Libertad Song Information

[Booker Floyd]

I did a song information thread for Contraband, so heres one for Libertad:


Libertad
Label: RCA Records
Released: July 3, 2007
Producer: Brendan O' Brien

1. "Let It Roll"

"There?s a song called Let It Roll, which is the most aggressive on the record." - Slash

"There's a lot of really in-your-face moments like She Builds Quick Machines, Spay and Let It Roll, which is probably the most aggressive song on the record." - Slash

As for the six songs performed off Libertad, which will be coming out in early July, Let It Roll and the equally frenetic and punk-ish Just Sixteen were highlights. - The Toronto Sun

2. "She Mine"

"A fun pop ditty." - Duff

It sounded that way live, anyway, with "She Builds Quick Machines," "Get Out The Door" and "She Mine" all featuring bouncy rhythms and contagious hooks. - Chart Attack

"She Mine' is about bipolar disorder." - Scott

The cowbell-driven grunge of ?She Mine? and the 1950s-tinged ?Just 16? were fairly predictable, but the new single, ?She Builds Quick Machines,? was packed with multiple sections and oblique lyrics, ? la Led Zeppelin. - The New York Times

Other new tracks, including She Mine and Get Out the Door, offered squealing guitars and hook-laden choruses, though The Last Fight was a less successful attempt at an Oasis-style mid-paced anthem. - Evening Standard

"I haven?t got a favourite solo from the album as such, but the solo on "She Mine" is pretty interesting because it has a remake of an old device from the 60s called an Octavia. It has a real cool distorted sound and we didn?t use it for the application it was intended. Instead it was pushed way over the fucking top so it sounded real nasty, which I liked." - Slash, Total Guitar


3. "Get Out The Door"

"Of the 12 tracks on the new album, Get Out The Door has a feel-good dance groove." - Q Magazine

"We?re about to go in and track this song, it?s called ?Get Out the Door.? ? It?s kind of a straight-up rocker." - Duff

It sounded that way live, anyway, with "She Builds Quick Machines," "Get Out The Door" and "She Mine" all featuring bouncy rhythms and contagious hooks. - Chart Attack

"Get Out the Door" is a funk-filled number that tells the story of "someone tripping through West Hollywood and coming up upon a transvestite who they did not know was a transvestite and having an encounter that they weren't quite ready for," Weiland said. - MTV.com

Other new tracks, including She Mine and Get Out the Door, offered squealing guitars and hook-laden choruses, though The Last Fight was a less successful attempt at an Oasis-style mid-paced anthem. - Evening Standard

"I'm most proud of 'Get Out The Door' because I wrote the entire thing at home on ProTools. I love the weird melody line that Slash put over the chorus and what Scott did vocally on the track. I also used some SMASHING PUMPKINS type ideas in the chorus of 'Mary Mary', so that was pretty cool too. Did I want to play more lead guitar? Sure there was a point where I said, 'Hey Slash, if there are any solos you don't wanna play?' but I never heard about it again! I guess I would like to have played the solo on 'Get Out The Door' because it was my baby, but the original version had no solo, it didn't even have that section ? after the bridge on the original track it went straight into the last chorus. The solo was a suggestion made by Clive Davis [RCA Records] at the time when we were considering releasing 'Get Out' as the first single from the album. Clive wanted a trademark Slash solo on there, so we did it." - Dave, Total Guitar


4. "She Builds Quick Machines"

"There's a lot of really in-your-face moments like She Builds Quick Machines, Spay and Let It Roll, which is probably the most aggressive song on the record." - Slash

"She Builds Quick Machines" is another aggressive one and I think that will be the first single." - Slash

The set kicks off with the gear-grinding single "She Builds Quick Machines," then follows a subtle motif of freedom (hence its rescheduled release date, one day before the Fourth Of July holiday) - Inside Bay Area

?It?s a great f*ckin? rock song. It has a kick-ass guitar riff, a great chorus, a really big bridge and a great Slash solo.? - Duff

"She Builds Quick Machines," the introductory single from "Libertad," was a straight rocker with a gripping, half-tempo bridge, in the mode of Velvet Revolver's first album, "Contraband." - The Los Angeles Times

"She Builds Quick Machines," the album's first single, strikes an uneasy balance -- it's grungy on the verses, crunchy on the chorus. - Variety

It sounded that way live, anyway, with "She Builds Quick Machines," "Get Out The Door" and "She Mine" all featuring bouncy rhythms and contagious hooks. - Chart Attack

