Here Today... Gone To Hell!

On my quest to find more negative VR reviews/articles (  :hihi: ), I found this one on Blabbermouth:
http://www.roadrun.com/blabbermouth.net/showreview.aspx?reviewID=184



/jarmo

I've found that most negative reviewers/critics like both Set Me Free & Slither.  Songs that they are likely to have already heard multiple times.

This album is like a fine wine......gets better with time/each listen.  Perhaps this critic should check back after listening to the disc a few more times.

I find that some of those critics wanted another 1987 record and can't deal with the fact that Scott Weiland was chosen over their lover, Sebastian Bach.

I like Baz's voice but there's no way I would've liked every song on Contraband the way I do if he had written the songs. The melodies are amazing on this record. Any cock sucking music nerd who disagrees can go fuck themselves ;D

Thats just funny. Even though I like the songs using two variations is rehashing it quite a bit.

Those blabbermouth fuckers are obnoxious doinks. As someone stated, when a review says that the two singles as the catchiest and most listenable tracks on the album, you know there's a good chance that it was written by a piker. I can see a review that says "this is no Appetite" or "there are no Interstate Love Songs on this album". But when they categorically dismiss the whole album it's just bad work on the reviewer's part. Poor sense of rock history and/or not listening with an open mind. This album is extremely good. Personally I think it rivals UYI as a rock record. It's nowhere to the level of Appetite. But then, you could make an album only half as good as Appetite and it could still be a classic. There needs to be some perspective, and many of the reviews I've read don't have it.

:rofl:

Are you nuts? It doesnt come close to the illusions. Ill take some of the non hits of the illusions over anything on CB. Theres not one timeless song on ContraBand. Not one of the songs will be on the radio in 10 years. Yet I still hear a shitload of UYI songs on the radio everyday.
There average to good songs. Nothing more, Noting less. Its a good album but that doesnt mean jack shit. ANd it certainly doesnt come close to the Illusions.
 There is a reason why the Illusions were great and sorry to tell you but CB isnt even in the same world.

yeah, but it works on both of songs... these are 2 really great songs and not a SCOM rip-off. I don't find anything bad usin a SCOM style licks, becuase they are Slash trademark not SCOM trademark  ;)

I can't seem to find them.. Is it that he's comparing the opening riff of SCOM to the on the chorus of LTA and the one in the beginning (and a bit later on) in FTP??

Well FTP and LTA are somewhat similar, but I really wouldn't call them a variation of SCOM, nor a variation of each other either..

A bad attempt to bash the record. I can accept the fact that some one doesn't like the record because he doesn't like the record. But this.

Wow, I totally disagree with you. I can name 11 songs right now off of the UYI albums that wouldn't have even made it on Contraband:

Right Next Door To Hell
Live And Let Die
Perfect Crime
You ain't The First
Back OFF Bitch
Garden Of Eden
Bad Apples
Get In The Ring
Shotgun Blues
So Fine
My World

And the UYI albums don't have any timeless music either.  All of GNR's timeless music is on AFD.  And please don't tell me that NR is timeless.  That is the most over-produced and self indulgent non-GNR like song in their catalogue.  The three best songs on the UYIs albums are Estranged and Locomotove and Coma and those are not considered timeless.

-TyRod-

Wow - another thread that degenerated into VR v GNR ::) In the review they said Slash was 'bankrupt' for ideas - by the looks of so many threads and posts of late so are most posters here....

And PLEASE no more posts where opinions are posted as fact



etc.

I like thousands of bands across all genres - but each time i get a new album i don't endlessly debate whether track 1 would get onto AFD.....

Just because VR has Duff N' Slash doesn't mean the band is a variant of GNR - Izzy's 117 degrees and River feature Duff and Izzy (yes the same number of original members of GNR as VR has) but people haven't found the need to compare those albums with GNR - so why do people insist on this with VR?

I know the world of GNR is dead and there isn't much to talk about - but i think this GNR/VR thing has run its course.

I still hear Dont CRy,Civil war,NR,YCBM,Yesterday, and the 2 covers on the radio everyday. Someone must be liking them.
And the scary thing is that there are better songs than some of those songs on each album that arent radio friendly and never get played.

Just because you think NR is over produced means jack shit.

As a whole album CB doesnt come close to either of the ILlusions....CB is a good album but just because itsgood and is a lot better than most music out there doesnt mean it gets put next to some great albums. And why are we comparing GNR to VR i thought they were 2 different bands.

Because you singled out a tiny reference I made to UYI (and it was a personal opionion I have after listeing to both ablums thousands of times over the last 13 years, so as an opinion it is at least as valid as yours, young man... stop assuming you and your opinions are the center of the universe) and you willfully made this into a thread about GNR v VR. Sometimes the answers to our questions look back at us from the mirror.

its not a tiny reference when your comparing a good album to a great album/band.

You started the debate here younggunner (<--- pot calling the kettle black).  You compared CB to UYI in your first post.  I just stated my opinion.  And IMO, CB is at least as good as either UYI album.  You don't agree.  There you have it, two different opinions.  I will say that if you think those 11 songs I listed of UYI could have made it onto CB then your nuts .. but to each his own.  I haven't listened to any of those 11 songs since 1993 because, IMO, they suck ass pretty much.

Izzy, I'm sorry if my opinion was stated as fact .. usually I put the "IMO" in there, but I didn't this time.  And if you don't like the VR vs. GNR debate, then my advise is don't read it.   I personally think it makes perfect sense to debate and to discuss the differences/similarities between the two bands (and obviouslty alot of people here think the same thing).

I mean look at it this way.  I think that stupid "either or" game ran its course 14 months ago, but you don't see me crying about that thread.  

-TyRod-

Fuck!

Enough with the comparisons.

First off ... the original comment warranted a reply. So don't say it was all YG's fault. It was just as much JB's fault. And TT you just took it a step further. (This doesn't mean you're absolved YG.)  

Secondly ... Let's stick to the topic at hand ... shall we?

Thank you.

---

Since we are now ON topic ... I don't agree with the reviewer's comparison of FTP/LTA and SCOM. I think he was clutching for straws and picked up on this. Sounds like he might've read it on a message board ...

I never thought SCOM when I first heard those songs ... I never expected what I heard. So I'm thinking .. (like someone said) maybe he wanted to hear SCOM ... MrB or PC or something AFDish ... and that's exactly what he heard.

Don't read it? When i click on a thread titled 'Blabbermouth review' am i to expect u will have beaten me to it and started comparing VR to GNR? I wouldn't read it if i knew what was slurking there - Seems there is barely a thread on the board where u can escape from endless VR arguments

LTA and FTP have that slash sound and style to them. You can LOOSELY relate them to SCOM. But like posted before they fit well in their songs. I miss new rock songs with solos and riffs. So good for them. I think the interview in a whole is a fan of OLD GnR and to keep comparing CB to guns n roses throughout the review shows he has no real talent. He should look at the album as a whole and not as something it isnt. A New GnR cd.

Also if STB and FTP is released on the radio I definently could see hearing them on the radio in the future.

I have to disagree with you big time. NR is a timeless song, you might think the song is overproduced ( in what way exactly may i ask?), but most people love the song and consider it a classic. You will find the song at the top of most charts and lists, and i am yet to find someone outside the 'GnR circle' that criticises the song, whatever their age or music preferance.

LOL. The first time i heard those songs, I said to  myself, sounds like Sweet
Child. Considering how Slash hated playing that song, i find it humorous that he resorted to digging that riff out to bail this record out; funny but it didn't work.

Time to come out of your cave and greet the real world younggunner. You and relatively few others think UYI is a "great" album. Most of the music world views it/them as good or very good, and that is roughly how I see Contraband at this point. Hence my comparison of the two. In my original post I try to emphasize objectivity in reviewing Contraband. That means a balance of personal opinion and impartial analysis. Stop assuming that your PERSONAL OPINION about UYI should be regarded as an immutable fact that the rest of us should come to like an oasis in the desert.  

