Songs from Black Mountain is the seventh studio album by the American rock band 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.Chad, "Live Makes Epic Move" Alternative Addiction - August 29, 2005 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.
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. 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."Chad, "Live Goes Back to Basics for Epic Debut" . Alternative Addiction, September 29, 2005.
Track listing
Personnel Live Patrick Dahlheimer – bass guitar Chad Gracey – drums Ed Kowalczyk – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, executive production Chad Taylor – lead guitar
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)Peakposition
Year-end charts Chart (2006)PositionDutch Albums (Album Top 100)65
Singles Song Peak chart positionsAUSBEL (FL)NED"The River""Ultratop entry for The River" Ultratop 33 49 15"Mystery" — — —"Wings" — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart
Certifications
References
External links