Queensryche (original band only) appreciation thread

[Zydar]

I listened to some QR this morning when I walked to work ("The Whisper", "Walk In The Shadows", "Eyes Of A Stranger")



I think it's going to be a Queensr˙che weekend at home, starting tonight.

[wolfking]

I think it's going to be a Queensr˙che weekend at home, starting tonight.

That's a damn fine idea!!

[Lowdz]

Anyone else a fan of QR's version odf Scarborough Fair? Certainly an example of a band doing a cover and making it in their own style. I'll even forgive the mispronounciation of Scarborough...

[bosk1]

YES!  I've heard a few covers of that song that are more metal, and am convinced that it was just meant to be a huge, epic, metal song.  But QR's cover in particular, even though it is a cover, ranks very highly in the entire QR catalogue for me.

[wolfking]

It is a damn great cover.

[Perpetual Change]

Anyone else a fan of QR's version odf Scarborough Fair? Certainly an example of a band doing a cover and making it in their own style. I'll even forgive the mispronounciation of Scarborough...

Eh, I applaud the band for thinking out of the box, but that disc is just missed opportunity after missed opportunity.

[MykeHavoc]

Are you referring to Take Cover? Because SF isn't on there.

[abydos]

Had the weirdest dream few nights ago. It's 1993 and Queensryche are doing a show with unreleased songs from an album they couldn't release for some reason. I only "saw" the beginning of the first song but it was the best, most vicious black metal I've ever heard. Tate was so \m/

Back in the real world - I was listening to Promised Land few days ago and was again amazed at how beautiful his voice is, especially in the title track. Love the soaring moments, sustaining such a clean and emotional sounding voice. Awesome stuff.

[bosk1]

Back in the real world - I was listening to Promised Land few days ago and was again amazed at how beautiful his voice is, especially in the title track. Love the soaring moments, sustaining such a clean and emotional sounding voice. Awesome stuff.

[PowerSlave]

I still think of older albums as having sides. For any of you younger guys that might be into MindCrime, side 2 would begin with The Needle Lies as an example.

Anyways, I've always considered Take Hold of the Flame, Before the Storm, Child of Fire and Roads To Madness to be the greatest "album side" of any album in the 80's. I was only 11 years old in 1984 when The Warning came out but, I was fortunate enough to have an older brother that was willing to guide me in my musical tastes. I can still remember hearing the orchestration in RTM on his stereo while I stood on the other side of the door and being fascinated by the sound and how it blended so well with the dark vibe in the middle section of the song and then "BOOM", the song moves into the final section with Tate giving it hell and the music picking up and ripping. Keep in mind, this was 1984 and this shit was cutting edge. Nobody was doing anything remotely like this. Atleast, not any of the mainstream rock that you were hearing back in the day leading up to this point.

QR ended up being my "gateway drug" into other music. I never would have got into Yes, Rush, Genesis, DT or even Iron Maiden without them. There was something very magical about their approach and sound in those days. They had the balls to take chances that I think is lacking in their later efforts. In my opinion, HITNF was the last album that they took any chances. Yes, the album is stripped down but, they didn't seem to be trying to rely on any of their previous success when they approached that album.

Tribe was the last album that I got into at any level from them. Blood is by far the best track on that album in my opinion.

[KevShmev]

The great thing about Promised Land is that it sounds timeless and like it could have been recorded in any recent era, unlike all of the other good albums from their peak period.  To explain that, Empire definitely has that mainstream rockish, streamlined sound of the late 80s/early 90s, and all of the 80s albums sound very much like the 80s.  Meanwhile, Promised Land just sounds more universal and timeless, IMO.

[Zydar]

I've been on a QR binge the last few days (thanks to this thread) and I've been spinning Promised Land a lot. Earlier I mainly focused on Mindcrime and Empire (since I'm a casual fan), but I decided to give PL another spin because it hadn't clicked with me. But now I'm really enjoying it, what a great album. Favourites are I Am I, One More Time (!), Damaged, and Out Of Mind. Given time I'm sure the other tracks will grow on me too. Later on I will check out HITNF as well, I'm loving Sign Of The Times and Chasing Blue Sky.

I haven't listened that much to their early 80s albums (The Warning & Rage For Order) yet - I want to focus on this period before I do that.

