Songoftheday 8/24/20 - It was an evening I shared with the sun to find out where we belong...

 

 

"Lakini's Juice" - Live

from the album Secret Samadhi (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart

Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #35 (one week)

Weeks in the Airplay Top-40: 5

 

Today's song of the day comes from the alternative rock band Live, whose second major-label studio album Throwing Copper went to #1 on the sales chart, and spun off three top-40 pop radio hits with "I Alone", "Lightning Crashes", and "All Over You", as well as a #1 rock radio hit that almost made the Hot 100 top-40, "Selling The Drama".  In 1997, singer/guitarist Ed Kowalczyk, lead guitar Chad Taylor, drummer Chad Gracey, and bassist Patrick Dahlheimer returned with their next effort, Secret Samadhi. Produced by the group with Jay Healy, the set's lead radio hit was the esoteric "Lakini's Juice", named for a Hindu/Buddhist deity who governs over the body's digestive realm, hence, the "juice". Written by the four members, the song was their final big push on mainstream radio...

 Since "Lakini's Juice" wasn't released as a commercial single, it wasn't able to place on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 pop chart. However the track got enough pop radio love to reach the top-40 on the airplay component of that tally in February of 1997. The song was a huge rock radio success, landing their third (and so far last) #1 hit on the Alternative Rock chart, while spending four weeks at #2 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock list. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in Canada (#20), Australia (#21), the UK (#29), and New Zealand (#37). The Secret Samadhi album gave Live their second #1 record on the Billboard 200 sales chart in America, going on to move over two million copies. 

The second track from Secret Samadhi promoted to radio was "Freaks", which climbed to #5 at Mainstream Rock, #13 on Alternative Rock stations, and #73 on the Hot 100 Airplay list. It also hit the top ten in New Zealand at #10. That was followed by "Turn My Head", which did a little better, reaching #3 on both the Mainstream and Alternative Rock charts, while almost making the top-40 on the Hot 100 Airplay tally at #45. That track became their first hit on the "Adult Top 40" format chart in Billboard, going to #28 there, and returned them to the top-40 in Canada for the last time at #16.  Lastly, the song "Rattlesnake" climbed into the top 20 on both the Mainstream (#15) and Alternative (#18) rock lists.

In 1999, Live came back with their next album The Distance To Here, which reunited them with producer Jerry Harrison (of the Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club). The lead single, "The Dolphin's Cry", spent six weeks at #2 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, and four weeks at #3 on their Alternative Rock chart, their most recent top ten placing on either list. That song, now with airplay-only tracks able to list, got to #78 on the pop Hot 100, while it reached the top ten in Belgium (#7) and the Netherlands (#10). The album landed their third and most recent top ten finish at #4. That was followed in 2001 by the more electronic-leaning V, which did better overseas, with again top ten placings with "Overcome" in Belgium (#2) and the Netherlands (#3), with the song going to #30 in America. After two more studio albums, with "Heaven" from their Birds Of Prey set going all the way to #4 on the Adult Top-40 format in 2003 (#33 on Mainstream & Alternative rock), the band scored a Hot 100 hit at #59. However, in 2009, the band split, with Kowalczyk and the remaining members (as the band Gracious Few) both released albums that made the lower reaches of the Billboard 200 sales chart. Three years later in 2012, Dahlheimer, Gracey, and Taylor reformed Live with a new lead singer, Chris Shinn. That only lasted for one album, The Turn, which stalled down at #133 (the band's lowest ranking studio set) and single "The Way Around Is Through" making it to #30 at Mainstream Rock radio. 

Kowalczyk finally reunited with Live in 2016, releasing an EP of new material two years later, Local 717, which spawned the Mainstream Rock radio hit "Love Lounge" (#35). Their most recent radio presence came last year, when a reissue of Throwing Copper included an unreleased track, "Hold Me Up", which made the Mainstream Rock list at #35 as well. 

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's the band live in concert in 1997...

and again at Woodstock 99...

and lastly, from the Live at the Paradiso concert album in 2003...

Up tomorrow: Youngish R&B group want onlookers.