Throwing Copper is the third studio album by the rock band Live, released on April 26, 1994, on former MCA Records subsidiary Radioactive Records. It was produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and was recorded at Pachyderm Recording Studio. Throwing Copper has generally been regarded as Live‘s best album, having sold over 8 million copies and certified 8× platinum by the RIAA. Live released 5 singles in support of their album Throwing Copper: Selling the Drama released on February 1994, I Alone released on May 22, 1994, Lightning Crashes released on September 24, 1994, All Over You, released on December 5, 1994, and White, Discussion released on April 1, 1995.
The cover art is a painting by Scottish artist Peter Howson titled Sisters of Mercy. On September 23, 2005, it was sold for $186,000 by Christie‘s in New York. The painting is oil on canvas and measures 243 by 182 centimetres (7.97 ft × 5.97 ft). In May 2019, the band announced a 25th-anniversary reissue of Throwing Copper, which was released on July 19. The reissue contains three bonus tracks: Hold Me Up, which was recorded during the original Throwing Copper sessions and later heard in the 2008 comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno but was not officially released; We Deal in Dreams, which had been released as a single off the band’s 2004 compilation album Awake: The Best of Live; and Susquehanna, another previously unreleased track originally recorded in 1993, though it had been written during recording sessions for the band’s first studio album, Mental Jewelry.
Tracklist:
- The Dam at Otter Creek
- Selling the Drama
- I Alone
- Iris
- Lightning Crashes
- Top
- All Over You
- Shit Towne
- T.B.D.
- Stage
- Waitress
- Pillar of Davidson
- White, Discussion
- Horse (hidden track)
25th anniversary reissue bonus tracks
- Hold Me Up (from the film Zack and Miri Make a Porno, previously unreleased)
- We Deal in Dreams (previously released on Awake: The Best of Live)
- Susquehanna (previously unreleased)
Live
Ed Kowalczyk: lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Chad Taylor: lead guitar, backing vocals
Patrick Dahlheimer: bass
Chad Gracey: drums, backing vocals
Technical personnel
Jerry Harrison: production
Lou Giordano: engineering, recording
Ted Jensen: mastering
Gary Kurfirst: executive production
Tom Lord-Alge: mixing
