Post your own Contraband review here

[Naupis]

Ok...for the sake of what Jarmo said I'll rephrase. There is a better than 90% chance that if this was a GNR song much of this would have been done. Does that make everyone involved feel better it is no longer a blanket statement? Knowing that GNR's tendency is to add all of the strings, production and whatnot, some people are obviously disappointed Vr didn't do it as they like it when GNR does it, and in turn would have prefered that VR do it as well. I hope that is a less offensive(although i didn't think my initial way was offensive as everyone except 2 people on this board understood what I was getting at) way of looking at this.

[metallex78]

Naupis's comparisons to Axl are done in a civil way, whereas everytime you compare VR to Axl you do so saying Slash is shit, or Slash is a liar or something else derogatory. Can't you or Jarmo see the difference in that???

If he thinks Slash is doing alternative music, it's up to him.

Another guy says that if FTP was a GN'R song, it would have strings on it. Don't Cry didn't, so how can he be so sure?

What's the difference between "Axl would add strings to the song" and "Slash is doing alternative music"?

/jarmo

I'm not talking about that comment that Dave said then, but his comment in general about how come others can comment on Axl/VR comparisons and not him, and like I said, it's because other people seem to to do so in a civil manner, whereas 90% of his comments on the VR are slagging the ex-members.

Example: I don't like Silkworms all that much, but you don't see me in the GN'R section of this board telling people how much nuGN'R suck because I don't like that song, do you???

Come on Jarmo, surely you can see logic in that?

[Booker Floyd]

What's the difference between "Axl would add strings to the song" and "Slash is doing alternative music"?

One is speculation...the other is just stupid.  If you were comparing two similar hypotheticals ("Slash wouldnt add strings to a song...," etc.), you might have a point.  Comparing a speculative comment such as Naupis' with a silly comment about "alternative music" (essentially stated as fact, no less)...well, theres not much comparison at all.

But dont let me interfere with your campaign as Daves spokesperson...

[duga]

My opinions so far:

Best rockers: Sucker train blues, Do it for the kids and Illegal I.

Best ballad: You got no right.

Biggest dissapointment: Falling to pieces.

Haven't bothered to listen to the lyrics so far.

now I understand why some people don't like this album... if anyone can call FTP a dissapointment they are fuckin' deaf..

Let's say that I had very high expectations (especially when Duff said that people will remember this song in 30 years), maybe I expected a more polished production (strings etc.). But, with 5-10 more listenings maybe I'll change my mind. FTP is 3/5 right now.

[younggunner]

I find it real funny how Axl and gnr find their way back into this. I thought we couldnt make comparisons?

As for the whole "strings" thing. I personally wasnt expecting a grand production with the ballads and the record for that matter. If you have been following the guys all of these yrs and the gnr story, you would already know that Slash wasnt intot hat stuff and thats a big reason why he left. So to say gnr fans arent happy with tha ballads because we are expecting an Axl type of production is completely wrong. Actually the ballads are the best songs on the album. The rockers are boring.

to be straight - most people are dissapointed not to hear Axl's fucked up vocal on this album, 2 keyboards, drum loops...

Thats for sure.
Soon will soon be the word......and we hopefully will have an exceptional album out with a unique sound, voice and lyrics that mean something...time will tell

[darkmonth]

Sorry, I have to say this:

bullshit.

The ballads are great sure... but the rockers... well, they rock!  Big Machine is kick ass... Suckertrain is a fucking work of hard rock genius.  Just fucking listen and enjoy!

Dave C!

[Mikkamakka]

Naupis's comparisons to Axl are done in a civil way, whereas everytime you compare VR to Axl you do so saying Slash is shit, or Slash is a liar or something else derogatory. Can't you or Jarmo see the difference in that???

If he thinks Slash is doing alternative music, it's up to him.

Another guy says that if FTP was a GN'R song, it would have strings on it. Don't Cry didn't, so how can he be so sure?

What's the difference between "Axl would add strings to the song" and "Slash is doing alternative music"?



/jarmo

Dave has a wonderful fantasy, let him dream. It's obvious that VR's first record is black metal mixed with Rain-era Madonna with a little Django Reinhardt. And I almost forgot about the Caribbean music, which also had a great influence on Duff's bass playing.  

