Walk The Sky Production Quality.

[anguyen92]

I may have already said this somewhere in this thread, but giving it a few more years of hindsight, I still don't have any issues with the production quality of Walk the Sky. For me, I don't really have any issues of the direction and sound quality that AB went with the albums they made with Elvis, except for The Last Hero. That, to me, was the point where I go, "Oh, I see what people mean by the album being too bloated and the sound quality isn't great."

To me, whilst I enjoyed Walk the Sky and them taking on different directions incorporating synths in a few songs, I wished some of the songs had deeper sections, instrumentally. Give that pause in lyrics before going into the bridge verse or final chorus. I still admit that Pawns & Kings rectified a lot of issues the previous two albums had. It's not as loud and bloated as The Last Hero, and the songs had deeper sections, instrumentally, than Walk the Sky.

[TenaciousBe]

Not at all! Or maybe the two of us are the only ones who feel that way (at least within the AB fanbase). I just don't get all the hate.

I have never seen a triple post on here before. You have managed the impossible.

Oh damn. I swear I only hit it once!

[Andy92]

I love the songwriting on Walk The Sky. The album reminds me a lot of AB III. I think it’s a strong album creatively and overall it’s a record I enjoy.

On the production side, it kind of shares this thing with The Last Hero where it feels like you’re listening to the songs through a speaker with a blanket over it. To compensate for the blanket, the volume is cranked, but the blanket is still there. You can hear the sounds of the album, but in a way they’re missing clarity and definition.

Pawns and Kings sounds like the blanket was ripped off, and the songs punch through so well as a full mix. I think Pawns and Kings is better than Walk The Sky for this reason, but I think there’s also a solid argument that Walk The Sky has a better top-to-bottom songwriting quality on it. I think the high points of Pawns and Kings are higher, but it’s less consistent than the previous album.

I’m not sure that I consider myself an audiophile, it’s just that there are some things that click in your brain in a way that makes it hard to un-hear once you know it’s there. Like someone pointed out there is a random beeping noise in Fable of the Silent Son that I never heard before, and now I hear it every time lol

[Crumbso]

Pawns and Kings sounds like the blanket was ripped off, and the songs punch through so well as a full mix. I think Pawns and Kings is better than Walk The Sky for this reason, but I think there’s also a solid argument that Walk The Sky has a better top-to-bottom songwriting quality on it. I think the high points of Pawns and Kings are higher, but it’s less consistent than the previous album.

Perfect summation for me.

[TenaciousBe]

And I acknowledge that some people are really turned off by an album's production, but it breaks my heart when WTS is consistently listed as their "worst" album by other fans. You know the band hears that, and I'm sure it has some hand in how they approach future writing - and I don't want to see them lose the spark they had on that album. Which, I'm sad to say, I feel like they did with P&K. There are some great songs there, but it feels to me more like a "standard" AB album, rather than a continued growth like WTS was.

I look at a band like Foo Fighters - they've been around for forever, and each time they put out a new album, there's something special about it. Just over the past 2 decades... In Your Honor was the double album with heavy songs on one side, lighter acoustic set on the other. ESP&G, they consciously tried to build a more varied album incorporating both sounds, a little something for everyone. Wasting Light, they went to old school analog tape recording to capture that magic. Sonic Highways, they recorded each song in a different city and tried to capture that city's "feel" on each song (as well as recording a docu-series with one episode showing the building/recording of each song). Concrete and Gold, they brought in a pop producer to help meld a new sound alongside their heavy rock - as well as, lyrically, really pushing at themes of juxtaposition and the duality of the world we live in. Medicine at Midnight, they recorded in an old 1940s house in LA which turned out to basically be haunted, strange things kept happening, and that came through on how the album came together - plus, sonically, they continued pushing a little more poppy sound into it. And then the most recent, But Here We Are, was obviously highly influenced by the death of Taylor Hawkins and who and what the band was going to be going forward - as well as being recorded basically in secret, and being released nearly out of nowhere as the band had gone silent and we didn't know if they'd even continue without Taylor.

Long-winded, but point being, every album is a growth experience, they do something new, record in a different way, focus on certain elements, etc. That's what WTS felt like to me, a growth, a bit of an experiment with their sound, writing some amazing songs. I hate to say P&K felt like a backslide from that, but... it kind of did?

[anguyen92]

Long-winded, but point being, every album is a growth experience, they do something new, record in a different way, focus on certain elements, etc. That's what WTS felt like to me, a growth, a bit of an experiment with their sound, writing some amazing songs. I hate to say P&K felt like a backslide from that, but... it kind of did?

I respectfully disagree. Who the hell said that Walk the Sky is their worst album after the production mess of The Last Hero? I mean The Last Hero still has some solid songs, but as a whole....., even I have a hard time listening to it in a full listen compared to Walk the Sky and Pawns & Kings.

People feel like bands need to do different things or they get stale, but there's a certain point after changing sounds too far to the point where bands lose their identity that drew people in. AB has a sound identity and something that gets people hyped to listening to their stuff in full album to album. Pawns & Kings is an epitome of who they are, past, present, future? and that album is a statement to people that may think they had an "identity crisis" for a lack of a better word. Plus, honestly to me, the bridge sections in songs in Pawns & Kings feels more meaty than in similar sections in songs of Walk the Sky.

[Miro]

To me Walk the Sky production seems alright. Or maybe i'm just deaf But one thing i know for sure WTS contains one of the best Alter Bridge songs (Godspeed) and i truly like this CD almost from start to finish - except Pay No Mind, which is a filler song. I also like cover art, would like to have a t-shirt with it. So Walk the Sky rules!

P.S.: I love Foo Fighters, but Echoes, Silence... and Concrete and Gold just SUCKED! Easily their worst CDs. New record But Here We Are is best album they put out since In Your Honor

[TenaciousBe]

You know, another thing about WTS that crossed my mind while listening to it again at work the other night -- do you think the sort of "stonewalled" sound that people complain about was intentional? Like, with the addition of the synth arrangements, maybe they were going for a little bit of that Stranger Things 80s retro vibe?

[Ubik]

And I acknowledge that some people are really turned off by an album's production, but it breaks my heart when WTS is consistently listed as their "worst" album by other fans. You know the band hears that, and I'm sure it has some hand in how they approach future writing - and I don't want to see them lose the spark they had on that album. Which, I'm sad to say, I feel like they did with P&K. There are some great songs there, but it feels to me more like a "standard" AB album, rather than a continued growth like WTS was.

*snip*

Long-winded, but point being, every album is a growth experience, they do something new, record in a different way, focus on certain elements, etc. That's what WTS felt like to me, a growth, a bit of an experiment with their sound, writing some amazing songs. I hate to say P&K felt like a backslide from that, but... it kind of did?

I am well out of fan circles these days so don't really hear the gossip, but yeah I'd raise an eyebrow if I saw anyone describe it as their worst. Then again, I think they have a really high bottom-level, certainly with regard to albums - TLH seems to be the consensus pick on here for the worst and that still has several certified bangers.

I can definitely see your perspective on it and Pawns, the latter was definitely back in more familiar sonic and songwriting territory for them but I think that after the pandemic, that was also possibly what they and we (in general, I mean) felt was needed. I do also wonder if my perspective on it is skewed by the length, though. Trim the other albums down to ten songs and I wonder how it stacks up, because Stay and Holiday are both pretty low in my overall rankings for them.

[gbruin]

...Trim the other albums down to ten songs and I wonder how it stacks up, because Stay and Holiday are both pretty low in my overall rankings for them.

Yes! Thank you!