Birds of Pray

This article is about the album by Live. For carnivorous birds, see Bird of prey.

Birds of Pray
Studio album by Live
Released	May 20, 2003
Recorded	The Village, Los Angeles, CA; 4th Street Recording, Santa Monica, CA
Genre	Alternative rock Post-grunge Hard rock
Length	44:20
Label	Radioactive
Producer	Jim Wirt
Live chronology
V (2001) Birds of Pray (2003) Songs from Black Mountain (2006)
Singles from Birds of Pray
"What Are We Fighting For?" "Heaven" Released: April 7, 2003 "Sweet Release" Released: October 6, 2003 "Run Away" Released: September 22, 2003 (Europe) March 1, 2004 (US version)

Birds of Pray is Live's sixth album, released in 2003. The first single, "Heaven" became the band's most successful single in several years, reaching number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. Birds of Pray was Live's final release on Radioactive/MCA. They signed with Epic in 2005.

Background

Ed Kowalczyk's lyrics on this album return to the spiritual territory of 1999's The Distance to Here. Guitarist Chad Taylor revealed that tensions between Kowalczyk and the other three members, which would eventually cause the band to split, were already surfacing. He said that he, "Wasn’t sure how our rocker fanbase would feel about the lyrics." He expressed his frustration with the album by adding, "Jim Wirt (producer) worked really hard to fashion a contemporary album, but it never felt like the Live I loved."

Track listing

All songs written by Ed Kowalczyk except where noted.

1. "Heaven" – 3:49
2. "She" – 2:40
3. "The Sanctity of Dreams" – 3:33
4. "Run Away" – 3:53
5. "Life Marches On" – 2:53
6. "Like I Do" (Kowalczyk, Patrick Dahlheimer, Chad Taylor) – 4:14
7. "Sweet Release" – 3:02
8. "Everytime I See Your Face" – 3:16
9. "Lighthouse" (Kowalczyk, Taylor) – 3:08
10. "River Town" – 4:09
11. "Out to Dry" – 3:20
12. "Bring the People Together" – 3:02
13. "What Are We Fighting For?" – 3:21
14. "Forever May Not Be Long Enough (Egyptian Dreams Remix)" - 4:07 (UK bonus track)
15. "Overcome (Live from Philadelphia)" - 4:23 (UK bonus track)

Live

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

Additional musicians

Paul Buckmaster – conductor, string arrangements Suzie Katayama – orchestra manager Larry Corbett – cello Joel Derouin – violin

Bruce Dukov – violin Patrick Warren – chamberlin Evan Wilson – viola

Other album credits

Jim Wirt – producer, engineer Tom Lord-Alge – mixing Ted Jensen – mastering Phil Kaffel – engineer Michael Attardi – assistant engineer Neil Couser – assistant engineer Femio Hernández – assistant engineer John Ikuma - assistant engineer

Okhee Kim – assistant engineer Jeff Robinette – assistant engineer P.J. Smith – assistant engineer CJ Eiriksson – digital editing Phil Schuster – production coordination, A&R Michael Wilson – photography Jesse Wright – design

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Shaking Through
Alternative Addiction

Birds of Pray debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200, selling over 37,000 copies in its first week of release. By August 2005 it had sold 273,000 copies in the US. The album failed to reach gold status in the US, although it outsold 2001's V. The album received mixed reviews from critics and has a rating of 50 out of 100 on Metacritic.

Allmusic disliked Kowalczyk's lyrics, claiming they were, "Either too literal or bewilderingly obtuse" and said that the album was, "Still recognizably Live...big, big guitars, sweeping anthemic choruses, earnest ballads, mildly histrionic vocals...but it's a little more subdued and a little more serious and quite streamlined...The biggest problem with the record is that the eye is on the big picture...to the extent that the individual moments aren't all that memorable, clearly lacking singles as forceful as those that fueled Throwing Copper." Allmusic concluded by claiming that, "Live is growing up and settling down, turning into a solid thirty-something rock band."

Shaking Through described the album's lyrics as, "Self righteous" and "Unintentionally humorous." It claimed that, "the songs are a procession of brittle riffs" and concluded by saying, "Birds of Pray just seems clueless, like a high school kid who doesn't realize that his strident need to seem interesting just makes him a joke."

Chart positions

Album

Chart	Peak
UK Albums Chart	199
US Billboard 200	28
Swiss Albums Chart	71
Austrian Albums Chart	27
Dutch Albums Chart	1
Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart	4
Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart	33
Swedish Albums Chart	13
Norwegian Albums Chart	5
Danish Albums Chart	20
Australian Albums Chart	3
New Zealand Albums Chart	10
German Albums Chart	43

Singles

Song	Peak chart positions
	US	US (M.R.)	Aus	NZ	Ned	Bel (Fl)
"Heaven"	59	33	19	16	30	6
"Sweet Release"	—	—	—	—	—	—
"Run Away"	—	—	—	—	41	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

External links

• Friends of Live (official website)