Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Sleaze To Meet You
The Scott Weiland-led Velvet Revolver aim for full-on rock decadence but sound half-cocked

David Browne
4 June 2004
Entertainment Weekly

Copyright ? 2004 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.

VELVET REVOLVER Contraband (RCA)

Velvet Revolver revive the once-fashionable notion of a rock super-group, with a Behind the Music twist: The band features three former members of the excess-friendly Guns N' Roses and one walking- wounded frontman (Scott Weiland of the defunct Stone Temple Pilots). The mind boggles at the quantity of drugs and alcohol that must have collectively been consumed by these men, and the band isn't in any hurry to bury that perception. In one song on their debut album-- titled (wink, wink) Contraband--Weiland refers to his image as a "junkie piece of s--." In another, he depicts a female addict, "her face packed with cocaine," and adds a refrain of "Cocaine/Alcohol/ Lady-lay/Withdrawal."

Such after-hours sleaze feels--to quote one column in this mag-- very five minutes ago, but Velvet Revolver don't care. On Contraband (in stores June 8), their goal is to return trashy decadence to rock & roll, whether we want it back or not. The GN'R core--guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Matt Sorum--blare as if unleashing all the energy for which they've had no outlet since splitting with Axl Rose. Like a refurbished Corvette tearing down Sunset Strip, they're determined to rock, dammit, and they go about their job with a revved-up efficiency.

Anyone expecting Use Your Illusion III, though, will be in for a slight buzzkill. The songs suggest the pop grunge of Weiland's old band more than the careening overdrive of GN'R. Ironically, the album's most potent moments are its contemplative ones. "Fall to Pieces," whose title sums up Weiland's troubles, builds from sullen verses to rafter-rattling choruses. Toward the end of the finale, "Loving the Alien," Weiland keeps repeating "I'm moving on" while Slash's guitar caresses his words, and the combination is briefly, unexpectedly, moving.

Yet even at its sharpest, Contraband feels secondhand, and much of it is also hobbled by a disconnect between singer and band. Weiland is an apt replacement for Rose in the loose-cannon department; in the video for "Slither," he has the snake-thin, hollowed-out look of someone repeatedly busted for drugs. Burning musical rubber, the GN'R boys (and fifth member, guitarist Dave Kushner) appear stoked to reclaim arenas. But Weiland, who alternates between ravaged thoughtfulness and cocky arrogance, doesn't seem as eager. As the band cranks it up in "Headspace," he cautions not to "let any of those f--ers in my headspace," as if rethinking rockstar excess. In "Dirty Little Thing," he warns someone, probably himself, to "get away from the drugs you're taking." Velvet Revolver may be the least joyous rabble-rousers in recent memory.

Condemning bourgeois convention in "Big Machine," Weiland yowls, "We're all slaves to the big machine" as the band piles on the mountain-crumbling riffs. In the way they adamantly cling to an earlier, rowdier era of rock indulgence, Velvet Revolver are even bigger slaves than they think.

A semi bad review

I knew this was gonna be a bad reviw when I saw Dave posted it. Will you sleep better at night now knowing VR is getting negative reviews?

Ouch. It's not a very fair review because obviously the writer is biased against this type of music. You can hear the contempt even before he talks about the songs. That's lame.  ::)

And that shmuck should do his research. Scott has publicly stated that "Dirty Little Thing" is about Paris Hilton.

I have no problem with negative reviews, but not because some (probably) grunge-friendly writer has a problem with what GnR became and what STP never was.

Wow, what a suprize. Dave the dickhead posts a negative review. Ask yourself this question Dave & answer it HONESTLY, if this review was positive would you have posted it?

If this was a review of Chinese Democracy (which alot of the media has been unfair to) that was just as unfair & biased as the one above, would you post it?

or is it your mission to get every bad VR review (even if its not done by a proper journalist, like ur one comparing Madagascar & the Blues to Slither) & post it in this forum to bring even more fuel to the VR vs nuGNR fire.

You probably only post the positive reviews of GNR's concerts from 2001 & 2002

Either way Dave, which review holds more weight, one from a  well known rock magazine called Kerang! or does one review from some anti rock jock from Entertainment Weekly who's CD collection consists of Celene Dion & Enrique Iglasius (& no i dont give a fuck if i spelt there names wrong)?

And here I was thinking Dave was sharing something out of the goodness of his heart....

It's true. I would hardly count Entertainment Weekly or People or whatever as the authority on rock music.
Very curious to hear what Rolling Stone writes (not that it matters THAT much, but curious nevertheless).

bahh.. they slammed albuns such as Sticky Fingers, and early Zep

There will be good and bad reviews of this and any band. No big deal.

Like the other poster said, as soon as I saw Dave posted it I knew it would be a bad review. Weird guy you are Dave....

O.. so that is supposed to count for something?

Haha should I post all of the negative journalism pertaining to Botox Rose?

