Dr. Who

If so, reviews?

How do you guys feel about the Stones career since their reunion in 1989? I feel like they got back together for the worst reason--money only. It's obvious Jagger and Richards haven't been able to stand each other for a long time and that Charlie doesn't care either way, but tour as the Stones because on their own they couldn't hack it. Does anyone else feel that the Stones career--both live and in terms of studio output--has felt very artificial beginning with Steel Wheels?

I mean, consider the '89-'90 "Comeback" tour...For guy who were only just about 50, not very old yet, the performances were overdone and lacking in any real energy or chemistry, compared to their live peak from the early '70s through early '80s.

What do you guys think?

It took the Jedi thousands of years to come up with something like a cross guard for their light sabers in order to prevent accidents?

Fuck it. This is Star Wars, a fantasy space adventure. Not like this is Star Trek.

It's in the hands of JJ Abrams bra. Anything goes.

Am I the only one who thinks UYI production is pretty much perfect and still sounds new and fresh? Estranged, November Rain, Don't Cry, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Locomotive don't sound dated whatsoever to me. I think the production for those albums were ahead of it's time.

I agree with ya, a lot of the illusions stuff was a few years ahead of it's time

How so? There's not really any bands of the latter part of the '90s, or even really today, that were really inspired by the UYI era GN'R sound.

No, but Pawnshop Guitars is a good album. The worst solo albums released after Gn'R stopped existing were made by Duff, Izzy and ultimately, Axl.

Would you agree that, had Axl been open minded about Gilby, there are at least foundations for good quality Guns present (if worked on by Slash, Duff and Axl, same way Izzy's songs served as the basis and were then raped by the other guys into a beast)? I mean, Axl felt Gilby did not the songwriting chops to fit Guns...But do you think, judging by his solo album from when he was in Guns, that Axl was wrong on this?

Axl started working on what would become Chinese D in 1994, and formed the first real lineup of New GN'R in 1997. Oh My God was written in '97 by Paul and Dizzy.

George Lucas began writing The Phantom Menace in the fall of 1994, and released the Special Editions in 1997.

Anyone agree that of all the solo albums by each Gunner (let's take CD, Snakepit and Loaded as solo projects), Gilby's Pawnshop Guitars is the best? I feel that GN'R could've had an amazing album using Gilby's material as a foundation upon which Slash and Axl could've built epic guitars and lyrics, in the same way that most GN'R songs had their genesis as the skeleton of a song being strummed on a guitar by Izzy.

What is your favorite Bond theme song?

Lies doesn't sound less dated, Christ have you listened to the first side? As for the second side, only reason it isn't AS dated sounding is cuz it's more bare, one man with a guitar is something thats relevant to all eras. Appetite definitely sounds old, UYI sound old cuz they're over-produced and when you over-produce something you are restricted to whatever technology and trends are available at that time, things like that date quicker because technology and times move forward (some might say improve). TSI just sounds like a load of shit.

However neither Ten or Nevermind or The Black Album or Bloodsugarsexmagik sound organic as such, with the latter sounding the most organic. They are all very slick and very very polished albums...and they sound like it. What makes BSSM sound more organic and less dated is cuz, out of this lot of bands, they were the ones doing something more fresh, a weird whiteboy hybrid of funk and rap and all this shit that was really kinda contemporary, none of the aforementioned can honestly make that claim.

I'd argue Nevermind was doing something fresh too. Mixing Beatle-esque pop melodies with Hard Rock and Punk tendencies.

Lies is dated in the sense of '80s production techniques and values, but it doesn't sound sterile or corporate.

The UYIs do.

Not really man, The Sex Pistols were mixing Beatles-esque pop melodies with the aforementioned...punk in general really, especially in the big bands like The Clash and The Damned etc.

I don't think 'corporate' is a value specifically pertaining to sound.

