A Live One

Ed Kowalczyk, Alive

by M.J. Fine

Ed Kowalczyk's being sued by his former Live bandmates over money and songwriting credits, but that hasn't kept him from releasing his first solo album this week. At first glance, Alive (Soul Whisper) looks exactly like you might imagine, down to the punning title, the derivative typeface and three song titles cribbed from R.E.M.

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Take a listen, though, and you'll find that all of Kowalczyk's lyrical pretensions and vague spirituality is gone, replaced by straight-ahead paeans to the Lord. He used to seek meaning in Eastern traditions; now he's found what he's looking for in "Zion" and "Rome" and heard his calling in "Soul Whispers" and "Fire on the Mountain." Like most Christian rock, Alive's certainty comes off as both bombastic and bland, without much soul intrinsic to its lowercase-c creator. Only "The Great Beyond" transcends the sense that Kowalczyk sees himself as a mere conduit for praise. "Sometimes you've gotta write your own songs when you want to sing," he intones over a percolating guitar riff, and even if that isn't a Judas kiss-off to Live, it's the only line with more than one dimension.

In what must seem like another lifetime to Kowalczyk, he was a 22-year-old running from Christianity with no destination in mind, making stadium-ready rock with three guys he'd been playing with since they were middle-schoolers in York, Pa.

Live's second album, 1994's Throwing Copper, is a declaration of discontent, with swipes at their hometown, their faith, their friends. The singer's not happy with the world and he takes it out on those closest to him and on God, who seems so far. Still, he senses there's something bigger, something kinda Buddhist, kinda New Age, kinda Christian. The album sold 8 million copies and yielded five hits, including "Lightning Crashes" and "I Alone."

Say what you will about "Selling the Drama," which finds Kowalczyk agonizing over hell and crowing "Hey, now we won't be raped": It's inconsistent in its theology, it's got a cringeworthy chorus, it's bombastic. But it isn't bland. Kowalczyk's pathos is genuine, his sentiments his own. I'd sooner buy that than the generic good news he's peddling now.

(m_fine@citypaper.net)