"We felt no limits. We had the freedom to play whatever we felt like playing. 'Libertad' has a much more expressive, spontaneous feel. I was able to do a lot of stuff off the cuff -- the solo on 'She Builds Quick Machines' was the first one I played. The whole rhythm of how Scott sings that is something none of us were expecting." - Slash

The cowbell-driven grunge of ?She Mine? and the 1950s-tinged ?Just 16? were fairly predictable, but the new single, ?She Builds Quick Machines,? was packed with multiple sections and oblique lyrics, ? la Led Zeppelin. - The New York Times

"That track was brought to our attention as a potential first single from the record company. I can only speak for myself, but I didn't see it as a first single. I would have gone for 'Get Out The Door' or 'She Mine' because, as a band, we were talking about one of those songs as the first single. It wasn't as though we were forced by the record company; that song just struck a chord with them so they ran listener tests with all three songs and 'Quick Machines' supposedly tested the best. Maybe it reminded them of 'Slither' [taken from first album 'Contraband']? Anyway, we kept listening to the song but we still disagreed. The record company did more tests and in the end we had to concede because of the response it was getting." - Dave, Total Guitar

"You can hear it in the pre-chorus of She Builds Quick Machines, where Slash plays a guitar part that?s very distinctive and I play a three-note chord thing over it. They couldn?t be more opposite parts but yet they still work so well together." - Dave, Total Guitar

?Quick Machines was my first pick, but there were so many songs with single potential that it took a while before we all agreed on what the fi rst single from the album should be. It was decided that She Builds Quick Machines was most indicative of the band that everyone was familiar with.? - Slash, Total Guitar

There's little here that's as hedonistically lustrous in lyric or swell as Slither, though the haughty Stones-y "Mary Mary" and the bombastic "She Builds Quick Machines" come close. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

5. "The Last Fight"

"There are mellower songs: "This Fight (Could Be The Last Fight)" ? which I used the Gretsch [6120 Setzer model] on ? and Grave Dancers, but that still has an aggressive blues solo at the end." - Slash

"We just did a song, that Beatlesesque song. It?s called ?The Last Fight.? - Duff

"But we also have ? we just tracked a song that?s kind of almost ? Beatlesesque ? a really, really beautiful song." - Duff

"A mid-tempo, really beautiful song; probably something you wouldn't expect from us." - Duff

And while they generally provided that, songs like Fall To Pieces and the mid-tempo The Last Fight tended to temporarily take things down a gear or two. - The Toronto Sun

The main ear-opener was "The Last Fight," which mixed a Creedence-like country sway with nasty midrange jangle and a soaring chorus. - The Los Angeles Times

"'The Last Fight' is about a man dealing with a broken relationship at home while he's dealing with the relationship between himself and a war he's stuck in the middle of on the front lines far overseas." - Scott

The album's likely second single, "The Last Fight," relays the story of a soldier who spends his last night in the U.S. arguing with his lover before heading to fight overseas. - MTV.com

And ?The Last Fight? built from folk-rock to earnest power ballad: ?They?re afraid when we spit out the fire and start living.? - The New York Times

Other new tracks, including She Mine and Get Out the Door, offered squealing guitars and hook-laden choruses, though The Last Fight was a less successful attempt at an Oasis-style mid-paced anthem. - Evening Standard

"I used a Gretsch guitar on The Last Fight" - Slash, Total Guitar

"The Last Fight" sounds like the Beatles might have done if theyd had Slash on guitar.  When Weiland sings, "Something feels like Ive been back in jail," you know he speaks from experience. - Classic Rock

[Booker Floyd]

6. "Pills, Demons, Etc."

Though he's clean now, the effects of drugs still cast a shadow over the album - Weiland's brother Michael died of an overdose during its production, and one song, Pills, Demons, Etc, deals with the subject explicitly. -  Q Magazine

"Mary Mary" is a sexy love song inspired by "Little T & A" by the Stones. "Pills, Demons, Etc." - whose lyrics Weiland wrote after his brother?s death - erupts with furious beats as Weiland warns, "You got your demons and your wasted life/You could pull the trigger and you'd end the strife." - Rolling Stone

"Pills, Demons, And Etc." is another equally autobiographical moment: "Youve got the skills, youve got the pills, youre getting older." - Classic Rock

But in the ferocious "Pills, Demons, Etc." Weiland's careening swagger gets replaced by a sort of moralism that, though worthy of development, lacks punch. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

7. "American Man"

