Songs from Black Mountain

Songs from Black Mountain is the 8th studio album by Live and was the last to feature vocalist Ed Kowalczyk prior to his departure from the band between 2009 and 2016. 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.

Songs from Black Mountain
Studio album by Live
Released	April 10, 2006 (2006-04-10)
Recorded	May 2005
Genre	Alternative rock, post-grunge, hard rock
Length	42:23
Label	Epic
Producer	Jim 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
"The River" Released: March 21, 2006 "Mystery" Released: 2006 "Wings" Released: 2006

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	50/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Alternative Addiction	[3]
Billboard	unfavorable[1]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[4]
musicOMH	[5]
Paste	1/10[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."[9]

Track listing

All songs written by Ed Kowalczyk.

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

Personnel

Live[10]

• Ed Kowalczyk – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Chad Taylor – lead guitar
• Patrick Dahlheimer – bass
• Chad Gracey – drums

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

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. Chad, "Live Goes Back to Basics for Epic Debut". Alternative Addiction, September 29, 2005.
10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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

External links

• Songs from Black Mountain at Metacritic