So, in short: *QR re-appreciated*

[Samsara]

PowerSlave - although you are familiar with that particular "sides" element of The Warning (and I'm old enough to know and appreciate it myself), The Warning was originally intended in this order (and I have since re-ordered mine on my iPod):

From AnybodyListening.net:

As many may know, the original tracklisting for The Warning is wrong. What the band signed off on was changed and remixed at the request of the label by Val Garay. Basically, the guitars were put lower in the mix, and the tracklisting was changed so the first single, "Warning" was the first song on the album.

For reference purposes, this is the original, and proper ordering of the album:

1. NM 156
2. En Force
3. Deliverance
4. No Sanctuary
5. Take Hold of the Flame
6. Before the Storm
7. Child of Fire
8. Warning
9. Roads to Madness

>>>>
I'll tell you, that's probably my favorite five-song start to an album from ANY band, on ANY record. It's ashame that when they remastered the album, they didn't remix it back to what it was originally, and put the original track order.

This order was confirmed by a member of the road crew that worked with the band during The Warning tour. At the time, the band was really pissed off that the label changed it, according to one of their road crew.

[energythief]

I have never found another band that has released 4 back-to-back albums as perfect as Rage For Order -> Operation:Mindcrime -> Empire -> Promised Land. Not a single clunker track in 4 albums... it is exceptional, and a feat I don't expect any other band to replicate for me in my future listening. The funny thing is, if I rate those albums as "perfect 10s", then The Warning is only a 9. Pretty remarkable.

[bosk1]

I don't rate those albums as highly as you do, but it was still an incredible run.  Heck, I really liked HITNF as well.  It's a real shame and a waste of talent to see how far they fell after Chris left.

[King Postwhore]

I don't rate those albums as highly as you do, but it was still an incredible run.  Heck, I really liked HITNF as well.  It's a real shame and a waste of talent to see how far they fell after Chris left.

Count me in as a fan of HITNF.  It gets slaged a bit but I've always liked it.

[TAC]

I like what they tried to do with HITNF. I just don't think it's strong enough.

[King Postwhore]

I like what they tried to do with HITNF. I just don't think it's strong enough.

It's still light years ahead of almost ever other cd they released after it.  Tribe is the only one that is close.

[TAC]

I like what they tried to do with HITNF. I just don't think it's strong enough.

It's still light years ahead of almost ever other cd they released after it.  Tribe is the only one that is close.

OK, so would you rather eat shit or stick a needle in your eye?

[King Postwhore]

Hold a gun to my head I see TAC!   I don't realy feel that strongly as you.

[Lowdz]

I have never found another band that has released 4 back-to-back albums as perfect as Rage For Order -> Operation:Mindcrime -> Empire -> Promised Land. Not a single clunker track in 4 albums... it is exceptional, and a feat I don't expect any other band to replicate for me in my future listening. The funny thing is, if I rate those albums as "perfect 10s", then The Warning is only a 9. Pretty remarkable.

Sir, I give you Dis-con-nected. A sign of the utter shite that was to come.
I usually think of PL as the start of the decline but I like several of the songs on it. I found it too short. Disconnected was terrible and it took years to appreciate the title track. I usually skip to Damaged, which shortens the album further. And this was on the back of four of my favourite albums of all time.
HITNF Ii initially liked but that soon wore off and apart from the odd song on MCII I can't listen to any of it.
Never has a band I loved so alienated me as a listener than QR. And Michael Wilton is one of rock's wasted talents.

[Lowdz]

Are you referring to Take Cover? Because SF isn't on there.

No, Scarborough Fair was a b-side from the RFO sessions, now included on the remaster. And it's awesome. Take Cover was generally terrible.

[bosk1]

Sir, I give you Dis-con-nected. A sign of the utter shite that was to come.

Sir, you need to stop doing drugs.  That song is amazing.

I like what they tried to do with HITNF. I just don't think it's strong enough.

It's still light years ahead of almost ever other cd they released after it.  Tribe is the only one that is close.

OK, so would you rather eat shit or stick a needle in your eye?

Silly man. 

There's no "choosing lesser evils" with HITNF as far as I'm concerned.  I think it is truly a terrific album.  I rank it right up there with the classics.  As I've described it before, despite being a more stripped down sound than their previous albums, it is only "stripped down" for a Queensryche album.  There is still a ton of layering and complexity, but it was just a lot more subtle than prior albums.  And HITNF continues a trend that I noticed in QR through the time Chris was in the band:  Their music tended to reflect and incorporate a bit of whatever was going on in the music scene at any given moment without copying it.  HITNF incorporated a lot of the stripped-down sound that was coming out of Seattle in the '90s without being a grunge album, and I thought it worked perfectly.  And again, as I said, there was a ton of subtle complexity on the album.  Perhaps the only exception would be the drumming, which really was more stripped down and straightforward than in the past.

