The Art Of Letting Go - MK III

[Timotheus]

I miss the americana sound of his first solo record. This is just AB lite.

[anguyen92]

So did anyone keep track of how Say What You Will did at its peak on Active Rock radio?

I checked the charts for the first time in a good long while and see it was at #17 at its highest point. It's been an awful long while since anything Myles/AB related (not including Slash stuff, which I'm sure charts well enough at times) made it to top 20 on the Active Rock charts.

17 18 MYLES KENNEDY Say What You Will Napalm 714 725 -11

Look whose #19 and climbing up though....

19 19 SCOTT STAPP Black Butterfly Napalm/Shelter 694 653 41

Just Too Much has cracked the Top 40 on the Active Rock Charts as well.

40 38 TREMONTI Just Too Much Napalm 201 165 36

[Andy92]

Myles is currently on his press tour for the album and did an interview with Ola Englund on YouTube.

Great interview. Heard some stuff I never knew in this one.

[Mr. Slash]

Didn't know that Velvet Revolver sent demos to Myles for him to sing over. Slash mentioned a couple of times that Matt Sorum suggested Myles as a singer vor VR but he never told that they even sent him demos I believe.

[Dolo]

There's a interview with Myles from Live in Stoke from 2011 where Myles mentions being sent demos as early as 2002 and why he turned the whole thing down.

[riemslag1]

MK’s webshop is already shipping orders.

[anguyen92]

I haven't had a chance to pre-order because of whatever reasons. Got a shirt and album from his site. I know this is basically signs of the times and probably what the pricing standards are, and this has not much to do with Myles or management setting this and moreso about the industry, but dang, I'm not pleased of what I paid for the album/shirt and shipping. $53.00.

I wonder if him or Mark or AB is going to have an earbook again through either their site shop or through Napalm Records Americas shops. Paid $65 for the Walk the Sky earbook and shirt combo back in 2019, during more naïve and simpler times.

[Crumbso]

[Addicted To Pain]

Beat me to it!

I am listening to it right now. It sounds very interesting. I like it better when Myles leans more towards the heavy side of things with his solo stuff than the country/Americana side.

[Ubik]

Mixed on this album overall, for the most part feels very middle-ground between Slash and AB.

Do enjoy Mr Downside a lot. The beginning of Behind the Veil sounded like it was going to be something special, and while I enjoy the rest in its own right I'm left missing that vibe of the first minute, just pure voice and guitar. How the Story Ends has a very cool Suite Sister Mary-esque riff going through it, but it goes for the big chorus and kinda passes me by. Lots of very nice guitar noodling throughout the album though.

3rd favourite of his solo albums after initial listens, which is nothing to be ashamed of tbf as I love those two a lot.

[Addicted To Pain]

I just finished listening to the album. Without going into specifics about what about each song I like, I will say that I overall like the feel of this album. It has the hard rock edge that I felt was missing from The Ides Of March. Here is my ranking upon first listen. (Except for Say What You Will, which I have heard a lot of times, I have only heard the pre-releases twice each so far. Obviously, I have only heard the album tracks once each.)

1. Say What You Will
2. Miss You When You're Gone
3. Dead To Rights
4. Mr. Downside
5. Saving Face
6. Eternal Lullaby
7. The Art Of Letting Go
8. Behind The Veil
9. How The Story Ends
10. Nothing More To Gain

[anguyen92]

Honestly, I would rather have Myles be Slash-like on the guitar rather than he come up with melodic stuff to work with Slash's guitar ideas if that makes sense. It just feels more enjoyable to me if the guitar ideas come from Myles for this kind of style of rock. I'll just type my thoughts while I hear some of these songs.

Mr. Downside: Oooo, I think I'm feeling some Big Wreck vibes on this. I think I would have liked it a lot if Myles would try an attempt to sound like Big Wreck for an entire album.

Miss You When You're Gone: This is basically an AB ballad along the likes of All Ends Well, My Champion, and You Will Be Remembered.

Behind the Veil: I agree with Ubik. I think if the rest of the song was along the lengths of the first minute, it could have been something different. He opted to want to build it to a certain climax. The bridge section with the standalone solo is neat though.

Eternal Lullaby: Now, here's a song where it sounds like a title named Eternal Lullaby. Nice, soft, and soothing at the start before it built to another crescendo.

How the Story Ends: There are some guitar parts in this I do like in the intro. Great bridge section.

Overall, I like it, as a whole, slightly better than Ides of March. That album did have the one big epic song (the title track) this album doesn't have though.

Favorites so far: The Art of Letting Go, Mr. Downside, Eternal Lullaby, Nothing More to Gain, and How the Story Ends.

[Andy92]

Eternal Lullaby is such a good track and ode to Chris Cornell.

“Fell on black days, now you’re gone forevermore…”

[Timotheus]

Eternal Lullaby is such a good track and ode to Chris Cornell.

“Fell on black days, now you’re gone forevermore…”

That intro also sounds so much like Everybody Here Wants You by Jeff Buckley.

[Timotheus]

I thought this album was supposed to sound live? They said in an interview that they always tweak the songs to make them work in a live setting, so this time around they played the "live version" on the record.

Not 10 seconds go by where Myles isn't duetting with himself from what I've heard so far. It's so frustrating. If your melodies aren't interesting without a second voice, they're just not that good...

I like what I'm hearing from the instruments, production aside, but the vocals are really an afterthought at this point.

[Dolo]

I thought this album was supposed to sound live? They said in an interview that they always tweak the songs to make them work in a live setting, so this time around they played the "live version" on the record.

Not 10 seconds go by where Myles isn't duetting with himself from what I've heard so far. It's so frustrating. If your melodies aren't interesting without a second voice, they're just not that good...

I like what I'm hearing from the instruments, production aside, but the vocals are really an afterthought at this point.

Interesting points. I didn't think of any of that when I was listening to the album.
Plus, all of the rhythm guitar bits are going to disappear as soon as he starts soloing cause they're going out as a trio. Please, do not let them use any backing tracks like bands do these days...

[anguyen92]

Interesting points. I didn't think of any of that when I was listening to the album.
Plus, all of the rhythm guitar bits are going to disappear as soon as he starts soloing cause they're going out as a trio. Please, do not let them use any backing tracks like bands do these days...

I think Myles seems too prideful in his craft to resort to doing backing tracks. He doesn't want to do it for vocals. I presume he's not going to do it for guitars.

[Mr. Slash]

Who knows, maybe he will introduce some kickass backing vocalist on his next tour?

[Dolo]

Who knows, maybe he will introduce some kickass backing vocalist on his next tour?

Scott Stapp?

[Mr. Slash]

Who knows, maybe he will introduce some kickass backing vocalist on his next tour?

Scott Stapp?

I rather thought of Wolfie. He would be also able to play the rhythm guitar. (Now I expect someone to post that pic of Scott Stapp holding a guitar from the Creed Winter Olympics concert)