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CD Is it just me or does it seem like.....

bigcountry

By bigcountry
in 2011

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bigcountry Senior

bigcountry

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When I listen to alot of the songs on CD is just too much to take in.

There are so many different sounds coming at you at once it almost seems to muffling together.

Songs like CD, Shacklers, Scraped, and Rhiad for example have so much stuff going on it is hard to keep track of.

Most of the other songs on CD are a easier to listen to.

I just feel that alot of people that where on the fence in regard to CD just couldn't get into due to the over blown songs with all the layering.

I like the songs that a mentioned but at times I think I am in the mood for CD and when I start to listen to it there is just too much to take in.

All in all I like CD but I have to be in the mood sometimes.

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WhazUp LEGEND

WhazUp

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That's one of the reasons why AFD is considered one of the best rock albums, it has a great track order as well as a consistent vibe throughout the whole album. Chinese Democracy has great music, but generally the songs have too much weight to them. If they simlified the arrangments and focused more on the vibe of the album as a whole it would have been a lot better IMO.

Edited by WhazUp
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Yesterdays-Civil-War Senior

Yesterdays-Civil-War

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I agree, there's times where I'm in an upbeat mood and I just wanna blast Chinese Democracy or Scraped as loud as it could go, but there's been times of depression and my just wanting solitude and if I do play music it is typically This I Love, Street of Dreams, Prostitute, or Better.

And aside from the whole 'mood' thing, the songs themselves, I agree, have a lot of things going on. Madagascar is one of my favorite songs of all time, but those quotes (at times) just ruin the song...and Shackler's Revenge has always been a hard song for me to get into.

The 'perfect' song on the album in my opinion is There Was a Time, and I think that should've been the first single, let alone A SINGLE.

CD was great, love every song on it but I totally see why it is too much (for some)

Edited by Yesterdays-Civil-War
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bigcountry Senior

bigcountry

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I agree AFD track order was great and flowed very well.

Even UYI I & 2 just didn't flow as good as AFD. I really like the UYI albums but the tracks where not just one sound they tried different things and it just didn't flow. Goods songs in all. But iit was like the musical direction was not very defined on the albums. I think the power struggles in the band with different members wanting different sounds and I feel they said if you want to do "X" song your way I want "Z" to sound my way. I think the band was very fragmented even the UYI days that it is a wonder we got those albums. You can pretty much tell by the structure of the songs which member had more say in way a song sounded. It is only a guess but Izzy had his songs, Axl had his and Slash had his. I think duff stated pretty neutral. Again just a guess on what I here in the songs.

Then there is CD which is the UYI albums times 100 in terms of flow and sound.

I would love to here the CD songs that are more rockers just stripped down witout all the effects and over laying.

To me Prostitute, SOD, Sorry, CITR(which I hate), TIL andTWAT are pretty straight forward, I little over done yes but not 10,000 things coming at you all the time.

I also agree that TWAT should have been a single and is one of favorites off CD.

Edited by bigcountry
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AGS DEMI-GOD

AGS

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well, after listening to the instrumental (vocal, guitar, bass, drums, other sounds etc) of SR n' Scrapped i can say they dont have that much going on... really, they arent "overproduced" etc etc... well, thats just me, i love to hear all the sounds in the songs, like how i love that small synth going on in the back of CD etc etc... i just love to hear the album everyday and discover new sounds... like "this week ill focus on the bass" and then "today n the rythm guitar" etc etc...

example...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woIyPDTM_uY&feature=channel_video_title

for me this album isnt overproduer-overlayered at all...

Edited by AGS
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bigcountry Senior

bigcountry

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AGS,

Everyone is different.

But the songs you have posted lack the vocal tracks which are also over layed in most of the songs and add around 2-3 different layers to the songs.

But hey you like and thats cool, I just like it at times.

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Yesterdays-Civil-War Senior

Yesterdays-Civil-War

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yeah! its cool...

BTW, found this, check the riff at the chours its sick! and... at 2.02 Axl scream, amazing... didnt heard it before :o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q--CyTwt5B0&feature=related

That is absolutely amazing, but hearing the instrumental it really does add fuel to the fire of the current conversation doesn't it?

Axl (and company) have really done some amazing work, musically and technologically, but I still can see how people would say it is just way too much thrown at them at one time.

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AxlIsGod. DEMI-GOD

AxlIsGod.

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I too like all of the layers and depth that the songs have. But i do see why people could feel differently if they want a more, Defined sound.

I love CD. I listen to it or parts of it alot, equally to AFD and UYI. TWAT is a great track, where i think those layers work well, whereas a song like IRS could do with a little stripping down imo, but i still like the track.

BTW, that OMG instrumental is badass.

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star DEMI-GOD

star

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..the layers, the over-the-top-ness, the long intros. There's a sense of a total loss of direction at times. Its like a more the more the merrier attitude. It borders on sounding like a movie sound track at times. Have you ever attempting to play Chinese Democtracy in a car environment? it don't work. To hear the layers and the little details, headphones are required. That's not how rock / metal music works. The intro Chinese Democracy is lost in a car environment, as it takes sooo long for the track to get going, that it appears the CD has failed to work at first. Once all the layers kick in, it sound like a blured wall of sound. I view most of the album as a texture.

