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Re: Thoughts On "Excuses"
It isn't a good enough album. It's that simple. Of course people here and other forums will disagree with me but its time to wake up and face the music. It just isn't that good to be the blockbuster it needed too be. Half the songs should not have been on the album because of the leaks. I mean with all the material those 14 are the best? This was suppose to be the big comeback album and it just falls short.
Exactly. Great post.
This whole Chinese Democracy thing really doesn't make any sense. From the tracklist to the promotion, to the silence. This can't be the plan that's been 14 years in the works. This whole release "feels" likes its all Azoff and Axl just handing it off to him... Not really caring.
The album doesn't even feel like it was trying to be huge. Or trying to be great... Or trying to be perfect. It was just strange.
I don't think its some prelude to a reunion, the only thing I can think is that he is still saving his best stuff... I don't know. 
- WeTheLiving
- Rep: 10
Re: Thoughts On "Excuses"
Yeah i guess the UYIs were over produced compared to AFD, but this album is just overproduced. Youre right it sounds like a bunch of takes slapped together. i play guitar and i really like Robins work on this record, his solos really fit the songs. These other solos, however, sound really out of place within the context of their respective songs. As a guitar player, i think the solos are cool, and very technically proficient, but they dont seem like they belong in their respective songs. They sound like an instrumental solo guitar player guitar solo. Take "better" for example. The first solo just seems like its to be there, then robins second solo, melds with the song and fits perfectly-its as if there had to be 2 solos in some songs, by 2 different players, in 2 totally divergent styles just for the sake of doing it, but in my opinion it doesnt work and sounds forced.
Re: Thoughts On "Excuses"
They should just avoid excuses and move forward. Tons of albums don't sell well and/or have botched promotion. My favorite album this year is Santogold, and its a good example. Barely made it into the Top 200 and dropped off the radar immediately afterward. One of her tracks was even getting a push by Budweiser. She(and her record label) dropped the ball big time. That doesn't take away from the quality of that album. Disappointing that it wasn't huge, but that's the way the mop flops.
Re: Thoughts On "Excuses"
Yeah i guess the UYIs were over produced compared to AFD, but this album is just overproduced. Youre right it sounds like a bunch of takes slapped together. i play guitar and i really like Robins work on this record, his solos really fit the songs. These other solos, however, sound really out of place within the context of their respective songs. As a guitar player, i think the solos are cool, and very technically proficient, but they dont seem like they belong in their respective songs. They sound like an instrumental solo guitar player guitar solo. Take "better" for example. The first solo just seems like its to be there, then robins second solo, melds with the song and fits perfectly-its as if there had to be 2 solos in some songs, by 2 different players, in 2 totally divergent styles just for the sake of doing it, but in my opinion it doesnt work and sounds forced.
This is my main issue with the album as well. It just sounds too robotic(not referring to Buckethead). The songs don't even flow properly. You're constantly reminded every few seconds that a noise you just heard was tacked on to the song. I'm not just referring to Ron and Frank's additions. I'm referring to the whole thing.
It is a good album and some of these songs are fantastic at their core, but like mentioned by others, it feels like its missing something.
Re: Thoughts On "Excuses"
once the songs were structually done it would have been cool to get the band in the studio to record them as a single cohesive unit...like bands used to do it in the old days..then over that basic structure they could have overlayed the extra bits like bucket solos and such...anyway thats just an idea i've been kicking around fora coupel days
but overall i like the final product ... since we were so intimately involved in this albums creation from an outside looking in view of course...i htink its hard for us as a whole to put the baggage aside and listen objectively...thats why i havent really commented too much on the album because i'm tryign to get my self in that frame of mind before i write my review
Re: Thoughts On "Excuses"
I think what it lacks is spontaneity. A lot of the great GNR songs have come by accident, but you get the idea that everything was unmercifully combed over to the point where some intent is lost in the process. I'm more of a lyrics man (and I do think the album has weak lyrics for Axl), but This I Love is the song I'd choose to back up my ideals about what is missing with the album
This I Love has so much going for it that I can't begin to start. I think it's one of the most intimate portrayals of Axl and you can picture the dude sitting at his piano, tears drying and eyes all red and just wailing out a tune, which can be portrayed in the simple (for the record), yet emotional journey the song plays out. I like how quickly he sings the chorus between breaths, it's like he's sobbing and pleading, then grabs a quick breath only to beg God (showing how little control in the matter Axl really has) and go at it all again. When songs are made like this, you don't need 9000 layers. In Scraped, the background lyric "I would have never made it so far" sounds great and I wish it'd have just been that instead of another voice on top of it saying "Don't you try to stop us now". It's just one of a few examples I can think of where the better vocals are clouded by something else without any real gain. And, the same can be said of the instruments in cases.
Re: Thoughts On "Excuses"
with sales down across the board, do record labels make money from the tours directly?
do you think that maybe albums are promotion for the tour, instead of the other way around like it was for several years?
and if intense marketing only appears to add a hundred thousand or so in sales, is it really worth the labels' investment dollars to spend a ton on marketing?
