It's hard to fault a band for wanting to stick to their "norms" - the fans have some expectations as to what the band's signature sound is. Some bands set a precedent for themselves, that no two albums will deliver any similarities between others, but these bands are the ones who find a niche audience, perhaps after a significant single announced them to the world. The problem facing bands that set out to experiment and evolve with each release is that with each album they risk alienating any fans who latched onto a particular style the band may have only briefly examined. They survive by playing to a small core of fans who thrive on the new textures and adventures these bands set out upon. But for even moderately successful (read: commercial) artists, the key to their continued success is not taking risks but in delivering what the fans want and expect. This, obviously, can be a tremendous cross to bear for a band - the soul of an artist is kept alive by experimenting, but experimenting is exactly what might turns fan away. After experimenting - and failing, in most fans' eyes - with popular dance-music trends on V, it's hard to fault Live for sticking to the "Live formula" on their new release, Birds of Pray.
V failed mostly because the band only tested the waters of electronics. If anything sinks an "experiment," however mainstream and unchallenging as it may really be, it is simply not following through. The fear of diving into the deep end, into completely uncharted territory, prevents musical ideas from being fully fleshed out to the point where the songs can't help but exceed expectations. Blur managed to successfully accomplish this task on their fantastic Think Tank, but it is only because they refused to let any notions of what "Blur" means interfere with the experimenting. Live very self-consciously incorporated the glossy sheen and churning rhythms of techno into their new songs, and the result was an insincere and ingenuine attempt to branch out. Live found itself with a legion of upset fans, unhappy at the band for delivering not another album of energetic anthems but an album of techno'd-up "party songs" (or the closest thing Live could come to "party," given the penchant for Buddhist-mantra inspired lyrics.) When your forte' is not taking chances but creating emotional anthems, fans feel slighted and even ignored by an effort like this - the album comes across as an attempt to garner new fans, not to supplement the current ones, but to replace them.
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