Pawns & Kings (Alter Bridge - VII)

[Blackbirddd]

Last day of pre-production?!

How long it was, a week? Damn...

[Timotheus]

With most of the first day posing for that first picture, really 6 days...

[Ubik]

And no-one ever does any work on the last day of school, so basically 5 days.

[SHEAKENBAKEN]

And I bet Elvis gave them a pro-d day on the actual last day so really 4 days.

[gbruin]

And no one was doing any actual playing in that video today, so we're really looking at 3 days.

[Blackbirddd]

LMAO

[nagpo]

Would like to see them record on analogue/tape. I was listening to Daft Punks final album and the production was so great

[riemslag1]

Name in the liner notes for ABVII already up for sale, so probably presales of the album starting soon.

[anguyen92]

^^ Good, I can always use more shirt designs to buy.

[davidstvz]

I stand by what I said 4 years ago.

Work with a producer who will push you to do new things.
Don't bring any riff, and write full songs in a room, as a band.
Take risks.

But they never listen to constructive criticiscm, and still think Elvis is fantastic, so why even bother?

Joe Satriani did this once and it resulted in his own personal least liked album of his career. I don't think it's too hot either. Some people just don't write this way.

Which Satriani album are you talking about?
His electronic album in 2000 or his bluesy self-titled one in 1995?
He worked with Led Zeppelin's producer on the latter, and even though the sessions were a bit of a mess, the end result was probably my favourite album of his (and I know a lot of fans love it too). He reached new heights with this self-titled album, and since then, he's pretty much released the same album again and again. I still enjoy whatever he releases, but it never clicks with me like the 1995 album did. Why? Because he he went out of his comfort zone, and you can clearly hear it.

Let's also talk about Metallica for a minute.
During the 80's, they pretty much wrote like Mark, and built songs out of parts. Those albums were amazing, but in 1988, you could tell they were starting to repeat themselves.
The Load and Reload albums showed another side of them : the songs had fewer riffs and were more organic. The band took a chance during these sessions, and it didn't always pay off. But as far as I'm concerned, these were the most ambitious and original albums of their career.
They weren't afraid of taking chances, when 99% of other bands in their situation would have released Black Album clones again and again until the end of their career.
That's the difference between the AC/DC's and Metallica's of their world. I love both those bands, but I can totally live without AC/DC's output after Back in Black.

TLDR: I think Mark could release an amazing and unexpected album if he let loose and stopped following these rigid rules he's set for himself 15 years ago. Until he stops working with Elvis, we'll never know what he's really capable of.

So we'd have an album that you (might) like and most of their fanbase doesn't like? And that they themselves might not like (if Satriani's experience is anything to go by). It sounds like you need to realize that your opinion is an opinion.

[chtimixeur]

The diehard Satriani fans love the 1995 bluesy album, because he took risks and did something fresh and bold.
Casual listeners don't, because they want to hear him do the exact same thing he did in the past.

I love everything Satriani has ever done, but the 1995 album is special to me because he took risks, which sadly didn't pay off commercially.

The same logic can be applied to AB's discography.
They took a risk in 2007, which paid off, but every album ever since has basically followed the Blackbird formula.

To sum things up:
Diehard fans know Mark and Myles can reach new heights.
Casual listeners don't care, and just want to hear a Blackbird clone again and again.

[riemslag1]

So basically you're calling TLH and WTS clones from Blackbird.
Serious ?
Oh my god.
Already had my doubts, but now it's officially OK to pitty you for your hearing.
Best of luck with the recovery.
Agree with you though that M & M have so much more potential in them ; but I think that does not depend on involving Elvis or not, it's just a matter of investing more in their songwriting.

[riemslag1]

So bring on VII to see if they are able to surprise us this time

[chtimixeur]

They're not exact clones, but like every album they've released after 2007, The Last Hero and Walk the Sky both follow the Blackbird blueprint.
Elvis is definitely a part of the problem, sonically AND creatively. Why? Because he's already extracted everything he could from Mark and Myles.
Hiring a new producer with a new approach and a fresh pair of ears can only benefit their future output.

[riemslag1]

Respect your opinion, just don’t share it.

[Dolo]

Something that just occurred to me in light of what we've been discussing in this and a few other threads, is if we could only get an 4-5 song EP, unrelated to any of the albums, produced by somebody else where those guys could branch out a bit and not think of anything they've ever done, just go for something completely outside of what they've doing for the last 15 years. Obviously, it's not gonna make any sense marketing-wise because AB has always been about huge albums releases with big singles but you've got artists like Bring Me the Horizon that are not afraid of releasing mini-albums with amazing experimentation and going waaaaay out of the comfort zone. That might be because their producer is actually a guy from the band itself, not afraid of crazy ideas, unlike a certain bloke from Florida set in his own ways.

[chtimixeur]

I like that idea, because it allows bands to take risks and be bold.
I love it when bands surprise me with something totally unexpected.

Overall, I still enjoy listening to whole albums, but fewer and fewer people do, and they don't really make sense anymore with the disappearance of CD's.
Ideally, bands could release new songs all the time, just like in the 60's.

[Andy92]

The conversation of Mark not stepping outside the box in the midst of releasing a Sinatra project cracks me up lol

[scarecrow]

y'all need to chill lmao

it's not that serious

[Blackbirddd]

I would love to listen an AB Album produced by Howard Benson, every album he has worked on has a perfect quality sound.