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All Music Guide gives Angel Down four stars


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Great review from a great website -

http://wc04.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&...10:jxfuxz9hldje

Angel Down - Sebastian Bach

Rating - 4/5 stars (AMG Album Pick)

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Nov 20, 2007

As the lead singer of Skid Row, Sebastian Bach was one of the most insufferable frontmen in hair-metal. Too pretty for his own good, he wielded his good looks as a weapon without quite realizing how arrogant his strut seemed, especially when paired with his band's comparatively benign roar. Skid Row's success came just at the end of hair metal's reign. Where other bands either gave up or started whining about grunge, Bach kept Skid Row going - not many noticed, but they turned out a surprisingly aggressive record called Subhuman Race in 1995, and when that didn't catch on the band disappeared, but Sebastian did not. He started working hard, grabbing gigs wherever he can, whether it meant jamming with alt-rockers in the Last Hard Men, or singing on stage as Riff Raff in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sooner rather than later, television came calling and he scored a regular role on the Gilmore Girls, performing as an old rock & roller who was as much a true believer as he was a hard case. Bach was surprisingly charming on the show and that turned into his new public persona which he hauled through several VH1 reality shows, where he was friendly enough to suggest that when he finally got around to releasing a high-profile record again, it might be some kind of nostalgia grab, something soft and hazy to please aging hair-metal fans.

There's no doubt that the subsequent record, 2007's Angel Down, is a throwback to the '80s, but it's hardly some warm, fuzzy trip through memory lane: instead, its Bach knocking out a record how they used to in the good old days. The only thing is, Sebastian Bach never made a record as fierce and fun as Angel Down back in the pre-Nirvana days. This is heavier and hookier than anything he's down before, so good that Bach is confident to bring in rock & roll recluse number one Axl Rose for three songs, confident that the overdue return of Axl will not overshadow what he's accomplished here. Amazingly, it doesn't. Sure, those three songs are the cuts that grab attention first, as it's been so long since Rose has been heard backed by a band this lean and sleazy, but once that shock wears off, another one sets in: Back and Rose are good duet partners, spurring each other on in a cover of Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle Again" and the ridiculous "(Love Is) A Bitchslap," a song that knows how silly it is but doesn't care because the band doesn't play it for jokes. And that's Angel Down in a nutshell: it celebrates all the excesses of '80s metal, from the oversized riffs to the Queen-esque closer "Falling Into You," but it does so without irony but also without being self-serious. Bach takes the music seriously but not himself and he wears such humility well, yet that wouldn't matter if the music itself wasn't the hardest, heaviest and best he's ever made. It's not just a comeback, Angel Down is an album that justifies all those endless hours he's spent on reality TV, as he's the only musician to parlay all that time into music that sounds more fun and vital than he made when he was at the top of the charts.

AMG Track Picks:

Back in the Saddle

(Love Is) A Bitchslap

American Metalhead

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Angel Down may be the greatest quote-metal epic not featuring Robin Finck ever released. Of course, it's also the only one ever released, but never mind that. Angel Downocracy starts now!

The only thing it's lacking is a bit of Morgan Freeman and Michael J. Fox, but that's nothing some Vicodin, vodka and hallucinogenic mushrooms can't fix.

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See, the thing is...A lot of people read "as soon as possible" as "as soon as the fans/cupcakes would like". Not only that, but many also claimed Axl promised the release would be March 6th, and use it as propaganda but in reality the statement said, "This is not a promise, a lie or a guarantee''

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many also claimed Axl promised the release would be March 6th, and use it as propaganda but in reality the statement said, "This is not a promise, a lie or a guarantee''

"If we are delayed for unseen reasons you will also be notified as soon as possible in regard to a new date and the album will be released as shortly thereafter as is possible."

That was 11 months ago.

Edited by Estranged Reality
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Can't wait to get it, I reckon it's gonna be better than AFD.

Oh, I bet. "Nightrain" ain't got nothin' on "(Love Is) a Bitchslap."

It's not gonna be even close to AFD, but what's up with you bashing Bach so much? He got Axl to release music, right? He's getting stellar reviews. What is it you want, ER?

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Can't wait to get it, I reckon it's gonna be better than AFD.

Oh, I bet. "Nightrain" ain't got nothin' on "(Love Is) a Bitchslap."

It's not gonna be even close to AFD, but what's up with you bashing Bach so much? He got Axl to release music, right? He's getting stellar reviews. What is it you want, ER?

Where is he bashing Bach?

If anything he's praising him.

The only negative thing about this thread is that there isn't any girls or beer.

