AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

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Timotheus
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by Timotheus »

psycosquirrel789 wrote: What's interesting to me is how in almost every interview they mention breaking from the Creed sound, yet throw in a song like Life Must Go On.
Yea, I always thought this was kinda strange. LMGO is one of my favourite ABIII tracks but I would've been okay with it if they didn't put it on the album because of that reason.

I looove Life Must Go On btw.. I don't listen to AB as hardcore as I used to do, but it's definitely one of the songs I'll go to first.
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by One Drew Remains »

I don't love it. But I don't understand the immense hate for it that ya'll have either. If I'ma leave one off, it would be Breathe Again.
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by Macca »

Cthree922012 wrote:
Cthree922012 wrote:
Macca wrote:Punch yourself in the face for leaving off Life Must Go On
So I'm punching myself because of an Opinion?
And one other thing Macca, I've been a die hard AB fan ever since I heard Open your Eyes in 2004. I'v never had someone tell me to punch myself just because of a personal opinion over something that everyone here loves. Life must go On is an amazing song and people can relate to it like no other. I didn't mean to disrespect but I thought this was a forum where I can state an opinion and If I'm being told to punch myself in the face for that than you my friend are what makes these websites just another bully
Did you just quote yourself?
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by AllC392Was »

Macca wrote:
Cthree922012 wrote:
Cthree922012 wrote:
Macca wrote:Punch yourself in the face for leaving off Life Must Go On
So I'm punching myself because of an Opinion?
And one other thing Macca, I've been a die hard AB fan ever since I heard Open your Eyes in 2004. I'v never had someone tell me to punch myself just because of a personal opinion over something that everyone here loves. Life must go On is an amazing song and people can relate to it like no other. I didn't mean to disrespect but I thought this was a forum where I can state an opinion and If I'm being told to punch myself in the face for that than you my friend are what makes these websites just another bully
Did you just quote yourself?
did you just quote me quoting myself quoting you?
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

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:shifty
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

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This is why I don't really get the general clamour on this forum for albums with less songs. Lots of people say they would prefer Blackbird or AB III with less songs - but only if the songs they cut out are the ones THEY think are the weakest. And since everyone has different opinions on what songs are the weakest, (and most people's opinions will definitely be different from the band's opinions), the band making the albums shorter actually wouldn't make them any better for all but a few people.

(e.g. cutting Show Me A Sign or Fallout and putting Never Born To Follow and Wonderful Life on an 11 song album would be absolutely terrible imo, but the 11 songs I would prefer from AB III would probably be worse than the full album for most other people).

More music doesn't mean better, obviously, but if the band have written and recorded songs and think they're good enough to be heard then I'm happy for them to go on the album, and won't be complaining that it's too long. If I don't like some of them I don't have to listen to them. I'm better off with 14 songs, 10 of which I like, than 10 songs, 8 of which I like.

I don't really get how people can on the one hand have this obsession with getting the Alter Bridge B-sides that were left off of albums, then also saying they want the band to hold back more songs just so the albums they release have shorter tracklists. :headscratch

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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by psycosquirrel789 »

One Drew Remains wrote:I don't love it. But I don't understand the immense hate for it that ya'll have either. If I'ma leave one off, it would be Breathe Again.
I'd like it more if they called it Before Tomorrow Comes Part II... lol I think Myles really outdid himself on that one. But yes, it isn't that strong of a song. I personally like it, but I can see the criticism. Guess its a similar situation for our take on LMGO...

^ "Cut the songs THEY think..." Well, why would anyone cut a song they liked? lol
The general reason for less songs, is the hope for better quality songs. Quality instead of quantity in a sense. You like the longer tracklists, some people don't - no big deal. Not sure why that would be so hard to understand. People only obsess over the ODR b-sides for a whole list of valid reasons.

Some people think we are like the band's managers or something... the band will never read any of this. We make none of the decisions. People just throw things out there. A criticism isn't a personal insult to the band.

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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

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RuRo wrote: I'm better off with 14 songs, 10 of which I like, than 10 songs, 8 of which I like (and the rest of your post)
I'd rather have an album with 2 songs I dislike than an album with 4 songs I dislike..

An album isn't just a collection of songs. I needs to captivate the listener from the first till the last note. When you've got a few fillers in the middle, that doesn't really help. If I wanted to hear as many songs as possible I wouldn't care indeed, but we're still getting most of the songs anyway, just in another form.

I personally find it crazy that New Way To Live wasn't on Blackbird. The band thought the album would benefit from it. They maybe thought 1 epic song was enough, or somebody didn't really like the song as much as the rest, and I've got to respect to opinion of the band here. But on ABIII they just put all the songs on the record, even though not all of them liked all the songs, and it makes the album less good, because of the reason I mentioned above.