[Top-Hatted One]

Funny how people at the GNR forums think Contraband is mediocre while people in the  Izzy, Slash, gilby, brides of destruction, audioslave, pear jam, led zeppelin & metallica forums think the guys made a great rock record.


The best in ages!

[TyRod Tulip]

Funny how people at the GNR forums think Contraband is mediocre while people in the  Izzy, Slash, gilby, brides of destruction, audioslave, pear jam, led zeppelin & metallica forums thinks the guys made a great rock record. The best in ages!

The people in most of those forums (slash's not withstanding), do not have built in prejudices toward Axl and his project.  If you listen to this album for what it is and what it is supposed to be, it is a great rock album that is far better than the crap we are force fed on a daily basis by MTV and local media outlets.  

-TyRod-

edit: VR never claimed to be making an epic album.  And epic albums happen by accident, not by design.  That is something that I'm sure Axl is probably realizing right as we speak.

[jarmo]

One is speculation...the other is just stupid.  If you were comparing two similar hypotheticals ("Slash wouldnt add strings to a song...," etc.), you might have a point.  Comparing a speculative comment such as Naupis' with a silly comment about "alternative music" (essentially stated as fact, no less)...well, theres not much comparison at all.

If he thinks VR is alternative, so what?

Does it bother you?

One is speculation which might not be true because we have no clue, the other is personal opinion which you can argue about all you want. It's still an opinion.

But dont let me interfere with your campaign as Daves spokesperson...

He seems to be able to speak on his own.

Funny how many (not all!) VR fans seem to think Dave's my best friend just because I think he's got the right to post "bad" articles about the band.

One of you even hates me for that.  

You might have forgotten one thing, this is a GN'R board with a VR section on it. Not just a VR fan board. So I assume most people here are/were GN'R fans and then got into VR.

Unlike a VR board where some people couldn't give a fuck about Axl as long as they can watch Scott wear silver pants.

In other words, there are GN'R fans who won't like this band (Dave maybe?  ) as well as people who hate Buckethead.....



/jarmo

[w.axlrose]

The reason some people are calling FTp a disappoiintment is because if this were Axl's band we would have had strings, orchestra's, grand piano's and a ton more production in that song than we do now. I think thats what people were expecting from teh song, and instead it is just kind of straight forward with the rift. I would have maybe liked some of that, but the song stands well on its own, and that stuffs not those guys styles anyway, so I guess I applaud them for not throwing it in just for the hell of it. There is part of me that would love to have seen what Axl could do with the skeleton of that song, but I guess this is where I need to start to realize they really are two different bands, and leave it at that. I hope that at least helps answer the question of why some people on this board are disappointed in the song.

why are you comparing this to Axl? People like you bash me for it all the time when I do it, but I guess we can compare the two now.

If this was Axls band the lyrics would be light years ahead of VRs lyrics.
VR lyrics are terrible cept for a few songs that are just good.

Its really sad that slash said he wanted to play AFD rock and that is why he left Axl yet he is playing alternative music now.

if this was axls band, we'd be still waiting for an album since he runs the show, and he decides everything that goes down.

[starchild_666]

Funny how people at the GNR forums think Contraband is mediocre while people in the  Izzy, Slash, gilby, brides of destruction, audioslave, pear jam, led zeppelin & metallica forums think the guys made a great rock record.


The best in ages!

and I think thoes people in Izzy, Slash, Gilby, BOD, Audioslave, Pearl Jam, Zeppelin amd ,metallica forums are right! People at GNR forums listen to live Silkworms and think that that is the best rock song ever   ok just kiddin about Silkworms  

[jabba2]

Im an STP fan, and i give Contraband 5/10. The record seems rushed, and poorly produced. Scotts vocals are too over the top compared to the songs. I thought Slash and Duff would have more of an influence on this, but except for maybe Set me Free and Sucker Train Blues...you would have no idea Slash played in the band...much less Kushner on rhythm guitar.

"Sucker Train Blues" and "Set me Free" are both good songs. Some others have potential but again seem poorly produced/rushed. Whoever was in charge of producing this, should have listened to a few STP records, because the vocals here are messed up. With the music way in the background.

[PeterCoffin]

I like the whole album except Illegal I. That song sounded like Orgy. And I'm not talking the good Orgy stuff, I'm talking about the other 98% of Orgy's stuff.