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It's not gonna be even close to AFD, but what's up with you bashing Bach so much? He got Axl to release music, right? He's getting stellar reviews. What is it you want, ER?

I don't really bash Bach that much, dude. But when someone puts themselves out there as much as he does, and makes an ass out of himself as often as he does, it's going to draw more criticism. His stint on the Trunk show kind of sums up exactly what I'm talking about. When you make yourself a clear target and do/say stupid things, the response afterwards will be stronger.

As for what I want - I'm on a Guns N' Roses forum, not a Skid Row forum. You're asking me what I want as if I'm on a Baz forum complaining about him. We're not on a Baz forum - this is a GN'R forum, so asking me what it is I want in relation to complaining about Bach would be about as relevant as asking me what I want if I complained about Fred Durst. Some people think just because Bach has three songs with Axl's voice on them, we're not allowed to dislike him.

The thing that gets on my nerves is how suddenly a bunch of people seem to be affiliating Bach with GN'R. The other thing that gets on my nerves is that whenever Axl gets a new "friend" or bandmember, suddenly all the die-hard forum members feel a need to act as if they've always been huge fans of this person and start making endless threads praising him.

You know how many threads there were on the forum before Bach started hanging with Axl again? Very few. Suddenly, there are a suspiciously high number. I'm not against people liking Bach if they truly do - but it's obvious there are many people here just constantly bringing him up now because of his link to Axl.

The simple fact is that Axl performed on those three songs as a favor to Bach, and Bach milked it for all its worth and basically hasn't given a single interview where he hasn't rambled on about Axl. And here's another thing - as strong as Axl's voice is on the tracks, I think they all suck. I've only heard the three with him, and the few others Bach played on Trunk's show, and not a single one impressed me in any way. They all sound like generic '80s metal to me.

Edited by Estranged Reality
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It's not gonna be even close to AFD, but what's up with you bashing Bach so much? He got Axl to release music, right? He's getting stellar reviews. What is it you want, ER?

I don't really bash Bach that much, dude. But when someone puts themselves out there as much as he does, and makes an ass out of himself as often as he does, it's going to draw more criticism. His stint on the Trunk show kind of sums up exactly what I'm talking about. When you make yourself a clear target and do/say stupid things, the response afterwards will be stronger.

As for what I want - I'm on a Guns N' Roses forum, not a Skid Row forum. You're asking me what I want as if I'm on a Baz forum complaining about him. We're not on a Baz forum - this is a GN'R forum, so asking me what it is I want in relation to complaining about Bach would be about as relevant as asking me what I want if I complained about Fred Durst. Some people think just because Bach has three songs with Axl's voice on them, we're not allowed to dislike him.

The thing that gets on my nerves is how suddenly a bunch of people seem to be affiliating Bach with GN'R. The other thing that gets on my nerves is that whenever Axl gets a new "friend" or bandmember, suddenly all the die-hard forum members feel a need to act as if they've always been huge fans of this person and start making endless threads praising him.

You know how many threads there were on the forum before Bach started hanging with Axl again? Very few. Suddenly, there are a suspiciously high number. I'm not against people liking Bach if they truly do - but it's obvious there are many people here just constantly bringing him up now because of his link to Axl.

The simple fact is that Axl performed on those three songs as a favor to Bach, and Bach milked it for all its worth and basically hasn't given a single interview where he hasn't rambled on about Axl. And here's another thing - as strong as Axl's voice is on the tracks, I think they all suck. I've only heard the three with him, and the few others Bach played on Trunk's show, and not a single one impressed me in any way. They all sound like generic '80s metal to me.

I know exactly where your coming from with the whole whoever-is-Axl's-new-friend-the-die-hards-must-protect-and-act-as-if-they-were-always-huge-fans. Not me, I like some SR songs and some of the new Bach songs, but I do NOT consider myself a fan of Sebastian Bach.

I'm not defending him either, dude, but the guy got our favorite singer, who hasn't released a song since the Clinton days, release THREE songs out of nowhere. I think that's pretty cool of Bach, don't you? He's even feeding us some CD info, which is not his business, but fuck me, but nobody from the Guns camp is giving us any info.

I apologize for quoting you about bashing Bach, you don't really and wouldn't honestly care if you did, but some people only bash him because he's Axl friend and imo that's ridiculous.

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Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a pretty good reviewer on the site. The only time he seriously pissed me off was when he reviewed Zeitgeist without focusing on the music and taking cheap shots at Billy Corgan. This was fair I suppose.

Haven't read the Zeitgeist review, but I agree that Erlewine is a pretty good reviewer. He is good at judging the music and not the artist. Something alot reviewers have seem to forgot how to do.

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