Live: Birds of Pray : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Back when the world capital of rock was Seattle, this Pennsylvania quartet went multiplatinum, providing counterprogramming to grunge with bombastic anthems, spiritual consciousness and straight-faced lyrics about placentas falling to the floor. Times have changed, but Live haven't. Birds of Pray, their sixth album, sounds a lot like the previous five: Songs such as "Heaven" and "What Are We Fighting For?" build from quiet introductions to dynamic fist-pumping choruses. And if the audience's fists are more likely to be pumped in clubs than in arenas these days, that doesn't seem to bother the band. Ed Kowalczyk sings his lyrics with his usual tendon-bulging intensity -- not that there's really any other way to deliver a line like "I believe in the sanctity of dreams."

GAVIN EDWARDS
(From RS 923, May 29, 2003)