Length of the songs ON contraband ...too short ?

[SON OF A PREACHER]

OK, let me first start off by saying I like Contraband.....
my favorite songs are suckertrain blues, Do it for the kids and headspace..

BUT !!
Dont you think that all the songs are too short ? I mean Im banging my head feeling it when OOPS all of a sudden the song is over !
I just think they could've added a little bit more guitar playing and solos , a song with two solos would be nice ? also The sound of Dave Kushner's guitar could've been a bit more crystal clear...IMO its a bit noisy without being necessarily heavy...

There are 11 songs under 5 minutes !


ps: if this thread will be moved to a dead horse section or something....You might as well delete it

[November Rain 91]

I was also disappointed in the length of the songs. I was expecting at least one longer song. Kind of a let down...The main thing i was looking forward to on Contraband was guitar solos, not so much everything else. I was hoping for the same length solos we saw in GN'R. Like you said, it'd get goin.....and then just stop. Rather annoying.

[Naupis]

The guys never really liked playing those long songs, so why would they write them now that they are in their own band and don't have to? I wish the solos were a little longer at points, but that is not the direction the band wanted to go. Everyone talks about their refusal to evolve.....I would argue they have all totally evolved as Contraband sounds modern and focused. Slash's solos are shorter, but they are tight and on point within the context of the songs. Maybe the next album will be more solo oriented, but I don't think GNR type songs were what they were going for on this album.

[SON OF A PREACHER]

uhm.... I wasn't even thinking about GNR....have you ever heard slash's snakepit ? most solos on snakepit are longer

beggars and hangers on is 20 minute long !!!
even STP had long songs like where the river goes or Kitchenware & Candybars

[Falcon]

Everyone talks about their refusal to evolve.....I would argue they have all totally evolved as Contraband sounds modern and focused. Slash's solos are shorter, but they are tight and on point within the context of the songs.

Exactly.

Adding to that, if you can't convey your musical emotion/motive in around 4 minutes or less, it's probably not worth conveying...

[tomass74]

I think there should have been more Slash being Slash with solos , intros and letting lose... Scott made up for it though or the album would have been a disappointment for me.

[slashedguns]

If the songs are good they are good,Ive never thought about the length of them even once.. They werent trying to create epics with this record,just rock songs,they achieved that very well IMO. There time for epics will come though im sure.

[SADIS]

I also think that they deliberately didn't make any epic songs and long solo's. They achieved want they wanted, an album that most of the people didn't link to the GNR sound. I think the next album will be very dofferent from this one. I think it will be alot better......

They just didn't want people to say "oh here's GNR part 2" so they deliberately cut the Slash solo's short. On the next album we will have alot more....trust me....maybe even Izzy songs.

[SON OF A PREACHER]

ok, you people are traumatized by GNR    --don't worry I can understand why--

I never said they should sound like GNR nor have EPIC songs like Estranged.

You can still have long solos and more guitar work WITHOUT sounding like old GNR.

I just wanted more of what they had. Maybe Im asking too much but I heard the live bootlegs and Slash just seemed to have more freedom to play, and It would've been nice to see that freedom on the album.

[SON OF A PREACHER]

And have you heard the Demo for SLITHER ?? now that's what Im taking about 

the demo for slither  is 48 SECONDS LONGER THAN THE VERSION OF SLITHER ON CONTRABAND!! plenty of guitar shredding !

My guess is some stupid nerd , --I bet it was the producer-- told them Solos are not  ''in'', these days....so They made slash shut up.

[Mikkamakka]

uhm.... I wasn't even thinking about GNR....have you ever heard slash's snakepit ? most solos on snakepit are longer

beggars and hangers on is 20 minute long !!!

I agree with the most of your thread opening post. I expected more solos, much more and longer solos, a more improvised type of music, but I didn't want 5+ minute songs. What for? I really do love Coma, but I don't want Slash & Co. to write Coma part 2! I wanted rockers, I got rockers, I wanted a bluesy and classic rock style, like the Snakepit albums, but they did a more modern sound. People were bashing Slash that he can't renew himself, can't change his playin'. Now he changed a lot, his guitar works for the songs, if you know what I mean, but I hope he'll be more in the spotlight on the next record...hopefully in 2005!?

[mikegiuliana]

I think to many people are spoiled from gnr days and use that to measure everything else.. The songs are fine in length, many songs are that length in music..

[Dave_Rose]

Yeah I agree with whoever said this record was modern sounding, yeah and it a shame there wasn't more solo's on the record maybe on the next record we will get something like that

[mikegiuliana]

uhm.... I wasn't even thinking about GNR....have you ever heard slash's snakepit ? most solos on snakepit are longer

beggars and hangers on is 20 minute long !!!
even STP had long songs like where the river goes or Kitchenware & Candybars

There are some killer solos on beggars, and grand, but that was SLASH's project, this is whole other ballgame, it's more of a group effort..

As for contraband I think his solos are great, they may be a little shorter then we're use to but he still sounds very good and the riffs are good..

I had mentioned before how people became spoiled from gnr days..

We all know slash can do a huge solo, I guess this just wasn't in the interest of the band, at least not this time around..

[SON OF A PREACHER]

so.... modern sounding means  short solos   

I think you can sound modern and still  have longer solos and guitar work 

 I could've been ok with the whole issue if some other guitarist was in there, but it's slash we're talkin about here, one of the greatest guitarists ever and ....I feel  let down   

[mikegiuliana]

so.... modern sounding means? short solos? ?

I think you can sound modern and still? have longer solos and guitar work?

 I could've been ok with the whole issue if some other guitarist was in there, but it's slash we're talkin about here, one of the greatest guitarists ever and ....I feel? let down? ?

I never use the word modern..

secondly just because slash is great at what he does shouldn't mean he doesn't have the right to do what he feels is the best interest for the band..

Lets just say they agreed for shorter solos on the album.. SLither live is great with teh extended solo... Every guest slot slash plays he does these huge solos... I love the solos on the album, it works very well for me..

[IzzyDutch]

I think Scott is mostly responsible for the modern sound and maybe also in a way for the fact that Slash's solos are shorter, for example Big Machine was a riff that came from Duff and the rest jammed on it and when they gave the demo to Scott so that he could put vocals on it in Pro Tools when they first heared it again Scott had chopped the hell out of it and the result appeared on Contraband, so basically Scott didn't leave the room for the guitarsolo in it.
Matt said that he was also looking for a modern sound instead of the old school sound for Contraband

Personally I like the old school sound of GN'R and Izzy a lot more...

[mikegiuliana]

I don't know about this modern stuff, I could listen to vr's music off contraband now or 5 years from now or 5 years ago and I would like it teh same..

These days modern and over produced are getting alot of use..

All I need is a no frills rock album, just some hard rockers with an assortment of basic rocking ballads..

[IzzyDutch]

Imo the whole production sounds to blurry, Snakepit's IFOCS, Guns' AFD or any Izzy album sounds a lot more clearer and rawer then Contraband

[SON OF A PREACHER]

Imo the whole production sounds to blurry, Snakepit's IFOCS, Guns' AFD or any Izzy album sounds a lot more clearer and rawer then Contraband

that's what I meant when I said Kushner's guitar should be more clean....all of it sounds ...like you said...blurry....sometimes I can't tell who is playing, it's not raw or heavy... it's just messy...and I think the producer is to blame. the songs are cool but , could've been a lot better, I think they rushed the album.