You have to give it to Axl Rose; as underwhelming a release as Chinese Democracy is and was, it may just have signalled the very last huge rock album release. That's huge as in investment in studio time and agonising over every note of music production, before delivering the finished product.
I love that bands such as Whitesnake and Journey have at least reached for those heights in recent releases, but the market has changed.
I listened to Heart's 1987 Bad Animals release in the car 'tother day and (like it or loath it), the production is simply massive.
But gone are the days of record companies with appetite to invest the best part of $500,000 on studio time, marketing and shipment of a rock album and even the handful of bands who could if they felt like it (say, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Pearl Jam) would not because compared to the easy route of a mega tour, scale in terms of sales would result in a perceived unwarranted risk. But that's their issue; they could at least try.
This is a big problem with classic rock in particular, since the "feel" largely relies upon a big sound to get where it's going (imagine The Black Album, Slippery When Wet or Led Zeppelin iV with a thin production).
I call my first witness Queensryche and their Operation: Mindcrime II. I'm tempted to say that the cash in concept itself doesn't help, but that aside, try spinning said release back to back with the original Operation: Mindcrime, replete with Michael Kamen string sections, 100 piece choirs and guitar tracks sounding like razors on overkill.
Second witness, Ratt's 2010 so called "return to form" LP, Infestation. Again, try listening to this wafer thin garage recording next to the Atlantic/ WEA 1985 - 1988 Beau Hill productions, those of mountainous sounding dual guitar metal pop assaults and tape loop backing vocals popping up over gargantuan drum mixes.
It is incredibly difficult to look through this and take the music on face value. Shallow? You bet, the rock music ear for most of us was honed during ages 13 - 18, when it seemed that our heroes were all 7 feet tall, lived in a big house together and could resolve us to world peace if given half the chance. As such it's difficult to accept a thin, wiry sound from a band like Night Ranger (2011's Somewhere in California next to 7 Wishes? Pleeeaase).
The answer is for a major artist to break through again and actively change the market place. I don't accept that this is solely down to Mp3s and the death of the LP. Step forward Black Sabbath and Van Halen, who may just manage what Journey almost did with Revelation...instigate the return of the mega rock release! Here's hoping.
I love that bands such as Whitesnake and Journey have at least reached for those heights in recent releases, but the market has changed.
I listened to Heart's 1987 Bad Animals release in the car 'tother day and (like it or loath it), the production is simply massive.
But gone are the days of record companies with appetite to invest the best part of $500,000 on studio time, marketing and shipment of a rock album and even the handful of bands who could if they felt like it (say, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Pearl Jam) would not because compared to the easy route of a mega tour, scale in terms of sales would result in a perceived unwarranted risk. But that's their issue; they could at least try.
This is a big problem with classic rock in particular, since the "feel" largely relies upon a big sound to get where it's going (imagine The Black Album, Slippery When Wet or Led Zeppelin iV with a thin production).
I call my first witness Queensryche and their Operation: Mindcrime II. I'm tempted to say that the cash in concept itself doesn't help, but that aside, try spinning said release back to back with the original Operation: Mindcrime, replete with Michael Kamen string sections, 100 piece choirs and guitar tracks sounding like razors on overkill.
Second witness, Ratt's 2010 so called "return to form" LP, Infestation. Again, try listening to this wafer thin garage recording next to the Atlantic/ WEA 1985 - 1988 Beau Hill productions, those of mountainous sounding dual guitar metal pop assaults and tape loop backing vocals popping up over gargantuan drum mixes.
It is incredibly difficult to look through this and take the music on face value. Shallow? You bet, the rock music ear for most of us was honed during ages 13 - 18, when it seemed that our heroes were all 7 feet tall, lived in a big house together and could resolve us to world peace if given half the chance. As such it's difficult to accept a thin, wiry sound from a band like Night Ranger (2011's Somewhere in California next to 7 Wishes? Pleeeaase).
The answer is for a major artist to break through again and actively change the market place. I don't accept that this is solely down to Mp3s and the death of the LP. Step forward Black Sabbath and Van Halen, who may just manage what Journey almost did with Revelation...instigate the return of the mega rock release! Here's hoping.
