Yes, you read their album title correctly, it's not just a misspelling. This band gets more pretentious as they go. If you fancy yourself a Live fan like I do, you probably thought that for the most part their last album, V, sucked large grade A eggs. Well, I've got news for you, on Birds of Pray the sucking is deafening. The few good songs on this album like "She," and "Sweet Release," are not even that good to begin with if you compare them to past Live songs, so why bother even talking about them.

Let's talk about why this album stinks shall we? I've come to the realization that Ed Kowalczyk is one of the worst lyricists of all time. I'm not discrediting his better work--hell everyone gets lucky once in a while, but goodness, when will someone stand up to this guy and tell him his lyrics are garbage? Case in point, film critic Adam Mast and I have decided the song "Sanctity of Dreams" has some of the worst Edisms ever.

Look at these lyrics and try not to laugh, or for that matter not think of Ronnie James Dio, "Paint a Moustache on the Mona Lisa. Ride a Harley through the heart of danger! Meditate with all the bums on Vine Street. No more hiding in the house of the dead. I think I'll grow some dreads!" If you're not asking yourself what the hell is he smoking after reading that, then you should start a rock band. Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison, who produced their two best albums, Throwing Copper, and Distance to Here, had nothing to do with V, or Birds of Pray, but on the bonus DVD that comes with this new album, Live only perform songs from those two albums. Coincidence? I think even they realize it's time to beg Jerry to produce another album.