Official Queensryche thread: Kickstart the next album

[jjrock88]

Wasn't Chris the main driving force behind HITNF.  He wrote like 80% of the album didn't he?

I really can't stomach that song that Chris sings, All I Want

[Mladen]

I've never really loved Promised land. Damaged is a fantastic track, and there's something cool about Disconnected and Lady Jane, but most of the songs sound kind of bland to me. And having had trouble with getting into Empire (I still think it's too cheesy melodically for the most part), I've never bothered with pretty much any post-PL album.

[wolfking]

Wasn't Chris the main driving force behind HITNF.  He wrote like 80% of the album didn't he?

I really can't stomach that song that Chris sings, All I Want

Yeah, that could be the weakest track IMO too.  It's not a bad album, there's some decent stuff going on there.

[Deathless]

Wasn't Chris the main driving force behind HITNF.  He wrote like 80% of the album didn't he?

Absolutely. Chris was always a big part of the band's sound, but Michael was also a key component as well. They worked really damn well together.

This is how the band's writing credits were split on HITNF.

1.   "Sign of the Times"     Chris DeGarmo   3:33
2.   "Cuckoo's Nest"     DeGarmo   3:59
3.   "Get a Life"     DeGarmo, Geoff Tate   3:39
4.   "The Voice Inside"     DeGarmo   3:48
5.   "Some People Fly"     DeGarmo, Tate   5:17
6.   "Saved"     DeGarmo, Tate   4:09
7.   "You"     DeGarmo, Tate   3:54
8.   "Hero"     DeGarmo   5:25
9.   "Miles Away"     DeGarmo   4:32
10.   "Reach"     Tate, Michael Wilton   3:30
11.   "All I Want"     DeGarmo   4:06
12.   "Hit the Black"     DeGarmo, Eddie Jackson   3:36
13.   "Anytime / Anywhere"     DeGarmo, Jackson, Tate   2:54
14.   "sp00L"     DeGarmo, Tate

[Zydar]

I quite like the song You. It's one of the better ones on that album, along with Sign Of The Times.

[wolfking]

Yeah I know Chris was always a main driving force behind the band's sound with Michael, but I thought I remember reading something about Chris really taking control of the direction and sound more than the others on this album.  I could be wrong, but the credits seem to back that up.

[wolfking]

I quite like the song You. It's one of the better ones on that album, along with Sign Of The Times.

You would easily be a top 3 song, great tune.

[Nick]

There was one positive to Dedicated to Chaos. For all the shit many of the Tate era albums got, Here in the Now would always remain the worst album they'd ever done. That was until, in his final parting effort, Tate squeaked out the shit-fest that was Dedicated to Chaos.

[bosk1]

Yeah I know Chris was always a main driving force behind the band's sound with Michael, but I thought I remember reading something about Chris really taking control of the direction and sound more than the others on this album.  I could be wrong, but the credits seem to back that up.

No, you are correct.

But All I Want is brilliant.

[TAC]

Bosk, between this thread and the DT12 thread, you are about to lose your Music Listening License.

I'm going to have to write you a citation.

 

[Nel]

Hear in the New Frontier would have been clever. Here in the Now Frontier would have been clever. Changing both words just makes it nonsensical and stupid. 

As for the album itself... it has "sp00l". And it has... it has... "sp00l". Hmm. I might need to revisit HITNF. I don't remember jack squat about that one.

[jjrock88]

I quite like the song You. It's one of the better ones on that album, along with Sign Of The Times.

"You" would be my top song from the album

[Mebert78]

I'd have to go with "Hero."  That song was just terrific, in my opinion.

Also, the talk of "Here" vs. "Hear" reminds me that in the court documents from a few years back Wilton actually referred to the album as "Here in the Now Frontier."  I was really surprised that a band member wouldn't know the album's proper title.   

[TAC]

Not with this band it doesn't.

[KevShmev]

I think "You" is a steaming pile of horse shit.  To each their own.

[T-ski]

there are some good ideas for songs on HITNF, unfortunately most of them don't come to fruition.

[Kwyjibo]

HITNF was Queensryche trying something different and that in itself is not a problem, they did that with every record up until then. For me the main problem are the songs, a whole lot of them just aren't fun to listen too. I can overlook the sound and Tate's clearly decline in singing but I don't want to listen to these mediocre songs. For me only Sign Of The Times and spOOl are good.

And Promised Land is not bad but mostly overrated.

