Ed Kowalczyk – Alive

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After becoming disillusioned with the music he was creating with Live, putting the band on indefinite hiatus, front-man Ed Kowalczyk will release his debut solo album via the increasingly prestigious Ear Music. While it would be ridiculous to suggest Alive doesn’t sound at least a little like a Live album, that comparison at it’s most basic would at least have to say that it is a very good Live album, as good as their best, but it’s a little more than that. Kowalczyk’s renewed enthusiasm for his music is obvious here and the emotion in songs like Grace, Drink (Everlasting Love) and In Your Light is tangible. Mentioning emotion in songs usually suggests a sombre listen, but upbeat tracks like Drive are no less passionate than the slower ones. On occasion Ed distances himself slightly from the sound of Live, like The Great Beyond‘s verse/chorus call-and-answer, and epic acoustic-driven Soul Whispers, but for the most part this is a coherent, strong collection of songs which are Ed’s part of the Live sound distilled from the whole. There are no bad tracks, no repeating, nothing boring. Alive is as spirited and lively as its title suggests it should be, and perhaps the only criticism is that it doesn’t end on one of the big rock tracks that appear earlier on the disc, opting for Fire On The Mountain‘s slow build up to a big finish. That is but a small issue though.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Rock, Ed Kowalczyk