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Longpig GOD

Longpig

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If you need to listen to leaked multi tracks to appreciate how good the basslines are, then you know something is very fucking wrong with the album.

It's like a sandwich with too many fillings. And not just "too" many fillings a lot of times fillings that don't go well together.

Catcher in the rye for example. Love the actual "song" that's burried in there, but there's far too much shit all over it.

A simple piano-led version of that song, could have been incredible. Now it sounds like a tampon advert is playing very loudly at the same time.

I think poor execution is the MAIN flaw in Chinese Democracy. The songs are over-worked, completely un-organic, forced, directionless. Shame because there could be some cracking tunes.

Oh and it's far too fucking long. 10 songs would be good enough thank you.

So yeah far too much going on, but that isn't the main issue, the issue is because there doesn't need to be too much going on.

I'm all for layers and new interesting sounds, but there has to be a point. It smacks of trying to put too much into a song because the artist has no confidence in the material. Which he should have because there's some good stuff here.

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tange Senior

tange

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^ But thats the thing though...theres only so much you can do with mixing when the mix itself is just busy as with probably 15 or more tracks simply devoted to vocals and guitar tracks and thats obviously not counting bass, drums, keyboards, piano, synth orchestration, string sections, drum loops, sound effects etc that probably take up another multitude of tracks. Btw loving those Metallica bass enhanced mixes on Youtube atm especially the Ride the Lightning material with Cliff.

thats it exactly. there is only so much you can put together and make a cohesive picture out of it. Axl gets major credit for trying something new but it falls down at times.

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sweetness LEGEND

sweetness

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It is so complex

please stop using this word to describe CD, it isn't any more complex than any other GNR album, there's just way more going on

you can't honestly believe that more layers = more complex music

Edited by sweetness
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bigcountry Senior

bigcountry

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As far as Metallica's mixing on DM is did suck dick!!! I can't hardly listen to it and it is a shame beause there are some good songs on the album but it needed to sound better.

DM sounds distorted and they turned everything up so high it just blares if given to much volume. CD on the other hand was not made so loud that it would blow you head off and even with all that is going on in the songs it is clear so you can hear everything but that is pretty much undone by have so many layers it clogs the songs down.

And Justice for all IMHO is the best album metallica has put out from start to finish, some don't like the instramental song which I happen to like for some reason.

If Metallica would have release DM after and justice for all then the Black album it would fit Metallica's album time line better as far as how there sound changed over the years. As far as mixing on the Black album they did get that one right.

Guns N Roses are my favorite band but my favorite album is Metallica And Justice For All..... Go figure???

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bigcountry Senior

bigcountry

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As far as CD taking so long to get going I can't help but think that all the talking you hear in the back ground is not random it is saying something but we have no idea what that message is.

To me CD the song is CD the albums Welcome to the Jungle by the way the opening riff is and the scream at the front just befroe it kicks in. I wish it whould have just started at where you hear the drums kick in. I think it was a good opener to the album.

White Zombies ablum Astro Creep: 2000 has the perfect song to open an album, Electric Head (pt1) It takes like a 70 secs for the song to start which is under 5 mins in length and then it is just a pure assult on you. I don't mean this in a bad way but it like that song is 10mins long and just hits you like a brick. It just awesome.

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sweetness LEGEND

sweetness

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It is so complex

please stop using this word to describe CD, it isn't any more complex than any other GNR album, there's just way more going on

you can't honestly believe that more layers = more complex music

Was not talking about the "layers' as you say. The complexity comes more from the guitar work and musical arrangements. You can't deny the great guitar work on the album whether you like it or not.

I play guitar and can play most "classic" GNR songs. I can hardly play anything off CD it's just to wild. Maybe it's also because I don't play as often as I used too :shrugs:

The guitar work on CD is awesome but its not very complicated, it doesn't need to be, this is GNR not Dream Theater. When people talk about complexity in music i think of shit like this

or

Not saying any of that is better than CD (well I kinda like the BT song more, fucking hate Tera Melos) , but its certainly more complex. I guess the point I really want to make is that "more complex" doesn't always mean better music. Chinese Democracy is just a very polished and detailed hard rock album, that doesn't make it any more complicated than any other hard rock record, they're essentially the same classic ideas beefed up and modernized.

Not trying to slam it, I just don't understand what people find so complex about it, there's wayyyy more complex music out there than CD that isn't even that complex.

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WhazUp LEGEND

WhazUp

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True, I mean isn't every song off of CD (or nearly every GNR song ever made) in 4/4 time? When I think of complicated I think of Tool (Schism has soo many time signature changes its all over the place) or even a band like Rush (La Villa Strangiato is one helluva song). Most of the songs off of Chinese Democracy may be loaded with a bunch of guitar parts and some of the leads are really fast but when you break it down in terms of music theory the music isn't that complex. That's not to say the music isn't good however

Edited by WhazUp
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