My favorite is either Big Machine or Dirty Little Thing. Or Headspace... Or You Got No Right... I really don't know - this is a damn good rock record. It's a band of 5 musicians playing their instruments.

I'm glad there's no strings (other than guitars) on this album. It would screw up the feel of it. Seriously, why would you want a symphony over You Got No Right? It's a great guitar ballad.

This is not to say I would hate strings. But this album just doesn't seem to call for them. It just says "here I am, I'm going to rock."

[yagami1gnr]

Well, it's funny that all VR fans (specially Booker and Dizzy )didn't answer my post of rating all the VR songs that they have listened so far from 0-10 points.

I didnt respond to your thread because Im not a fan of giving songs number ratings...

If youre that curious about what I think of the songs...

I like everything Ive heard a lot.

Well like I stated before Booker, I know that everybody have their opinion, BUT from  everything that VR fans said how awesome Contraband was and in my post of rating the song everybody almost everybody was gaving every song 9 or 10, then like I stated before, this is supposed to be one of the best albums of RnR in history.
If you agree with that, then good for you.

 Naupis, I don't think that fans are disappointed with FTP because They need some orchestra or something, I think they are mainly dissappointed for the LYRICS. And let make everybody clear that I'm not comparing with Axl's old and new lyrics because he doesn't have to do anything with it.

Nor I did when Audioslave cd came, even if I was a RATM fan (of their music) .

Also it seems, that when Dave..., posted in this discussion about his opinion of contraband, SOME people just tried to change this thread to a newGNR vs VR, we all know Dave antics, so don't try to act smart.

Anyways,

 

[duga]

Rating 1-5, 5 is best.

Sucker train blues - 4 (Right next door to hell@2004, the right song to kick start the record with!)
Do it for the kids - 4 (I want the uncensored version on the cd!)
Big machine - 2
Illegal I - 4
Spectacle - 2,5
Falling to pieces - 3 (I expected a lot more)
Headspace - 3
Superhuman - 1,5 (well... it blows!)
Set me free - 3 (i'm glad this wasn't the best song on the record)
You got no right - 4 (but Slash's solo was better live)
Slither - 3 (i'm glad this wasn't the best song on the record)
Dirty little thing - 3
Loving the alien - 4

[JustWckd]

There's a lot of people on here complaining about the production. My question is.......is it possible that the MTV steam audio could be a poorer quality then what we will get on the CD??

Its actually likely...

The actual CD will sound different than a streaming RealAudio.

This is only 64 Kbps. 192 Kbps is comparable to CD-quality IMHO.

umm i already have the full cd...256 kbps....if jarmo wants it he can pm and ill send it to him over AIM and then he can decide what to do with it....im still going to buy the cd b/c its slash and well he deserves better than the rest of the artists on my computer

[killingvector]

I never noticed this about Weiland before, but he really needs a quirky, funky band behind him; one that can play around with the sound even within a song itself. With VR and all this diesel fueled power, he sounds bored and ill defined, especially on the rockers where his personality and vocal talents disappear underneath layers of heavy guitars and drums. He really is missing in action on alot of these tracks: Suckertrain, Do it, Superhuman, Spectacle, Headspace, & Big Machine offer little variation in vocal styling.  I think perhaps Weiland would succeed in a less heavy rock band, perhaps a refurbished Jane's Addiction would suit his style better. In VR, he is boiled away amidst the high octane velocity of these very talented players.

[slashnbuckethead]

I thought it was disspointing. Not because it was bad, i think the whole cd is awesome, but i wasnt completely blown away. Its still better than anything else today but its not great great.

[gpfontaine]

There's a lot of people on here complaining about the production. My question is.......is it possible that the MTV steam audio could be a poorer quality then what we will get on the CD??

Its actually likely...

The actual CD will sound different than a streaming RealAudio.

This is only 64 Kbps. 192 Kbps is comparable to CD-quality IMHO.

umm i already have the full cd...256 kbps....if jarmo wants it he can pm and ill send it to him over AIM and then he can decide what to do with it....im still going to buy the cd b/c its slash and well he deserves better than the rest of the artists on my computer

VH1 has it at 64Kbps in streaming ASF which I tend to find cleaner than RealMedia.

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/velvet_revolver/363596/album.jhtml