Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Drastic Improvement on the Dreadful Debut, 8 Oct 2007
Three years on from the rather turgid "Contraband", Guns'N'Pilots seem to have kicked themselves up the backside and produced a classic rock album. Opening with the riproaring, blink and you'll miss it "Let It Roll" races at a suckerpunch pace - a roaring scream of guitars that pins you to the back wall by the scruff of the neck and never lets go.
Unlike "Contraband"s rushed -three-weeks-and-rehab vocals, "Libertad" stands up to scrutiny. The previous albums weak points, the rushed and nonsensical lyrics, the pedestrian vocal melodies that were added after the music was complete, are thankfully missing here. In "Libertad" Weiland works with the band to shape the songs. As a result this record doesn't sound like two different bands playing at once, but one cohesive hard rock outfit that is utterly contemporary. Not bad for grizzled rock veterans approaching their 25th anniversary in the Metal Wasteland.
Also, thankfully dispensed are the Jovi-lite dull ballads. Libertad pounds away like a jackhammer, propelled by an articulate and unstoppable musical fury. The one mis-step is a cover of ELO's "Can't Get It Out of My Head" - sadly a pedestrian lowpoint on the record.. Whilst comparison to GNR are unavoidable, VR are clearly now moving into their own arena and their own musical identity. In terms of musical progression, there's little new in the palette that wasn't there in 1987 back when "Appetite For Destruction" came out - whereas Axl's new look GNR tinker endlessly with "Chinese Democracy" (the songs of which have been heard are fascinating) - but VR have created a unique identity and moved forward to continue creating material and forging forward a new artistic vision. In comparison to the debut, "Libertad" is leap years ahead and significantly more interesting. Aside from the occasional lapse into Rock Cliché ("Gravedancer" and the ELO track), "Libertad" is a fine rock record and a record far better than any bunch of long-in-the-tooth forty something metallers should produce
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy This Album!!, 23 Jul 2007
I was eagerly awaiting the follow up to Contraband and wasn't disapointed. Velvet Revolver, I feel have now found their sound. Contraband was a fantastic CD and was enough to whet the appetite and leave you panting for more.
Some say that Libertad isn't as heavy as Contraband, but I would say its edgier. Contraband was a dare I say it, basic rock album. On Libertad its easy to hear the bands influences come through.
She Builds Quick Machines is a perfect first single from the album and The Last Fight is rumoured to be their second. Every song on the album gets better with every listen and I am throughly impressed by the tight album the band have brought out.
Scotts vocals are brilliant and atmospheric as usual and musically Slash, Duff, Matt and Dave bring their own sound to the album.
The songs are amazing performed live, and I can honestly say Velvet Revolver are to all the critics out there a proper band, not just 4 members of previously famous bands and one 'secret weapon'.
Velvet Revolver Rock !! \m/
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Libertad ..., 12 Jul 2007
Given the feel of Contraband, the follow-up would be telling as to whether Velvet Revolver would actually become a band and not a bunch of guys who continue to get together and jam (at times on Contraband there appeared to be a disconnect between Weiland and the rest of the band).
On the sophomore effort, Libertad, there's no denying that the band sound tighter and more focused. Weiland is in fine voice (occasionally on a par with his old self), while the rest of the band (that'll be Slash, Duff, Matt and Dave) sound equally inspired.
There are plenty of the same big riffing verses that filled Contraband, with choruses that shift into typical Weiland-style vocal phrasing (accompanied by some STP-like layering). The first 4 tracks are the best on the album: Let it Roll (where the band and Weiland seem to come together perfectly), She Mine (again, Weiland and band are comfortable with each others presence), Get Out The Door and She Builds Quick Machines -- which plays to each of the members strengths and is equally as explosive as Contraband's Set Me Free.
Libertad's ballads, Last Fight and Gravedancer, sit nicely with the rest of the album, and while Last Fight appears to be a subtle narrative about the last few miles of the rocky road Weiland has travelled to get to where he is (clean), Gravedancer sounds like a re-working of Contraband's Fall To Pieces.
Elsewhere, Pills, Demons & Etc is possibly Weiland at his most confessional (ranking alongside Stone Temple Pilots' I Got You - from `No. 4'). The muscle of Slash and Kushner's guitars match Weiland's energy on American Man and Mary Mary.
Unfortunately, there still appears to be moments where it doesn't quite gel - you can hear where the bands sleaze rock riffing ends and Weiland's psychedelic phrasing begins. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it results in the best track on the album -- listen to the aforementioned She Builds Quick Machines.
Libertad is focused and Velvet Revolver a lot more comfortable with the aesthetic, however, it's not quite as compelling a listen as Contraband (partially, I suspect, because we know what to expect from the band), but it's certainly more accessible ... while becoming more rewarding on each listen.
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