What I mean is like,

You can listen to a song like "Satisfaction" by the Stones, or "God Save the Queen" or "I Wanna Be Sedated", and these are all old songs, sure, and they might have some production values of their respective eras--but they do not sound sterile. They do not sound studio produced, if that makes sense. They have a raw, timeless edge to them, even just in their production...Whereas listen to "Mixed Emotions" by the Stones; it's very slick, it doesn't have any real timelessness to it. I'm not a music producer, so I'm not sure of the terms. I just feel there is a definite lack of rawness, excitement, energy and a lack of an organic sound to the UYI records. Even TSI sounds less 'studio', and more organic. I'm not even talking about overproduction in terms of orchestras or piano...I'm talking about even the sound of the rockers. The mixing. It just doesn't sound very raw or very real.

Production-wise, UYI has way too much reverb and compression on the drums, and that lends the album a very artificial sound. That artificial sound comes across analogous to early CGI effects in tv or movies.

Look at some CGI from 91, then compare it to modern work. The difference is astounding.

Just like your eyes can tell you when something is just too artificial, your ears can do the same.

So when you have Axl doing Chester cheetah, layering tons of weird vocals, and then topping off the instruments with huge amounts of reverb-- well, your brain. Interprets it as artificial.

That's really the only way I can describe it to someone who isn't an audio engineer: it's like comparing early cgi to modern cgi.

This is basically what I was trying to say. I was hoping for someone versed in production to lay it out like that.

Did he also use reverb on the guitars? They have a rather artificial sound compared to other GN'R records.

Check this site

http://savestarwars.com/lucas-nfr.html

I have a tough time actually believing that the 90s edits were done on the masters. Somewhere out there, doesn't there have to be a clean master? I mean c'mon.

I haven't the slightest idea how this all works, but what about at the Library of Congress or something? Doesn't there just have to be some official type archive that has the real deal? Didn't the Library of Congress "induct" Star Wars as one of the 20 most defining motion pictures ever, or some shit? And didn't that happen pre-90s edits?

Lucas is a nutjob and wanted to erase the originals from history. He wanted 'his' versions to be THE versions. It's been suggested reliably that the '90s edits were sadly indeed done to the masters, and other copies of the masters were destroyed by Lucas in the mid/late 90s.

The Library of Congress doesn't have the masters of all the films. I think they only have a singular master of IV, and that master is the 1997 Special Edition Master anyway.

http://savestarwars.com/lucas-nfr.html

Lies doesn't sound less dated, Christ have you listened to the first side? As for the second side, only reason it isn't AS dated sounding is cuz it's more bare, one man with a guitar is something thats relevant to all eras. Appetite definitely sounds old, UYI sound old cuz they're over-produced and when you over-produce something you are restricted to whatever technology and trends are available at that time, things like that date quicker because technology and times move forward (some might say improve). TSI just sounds like a load of shit.

However neither Ten or Nevermind or The Black Album or Bloodsugarsexmagik sound organic as such, with the latter sounding the most organic. They are all very slick and very very polished albums...and they sound like it. What makes BSSM sound more organic and less dated is cuz, out of this lot of bands, they were the ones doing something more fresh, a weird whiteboy hybrid of funk and rap and all this shit that was really kinda contemporary, none of the aforementioned can honestly make that claim.

I'd argue Nevermind was doing something fresh too. Mixing Beatle-esque pop melodies with Hard Rock and Punk tendencies.

Lies is dated in the sense of '80s production techniques and values, but it doesn't sound sterile or corporate.

The UYIs do.

One of the greatest scenes in cinema history right here.

The originals can sadly never be released in a High Def format, for one major reason:

1) All edits done to each subsequent revision after 1995 were cut directly on the original negative, meaning that each change is literally on the original film itself. Thus, there is no longer any existing pre-Special Edition Star Wars.

It would take a lot of work to basically cobble together an "original" original to be remastered, touched up, color corrected etc. It would actually probably cost more to do this than they would recoup financially.

Also, Fox own the distribution rights to the original Star Wars permanently, and Empire and Jedi until 2020. It would take an amazing deal that would make Fox and Disney equally happy and see both studios profiting equally from this venture in order for it to happen.

