best chorus?

[creediscool17]

so far all we have heard is the choruses for most of the songs, im gonna say overcome is by far the best, second is thousand faces. everything else sounds kinda mehhh. im holding out for some good solos/ breakdowns hopefully. after hearing all the verizon ringtone previews stapp's vocals/melodys all sound almost the same on these songs none of them really standout to me. "song you sing" and "suddenly" are almost identical

[nagpo]

I like Bread of shame. I've heard it live(on youtube). It sounds pretty good. I haven't heard enough of the songs yet. It's to early to judge based on low quality 18 second bits of the chorus.

[pricey.21]

I like "song you sing" and "time". I would say "bread of shame" is the worst 1 that I have heard but I still think it's a good song.

[King Oropher]

Don't give up on us! Don't give up on love!
If my life is the price, then my life it will cost you

[creediscool17]

I like Bread of shame. I've heard it live(on youtube). It sounds pretty good. I haven't heard enough of the songs yet. It's to early to judge based on low quality 18 second bits of the chorus.


i forgot they are playing bread of shame live? guitar solo? so far we have 3 for sure i believe. (overcome, full circle, thousand faces)

[BSC]

They've also played Rain live acousticly, I don't think there's a guitar solo in Bread of Shame but theres a nasty guitar riff. Stapp's vocals is a bit of a letdown in most of the videos of that song though..

I'm liking all of them, some less than others, but I can't choose a best one at the moment

[creediscool17]

They've also played Rain live acousticly, I don't think there's a guitar solo in Bread of Shame but theres a nasty guitar riff. Stapp's vocals is a bit of a letdown in most of the videos of that song though..

I'm liking all of them, some less than others, but I can't choose a best one at the moment

its hard to choose a best one when they all pretty much sound the same. my own prison and human clay didn't have much variety in the guitar tone and drum beats but all the songs were solid and somewhat unique with their melody compared to the others....

this new stuff is like human clay in that it mostly has the same tone, yet the melodies are all similar as well. i mean faceless man was a great song, so was "what if"... but if every song had the same sound as faceless man, that album would of sucked.

weathered had a lot of variety in it and thats what makes it their most dynamic album, and their best, despite a few commercial songs like "my sack of rice" and "one last breath" they were still good because they had substance. Bullets was their best heavy song they ever did, along with "whos got my back" which is their best song, its boderline genius...

new stuff has just fallen flat... i mean all we've heard from most of them is the chorus, but that used to be creeds strength, unless tremonti is pulling out some serious guitar work, on the intro's outros and verses, this album just isnt gonna be that great

[creve]

I would be interested to know how long the band were in the studio and how long they took writing each album out of interest if anyone knows.

Because I imagine it was at least double the time they spent on this one, and I have a feeling that it might show.

Steve.

[rabidgopher04]

Weathered was written in 2 or 3 weeks.

[Creed009]

"Weathered" was by far the worst album that Creed ever put out. The hard songs they put out like "Bullets" and "Freedom Fighter" had no melody at all and were simply screamers. I'm glad that this album is shaping up to be nothing like Weathered. From what I can tell, the songs on this CD are going to be great, and it could end up being their best CD ever.

[in reality]

I agree, Creed009. Even though Weathered was an awesome cd, I think this one will outdo it. Howard Benson produced Daughtry and knows how to produce music for today. Weathered was a one of a kind cd for me, but I always like the way modern rock changes over time. I'm glad Creed is showing this progression.

[nagpo]

Weathered was written in 2 or 3 weeks.
You're going to have to back that one up. Weathered may not have been the best, but in not way was it a money-grab album.

[creve]

Weathered was written in 2-3 weeks? That's impressive.

As much as there are some to avoid on there such as Freedom Fighter and Lullaby, there was some pretty impressive songs on there including the likes of 'Who's Got My Back' which is, at least, stunningly produced if not nicely written in some people's eyes.

I expected it to have been written over a more expansive time than that. I also don't think that Weathered was a money-grab album, not by a long shot, but that isn't what's being implied. I was asking about how long it took to write the albums based on song-quality because, as much as 16 second clips of choruses in poor quality are not the best guide, the songs sound a bit samesy and lacklustre to me.