Oh entertainment weekly doesnt count but maxim does? EW has much more cred than maxim
Oh its because maxim was postive right?   ::)

Oh, SNAP!!
 :hihi:

Rolling Stone, which even then had negative-ten credibility, thought Appetite was derivative. Nowadays RS has negative-100000 credibility, and they have twice as much as Entertainment Weekly. Dave, you should not postition yourself for the sodomy you will receive for posting this review! I heard the Chilean radio boots of 1/2 the songs from Contraband. This mostly turd-burgling review is unwarranted.

Not a terrible review...Seems indecisive for the most part.  He uses seemingly positive adjectives to describe the actual music, but apparently isnt thrilled about Scotts serious, self-reflective lyrics.  Fair enough.

The authors opinion about the disconnect between singer/band is a legitimate one, I guess (although one wonders if the band was STP or a group of no-names, if the same observation would be made).   However, I dont like that "clinging to an earlier, rowdier era of rock indulgance" is viewed as a con, and I certainly dont see how that makes them "slaves"?  

"On Contraband (in stores June , their goal is to return trashy decadence to rock & roll, whether we want it back or not."

that part pissed me off the most. what the fuck does Entertainment Weekly know about what the we want?
Or maybe i don't want to believe that hard rock is gone and never to return again. Either way, i don't think David Browne has any authority to make that kind of call.

I don't think the review is bad, but I agree with you badgirl. I would love even a fraction of that trashy decadence in music today. I'm so sick and tired of currebt musicians who do nothing but whine about how miserable their lives are. I listen to music to have fun and to escape from the depressing parts of my own life. Who wants to hear some rich musician who made their dream come true whine all the damn time? Rock n roll was meant to be fun and spicey. Lately it's just bland and predictable. Thankfully, there are some rays of hope and VR seems to be the brightest one so far.  :beer:

Lol, i didnt say Maxim was more credible, I dont think anyone did, what people have a problem with Dave isnt that you like Axl Rose (well thats an understatement, but i'm a fan of Axl's talents), it isnt coz you like the new GNR or coz you can remember every single word in the overdub in madagascar

its because you go out of your way to shit on the former band members, acting like Axl was GNR all by himself, & you act in a biased matter about everything & you like to start shit like you have done here (these reasons are among many other reasons people have a problem with you)

Hell after hearing most of the album I can say the Maxim review sucked because the guy obviously didnt give the cd a close listen, & thou it was mostly positive about VR he said the album sounded like Appetite, which is Bullshit. This album is totally different from AFD, doesnt mean it sucks, its a different style, its more modern, just as AFD was more modern in 1980's.

Anyway Dave you avoided my post below, i'll post it again & i want you to answer it & confront reality

"Wow, what a suprize. Dave the dickhead posts a negative review. Ask yourself this question Dave & answer it HONESTLY, if this review was positive would you have posted it?

If this was a review of Chinese Democracy (which alot of the media has been unfair to) that was just as unfair & biased as the one above, would you post it?

or is it your mission to get every bad VR review (even if its not done by a proper journalist, like ur one comparing Madagascar & the Blues to Slither) & post it in this forum to bring even more fuel to the VR vs nuGNR fire.

You probably only post the positive reviews of GNR's concerts from 2001 & 2002

Either way Dave, which review holds more weight, one from a  well known rock magazine called Kerang! or does one review from some anti rock jock from Entertainment Weekly who's CD collection consists of Celene Dion & Enrique Iglasius (& no i dont give a fuck if i spelt there names wrong)? "

 :hihi:  :beer:

Dave is  :crying:

Give me a break dave, Back when GNR was touring and people that were against the band posted all the negative reviews (and there was a lot of them) i thought it was dumb and irrogant. This is no different. It should work both ways there buddy. And I have been around for a long time Im known as axl2 everywhere else.

I dont mind you posting reviews but why does it have to be the WORST one you see?

the same here  :hihi:

Wow, now this is comedy.

Dave posts a review he found and instead of commenting on the review like most fans would do, you guys comment on his motives for posting it!

Some of you are really funny!  :hihi:

Next time one of you posts a positive article, maybe the rest of you can attack the poster by saying "well, if it was a bad review would you have posted it?".  : ok:




Not the first review mentioning that it sounds more like STP and that the slower stuff is better than the rockers.



/jarmo

I didn't think the review was horrible. But I can tell you that I knew going into it that it wouldn't be a good one. That was pretty obvious when I saw the DaveGnR2kIluvU posted it.  If it was a great review he wouldn't have wasted the time. Pretty pathetic and obvious.

It really isn't comedy. Everyone knows why he posted it and he isn't denying it. I am sure Dave has seen plenty of reviews on other boards that weren'y here yet and didn't post them. He damn sur ewould have if they were bad reviews though. The only other one he posted was one that somewhere in there said madagascar was better than some VR song or something. It's pretty obvious his motives and that' sfine. What I really think is funny is the ammount of time you spend defending this guy. It's very similar to his relationship with Axl...