[Cruithne]

I've always enjoyed HITNF. I do wonder if I was helped out by lowered expectations after the dreadful disappointment of Promised Land (I've long since gotten over it, but I still don't include Promised Land in the classic era of QR as many do). sp00L is the stand out track, but I enjoy all of the album.

I don't think the dryness of the sound on HITNF suited QR though. There's a video of them playing Jet City Woman on MTV floating around with the guitar sound from HITNF and it sounds terrible.

I am now starting to wonder if the writing style on PL and HITNF was due to Tate's already diminishing range and strength.

I think it was a combination of the direction DeGarmo was going in naturally and Wilton's contributions being marginalised because Tate started putting limitations on the kind of material he'd sing over.

[?]

I'd have to go with "Hero."  That song was just terrific, in my opinion.

Also, the talk of "Here" vs. "Hear" reminds me that in the court documents from a few years back Wilton actually referred to the album as "Here in the Now Frontier."  I was really surprised that a band member wouldn't know the album's proper title.

Maybe that shows how much they care about that album?

Seriously though, I've listened to a few of the songs from Frontier (Sign of the Times, Hit the Black, The Voice Inside, You) and they were alright, but not on the same level as the earlier albums. The production also sounds really crappy compared to Empire and Promised Land, although that kind of "raw" sound was what they were looking for at the time to stay relevant, according to Whip's declaration.

PL, on the other hand, is one of my top 3 QR albums along with Rage and Mindcrime. Empire is pretty good too, but a few of the songs are a little too close to hair metal for my taste, and The Warning is alright, but I'm not that much into traditional heavy metal, which the album is heavily influenced by.

[bosk1]

For me only Sign Of The Times and spOOl are good.

While I get that most will not share my love of most of the other songs on the album, I really think The Voice Inside and Reach are overlooked gems that MOST fans of Queensryche (or hard rock in general) should like if given the chance.  I would wholeheartedly recommend going back and trying to listen to those two tracks with an open mind.

[Kwyjibo]

I've listened to this album so many times when it came out, because it was the mighty Queensryche and they could do nothing wrong, could they? So I listened and listened and listened, trying to find something I was missing before. Then one day I gave up and came to the conclusion that this album just wasn't up to par with the previous ones.

There are some other songs that are not that bad, and I sometimes even spin the whole album when I'm on a QR trip, but the above mentioned songs are the only ones I really like.

[KevShmev]

  I really think The Voice Inside and Reach are overlooked gems that MOST fans of Queensryche (or hard rock in general) should like if given the chance.   

The Voice Inside is one of the few songs from this record I liked from the start and still like.  The sound of the album kind of stifles it, but it is still a nice song.  I am not that fond of Reach, although it's not awful.  Hero, The Voice Inside and the last three songs are the only ones I go for anymore, and even that is rare.

[jammindude]

It's still a pretty lame QR album, but I apparently like more of it than most people do.   Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen anyone mention Some People Fly yet...that would be my personal favorite of the entire album.   Brilliant song, and usually the one from this album that I'm most likely to throw on a compilation.

I also like Cuckoo's Nest, You, and Reach.   The rest is fairly unmemorable. 

[KevShmev]

Some People Fly had potential, with that soaring chorus, but even that just somehow misses the mark thanks to some awkward transitions.  And listening to again now on YT, I am stunned at how bland the verses are.  They aren't bad; they are just there.  And that bridge is just ugly.  I hadn't heard this song in probably over 10 years, and it will probably be another 10 before I give it another try.

[jammindude]

If we're going to talk about post-PL albums, I seriously want to give a shout out to one that I feel is the most under-rated of the bunch...

Several years ago, I did a QR album discussion series on MP.com.  At that time, OMC2 was the newest album, and the only album I didn't own was Tribe, so I went out and bought it just for the purpose of including it.    I had only heard Open Desert Dance, so my expectations were sufficiently lowered, but the album as a whole was actually not too bad.   I was actually surprised that the first two DeGarmo tracks offered would be among the worst of the album (thus proving once again that his departure was not the reason QR went down the tubes).    But Art of Life was one in particular that hit me pretty hard.   LOVE that track.    Tribe is just a weird little album, and maybe that's why I have a soft spot for it.    It's not classic, but it was certainly better than HITNF and Q2Krap. 

[WebRaider]

If we're going to talk about post-PL albums, I seriously want to give a shout out to one that I feel is the most under-rated of the bunch...