I imagine that Human Clay took a bit longer to write / produce, because that's their most ambitious album if you ask me.

Steve.

[shadyogrady]

OK, I must chime in. The thought of Creed and guitar solo in the same sentence blows me away. That's what I hate most about post Hair band of the 80's music. Listen to any Van Halen album and you'll hear a guitar solo in every song. I've yet to hear a Tremonti guitar solo on any of their studio albums, and of the 6 live recordings I have; he's yet to play one.

Creed is great at what they do and the type of music they play. Each CD has it own unique qualities to admire. I think Human Clay was the best and MOP second. When speaking of musical progression and how bands change over time, they often disappoint old fans and appeal to new ones. Take Queensryche for example; their first five albums were very progressive with high screaming vocals then came Promise Land which wasn't bad but was definitely moving in a different direction. Everything after that had poor sales album and the fan base diminished.

Another example is Metallica. Compare Kill'em all or Ride the Lightening to Load or Reload. Completely different with a distinct progression. Not that its bad but with music progression you lose and gain fan base.

I tend to liken Creed to 3 Doors Down, in that their guitar rifts and vocal melodies aren't very dramatic in range but are extremely creative in that realm. I would love to hear Tremonti break out a guitar solo similar to Eddie Van Halen, Steve Lukather of Toto, George Lynch of Dokken, Neil Schon of Journey, or Randy Rhodes of Ozzy. I'm just not convinced he has the capability to be that kind of guitarist or have the creativeness to put one flat square in the middle of a song. He's good at what he does but guitar solo's don't seem to be his forte.

I have a few live recordings from this year’s mini tour and I like what I hear in regards to the new material. The lyrical depth and chorus structure seems to fit with songs across all three albums. I do think they have progressed musically though. Creed is one of my favorite post 80's and Grunge era bands of all time. I'm extremely excited to hear the new album and have hopes to see them on the second U.S. tour leg. Time will tell for both. Ten days and counting.

Shady

[josha31042]

Have you heard Tremonti outside of Creed?
The guy is one of the most underrated guitarists in the world.
There were solos in Creed's music. Stand Here With Me is a good example.

If you listen to Tremonti in Alter Bridge, you can really hear him show off some of his skills. Better yet, look him up on YouTube doing his instrumental song; Ahavo Rabo Taco Salad.

[pricey.21]

Am i the only 1 who's favourate album is weathered?

[nagpo]

Ahavo Rabo Taco Salad.
I was about to recommend that myself.

[Dark_Knight]

Top 3 for me right now...

1. A Thousand Faces
2. Fear
3. Away In Silence

[creediscool17]

"Weathered" was by far the worst album that Creed ever put out. The hard songs they put out like "Bullets" and "Freedom Fighter" had no melody at all and were simply screamers. I'm glad that this album is shaping up to be nothing like Weathered. From what I can tell, the songs on this CD are going to be great, and it could end up being their best CD ever.


bullets and freedom fighter had no melody? just because its not the gay melody that you hear on the radio doesn't mean it isn't melody. there is such a thing as instrumental melody in case you didn't know... some of us actually enjoy hearing a guitar riff.. there really wasn't any screaming in either of those songs also, scott stapp has never really done that. Weathered had some shoe-in singles, but it was a pretty ballsy album.. an 8 minute epic featuring 2 minutes of indian chants... their heaviest song to date starts the album, and their slowest song to date ends it.

it was by far the most dynamic album they made. a lot of people can't be happy with it because they want every song to sound the same for some reason people can't accept too much variety in their music.

[nagpo]

bullets and freedom fighter had no melody? just because its not the gay melody that you hear on the radio doesn't mean it isn't melody. there is such a thing as instrumental melody in case you didn't know... some of us actually enjoy hearing a guitar riff.. there really wasn't any screaming in either of those songs also, scott stapp has never really done that. Weathered had some shoe-in singles, but it was a pretty ballsy album.. an 8 minute epic featuring 2 minutes of indian chants... their heaviest song to date starts the album, and their slowest song to date ends it.

it was by far the most dynamic album they made. a lot of people can't be happy with it because they want every song to sound the same for some reason people can't accept too much variety in their music.
I actually agree with you on this. Very good points. The only time I think Stapp has ever 'screamed' on an album was on his solo act in the song "reach out". he received mixed reactions for it though.