In my opinion...
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by Macca »

I'd hardly call New Way To Live an epic..
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by Timotheus »

Yea ok, I agree.. It has some kind of epic feel though..
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Oh well. Deal with it.

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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

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psycosquirrel789 wrote: ^ "Cut the songs THEY think..." Well, why would anyone cut a song they liked? lol
Obviously, that's the point - when people say they want a shorter album, they're assuming the album will be made shorter by removing the stuff they don't like, when in fact that's probably not what the band would do. That's why a bunch of people can say "I wish AB III was shorter" and it seems like they're all in agreement, but if you actually asked them what they think the tracklist should be you might find they're not in agreement at all because they all think different songs are the "filler".
psycosquirrel789 wrote:The general reason for less songs, is the hope for better quality songs. Quality instead of quantity in a sense.
It would be good if it worked out like that, but in that case I'd say it's not really an album being too long or having too many songs, just that some of the songs aren't that good. 11 great songs over 14 not so great ones I can get on board with, but 11 great songs over 14 great songs just so that the tracklist is shorter I can't! :D
psycosquirrel789 wrote:You like the longer tracklists, some people don't - no big deal. Not sure why that would be so hard to understand.
I know. I don't think I said that it was a big deal (and my post was specifically about the fact that some people like shorter albums at the expense of not getting to hear potentially good songs, while I prefer getting as many good songs as possible at the expense of having access to potentially weaker songs too).
Some people think we are like the band's managers or something... the band will never read any of this. We make none of the decisions. People just throw things out there. A criticism isn't a personal insult to the band.
Hopefully that wasn't inspired by my post - I don't see how what I said in any way implied I thought people complaining on this board had any impact on what that band do or that I thought (or cared if) people were personally insulting the band by saying they wish AB III was shorter. Apologies if I somehow came across as thinking that.
I'd rather have an album with 2 songs I dislike than an album with 4 songs I dislike..
Yeah, this is where the argument loses me (me only - in case anyone is confused and thinks I don't think other people have or should have different opinions or preferences on this!). Ideally there'd be no tracks on an album I don't like and if it works well as an experience from beginning to end then that's a huge plus, but I don't find it that important that I listen to every track in order every time I want to hear a song (after all, what's the connection between Still Remains and Wonderful Life, other than the fact they were recorded at the same time?).

Let's say I think Blackbird is an amazing song and I dislike Before Tomorrow Comes. I'd rather have the Blackbird album as it is (12 songs I like and 1 I dislike) than have Blackbird minus the title track and Before Tomorrow Comes (11 songs I like, zero I dislike). It's cool that you'd prefer the latter to the former because 0 < 1. I'd rather have an album with 2 songs I disliked than one with 4 songs I disliked too, I just don't consider # of songs I dislike to be the absolutely most important criteria. and would be willing to have that number increase if it meant an increase in good songs. I understand that you wouldn't. And I understand that's one of the main reasons people are more in favour of shorter albums (even if, as I said, making the album shorter wouldn't guarantee the songs you don't like weren't on it) and I'm not. So I'm not trying to say there's anything wrong with you having different opinions or priorities for albums than me :). But I don't see what's wrong with explaining why I think one thing as opposed to another. :shrug

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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by AB23 »

maccas kidding bro. thats what he does, no big deal
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Re: no seriously. man card. fork it over.

Post by Marcos »

zazthespaz wrote:
Marcos wrote: It sounds like it belongs to the Twilight soundtrack. It fits the scene where Bella is staring at the window while the seasons come and go. Lol!
someone take his man card.

LMGO is cheesy lyrically and not that impressive to me in terms of guitar work. catchy tune but kind of boring when you analyze it like you would other ab songs.
Watched Twilight with my ex-gf and collected the reward afterwards. Epic Win! ;)

I agree, it's way too cheesy.
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by Ubik »

RuRo wrote:This is why I don't really get the general clamour on this forum for albums with less songs. Lots of people say they would prefer Blackbird or AB III with less songs - but only if the songs they cut out are the ones THEY think are the weakest. And since everyone has different opinions on what songs are the weakest, (and most people's opinions will definitely be different from the band's opinions), the band making the albums shorter actually wouldn't make them any better for all but a few people.

(e.g. cutting Show Me A Sign or Fallout and putting Never Born To Follow and Wonderful Life on an 11 song album would be absolutely terrible imo, but the 11 songs I would prefer from AB III would probably be worse than the full album for most other people).

More music doesn't mean better, obviously, but if the band have written and recorded songs and think they're good enough to be heard then I'm happy for them to go on the album, and won't be complaining that it's too long. If I don't like some of them I don't have to listen to them. I'm better off with 14 songs, 10 of which I like, than 10 songs, 8 of which I like.

