Nobody will ever convince me that The Last Hero album isn’t chock filled with killer tracks such as this and many others that translate extremely well to the Live show!!
I see nothing but audience participation and positive reactions!
…yet this album is skipped altogether!??
Awesome live performance footage from approx 12 yrs ago!
Excited - because I thought AB was having a bash in Ontario Canada!
Confused - because I thought I read that they weren’t/couldn’t come to Canada this cycle.
Concerned - because forest fire smoke health worries potentially affecting the event.
Then I realized it wasn’t about AB at all (sad trombone 😢)…
Just something called ‘bridge bash’ being ‘altered’….
😮💨
BTW - Please figure a way to get the band back to Canada in the new year!!🙏🎸🤘
I was sitting around yesterday alone at my summer home; and I put in AB’s One Day Remains CD (full disclosure- near the bottom of AB’s album ranks for me, but the only CD of theirs I have at the cottage - other CDs at home) along with Def Leppard’s Hysteria in the CD player carousel.
I long have not listened to that Def Leppard CD… In the 80’s it was a favourite of mine, but it has been way overplayed over the years in mainstream rock media. however, it was obviously a massive hit for DL and helped propel / solidify them to international superstardom and ultimately, the RnR hall of fame.
But listening critically as I could (hard to do as an AB fan) and comparing the song quality as I played a song from each album back to back, alternating one at a time from one to the other … things became drastically clear!
Myles Kennedy‘s voice is so much better in every way than Joe Elliot’s! - from nuance, to range, to timbre, breath control… its all so starkly obviously…. better! There’s a richness that is wholly missing from Joe’s vocal.
The backing vocals of Mark Tremonti are also a standout- especially when directly compared to the indistinct wall of vocal harmonies of DL, that was their calling card.
Speaking of a wall of harmonies…DL employed way more obvious slick guitar layered sound stage production- that I admit I once liked, but now sounds very dated and toothless. Weak sauce. Comparing to Tremonti’s varied playing - from delicate fingerpicked to downtuned riffs and shreddy solos and awesome legatos…. Once again, no comparison! DL sounds so … generic and safe.
Drumming: (well this isn’t fair right from the start - given DL Allen literally plays with one arm!). DL drum work just is very basic, compared to Flip’s. - also over-produced - fake non-acoustic drum sound to DL. Also, Brian’s bass lines are awesome and earth shaking in comparison to DL’s buried in mix somewhere…
And the songs themselves… I thought Id obviously hear why DL were a massive hit making band, while AlterBridge (especially in this - arguably their best selling album comprised of attempts at a collection of rock hit singles) only achieved a modest level of mainstream success in comparison.
But - it was opposite! AB’s songs are just as catchy! Melodic hooks galore, but while also richer sounding and more musically interesting!
IMO - it just goes to show that timing (and promotion ) is everything! I gotta believe that, if AB released this exact album 7 to 15 yrs earlier; they’d have had a smash hit on their hands too! - with several songs getting regular airplay as well on classic rock stations around the world!
But also, maybe its for the best for us as listeners too? Because AB decided steadily over time to make the best albums they could, rather than chase radio hits! We are all the richer for it - even if the band isn’t…
Thats how we got Blackbird, AB3, and Fortress! (among other excellent releases right til today!)
And Def Leppard? - they released Adrenalize - with the piece of embarrassing crap ‘lets get rocked’ (of course, a huge hit😮💨)
https://youtu.be/OGGBxIUZRxo?si=qYFc0N4hXt8T_i4x
In addition to Myles killing it vocally; Mark overcame guitar issues right in the middle of the solo like a champ, and slayed it!!
awesome song💪🎸
hey all…!
As a Canadian of a certain age, Ive been revisiting Rush a bit in the past week as I noticed Beato releasing a bunch of really excellent YouTube interviews…. btw- I was in grade 9 when Moving Pictures came out…🫣
Rush was at the height of their powers at that time! They had been steadily building momentum from 2112, Hemispheres, A Farewell to Kings, and Permanent Waves!
- but after MP, came Signals (which was pretty good, but nowhere near Moving Pictures! Then came a lesser Grace under Pressure and a drastic decline in iconic quality music (IMO) from then on!….
They really explored synth forward music and different rhythm styles away from rock and prog rock …
-through the rest of the 80’s and the following decade , Lead guitarist Alex Lifeson was mostly relegated to supporting guitar soundscapes to back up the synths - rather than the forefront killer guitar riff and solo aficionado he had been…
The music was top tier still Im sure, at least as far as musicianship goes… but the great hooks were gone and so was the magic for me. I soon moved on to other bands (eg VanHalen, Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard etc…) that created exciting guitar based music through the 80’s. I then got into Metallica and also much of the grunge movement - it was guitar based!!
I never thought much about Rush anymore, despite the fact that they continued to tour and release new albums.
all this to say….;
People occasionally like to complain that AlterBridge spreads themselves too thin with so many other projects to ever create another Blackbird, AB3, or Fortress…
Meanwhile , The Last Hero is really awesome IMO, and Walk The Sky is an enjoyable listen for me too!.. Pawns and Kings is so epic; and AB8 is very consistently strong start to finish too! I listen to it daily still!
All this in addition to great releases by both Myles and Mark, and decent Slash and Myles stuff as well!
*and they are in their 50’s!!
Rush meanwhile, after that late 70’s and early 80’s strong run, were only in their early 30’s and completely lost it for me and many other rock fans…
-furthermore, they were not involved in other projects for the most part. They could completely focus on Rush, but couldn’t regain the traction they had, nor create much iconic excitement anymore…
Now, I give Rush credit for trying something new. ACDC stuck to the same formula, and after For Those about to Rock, they steadily became stale and uninspired sounding. They also were not distracted by other projects…
So ; who’s to say that AlterBridge keeping up a very high standard of quality, isn’t actually benefiting from branching out to different projects? It may actually inspire ideas - rather than hamper them ?!!
The only thing I notice with AB getting stale to a degree, is Myles’ lyrics… He definitely has his go to phrases and motifs, that have been explored to their limits by now (although Slave to Master is pretty awesome subject matter!)
-but Musically, the boys still knock it out of the park for me ; and have been really strong consistently since Fortress! 💪🎸