If you listen to Lies, TSI, Sympathy...All these sound relatively 'fresh', what I mean is, despite their obvious age, they do not come off 'dated', their sound is still very fresh to listen to, very cutting, raw and exciting. Compare the UYIs sound (guitars, bass, drums, especially) to that of other 1991 albums such as Ten, Nevermind, The Black Album, Blood Sugar Sex Majik, and others, and the albums have a very corporate, very...inorganic and sterile feel to them. I don't know if it is the mixing or the arrangement of the songs or what. Appetite is dated in sound too, but in a different way--it's dated by those late '80s things like the bass sound and Adler's drumming, but the sound is otherwise very accessible, very new, very in your face. Compare the following:

Arguably the three most important rockers from the Illusion set, Nevermind and Ten. Even Flow and Smells sound fresh, cutting, like they could fit in today production wise...YCBM, despite it's menace, sounds slick, perfect, well timed, and not very raw. The UYI records seem to suffer from what I'll call "Steel Wheels-itis"...Good songs covered in a slick studio sheen that sounds very corporate and dated. And I don't get why that is in the UYIs case.

What is that dates the UYI records? The vocals, the way they're mixed? The way Slash's guitar work is mixed? The lack of Izzy in the mix? The way Duff's bass is mixed? The drum sound? The arrangement and performance of the songs themselves?

My dad was an alcoholic and had the charactertic beer gut but was actually underweight because he would barely eat anything. I remember one time he was drinking some shit called banana beer and tried to convince me their was 'a dinners worth in it' lol he was such a funny man.

I want to drink, without the beer gut or any notable sign of it physically. Don't want to get fat or fat faced.

plus I should add I hate the taste of beer. Beer tastes like the liquid form of a burp. Vodka and Jack taste nice once you get over the burn. I like red wine, but it has to be rich. But that's not heavy.

Do you also sit down to piss?

Once in a blue moon my lad.

When I drink, I only drink Jack, Jameson, or Smirnoff. Beer and Ales have no effect on me at all. plus I should add I hate the taste of beer. Beer tastes like the liquid form of a burp. Vodka and Jack taste nice once you get over the burn. I like red wine, but it has to be rich. But that's not heavy.

Ep. 7: The Force Awakens

Ep. 8: The Force Showers

Ep. 9: The Force Has Breakfast

Ep. 10 The Force Pays Taxes

Ep. 11 The Force Goes to Work

Ep. 12 The Force Goes Back to Bed

How can one be an alcoholic and remain slim? Like if you look at a lot of all the time great alcoholics, Errol Flynn, David Niven, Peter O'Toole, Richard Burton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, all those guys basically drank themselves to death yet they retained slim faces and slim bodies. How can one be an alcoholic yet not get bloated in the body or face? How can one be an alcoholic, or engage in alcohol at least once a week, without liver damage or long term liver problems?

Marc,

Do you know if GN'R really recorded an album after the UYI tour but before Slash left?

Axl, Slash, Duff and Matt have all referred at various points to an album being in the works during that period.

Slash said in August '96 they had 80 new songs.

Matt said in a summer '96 interview the band had recorded 7 songs and claimed the new album was a cross between AFD and the UYIs.

Duff in an early fall '96 interview said the band was recording a 12 album album of rockers with no ballads.

Axl said in 2002 that the last material they worked on was very bluesy and had some of Slash's best playing on it. He later claimed Slash played the 'key bits' of Fall to Pieces for him sometime between '94 and '96.

Since you were around then, what do you remember? Were there any actual songs done in this time frame?

Any chance of the series ever returning to a more Connery era sort of tone? Like, midway between grit and camp? I'm talking about the tone of the first three Connery films, not the last three.

I hope not. I love the darker Bond films.

I like the new ones as well. I saw the Craig films for the first time a few months ago and they were awesome. But, I just think the dark and gritty trend in movie is kinda dying off, and not only that, but a series can grow stagnant going too dark. I mean, the Brosnan films got stale when they began to veer too far into camp territory. I just think in the Bond series there should be a balance between the campy side and the dark side, and I feel like the last two veered a little far to the dark side.

If Jon Hamm was British, he'd have been the perfect Bond.

Any chance of the series ever returning to a more Connery era sort of tone? Like, midway between grit and camp? I'm talking about the tone of the first three Connery films, not the last three.