I don't really get how people can on the one hand have this obsession with getting the Alter Bridge B-sides that were left off of albums, then also saying they want the band to hold back more songs just so the albums they release have shorter tracklists. :headscratch
As long as we hear the extra tracks reasonably quickly after the album release and the band don't sit on them for years, I wouldn't mind the risk of them missing off one I'd particularly like. They've done a couple of longer track listings now and both time I've felt it was a couple too long, so it'll be really interesting to see how this approach does.

Plus, if they then released an "AB3.5" type album a while later, I might actually be tempted to buy it if it had 5 or 6 unreleased songs on it. Maybe they'll feel free-er to vary the track length a little as well, who knows.
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

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RuRo wrote:
I'd rather have an album with 2 songs I dislike than an album with 4 songs I dislike..
Yeah, this is where the argument loses me (me only - in case anyone is confused and thinks I don't think other people have or should have different opinions or preferences on this!). Ideally there'd be no tracks on an album I don't like and if it works well as an experience from beginning to end then that's a huge plus, but I don't find it that important that I listen to every track in order every time I want to hear a song (after all, what's the connection between Still Remains and Wonderful Life, other than the fact they were recorded at the same time?).

Let's say I think Blackbird is an amazing song and I dislike Before Tomorrow Comes. I'd rather have the Blackbird album as it is (12 songs I like and 1 I dislike) than have Blackbird minus the title track and Before Tomorrow Comes (11 songs I like, zero I dislike). It's cool that you'd prefer the latter to the former because 0 < 1. I'd rather have an album with 2 songs I disliked than one with 4 songs I disliked too, I just don't consider # of songs I dislike to be the absolutely most important criteria. and would be willing to have that number increase if it meant an increase in good songs. I understand that you wouldn't. And I understand that's one of the main reasons people are more in favour of shorter albums (even if, as I said, making the album shorter wouldn't guarantee the songs you don't like weren't on it) and I'm not. So I'm not trying to say there's anything wrong with you having different opinions or priorities for albums than me :). But I don't see what's wrong with explaining why I think one thing as opposed to another. :shrug
That's where we have to trust the band. They did a good job on ODR and Blackbird imo. If they'd shortened ABIII with 2-3 tracks, they'd probably left off Life Must Go On too (one of my favourites), but I would've been fine with that because the album would've benefit from it.
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by AllC392Was »

Timotheus wrote:
RuRo wrote:
I'd rather have an album with 2 songs I dislike than an album with 4 songs I dislike..
Yeah, this is where the argument loses me (me only - in case anyone is confused and thinks I don't think other people have or should have different opinions or preferences on this!). Ideally there'd be no tracks on an album I don't like and if it works well as an experience from beginning to end then that's a huge plus, but I don't find it that important that I listen to every track in order every time I want to hear a song (after all, what's the connection between Still Remains and Wonderful Life, other than the fact they were recorded at the same time?).

Let's say I think Blackbird is an amazing song and I dislike Before Tomorrow Comes. I'd rather have the Blackbird album as it is (12 songs I like and 1 I dislike) than have Blackbird minus the title track and Before Tomorrow Comes (11 songs I like, zero I dislike). It's cool that you'd prefer the latter to the former because 0 < 1. I'd rather have an album with 2 songs I disliked than one with 4 songs I disliked too, I just don't consider # of songs I dislike to be the absolutely most important criteria. and would be willing to have that number increase if it meant an increase in good songs. I understand that you wouldn't. And I understand that's one of the main reasons people are more in favour of shorter albums (even if, as I said, making the album shorter wouldn't guarantee the songs you don't like weren't on it) and I'm not. So I'm not trying to say there's anything wrong with you having different opinions or priorities for albums than me :). But I don't see what's wrong with explaining why I think one thing as opposed to another. :shrug
That's where we have to trust the band. They did a good job on ODR and Blackbird imo. If they'd shortened ABIII with 2-3 tracks, they'd probably left off Life Must Go On too (one of my favourites), but I would've been fine with that because the album would've benefit from it.
Thats what Iv'e been trying to say!! haha Trust the Band AB has never let us down
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by Macca »

Never let us down? Is everyone forgetting the shambles that was Blackbird?
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

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I'm not saying they'll never let us down.. I think that's a naive thought (no offence to anybody :)), but I think they've done ok so far with the tracking of the album (besides maybe ABIII), and I trust their opinion in that matter more than my own. They'll have their reasons for not putting a song on an album.
And lol, macca..
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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by RuRo »

Macca wrote:Never let us down? Is everyone forgetting the shambles that was Blackbird?
I'll agree if you're talking about the song, but the album at least gave us gems like Before Tomorrow Comes...

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Re: AB IV Writing/Recording Sessions

Post by Dolo »

Macca wrote:Never let us down? Is everyone forgetting the shambles that was Blackbird?

Trolls gonna troll.

Blackbird was their best BTW
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