Why do you think that is? It's because you VR fans can't seem to understand that "no insults" also covers Dave.

Next time you get attacked for posting a "bad" VR article, just let me know and I'll defend you too (unless you attacked the other poster first).  No need to be jealous. : ok:



/jarmo

Dave forgot to mention that the final grade the album was given was a

B-

which isn't negative at all, and considering the dick that wrote the review it's probably deserving of at least a B+... I guess we'll hear next week.

What is wrong with you bro?

HAHAHAHAH. I bet if it was anything lower than a C he wouldn't have "accidentally left it out.

Dave - why if you dont like VR do you post in this section?

On another note - i may start posting certain NewGn'R articles in the Guns N' Roses section every few days and see how it goes with the tables reveresed.

Its not the fact he posted a review its the fact that he only ever posts bad reviews or comments - fair enough thats his view, but why constantly do it in the VR section of the board where he knows nobodys gonna agree with him. I dont go over to the Gn'R section and make threads like "Boycott Axl"(I dont know how the Boycott Contraband thread didnt break the "Attention seekers don't bother posting here.
If you're only here to start fights, you will get banned sooner or later." rule) , "NewGn'R are medicore at best" etc.etc. Simply because its bound to cause pointless trouble. (And the fact i dont agree with any of those thread titles ;))

perfectly said!

I don't think they would appreciate it over there if we kept digging for bad newgnr articles and make posts about how mediocre newgnr is. How Axl is the whole band. How Finck has never wrote a hit before. How VR sweeps the floor with newgnr. But it seems we have the right to.

"Anyway Dave you avoided my post below, i'll post it again & i want you to answer it & confront reality"

After I read dickhead I just stopped reading.
Maybe if you can post like an adult I actually might read your whole post and know you even had a question.


As for me posting this review, i found a review that was online and i posted it, its funny no one else posted this review, is that because its was not a glowing review?

Id say so.
Also, I find it funny that back during the 2002 tour for gnr when they got bad reviews for one of their shows it was ok to post that but now that VR gets a so so review its bad to post it?

VR fans keep showing their true colors and how petty and sad they really are.

2 people I hate on this board... dave-gnfnr2k (for being biggest asshole I've ever seen) and jarmo (for defending that asshole like a blind man)  ::)

Uh-Oh everyone, Dave is just "Fucking with our heads again" because it is just so easy to do to us VR fans. We should just let him be because he is obviously a very tortured individual given that he is incapable of supporting both bands and getting quality music from two bands. He instead chooses to hate VR and wait for an album that most likely will not see the light of day anytime soon. See, the difference between Dave and 99% of the posters here is they are going to buy Contraband and enjoy VR.....and will still buy CD the second it comes out if and when that happens and Love GNR. Dave has to force himself to hate VR just because in his mind his imaginery friend AXl has told him to do so. Its his loss, when everyone here next week is rocking out to Contraband he will just be looping Estranged for the 4 millionth time and telling himself that "Chinese Democracy starts NOW....ROUND 2"......thats all fine and dandy, but in the meanwhile we will all be enjoying new music, and still have the benefit of loving GNR when they come out....its the best of both worlds. Sadly he does not seem to understand that such allegiance to two bands is possible.  

This is basically the biggest problem I see with this band/album. Scott is an excellent frontman and I have absolutely no problem with how he looks, and all that other shit. BUt after hearing the majority of the studio album I have to say it seems as if he cant keep up with slash/duff/matt.
On certain songs, particularly the ballads its like they made some great music but Scott kinda doesnt put it over the top. Its kinda hard to explain. Songs like FTP, LTA, and some of SH. It just seems as if Scott is in the wrong band because the talent that duff/matt/and slash bring is much greater than what Scott has brought.

The rockers are ok. To me thy dont show this as much because its all the same kinda stuff. But the ballad type songs except for YGNR seems liek it could have been better.

As for Dave. We all know hes gonna point out negative VR stuff. BUt so what. Why get on him. He allowed to do that. Just comment on the reviews. Hes going about it in the worng way but all hes showing you is that its been the same thing on the gnr board over the past few yrs. People would constantly talk shit, start rumors, bash,and only point out the negative articles and if you defended them you would be a loyalist. And that would go on for yrs. You people here attack the poster which is gay. but whatver

Uh oh, now I won't be able to sleep.  :'(

That's an attack on both Dave and me, you should be banned for that but I don't give a fuck what you think of me. Personally I don't even hate you since I don't know you.


You haven't been paying attention!

There's plenty of people who will post negative articles about Axl if they find one. Then there are people who will post whatever they find (good or bad) and then there are people who ignore all bad articles and only post the good ones.

I'll lock this since you guys aren't interested in the review.



/jarmo

fair review in my opinion. not everyone is gonna like it.

and this proves that reviewers are not giving VR a "free ride" to spite axl....as some on this board have hinted at.