Songs from Black Mountain

Songs from Black Mountain is the eighth studio album by Live. It was released in most countries on April 10, 2006, but was released on May 9 in Canada, May 29 in the UK and June 6 in the US. It was their only release through Epic Records.[8] The first single, "The River", was released on March 21, 2006. It is the last album to feature lead vocalist Ed Kowalczyk before his departure from the band in 2009. It is also the final studio album to feature the original lineup (Kowalczyk, Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer, Chad Gracey). Kowalcyzk rejoined in 2016, but Taylor, Dahlheimer, and Gracey were all fired from the band by the end of 2022.[9]

Songs from Black Mountain
Studio album by
Live
ReleasedApril 10, 2006 (2006-04-10)
RecordedMay 2005
GenreAlternative rock, post-grunge, hard rock
Length42:23
LabelEpic
ProducerJim Wirt
Live chronology
Awake: The Best of Live
(2004)		 Songs from Black Mountain
(2006)		 Radiant Sea: A Collection of Bootleg Rarities and Two New Songs
(2007)
Singles from Songs from Black Mountain
  1. "The River"
    Released: March 21, 2006
  2. "Mystery"
    Released: 2006
  3. "Wings"
    Released: 2006
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic50/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Alternative Addiction[3]
Billboardunfavorable[1]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[4]
musicOMH[5]
Paste1/10[1]
Rolling Stone[6]
Slant Magazine[7]

Although the album had some international success, including reaching number 1 in the Netherlands, it had the lowest US sales of any of Live's studio albums since their first album, Mental Jewelry, peaking at number 52 on the Billboard 200.

Background

Live signed with Epic Records in 2005, having left Radioactive after the release of their 2003 album, Birds of Pray.[8] Singer Ed Kowalczyk explained that Songs from Black Mountain is in the same vein as Birds of Pray: "The album itself kind of took its lead from where we were with Birds of Pray, which was just a really basic, stripped [approach]...It's just amazing. It's just a great album and the excitement level of [Epic] and the band, everybody is just really pretty blown away by it."[10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Ed Kowalczyk

Songs from Black Mountain track listing
No.TitleLength
1."The River"2:58
2."Mystery"3:45
3."Get Ready"3:32
4."Show"3:24
5."Wings"3:51
6."Sofia"3:54
7."Love Shines (A Song for My Daughters About God)"3:21
8."Where Do We Go from Here?"3:46
9."Home"3:23
10."All I Need"3:13
11."You Are Not Alone"3:43
12."Night of Nights"3:33
Total length:42:23

Personnel

Live

Additional personnel

  • Charlie Bisharat – violin on "Mystery"
  • Dom Camardella – Hammond organ on "Get Ready", "Love Shines (A Song for My Daughters About God)", and "Home", additional engineering
  • David Campbell – string arrangement on "Mystery", conducting on "Mystery"
  • David Coleman – art direction
  • Larry Corbett – cello on "Mystery"
  • Brian Dembow – viola on "Mystery"
  • Andrew Duckles – viola on "Mystery"
  • C. J. Eiriksson – engineering
  • Laurence Greenfield – violin on "Mystery"
  • Julian Hallmark – violin on "Mystery"
  • Gerardo Hilera – violin on "Mystery"
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Phil Kaffel – additional engineering
  • Suzie Katayama – cello on "Mystery"
  • Gary Kurfirst – executive production
  • Timothy Landauer – cello on "Mystery"
  • Adam Olmstead – assistant mixing
  • Alyssa Park – violin on "Mystery"
  • Readymade99 – artwork, design
  • Myriam Santos-Kayda – photography
  • Haim Shtrum – violin on "Mystery"
  • David Thoener – mixing
  • Philip Vaiman – violin on "Mystery"
  • Jim Wirt – engineering, production

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (2006) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 4
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 66
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 14
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] 1
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] 73
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[16] 6
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[17] 4
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[18] 14
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 73
US Billboard 200[20] 52
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[21] 18

Year-end charts
Chart (2006) Position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[22] 65

Singles
Song Peak chart positions
AUS BEL (FL) NED
"The River"[23] 33 49 15
"Mystery" — — —
"Wings" — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[24] Gold 35,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "Critic Reviews for Songs From Black Mountain". Metacritic. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "AllMusic Review". AllMusic.
  3. Chad, "Alternative Addiction Review" Archived January 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. Collis, Clark (June 16, 2006). "Songs From Black Mountain Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  5. Bansal, Vik (May 29, 2006). "Live – Songs from Black Mountain". musicOMH. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  6. Green, Andy (June 13, 2006). "Songs From Black Mountain : Live : Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  7. Jones, Preston (June 26, 2006). "Live: Songs From Black Mountain". Slant Magazine. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  8. Chad, "Live Makes Epic Move" Alternative Addiction - August 29, 2005
  9. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/live-alt-rock-band-crime-lawsuits-1234677011/amp/
  10. Chad, "Live Goes Back to Basics for Epic Debut". Alternative Addiction, September 29, 2005.
  11. "Australiancharts.com – Live – Songs From Black Mountain". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  12. "Austriancharts.at – Live – Songs From Black Mountain" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  13. "Ultratop.be – Live – Songs From Black Mountain" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  14. "Dutchcharts.nl – Live – Songs From Black Mountain" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  15. "Offiziellecharts.de – Live – Songs From Black Mountain" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  16. "Charts.nz – Live – Songs From Black Mountain". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  17. "Norwegiancharts.com – Live – Songs From Black Mountain". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  18. "Swedishcharts.com – Live – Songs From Black Mountain". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  19. "Swisscharts.com – Live – Songs From Black Mountain". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  20. "Live Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  21. "Live Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  22. "Jaaroverzichten – Album 2006". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  23. "Ultratop entry for The River" Ultratop
  24. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2006 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
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