The Holographic Universe Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 8 hours ago, action said: i feel sorry i don't feel the same enthusiasm for contraband as you guys. here are some of the problems i find with this album. the lyrics to a song like "big machine" are subpar to the point i can't listen to the song. scott tries a low axl impersonation on "set me free" and everytime i heard it i just lol'd. not a fan of slash's playing and tone on the album either. the snakepit albums have better sound and riffs (there is no "speed parade", "been there lately" or "mean bone" on here). though i guess the sound was a deliberate decision (i recall slash saying at the time he didnt want the album to sound like GNR) i think the album suffered. it sounds too nu-metal or grungy. there is not enough "space" in the sound if you know what i mean. it's a wall of sound. it's like they tried too hard to be contemporary. the sound exhausts my ears. as for duff, i haven't heard him apart from a scream on the lead single. i was anticipating duff's involvment and it turned out a disapointment. duff is a great singer with an incredible bass tone, so why didnt they use it more? duff's solo work with loaded is much better i can see that there are some great ideas on this album, but the execution is lacking. i can definately hear izzy's signature on some of these songs, which probably is what saved the album. that said, i don't listen to it anymore. i rank it among the weakest in the entire GNR universe. it doesnt hold a candle to "aint life grand", "117°", "beatiful disease" or even "CD". I agree that the snake pit albums have better tone. But, Slash addressed the guitar sound and his book and even acknowledged to some extent that it was my great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom-Ass Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Just pulled up his wiki page and found out a little more.. Pretty cool career.. I don't know them but he was in the band Wasted Youth.. Isn't that the band of the shirt Slash wore during the Ritz show? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walapino Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Contraband is far superior to Libertad, sorry it has some nice tunes but has too much fillers! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXL_N_DIZZY Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 I've got Contraband at a B+ level and Libertad at B-. Really dig "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" and "Gravedancer" though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elevation516 Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 We greatly greatly appreciate all the feedback from you guys, means a lot. That's why we do it. All we can ask is to spread the word, and write a review on Apple Podcasts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jekylhyde Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 (edited) For the life of me, I can't understand why they didn't put Messages on Libertad. It's like they wanted the record to fail. Edited June 3, 2017 by jekylhyde 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby845 Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 On 6/2/2017 at 9:13 AM, DieselDaisy said: My view is the opposite: hated Contraband and liked Libertad. On 6/2/2017 at 6:24 PM, Izzymacbeth said: 100% agree with the above On 6/2/2017 at 3:30 PM, RONIN said: Exactly. Libertad was a far superior album to me - like the band found their groove finally. Too bad it tanked. Yes! Libertad was the pinnacle of everyone's career. It is quite arguable if (and I think to a certain extent) it passed GNR music-wise. Like RONIN said - they finally found themselves artistically. It was also the first time they did a concept album. If some of you watched 'Making Of' on Enhanced Limited Edition CD (I got that one) Slash himself said - 'this is the best thing we've ever done!' Libertad by far is better than Contraband! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Izzymacbeth Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, scooby845 said: Yes! Libertad was the pinnacle of everyone's career. It is quite arguable if (and I think to a certain extent) it passed GNR music-wise. Like RONIN said - they finally found themselves artistically. It was also the first time they did a concept album. If some of you watched 'Making Of' on Enhanced Limited Edition CD (I got that one) Slash himself said - 'this is the best thing we've ever done!' Libertad by far is better than Contraband! So many people hate it and see it as a failure, even the members of VR do but I'd take Libertad over Contraband any day regardless of it being difficult to get done and lacking any Stradlin influence. Its plain and simple when it comes to records: I like more songs on one than the other. Edited June 3, 2017 by Izzymacbeth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner55 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 (edited) Did not know Kushner did music on F Is For Family until listening to this. Love that series. Loved Contraband. Not so much Libertad. Dropped the ball by not including Messages on Libertad IMO. Great great song. Edited June 4, 2017 by Gunner55 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby845 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 (edited) 12 hours ago, Izzymacbeth said: So many people hate it and see it as a failure, even the members of VR do but I'd take Libertad over Contraband any day regardless of it being difficult to get done and lacking any Stradlin influence. Its plain and simple when it comes to records: I like more songs on one than the other. Absolutely! Libertad was a breath of fresh air... Same thing with Slash in comparison with Apocalyptic Love and World on Fire... The first is beyond awesome, the two others are generic... The latter being A LOT better.. Edited June 4, 2017 by scooby845 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselDaisy Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Contraband has a numetal production which I just cannot listen to; it is obnoxious to the ears. Libertad is more a fun rock record. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom-Ass Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 15 hours ago, Gunner55 said: Did not know Kushner did music on F Is For Family until listening to this. Love that series. Loved Contraband. Not so much Libertad. Dropped the ball by not including Messages on Libertad IMO. Great great song. My cousin just told me about that recently and I watched it.. Been doing some digging and found out that he is also on another CD I own.. Mike Muir's solo CD "Lost My Brain"... I'm gonna check out his band wasted youth too. Watched a song on youtube and it was pretty damn good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elevation516 Posted June 6, 2017 Author Share Posted June 6, 2017 Show got picked up by Alternative Nation, very cool! https://www.alternativenation.net/scott-weiland-once-ranted-manager-trying-to-reunite-guns-n-roses/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Jay Posted June 6, 2017 Share Posted June 6, 2017 As far as I remember, Contraband was a big pile of bland Nickelback shit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted June 6, 2017 Share Posted June 6, 2017 (edited) If you're a Slash fan Contraband is pretty fun. He's really going out of his way to modernize his sound on it and some of it works really well. He played Do It For The Kids on his solo tour and it really drives....Big Machine was a beast live on the Contraband tour... Duff's bass just cracking pavement. The solo on YGNR is epic! I love the Loving the Alien solo as well. Sorum has some cool shit going on too. The compression of the production does suck though as it causes major ear fatigue. Libertad is really musically interesting but I feel like Scott was the weak link on that one... boring choruses vocal melodies and generic lyrics -- contrived as can be. The production is also too clean haha... overcorrection from Contraband. Edited June 6, 2017 by Ant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BorderlineCrazy Posted June 6, 2017 Share Posted June 6, 2017 12 minutes ago, Ant said: The solo on YGNR is epic! Couldn't agree more, one of my favorite Slash solos ever! I think both albums are awesome. Contraband is definitely the album I listened to the most last year and I like it more at every listen. I'm listening to Libertad right now and I totally love it, it has a killer groove and it's Duff's finest job as a bass player IMO. I agree with everyone who mentioned they should have had Messages on the album, one of my favorite songs ever. Gas & A Dollar Laugh should have been on it too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombux Posted June 6, 2017 Share Posted June 6, 2017 just for the sake of completion - Dave Kushner was also a member of Loaded, in 2002, right before Duff went on to start VR, and picked Dave as a guitarist (he and Slash had already known each other from the high school). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top-Hatted One Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 14 hours ago, zombux said: just for the sake of completion - Dave Kushner was also a member of Loaded, in 2002, right before Duff went on to start VR, and picked Dave as a guitarist (he and Slash had already known each other from the high school). Yea I rem ember that very well. Duff replaced Jeff Rouse & Mike Squires when they went back to their band Alien Crime Syndicate to record their best record XL from coast to coast. Saw them play a festival in jersey with My Chemical Romance(way before they got big in 2005). He replaced those 2 with Dave Kushner and some blong bassist. If I remember they only played a show or 2 as Loaded. The. The Randy Castillo benefit happened and "the project and VR was born Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top-Hatted One Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 On 6/5/2017 at 11:33 PM, Silent Jay said: As far as I remember, Contraband was a big pile of bland Nickelback shit. Nickelback really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombux Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 3 hours ago, Top-Hatted One said: Yea I rem ember that very well. Duff replaced Jeff Rouse & Mike Squires when they went back to their band Alien Crime Syndicate to record their best record XL from coast to coast. Saw them play a festival in jersey with My Chemical Romance(way before they got big in 2005). He replaced those 2 with Dave Kushner and some blong bassist. If I remember they only played a show or 2 as Loaded. The. The Randy Castillo benefit happened and "the project and VR was born nah, it was much more. there's an article from 19th June 2002, which says Dave has already played at the Viper Room with Loaded http://www.laweekly.com/music/cocked-and-loaded-2134965 setlist.fm doesn't list the early 2002 shows unfortunately (correct me if there's a 2002 and also 2001 venue list somewhere), but it does list at least 8 summer 2002 shows in the US and EU http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=artist:(Duff+McKagan’s+Loaded)+date:[2002-01-01+TO+2002-12-31] also VR's wikipedia page says, that Duff introduced Dave to Slash during a Viper Room show (maybe the same as above, maybe slightly different date at the sane venue), so the two must have been considering Dave as guitarist by then. so it's safe to say Dave has played at least 9 shows with 2002-lineup of Loaded the Viper Room show must have happened in June 2002. and to put things in perspective, Randy Castillo benefit happened on 29th April 2002. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elevation516 Posted June 8, 2017 Author Share Posted June 8, 2017 More love from Alternative Nation for this episode. Very cool. https://www.alternativenation.net/scott-weiland-bandmate-chris-cornell-addiction-disease-of-isolation/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Dog Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 On 6/2/2017 at 4:04 PM, Tom-Ass said: Kush did this song with the guys he did the SOAS theme song with. Just a cover but a good one. His name is also in the liner notes of an Infectious Grooves album but it doesn't say what song/songs he played on.. I saw a pic of him all decked out with long hair and shit when he was in some 80's metal band once. Was looking for it recently but couldn't find it anywhere.. Anyone? That's really a great version of that song. It's been covered a thousand times and that's seriously one of the best versions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom-Ass Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 3 minutes ago, J Dog said: That's really a great version of that song. It's been covered a thousand times and that's seriously one of the best versions. Yeah man, I never watched the show til this year.. They ended the first season with that whole song and I immediately had to look it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Dog Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 1 minute ago, Tom-Ass said: Yeah man, I never watched the show til this year.. They ended the first season with that whole song and I immediately had to look it up. Yeah I watched the whole series. That house band that does the theme song and Revelator also does a lot of other covers during the series. All Along the Watchtower, Gimme Shelter, among others. I didn't know Kush played with them. I wonder if he was on all of their songs? Pretty cool to find that out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom-Ass Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 (edited) 7 minutes ago, J Dog said: Yeah I watched the whole series. That house band that does the theme song and Revelator also does a lot of other covers during the series. All Along the Watchtower, Gimme Shelter, among others. I didn't know Kush played with them. I wonder if he was on all of their songs? Pretty cool to find that out. I thought but could be wrong that they only did this and the theme song.. I am pretty sure these are the only two he was on anyway. Edited June 8, 2017 by Tom-Ass 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts