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- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Chickenfoot Thread
Wow...those are insane cheap prices.
Can someone tell me what's on the deluxe version? Is it extra tracks? I picked up this album on release in australia...but I only ever saw a standard version.
For comparision with CD purposes..I guess it also shows that discounting left over stock doesn't mean that the album is bad...as this album charted very well upon it's debut...and is usually pretty well regarded with classic rock fans.
Re: Chickenfoot Thread
Okay, so I listened to the album... and...
CHICKENFOOT
1. Avenida Revolucion
--- Nice open by Satriani, song gets going with heavy riffage, but falls flat. Slow start, but song finds a melody beneath and keeps you into it. Satrini's amazing work is the highlight. Sounds like Hagar doing a grunge song (in other words - Soundgarden... *ducks from Mr. Lofton's whiskey bottle*)
2. Soap On A Rope
--- Nice riffage in the open. Groovy. Hagar brings the energy. Melody is weak as hell. Seems to be alot of the band showing off, with no real song being performed.
3. Sexy Little Thing
--- Reminds me of Van Hagar rockers... in other words 'who gives a fuck'. The world did not need "Poundcake Part XII".
4. Oh Yeah
--- Nice riffage and bluesy vocals from Hagar from the intro. Nice melody. Hagar seems a bit low in the mix. Second half of the song goes a bit Alice In Chains. I like this track.
5. Runnin' Out
--- Groovy undervibe, but the song is hurt by a hollow melody (it's there, just no power). The song is limp. Satriani's solo is the highlight - very Slash-ish.
6. Get It Up
--- Another Alice In Chains-moment in the intro. Loving the dark moody tone. Satrani's got great riffage. So far this is the best song on the album. This is a HARD rocker. Love it.
7. Down The Drain
--- Lmao, the intro starts off like a ROTH-era Van Halen track, but with Hagar on lead. They got my attention. Nice riffage, Hagar's vocals are catchy. Melody is good. Hard rockin' as hell. The song knows it's bad ass, and just has a lovable groove. Hagar sounds great. The best song on the album now, so far.
8. My Kinda Girl
--- Nice song. The first ballad on the album. Great melody. Great guitar work. Sounds like them doing a Poison song. But it's really good. Love it.
9. Learning To Fall
--- B-side ballad. Not bad, not great, just kinda there.
10. Turnin' Left
--- Fucking awful song. Lyrically a joke. Chorus is laughable. Boring. Guitar work is the only highlight.
11. Future In The Past
--- Opening is weak. Melody is weak. Horrible song. Another Alice In Chains-moment mid-song... now it's just tired.
***bonus track***
12. Bitten By The Wolf
--- Intro is boring. The band is trying to do Swamp Rock. The key to blues is soul. The song has no soul, thus no CCR-type power. Better than the last couple of tracks, and not terrible, but definitely forgettable.
2.5/5 - Fair. The album is basically a singles album. Now i'm not really enough of a Chickenfoot mark to know what got released as singles, if any, but tracks 4 & 6-9 were probably the most worthy, and most marketable. Other than those tracks the rest of the album is pretty mediocre to bad. I can see why Van Halen fans starved for SOMEthing would dig Chickenfoot for their VH fix. Several songs have that 'feel'. I just wasn't blown away by the album. I definitely preferred the second-half of the album to the first. I would recommend checking out Oh Yeah, Get It Up, Down The Drain (the best track), and My Kinda Girl. They're the real standouts. But for those keeping score on what's better, new Chickenfoot or new Van Halen... VH doesn't have to deliver much to win that battle. Satriani is an amazingly gifted guitarist, and is the true star of the album. His guitar work makes several normally bad songs, tolerable for the guitar work alone. Satriani has this amazing ability to bring soul to a technical guitar song, yet still be able to do bluesy solos. It makes me even more curious what a new Guns N' Roses would've sounded like with Satriani, instead of Ron Thal (whom Satriani recommended to GN'R).
Those four tracks, and maybe to a lesser extent the opening track and Learning To Fall are worth a listen, and maybe even an iPod storage, but the rest - skip it. With that said, it's still the best 99-cent album I ever bought. 
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Chickenfoot Thread
^ Interesting review.
I got this album back when it first came out, but what I found about it was it was really a grower.
Like to be honest I was a little underwhelmed when I first heard it. Not that I didn't like it, but I guess i'd just read too many things on line from people saying it was amazing, and I just couldn't understand what the fuss was about. Also - I love virtuso guitar - and while Satch was as impressive of course - I think i'd just convinced myself in advance it was going to have a facemelthing solo that would put his other work to shame. Which is sort of an unfair standard to apply to stuff. So i didn't hate it - I just didn't love it.
Anyway the wierdest thing happened with this album for me. I uploaded it to my ipod anyway as it had a couple of tracks I dug, and just let it digest. Then it just kind of grew on me. Then I watched the live DVD and I started to really dig the subtlethings about it.
Really got into Chad's drumming. It's kind of simple yet perfect for the songs. Great vibe to it. The way Michael Antony locks into the rhythm and nails the backing vocals. The way Sammy seemed to be having such a blast on stage. I've never really been into VH much, and I'll grant his lyrics arn't always the deepest, but there was just somethign about the passion he was still putting into the peformance, the way he hits those screams.
Then it hit me. It's just kind of the raw level of talent in the band I like. It's 4 guys who are kinda old now, and some of them are even kinda a little out of shape. But unlike the rest of music these days, with Chickenfoot i get the vibe that it's actually about the music. Hell, it's almost more actually about the fun even. You get that vibe that they don't need to prove anything, even in the songwriting. Like they don't need to make the best song ever - they're just playing this song because it's fun to play and it sounds cool right now - doesn't have to have the best solo ever, or the most poetic lyrics, or be in any particular style or prove anything.
It's evendent even in the way it's mixed and mastered to me. They're not trying to smash any loudness records, it's not sounding all hip and edgy like a sixx:am record (which I also like btw - not bagging it) - but it sounds like some long lost 80s album. And not in a bad way or anything. It just sounds like some album you've always had around even though it's new - but it doesn't sound new.
Not that i'm saying they didn't try or anything like that. It's just more a chilled out vibe I get from it. As a hobby muso, it reminds me of playing in a second band or something. You have your primary musical outfit which is where you poor your heart and soul into and pray everyone likes it. But this band is like your drinking mates who you meet after work and just jam out some covers or something because it's just damn fun to play. I guess that's an obvious thing to say given it's a superband and all - but I just really like the vibe they get from it.
My fav songs are a little different to yours. I enjoy the whole album these days, but I'll mention the ones I really dig:
*Soap on a Roap:
That riff is just so much fun and the way it locks into the rhythm stuff. Sort of like the whole interaction of the band here.Feels like a fun song to play.
*Sexy Little Thing:
Don't know what to tell you. I hear ya that it's poundcake2. Everytime I play it female friends just say to me "She's bot back in the front?" and roll their eyes. But it's just a fun song. Something about that chorus that makes me sing along. And it sticks in my head!! It's sort of like a nursary rhyme or something - like technically an annoying obnoxious song but so damn awesome and good! hahaha.
*Down the Drain: My favourite track. the opening is killer. Satch just slips into this casual riff. Mark Anthony's bringing the chudding thunder...chad's got the grove....Sammy's having a chat about the song! They say it evolved from a jam and it shows. But it sort of captures what I like about chickenfoot. Effortless magic, where everyone is just real good at what they do.
*Learning to Fall: Enjoy this ballad. Has a sort of epic feel to it - although I understand a little what Axilin ment in that it doesn't go anywhere in a way. Sort of needed some kind of epic outtro solo or something...maybe they should have brought slash in 
I do like the melodies and stuff though, it's a pretty song, and a nice contrast to the more jammy rockers.
My Kinda Girl: This one grew on me after I saw it live. It's a fun track.
Future in the Past: Wanted to comment on this as I'm kinda the opposite to Axilin's review. I really like the START of it. Well about 1:12 or something - It slips into this funky kinda groove. Great marriage of one of satch's classic type of riffs - with the general chickenfoot drum/bass chemestry. But I don't really like the end of it - it's cool and all but it devolves into a massive satch jam out. Ok well it's kinda cool but I guess I just feel it's one of a few songs that goes in an entirely different direction mid song and it just makes it a bit of long listen. It sort of reminds me of an eric clapton layla outro on the end of every song it's cool but just a bit too epic.
So yeah. To me this is a great album. Because it's kinda an album you can enjoy without it needing to be your favourite album. hahah. It's like a casual root IT's a good album to have a beer one night to when you're feeling musical....
I'm really looking forward to Chickenfoot 2 (or Chickenfoot IV or whatever it's called) though - as I feel these guys really do have a chemestry together and if it's really rockier and zepesque like they're hinting...could be cool - some big satch solos - more of michael antony's backing - chad just nailing the drums. Ok...I admit it i'm a fan boy.
I love the way when these guys play though it sounds like they've played together for decades. How cool is this:
Re: Chickenfoot Thread
That clip of the Immigrant Song is pretty bad ass.
I guess when you really think about Chickenfoot I, it's a "promising" debut. Granted these guys are older, but it shows promise that a great, epic rock band is there. And despite it all, the album did make me curious as to what the follow-up would sound like. Michael Anthony is also very underrated. It's still absolutely puzzling as to how and why he was cut from VH, when he's just as much that band as the Van Halen's. But I guess because he lacked hair and Wolfie had a head full of it was enough reason for Eddie.
As for the band just going out there and having fun... I can see that. But that'll only get you so far. I would definitely say for those that are Hagar fans - Chickenfoot is the better option for your fix, and certaintly not his awful present day solo career, and terribly weak backing band.
You mention several times in your review, that even the best songs needed this or needed that, and that ultimately is a major issue. "Great" songs, don't need work.
Hagar has always been about fun, but as someone who dug "Van Hagar", and alot of Sammy's pre-VH solo catalog, California/Mexico sun-drenched pop metal can only be so "fun" before it becomes bad.
Hagar's lyrics, even since his VH days can be cringe-worthy and totally zap you out of a song. It doesn't matter how much energy he puts into it or how many of his WAY overused "whooo's" and "owww's" that he throws in there.
Crap is crap. And for all of those who were baggin' recently on Bumblefoot's lyrics to his solo songs... check out some of Hagar's stuff.
There's just a difference. I don't know what to tell you. Freddie Mercury could write to most incoherent nutty stuff ("FRIED CHICKEN!") and still pull it off. Hagar just doesn't seem to be able to do it. Call it personal taste, or too much Axl-influence, but i've always thought that lyrics should be DEEPLY self-retrospective and a little part of your soul. Talkin' 'bout butter on biscuits and gettin' that fat ass in the mornin' just doesn't do it for me.
If you can't bring those kind of lyrics out of yourself at that time. You get another band member to do something and you fine-hone if they're not a lyricist, or you hire out a writer. Desmond Child knows how to hammer out something sap-worthy and pussy magnetic within seconds.
- metallex78
- Rep: 194
Re: Chickenfoot Thread
I love Sexy Little Thing, especially the harmony vocals with Mike and Sammy, it's almost classic Van Hagar rocker, and I dug the Van Hagar rockers, so I guess I'm in the minority there...
Also dig Learning to Fall. I've been melancholy moods, and listened to that song with headphones on, and it just kinda hits me, in all it's simplicity.
I agree that the album is a real grower, like Monkey said. I thought it was pretty bland, aside form the singles, when I first heard it. But it's solid throughout, and interesting enough for me to be interested in a follow up, which I'm actually really looking forward to.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Chickenfoot Thread
The new album is now called Chickenfoot 3 not Chickenfoot 4
It looks like Chickenfoot is playing numerical games again, stating that their new album will now be called ‘Chickenfoot III.’ Yes, this is the same album that was going to be called ‘Chickenfoot IV,’ and yes, it is in fact their second album.
According to BraveWords, this new revelation was made as part of the announcement of a new distribution deal with eOne Music. The album is still slated to be released in late September, and we’re still expecting the first single, ‘Bigfoot,’ to arrive sometime later this month.
It was only a few days ago that the band announced the album would NOT be called ‘Chickenfoot IV,’ even though the reason vocalist Sammy Hagar had given for that title, “We took a giant step on this record,” made a lot of sense.
One clue to the new ‘Chickenfoot III’ name could possibly be interpreted from today’s announcement, specifically, the part in which Hagar reveals that both the album’s cover art and it’s first video will employ 3-D technology.
Source: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/chickenf … title-iii/
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Chickenfoot Thread
Classic Rock groove - reminds me a little of melbourne band electric mary - although that's probably because they're also classic rock style.
- metallex78
- Rep: 194
Re: Chickenfoot Thread
Not blown away by that sound bite, sounds solid though. That riff almost sounds a bit Audioslave-ish too.