"American Man" has a slow, melodic solo that?s very trademark Slash in the way it?s reminiscent of old stuff I?ve done in the past." - Slash

"American Man," though, could be about any of them.  Grand, anthemic, exciting, and climaxed with one of the most back-arching guitar breaks Slash has yanked from his back pocket since you know when. - Classic Rock

8. "Mary, Mary"

"Mary Mary" is a sexy love song inspired by "Little T & A" by the Stones. "Pills, Demons, Etc." - whose lyrics Weiland wrote after his brother?s death - erupts with furious beats as Weiland warns, "You got your demons and your wasted life/You could pull the trigger and you'd end the strife." - Rolling Stone

"I also used some SMASHING PUMPKINS type ideas in the chorus of 'Mary Mary', so that was pretty cool too." - Dave, Total Guitar

"Like on 'Mary, Mary' where I came up with a melody for the bridge section and Scott loved it so much that he cut it up and made it the chorus before the bridge." - Dave, Total Guitar

Even more hook-laden is "Mary, Mary," and again its impossible not to conclude that Weiland is taking the lyrics directly from the pages of his juournal (his wifes name is Mary).  Not that it actually matters whether you know that or not, as what Slash does with the raw material is so brteathtaking you just want to hear it again.  And again. - Classic Rock

There's little here that's as hedonistically lustrous in lyric or swell as Slither, though the haughty Stones-y "Mary Mary" and the bombastic "She Builds Quick Machines" come close. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

9. "Just 16"

"We've got a song called 'Queen For A Day' that's awesome" - Matt

As for the six songs performed off Libertad, which will be coming out in early July, Let It Roll and the equally frenetic and punk-ish Just Sixteen were highlights. - The Toronto Sun

One frenzied new song, Just 16, was about a schoolboy's good luck in sleeping with his teacher. - Evening Standard

10. "Cant Get It Out Of My Head"

"There?s also a song that we tried to make as aggressive as we possibly could ? a cover of Electric Light Orchestra?s Can?t Get It Out Of My Head. Our producer [Brendan O?Brien] suggested it. I love the song but I wasn?t so sure. But I bit the bullet and we recorded tracks of drums and acoustic guitars and I still wasn?t sure, but when we put electric guitars on it actually became very cool." - Slash

A cover of Electric Light Orchestra's "Can't Get It Out of My Head" is also tossed into the mix.  "That was [producer Brendan O'Brien's] idea," Slash said. "He goes, 'I have this great idea for a cover,' but then he wouldn't tell us what it was. Towards the end of the recording for this album, he finally comes out with it. I didn't know if we could cover that song, and I was against it at first. But I knew Scott was perfect to sing that sort of song. So Brendan was patient with me and had us just do an acoustic version of the track. The thing that did it for me was when Scott put a vocal on it. It just came out really good." - MTV.com

We're releasing five of those tracks as an EP [released June 4, including a cover of 'Psycho Killer' by TALKING HEADS], but there's also a cover of 'Can't Get It Out Of My Head' by ELO on the album. The cover was our producer Brendan O'Brien's idea, but I wasn't into it at first. It's a great song but I just couldn't hear the band doing it, so I refused to do it at that time. After we'd laid down an acoustic track with bass and drums I went back in and put a bunch of heavier guitars on there with Dave, and when Scott put his vocals down it sounded great. When we were mixing the record in Atlanta I bought Brendan a 1960 Les Paul reissue, which I used along with this killer new Marshall Vintage to play the solo on that track. I did it in one take." - Slash, Total Guitar

11. "For A Brother"

12. "Spay"

"There's a lot of really in-your-face moments like She Builds Quick Machines, Spay and Let It Roll, which is probably the most aggressive song on the record." - Slash

"Spay is pretty aggressive too." - Slash

Spay is a vitriolic punk number that attacks the Paris Hiltons of the world and Messages is a lush ballad sung from the perspective of a passenger on one of the hijacked 9/11 planes. - Q Magazine

"We have this other song (that is) like a straight-up punk-rock song, and it?s just so classic. (Singer) Scott (Weiland) did a great job with the vocals. It?s called ?Spay,? like spay and neuter. I think it?s pretty much talkin? about young Hollywood at this point and maybe what they should go do to themselves." - Duff

"'Spay' is about the mass over consumerism, celebrity consumption and the increasingly lower standards of the media in our disposable society." - Scott

13. "Grave Dancers"

