New idea: What if he listened to a producer and also put his vocals lower

[topleybird]

[ourruseoffools]

or, alternately, we could listen to real music instead

[houseofglass11]

Billy? Listen to a suggestion from… anyone? That would be a cold day in hell.

[Squish Squash]

His vocal change never bothered me much until yesterday and now I can’t unhear it and it’s infuriating. I never liked his music post 2000 though it sounds like elevator music. Then again I have listened to every album post 2000 like a grand total of once or twice and often while doing something else.

Also yes D’Arcy is the key. It is known.

[Spira|_]

Yes. Darcy had to be the key.
I already gave up on good vocals.
New song sounds like Black Sabbath 70s.

[Squish Squash]

Originally Posted by Spira|_

Yes. Darcy had to be the key.
I already gave up on good vocals.
New song sounds like Black Sabbath 70s.

Black Sabbath was incredible in the 70s how dare you

[ilikeplanets]

I consider this a personal attack, topley

[ourruseoffools]

If you don't remember me
If you don't notice me
I'm laying down on the ground
You step around and make no sound
Empty sky
Fading light

Heaven knows you must be sent
The way the moon compliments
Your lazy eye, falling sigh
The universe it can't deny
Guiding star, beating heart
I believe you'll never know it
The whole world turns when you show it
It's true, the secret you

I believe when the story is told
It'll all come out
But you never know
It's you, the secret you

If you find a melody
A string of words that can't be seen
They bring you down, tear you down
Drifting thru the lost and found
Disappear into thin air

I believe you'll never know it
The whole world turns when you show it
It's true, the secret you

I believe when the story is told
It'll all come out
But you never know
It's you, the secret you

I'm laying down on the ground
I lift my head, there's nothing left
Terrified I recognize
The whole world seems to come alive
Your open smile, stay a while

[brothahi4L]

What if bolly just wrote songs again. Was stumbling over some gravity demos( aeroplane flies high reissue) and each fuckn so g demo has a better riff or vibe than this boring beguiled.

Imo the prob is that they dont work on songs together....

Good if bill wants to go further, but he 's repeating himsrlf for the last coupl years( soundwise, riffwise)... Even solara is better.

Moreover he had a feeling for good catchy melodies....but that is gone for the most part.

No producer, no new production could save a weak song like be geil

[djzap]

The volume of the vocals are actually perfect on the newest single Beguiled. They are not buried, but they are not sitting on top of the mix like the other 2.0 albums. Actually a fairly perfect level, so hopefully we can expect that balance throughout the new album.

[eviltimeban]

I agree, the vocal level is just right on the new songs. It means you can't quite hear his vibrato quite as much.

I remember asking him on IG (in the early days, this question would've got me blocked a few months later) if he would ever return to the soft, sighing singing he used to do. He replied "used to do? You mean for the alien took over this body"? Typical response.

[topleybird]

Originally Posted by ilikeplanets

I consider this a personal attack, topley

It's really a personal attack on the entire board since like Zeitgeist, or maybe earlier. The same few talking points keep coming up again, and again, and again, and it's like the person posting it thinks it's a brand-new idea, even if they themselves have posted it like 100 previous times over the decades. I'm not letting myself off the hook here, to be clear. I just feel like we ran out of things to talk about a very long time ago. The songs keep coming and we keep falling into "Ugh, it sounds this way because he's producing it himself and we just need Butch Vig back" and it's like, you could very well be cutting and pasting your own post from the last million times you heard a new song. I'm seeing new commentary and new ideas, too, but I feel like it's getting drowned out by the same few thoughts over and over.

Originally Posted by eviltimeban

He replied "used to do? You mean for the alien took over this body"? Typical response.

Hold up, hold up, hold up. Huge if true. The shapeshifter. The Grays. Baby, I'm seeing the puzzle fall together right in front of my eyes!

