking the formula the band seemed to have moved towards with past albums. This album is definitely a positive step in the right direction for the group.

The CD includes interactive computer stuff that starts up as soon as you put the disc in your PC. This is all a rather pleasant surprise and a nice little bonus for the album.