Track Listing

1. Pain Lies on the Riverside
2. Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)
3. Beauty of Gray
4. Brothers Unaware
5. Tired of "Me"
6. Mirror Song
7. Water Boy
8. Take Me Anthem
9. You Are the World
10. Good Pain
11. Mother Earth Is a Vicious Crowd
12. 10,000 Years (Peace Is Now)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17226 in Music
• Released on: 1991-12-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

Correction of Reviewer
The reviewer from 11/14/03 said, "This album put Christian rock on the map." I have been a fan of Live for nearly a decade and I can assure you, as can any true fan, that Live is not a Christian band. From what I've gotten from Live's music is that life can be a very spiritful journey. I think that Live and especially the lead singer Ed Kowlczyk has gone through a lot of spiritual changes throughout their time together, but they should definately not be catorgized as being of one particular religion.
A line from "Operation Spirit" says: "I heard a lot of talk about this Jesus, a man of love and a man of strength. But what a man was 2000 years ago, means nothing at all to me today." Now, I've heard Ed say that Jesus in this song could be replaced by most any spiritual icon and the point remains the same - Find the truths out for yourself, don't blindly follow.
Anyway, just my $0.02.

If you love LIVE, you NEED this album.
I can't say it any more straightforwardly than that. This album showcases Live at a pinnacle that, try as they might, they have not achieved with any of the 3 albums they put out after this one. Yes, Throwing Copper did spawn several major hit singles and sold millions of copies, but when speaking of pure musical power, it can not hold a candle to this album.

In these 12 tracks, the writings of Jiddu Krishnamurti find a deeply moving voice in powerful, superb music. Leading off the set is the mournful (yet uplfiting in its own way), and anthemic "Pain Lies On The Riverside". And as great as "Lightning Crashes", "Turn My Head", and "Run To The Water" (the most easily recognizable of Live's ballads) were, they sound almost flawed in comparison. Not to denounce them, they have their place among Live's better songs, but don't quite live up to the very song I'm referencing here, the heart-wrenching, power-drenched but sensitive and heartfelt "Brothers Unaware". Some might say Live distills too much the writings of Krishnamurti, and translates the message in too weighty, and over-bearing a format. Quite the contrary. For words with such grand scope and meaning, only the most powerful musical statements will suffice.

The talent for observations on the world as we see it manifests itself most notably with "The Beauty of Gray", urging listeners to recognize that for every dilemma, there is not simply an absolute right and an absolute wrong, that there is much more to it than that.

If this all sounds like too much for what you've come to know as Live's music (or music in general), worry not. These excellent songs stand as both a testament to Edward Kowalczyk's writings and as superb, well written songs which are fully worth listening to. As I said before, if you love Live, you owe it to yourself to hear them at the best they have ever been. Your ears will thank you for doing so. :)

Proud to own it
There's something cool about knowing about a band before most anyone else does. The members of Live put out an album under a different name before Mental Jewelry, but this disc was the first introduction I or any of my friends had to them, back in 1992. It's one of the few albums I still listen to consistently from that time.

From Pain Lies on the Riverside to Operation Spirit to 10,000 Years (Peace is Now), the lyrics hooked me immediately. From a lyrical standpoint I compare Mental Jewelry to early U2--not subtle, occasionally awkward, but no less powerful for all that.

It has been interesting to see Live's development through their subsequent albums, but Mental Jewelry will likely always remain at the top of my personal list from them.