[ourruseoffools]

Well I mean, he finally listened… the vocals are indeed lower in the mix and guess what, it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever

[ninsp]

Zeitgeist was an album that clearly could’ve benefited from vocals lower in the mix. This new song proves that he mixed his vocals much better but his new singing style is just so fucking awful that it doesn’t matter. His vox don’t bother me as much in Beguiled as they do in Cyr because they’re mixed much lower. First time he’s done that post 2000, maybe?

[VoxUpDoc]

The mix is maybe slightly better, but the song is really grating.
It's just one not particularly great riff, a stilted drum beat and... repeated.

Still, 30 tracks to go...

[brothahi4L]

Mix mox max wix...jesus..his singing became a pain in the ass...and so did his way of getting his listeners by the balls, in writing EMOTIONAL songs again

[eviltimeban]

Hopefully the heavy 1/3 of the album has some fuzz tones rather than that thin metallic sound.

[Ram27]

+++

YES; could never put it into words. that's the difference. shitty nasally 'neo-SP' metal tone vs hummer fuzz [old + good == BAD]

[Shadaloo]

Originally Posted by ourruseoffools

Well I mean, he finally listened… the vocals are indeed lower in the mix and guess what, it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever

Their levels won't prevent listeners from zeroing in on them and hearing all the vocal tics he's accumulated through the years.

[johncg]

Billy hasn’t really listened to anyone since the MCIS era.

He made his best music early in his career when he was scared out of his mind, desperate to succeed, and truly paying attention to feedback from his audience, D’Arcy, other musicians, and producers like Butch and Flood.

Post-MCIS, that fear/desperation has been flipped into total narcissism in the form of the belief that the genius of his early triumph was all his own, and as a result he has been critically unable to understand the extent to which his openness to the contributions of everyone around him helped make him a success.

It’s a tale as old as time watching the poor man utterly faceplant in the ruin of his own grandiosity for the past 30 years.

And god bless Netphoria, cause apparently I’m still mad about it.

[ourruseoffools]

Originally Posted by johncg

Post-MCIS, that fear/desperation has been flipped into total narcissism in the form of the belief that the genius of his early triumph was all his own, and as a result he has been critically unable to understand the extent to which his openness to the contributions of everyone around him helped make him a success.

during adore he took flood and darcy's advice regarding the song selection and then made the final say himself informed by their opinions... this is how it should be... at least two tiers of criticism before he's allowed to do anything with the smashing pumpkins brand

[johncg]

Originally Posted by ourruseoffools

during adore he took flood and darcy's advice regarding the song selection and then made the final say himself informed by their opinions... this is how it should be... at least two tiers of criticism before he's allowed to do anything with the smashing pumpkins brand

Fair point though. Very true. Having said all that too, MACHINA 1 is actually my favorite Billy album.

[Joey Goldberg]

what if the clouds refused 2 rain?

[Squish Squash]

What if what if wasn't true?

[johncg]

Lover, you’re strange

[Big Truck05]

Originally Posted by brothahi4L

What if bolly just wrote songs again. Was stumbling over some gravity demos( aeroplane flies high reissue) and each fuckn so g demo has a better riff or vibe than this boring beguiled.

Imo the prob is that they dont work on songs together....

Good if bill wants to go further, but he 's repeating himsrlf for the last coupl years( soundwise, riffwise)... Even solara is better.

Moreover he had a feeling for good catchy melodies....but that is gone for the most part.

No producer, no new production could save a weak song like be geil

Everything went South when Billy wrote his poetry book.

Also... if you were going to make an album dedicated to the era's you're aiming for, wouldn't you consult the people who helped you make/ produce it? Maybe, even bring them in?

[Big Truck05]

Originally Posted by Squish Squash

What if what if wasn't true?

Bro... what if Billy is like 90 years old and announces an album based on CYR! hahahaha.

[slunken]

lmao

[ourruseoffools]

Originally Posted by Big Truck05

an album dedicated to the era's you're aiming for

its not even dedicated to those eras.... its literally a continuation where the absolute first story event is that glass, the main character from songs we know and love such as everlasting gaze and heavy metal machine, decides to hurl himself into the sun

[slunken]

what if is lost can never be saved?