"There are mellower songs: This Fight (Could Be The Last Fight) ? which I used the Gretsch [6120 Setzer model] on ? and Grave Dancers, but that still has an aggressive blues solo at the end." - Slash

"There are departures, like Grave Dancers, but every song has its moments and even that has an aggressive blues solo at the end." - Slash

"I used a Gretsch guitar on The Last Fight, a Rickenbacker 12-string for a track on the EP, a Gibson Les Paul Junior, a Strat for the rhythm tracks on Gravedancer (which I also used for the solo at the end of the first and second chorus of that song) and a Les Paul on the outro solo." - Slash, Total Guitar

The album delivers its coup-de-grace with the final track, "Grave Dancer," a toxic ballad built around a sinuous Slash guitar figure in the "Fall to Pieces" mould. 

[Booker Floyd]

"Psycho Killer"*

Velvet Revolver moved outside its self-chosen niche to choose encores: Pink Floyd?s ?Wish You Were Here? (which Mr. Weiland dedicated to soldiers in Iraq) and, of all things, Talking Heads? ?Psycho Killer,? remade into an ominous hard-rock stomp. - The New York Times

Velvet Revolver then turned the irritating Talking Heads song ?Psycho Killer? into an all out rocker and solidly closed the set with ?Slither.? - Knac.com

It also pulled out a rocked-up version of Guns N' Roses' acoustic "Used to Love Her (But I Had to Kill Her)," a shrouded take on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" (in brotherly memorial), and an overtly evil revision of Talking Heads' nerdy "Psycho Killer," with Slash on smoking slide. - The Los Angeles Times

Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here had Slash putting his own stamp on David Gilmour's signature solos while all five members, particularly Slash and fellow guitarist Dave Kushner, tore into the final frenzied moments of Talking Heads' Psycho Killer. - The Toronto Sun

A cover of Talking Heads? ?Psycho Killer? was a nice surprise, however, particularly because it was transformed by Slash into a stinging slide-guitar workout. - Los Angeles City Beat

"Messages"+

Spay is a vitriolic punk number that attacks the Paris Hiltons of the world and Messages is a lush ballad sung from the perspective of a passenger on one of the hijacked 9/11 planes. - Q Magazine

"Among the standout tracks on the Brendan O'Brien-produced disc is "Messages," about 9/11 victims leaving phone messages for their loved ones." "It's not your typical love ballad," says McKagan. "It's more cerebral." - Rolling Stone

* B-Side
+ Potential B-Side

[mrlee]

sounds good, i guess only time will tell, when its out!

[Meanbone1980]

Is this the real list? I thought they dropped messages?

[Booker Floyd]

Is this the real list? I thought they dropped messages?

 

Whered you hear that?

[Jimmy?]

Is this the real list? I thought they dropped messages?

He didn't 

[Mikkamakka]

Is this the real list? I thought they dropped messages?

 

Whered you hear that?

It wasn't on the last tracklist.

[Booker Floyd]

It wasn't on the last tracklist.

Has an official tracklist been released?  Ive seen one or two, but they appeared speculative.

It would seem odd for them to talk up the song and feature it in a VLog only to drop it.

[Mikkamakka]

It wasn't on the last tracklist.

Has an official tracklist been released?? Ive seen one or two, but they appeared speculative.

It would seem odd for them to talk up the song and feature it in a VLog only to drop it.

It's the third tracklist, I don't know if it's official, the band's site doesn't say anything.

So...

Let It Roll
She Mine
Get Out The Door
She Builds Quick Machines
The Last Fight
Pills, Demons & Etc
American Man
Mary Mary
Just Sixteen
Can't Get It Out Of My Head (cover)
For A Brother
Spay
Gravedancer

http://www13.cd-wow.com/detail_results.php?product_code=1907688

if it's true than these songs didn't make the album:

Gas N' A $ Laugh
Wasted Heart
Messages (They Left)
Queen For A Day
Motherfucka
Boogie in A
Please Don't Go
Swiss Miss
Remedy

[Booker Floyd]

Anythings possible I suppose, but Im inclined to believe that the ELO cover is less likely to make the album than "Messages."  If they stick to 13 tracks, that would leave out 3 previously mentioned songs - "Wasted Heart," "Queen For A Day," and "Gas And A Dollar Laugh."  Thats assuming none of the names were changed.  Hopefully the band delivers no their idea to use all of their recorded material (18 to 20 songs) for something (B-Sides or soundtrack songs, I assume).