[KevShmev]

Sir, I give you Dis-con-nected. A sign of the utter shite that was to come.

Sir, you need to stop doing drugs.  That song is amazing.

Damn right.  As is every song on Promised Land.

[Lowdz]

Sir, I give you Dis-con-nected. A sign of the utter shite that was to come.

Sir, you need to stop doing drugs.  That song is amazing.

Damn right.  As is every song on Promised Land.

I get the impression you're not joking... ok, each to their own, but it's truly awful, hardly even a song. And I've never touched drugs. Maybe that's the "problem".

[bosk1]

People on 'ludes should not 'Ryche.

[King Postwhore]

bosk1, I feel that with some fans of bands, they don't like when a band changes it's sound or style by a small fraction.  I've said it before and you said it in your response, most bands with longevity are influnced by the times.  It's is essentially them but some fans are hardcore with certain styles.

I remember the outcry for Led Zep making D'yer Mak'er or Rush adding Keyboards.

[bosk1]

Oh, of course. 

[LCArenas]

Listened to Rage for Order yesterday. So much energy in that album, those guys must have been amazing live. Promised Land is incredible but, whatever happened to them? Was it Q2K?

[Samsara]

re: HITNF -- I think it is the weakest full length record by the original lineup (The Warning, RFO, Mindcrime, Empire, PL, HITNF, Tribe). The record has too many filler tracks, and its stripped down and dry sound is just bland.

QR always changed its sound with every album, and I respected that. But they pushed it a little too far with HITNF. With Tribe, the next original lineup album, if you throw out Losing Myshit (which is not the original lineup), you can tell that while the songs are still structurally similar to HITNF, the production and mix are much bigger and boomier. They sorta went and made a record that would fall ln-between HITNF and PL, in my opinion.

The original band, with Chris really leading the creative charge, was something special. Chris isn't the be-all, end-all, but when you combine him and Tate, along with Wilton's riffs, you get something really special. I miss that band.

[bosk1]

The original band, with Chris really leading the creative charge, was something special. Chris isn't the be-all, end-all, but when you combine him and Tate, along with Wilton's riffs, you get something really special. I miss that band.

All of that.  I think the Building Empires DVD an Big Log documentary really show how huge Chris' influence was on the band.  He truly was the bridge between Geoff and the rest of the band that held them together as a cohesive unit.  And he was also able to unify what everyone else was doing in the band and give it a creative direction that made sense.  While any change in a band's sound and general functioning as a band is going to be caused by a compex set of factors that probably the band doesn't even completely understand, much less people on the outside.  But those two elements of Chris' influence are more than enough to explain a good deal of what happened with Queensryche's sound. 

I won't even get into the band/management dynamics that developed since the mid-'90s or so.  That's a whole topic in and of itself, and one that, frankly, depresses me.

[Lowdz]

bosk1, I feel that with some fans of bands, they don't like when a band changes it's sound or style by a small fraction.  I've said it before and you said it in your response, most bands with longevity are influnced by the times.  It's is essentially them but some fans are hardcore with certain styles.

I remember the outcry for Led Zep making D'yer Mak'er or Rush adding Keyboards.

I've no problem with a band enhancing it's sound but how can you go with a band when it changes it's sound into somethinf that you just don't like? It wasn't the "sound" I had a problem with it was the lack of songs. Everything just lacked life and a spark. The contrast between the clean and heavy guitars went and everything became a dirge.

[Samsara]

Funny enough, it was announced today that DeGarmo and Wilton, along with Mike inez of Alice in Chains and Ben Smith of Heart, would be performing together at halftime of the Seahawks game this Saturday.

Then someone chimed in that Rockenfield would also be there, along with some other guests.

Interesting. If the whole original band got on stage together, that would mark the first time since 1997...

[bosk1]

That would stir up a hornet's nest of news and speculation the likes of which haven't been seen since...well, DTF over the last few months. 

[TAC]

re: HITNF -- I think it is the weakest full length record by the original lineup (The Warning, RFO, Mindcrime, Empire, PL, HITNF, Tribe). The record has too many filler tracks, and its stripped down and dry sound is just bland.

Exactly how I feel...very well said...and very well SPELLED!