Secret Samadhi: Foolish Fakery and Other Fabulously Funny Flubs
Jan 28 '05
Pros Two good songs, one okay song...
Cons A whole bunch of junk...
The Bottom Line Looking for actual good Live albums? Check out Mental Jewelry, Throwing Copper, and maybe (this is a big maybe) V. Skip Secret Samadhi.
Full Review
After releasing what turned out to be an incredibly popular album that contained no fewer than five hit singles, Live was doomed to not live up to expectation. They’d proven themselves to be among some of the most interesting rock bands in the early 1990’s with their 1991 debut Mental Jewelry and that aforementioned stellar 1994 release Throwing Copper. The challenge before them was daunting—live up to the hype surrounding Throwing Copper without duplicating that effort on a musical or emotional level.
The York, Pennsylvania band formed in 1988 with Ed Kowalczyk at the help and Chad Taylor on guitars, Patrick Dahlheimer on bass, and Chad Gracey on drums. Their music was always easy to digest—by and large well written, well produced, and well performed. It was also heavily rooted in spirituality. For some folks this worked, for others (myself included) it was something that had to be entirely ignored to enjoy the album. Sometimes the heavy-handed, somber, almost preachy tone failed to strike a chord in me. Sometimes it worked—such was the case with most of Throwing Copper.
To follow that album up, Live attempted to drop some of that sterile studio production in favor of what they deemed to be a harder and more organic sound. The distinct return to the heavy-handed Eastern spirituality of Mental Jewelry could have worked (in an exceptionally serious, parallel universe in which people really care about a band’s belief system over their music). Instead, 1997’s Secret Samadhi is a mushy, unnecessarily complex album that lacks direction and does little to carve out a further musical niche for Live. Basically they should like a bunch of whiny dudes who are trying too hard to be profound.
Secret Samadhi went double platinum for one reason—people bought it expecting Throwing Copper pt. 2. That was a short-sighted reason to sink $15 into an album. I personally hoped for something as vigorous and rich but with a slightly different tone than the previous album. Of course I was disappointed on all counts. Live tried to hard to do something else and simply fell short of the goal. The band is still together today and they’ve released three more full-length albums. Still, they have failed to capture America’s imagination since their success between 1994 and 1996.
There are problems throughout Secret Samadhi beginning with Rattlesnake and persisting through Gas Hed Goes West. It’s an over-wrought, silly affair. The hilarity (okay, not hilarity unless you take the lyrics to heart) begins with Rattlesnake. It’s a mid-paced, monotonous “rocker” which does nothing to put perspective on the album as a whole. The chorus is painfully repetitive and the melody follows suit. The fact that the album begins with such a rotten track is indicative of the rest of the effort.
Fortunately, Lakini’s Juice is a bit of a return to the textured, guitar-driven rock that peppered Throwing Copper. As such, it is fortunately better than the vast majority of the material. However that doesn’t mean I completely enjoy the song. It too suffers from the monotony bug (not to mention the repetitiveness bug). So while it is good on the surface it does little to hold my attention. Considering it is easily one of the best songs of Secret Samadhi it doesn’t bode well for the album on the whole. From this moment forward the album spirals into a bleak, forgettable oblivion. There is the occasional, momentary reprieve but the overall impression the album leaves is disappointing. The worst lyrics are easily a tie between Century and Insomnia and the Hole in the Universe, though there is stupidity scattered throughout the album.
From Century:
Everybody's anxious
For the coming of the crisis
The collapse of the justice
I can smell your armpits
From Insomnia and the Hole in the Universe:
Angel, don't you have some bagels in my oven?
Lady, don't you know a man when you see one?
Crazy lady with the shiny shoes, where are you?
Kick your feet and calm the space that makes you hollow
Maybe had the songs been musically outstanding, I could look past the hollow and idiotic attempts at profundity. Of course this is not the case. The tracks are whiny, gluttonous, repetitive, and boring. The songs alternate between “hard rocking” (sort of) and “soft and melodic” (again, sort of). In addition, the band utilizes Eastern instruments and the occasional orchestra. I know their intent was to make a more straightforward album, so the use of these elements borders on the ridiculous. The only slight reprieves come on songs Ghost (which succeeds more so than other songs with the whole “I’m emotional” thing) and Turn My Head which plugs in the guitars and puts together a nice, cohesive, and lovely little song. In fact, Turn My Head might just be the most honest song of the whole album.
Secret Samadhi falls far short of being the visionary album Live intended it to be. Instead, it is the work of a self-confident band who thought they had the world in their palm. Too bad they were wrong. I wanted to like the disc and do admit to there being a few decent songs, but it is largely fake and unemotional. I guess this is what happens when a band becomes “disillusioned” with fame. Actually, this is what happens when a band too fully embraces it.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Rattlesnake
02. Lakini’s Juice
03. Graze
04. Century
05. Ghost
06. Unsheathed
07. Insomnia and the Hole in the Universe
08. Turn My Head
09. Heropsychodreamer
10. Freaks
11. Merica
12. Gas Hed Goes West
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