Rolling Stone gave UYI I and II **** 1/2 out of ***** each. I think they are a pretty reputable source. To this day, I still listen to both albums; i can't say the same for AFD which is dated plus I can't get into songs about womanizing, drugging, and getting into fights.  UYI is much more complex and fulfilling emotionally.

If you don't think UYI is great then I don't think Chinese Democracy will be for you, at ALL.

It is just my opinion.  I would prefer a less 'grand' production for a more 'raw' production.  That's all.  I know that most people like the song, but it is honestly a song I skip every time in my cd player.  (The video was awesome though).

On topic, its just the reviewers opinion.  I wish that reviewers were required to listen to a whole album 5 times before critiquing it.   :-\

-TyRod-

I think the UYIs albums were very good ... just like I think CB is very good.  I think AFD is FUCKING amazing!  The best album cover to cover that I know of.  I hope that CD is at least very good.  That about sums it up for me.  If CD is as good as the UYI albums, I will be very happy.

-TyRod-

Ill come out of my cave when Contraband sells half of what the illusions sold. Hows that?

Im objectively reviewing the two albums....In CB I get a descent record and in the Illusions I get a record with guitars and greta lyrics. I get songs that werent even released that are GNRS best creations. In the illusions I get timeless songs that are still being played today.

IN CB I get an everage effort. Yea its better than some of the stuff that sout there, but thats not saying much. Especially when its a supergroup and has much more talent than they displayed on the album. I get an album that had good parts and pieces but not 1 songs except maybe YGNR that captures all of the bands talents in 1 song. SOme songs I get cool lyircs with boring music and vice versa....
And most of all we will not be hearing any of these songs on the radio in 10 yrs.

The illusions arent AFD, we know that but it wasnt meant to be. It was not a complete simple rnr record. They did different things. Plus the Illusions has 2 people on that album. Mr Rose and STradlin.

Then you think wrong. I expect CD to be much closer to Axl's vision than UYIs were. I already like the new songs a lot more than anything from UYI.

One of the problems with UYI was that Axl tried to ride the fence between his own neurotic impulses and going along with the rest of the band.

Even Axl was disappointed with how UYIs turned out. This board is really the only place I find people who regard UYIs as classic albums.

Yes I read the RS review -- when it came out no less, junior. Those reviews, and the amount of airplay YCB, Don't Cry, November Rain received on MTV and radio, were more the result of momentum created by Appetite, and the label support that it afforded, than anything else. Hell they gave Mick Jagger's last solo album 5 stars. Big fuckin deal.

These days, not many people other than the UYI cultists get super excited when November Rain or You Could Be Mine come on the radio.

Another thread ruined by people bringing in CD and UYI and comparing them and AFD. this thread was suppose to be about the bad review they gave CB. Someone should just lock this thread

This thread is all bullshit.Axl doesn't have some fucking grand vision of what things should be.UYI and all of GN'R albums were/are great.VR is great,2 different bands.Music critics never know what the fuck they are talking about.

C'mon people!! Alike reviews are necessary. If a rock band had all positive reviews, amazing live shows, people's recognition and a number #1 selling album, would that be a rock band?

Take it for what is worth, it's just an album review.

Truth is, I do agree with some of the comments the writer makes. The album gets boring after a while. other than that, I find the review quite humorous, that's all.

Agreed, also to people on both sides of the fence (VR Fans, non VR fans) stop posting your opinion like its a fact

Anyone read the fan reviews of the album.
And most of those comments are non board member comments and they basically say the album is average to mediocre.

Why is it when VR gets a great review you praise the review yet when they get a bad one critics NEVER know what they are talking  about.

So are the critics who praise the album not know what they are talking about either?

Well Dave, I must say that I agree with you, good and bad reviews are all equally valid.

However, I must say that your reply reminded me of all the reviews of Axl's 2002 shows.  It always seemed that if Axl was praised in a review, that reviewer was considered FUCKING AWESOME DUDE! to Axl fans on the board, but if he got a negative review, no matter how well-written it was, the Axl board's reaction would be FUCK THAT GUY!  HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HE'S TALKING ABOUT!

But let's just stop with the stupid, futile comparisons.