Several years ago, I did a QR album discussion series on MP.com.  At that time, OMC2 was the newest album, and the only album I didn't own was Tribe, so I went out and bought it just for the purpose of including it.    I had only heard Open Desert Dance, so my expectations were sufficiently lowered, but the album as a whole was actually not too bad.   I was actually surprised that the first two DeGarmo tracks offered would be among the worst of the album (thus proving once again that his departure was not the reason QR went down the tubes).    But Art of Life was one in particular that hit me pretty hard.   LOVE that track.    Tribe is just a weird little album, and maybe that's why I have a soft spot for it.    It's not classic, but it was certainly better than HITNF and Q2Krap.

I like Tribe a good bit more than most too but I think DeGarmo was very helpful in what he contributed to it before jumping off the sinking ship as it was...

[jjrock88]

I really like Tribe. "Art of Life" is a great tune and QR should have been making similar songs with Tate

[Kwyjibo]

As I have said before (probably multiple times) I find Tribe to be the worst they've done, apart from DtC which I still haven't listened to. I think part of the reason why I strongly dislike Tribe is that they had the chance to do something right for once and they blew it completely. Q2K on the other hand isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It's one of the best in the post CdG era, at least imo.

[jammindude]

As I have said before (probably multiple times) I find Tribe to be the worst they've done, apart from DtC which I still haven't listened to. I think part of the reason why I strongly dislike Tribe is that they had the chance to do something right for once and they blew it completely. Q2K on the other hand isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It's one of the best in the post CdG era, at least imo.

The Right Side of My Mind is the only thing that saves that album....but it's a biggie.  By far the best individual song ever released by them post PL....maybe even post OMC.   It's almost awkward that the rest of the album is anywhere from forgettable to bad, and then they suddenly end on one of the best things they've ever done.

[wolfking]

I really like Tribe. "Art of Life" is a great tune and QR should have been making similar songs with Tate

It's a top 5 Ryche album for me, I love it.

[bosk1]

Listened to HITNF on the drive in to work today after not having spun it for a LONG time.  My love for this album is reaffirmed.  Just a spectacularly good album.

Tribe had potential.  Open, Desert Dance, and The Art of Life are fantastic.  Tribe is good and could have been better with better lyrics, and The Great Divide is not bad as well.  The rest of the album is some of the worst they have ever done (again, not counting D2C).  But you could take the good from Tribe, a few scraps from Q2K, and add Howl, Justified, and the early version of Hostage from the Tribe era and have a solid album.

[Lowdz]

I really like Tribe. "Art of Life" is a great tune and QR should have been making similar songs with Tate

It's a top 5 Ryche album for me, I love it.

I just don't hear what you guys hear. I bought the signed version but just couldn't get through the album. It's just not what I want to hear from QR, or anyone tbh.
And some of HITNF wasn't great but compared to what came later it was a masterpiece. Q2K wasn't a total write off but I gave up on the band at that point. It just wasn't QR anymore, at least not the QR that appealed to me.

[KevShmev]

Thanks to the chatter this week, I have found myself listening to Rage for Order and The Warning a lot the last few days.

[The Dark Master]

Out of all the post-PL albums the band did with Geoff, I thought Tribe was easily the best, which isn't saying much.  I really only like about half of that album, but for a while there it seemed like they just might be coming close to recapturing the classic Queensryche sound again.  After Tribe, I actually had decently high hopes for the Mindcrime sequel that followed (which of course ended up being a huge disappointment.)

As far as I'm concerned, Queensryche as a band pretty much ended with Tribe.  Even with Chris technically no longer in the band, he still contributed heavily to that album.  And Q2K, while being very not good and having the awfulness that is Kelly Grey, still at least saw the band functioning as a band.  After Tribe, though, it just became full on Tateryche until they finally fired his lunatic ass after jumping one too many sharks.

Thanks to the chatter this week, I have found myself listening to Rage for Order and The Warning a lot the last few days.

Now those are great albums.  RFO was, after the original EP, my first full QR album.  Even though Mindcrime grew on me to the point where it surpased RFO as my favourite QR record, my heart still has a special place for RFO.  Walk In The Shadows is still the first song that comes to my mind whenever I hear the name Queensryche, and will always be the definitive QR track for me!   

[KevShmev]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I still wonder how existing fans at the time reacted when Empire came out.  I suspect the reaction was similar to how pre-existing Metallica fans reacted to The Black Album.  Fans had to hear their band that before was full of such raw energy on record now sounding so streamlined and produced for the masses, and we know how some fans react when "their" band suddenly has widespread appeal.