Birds of Pray

Birds of Pray is the seventh studio album by Live, 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 The Distance to Here. Guitarist Chad Taylor explained that the tensions between Kowalczyk and the other three members that eventually caused the band to split from him surfaced in 1999, and had grown worse during the album's recording sessions. "I 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." Reception 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.