[Mikkamakka]

Anythings possible I suppose, but Im inclined to believe that the ELO cover is less likely to make the album than "Messages."? If they stick to 13 tracks, that would leave out 3 previously mentioned songs - "Wasted Heart," "Queen For A Day," and "Gas And A Dollar Laugh."? Thats assuming none of the names were changed.? Hopefully the band delivers no their idea to use all of their recorded material (18 to 20 songs) for something (B-Sides or soundtrack songs, I assume).

I hope we'll get more than 13 songs, since some of the new material is quite short, like Let It Roll. I'm with you on the ELO cover, although Matt and Breandan O'Brien seem to love that tune, but I wanna hear their own songs on the album, and covers just as bonus stuff. BTW it'll be great if VR, like other bands, release a limited edition album at the same time with the 'simple' album. I'd buy that and would pay more for it, but I don't want to buy 2 or 3 copies of the same album for some extras here and there.

[Ines_rocks!]

I did a song information thread for Contraband, so heres one for Libertad.

"Let It Roll"

"There?s a song called Let It Roll, which is the most aggressive on the record." - Slash

"There's a lot of really in-your-face moments like She Builds Quick Machines, Spay and Let It Roll, which is probably the most aggressive song on the record." - Slash

"She Builds Quick Machines"

"There's a lot of really in-your-face moments like She Builds Quick Machines, Spay and Let It Roll, which is probably the most aggressive song on the record." - Slash

"She Builds Quick Machines" is another aggressive one and I think that will be the first single." - Slash

The set kicks off with the gear-grinding single "She Builds Quick Machines," then follows a subtle motif of freedom (hence its rescheduled release date, one day before the Fourth Of July holiday) - Inside Bay Area

?It?s a great f*ckin? rock song. It has a kick-ass guitar riff, a great chorus, a really big bridge and a great Slash solo.? - Duff

"Spay"

"There's a lot of really in-your-face moments like She Builds Quick Machines, Spay and Let It Roll, which is probably the most aggressive song on the record." - Slash

"Spay is pretty aggressive too." - Slash

Spay is a vitriolic punk number that attacks the Paris Hiltons of the world and Messages is a lush ballad sung from the perspective of a passenger on one of the hijacked 9/11 planes. - Q Magazine

"We have this other song (that is) like a straight-up punk-rock song, and it?s just so classic. (Singer) Scott (Weiland) did a great job with the vocals. It?s called ?Spay,? like spay and neuter. I think it?s pretty much talkin? about young Hollywood at this point and maybe what they should go do to themselves." - Duff

"Grave Dancers"

"There are mellower songs: This Fight (Could Be The Last Fight) ? which I used the Gretsch [6120 Setzer model] on ? and Grave Dancers, but that still has an aggressive blues solo at the end." - Slash

"There are departures, like Grave Dancers, but every song has its moments and even that has an aggressive blues solo at the end." - Slash

"This Fight (Could Be The Last Fight)"

"There are mellower songs: "This Fight (Could Be The Last Fight)" ? which I used the Gretsch [6120 Setzer model] on ? and Grave Dancers, but that still has an aggressive blues solo at the end." - Slash

"We just did a song, that Beatlesesque song. It?s called ?The Last Fight.? - Duff

"But we also have ? we just tracked a song that?s kind of almost ? Beatlesesque ? a really, really beautiful song." - Duff

"American Man"

"American Man" has a slow, melodic solo that?s very trademark Slash in the way it?s reminiscent of old stuff I?ve done in the past."

Well done! thanks 

[estebanf]

I have no hints to say this, but just for the title I can imagine ''Messages'' as the best song in that album. 

Until now, in my opinion, ''You Got No Right'' is the best VR song. It's simply beautiful. I hope Libertad had an even better song than that. 

[slashvr86]

just 16 and queen for a day i think are the same song

[nightrain_st]

just 16 and queen for a day i think are the same song

So do I.
And messages definitly should be on the album...and I think it will be.

[metallex78]

just 16 and queen for a day i think are the same song

What makes you think that? Have they made reference to the two?

[stolat]

Cryptic message: my suspicions have just been confimed by this thread.......

[Smoking Guns]

I like how Duff calls get out the door a rocker and Q Magazine calls it a dance song. 

Why can't we get an 18 song album?  Unless they are saving for a third album. 

slash speaks of a cool song he plays on guitar that won't be on the album either... Hmm.

[slashvr86]

in one of the VLOGS on the velvet revolver website its got queen for a day then its scribbled out and written as just 16