[Icedmofo]

Technically the first line of bullets after the spoken intro was screamed, but he could never ACTUALLY do it except maybe the first time they played it live lol.

I agree with creediscool as well, it's ballsy to put that much range on an album. Lullaby was trashed for the longest time as a "non-song" on the album.

To be able to start with Bullets and end with Lullaby and have the album actually flow decently is an accomplishment in my book, the fact that it was commercially successful is even more of an accomplishment.

What i loved about the Weathered album was without even knowing what the singles were, i got hooked on One Last Breath and Don't Stop Dancing immediately upon my first listen through. Sure they (especially OLB) became overplayed singles, but in the time before that they were some really amazing songs.

Personally i hated Scott's solo album, he was flat out...well...flat in some songs (Reach Out was the worst), but the lyrics and melodies in comparison were just mundane compared to the worst of his creed songs (in my opinion anyway).

The only song i even got close to thinking was decent was Surround Me, and that was only for the lyrics in the verses. Other than that it was just meh.

[Dark_Knight]

^I'm with ya. I thought "The Great Divide" & "Relearn Love" we're Scott's best solo songs vocally & melodically though. I think if he had used better musicians & not done so much damage to his voice while recording it, I think it could have turned out pretty decent.

[Icedmofo]

One thing stapp has never been able to learn until perhaps now is what his limits are as a vocalist.

I would love to be able to sing as high as Myles can. Sometimes i play around with it in my writing, but at the end of the day i know that my voice doesn't sound good up there and it's definitely not healthy for me to be singing it, so i don't do it.

A smart writer has to sit down after he finishes a song and say "ok, can i sing this 8 times a week and still be able to do it again the next week without needing a shot of prednizone in my neck"

You can't tell me Stapp sat down after writing the chorus and especially the bridge of One Last Breath and said "yeah, no problem". (well maybe he did, but he SHOULDNT have is my point).

If you listen to some of the songs on the cd's and then listen to him live, it's clear that they either pitch adjusted his voice or he was onyl able to hit it once every blue moon.

It's sort of the plague of rock vocalists who aren't trained. It's 50/50. They either have vocal chords of steel that just will not break down no matter what they do, or they write out of their range, strain their vocal chords, and then trash their voices in 5-6 years.

Very few actually think of the longevity of their careers. The first sign of intelligence Stapp has shown in this regard was to downtune the set for the tour. He still doesnt sing half the notes of the recorded versions of the songs, to which i say "then why write it in a way you can't sing it live?"

It's IMO the main reason they brough ERock on the tour, not to give tremonti support on rhythm, tremo is a beast and if the shit hit the fan he could cover rhythm and lead like he used to. They brough ERock on to sing backup on the parts that Stapp can't hit. That high vocal line in the recorded version of Overcome that Stapp sings, he can't sing live, so ERock does.

Ironically, the songs that sound the best are the ones that Stapp wrote to actually fit his vocal range. A Thousand Faces is by leaps and bounds my favorite song, but that's because Stapp wrote his vocal line lower in his register where he can get some power behind it and let Tremonti sing the high part because he CAN and SOUNDS GOOD there.

[Dark_Knight]

One thing stapp has never been able to learn until perhaps now is what his limits are as a vocalist.

I would love to be able to sing as high as Myles can. Sometimes i play around with it in my writing, but at the end of the day i know that my voice doesn't sound good up there and it's definitely not healthy for me to be singing it, so i don't do it.

A smart writer has to sit down after he finishes a song and say "ok, can i sing this 8 times a week and still be able to do it again the next week without needing a shot of prednizone in my neck"

You can't tell me Stapp sat down after writing the chorus and especially the bridge of One Last Breath and said "yeah, no problem". (well maybe he did, but he SHOULDNT have is my point).

If you listen to some of the songs on the cd's and then listen to him live, it's clear that they either pitch adjusted his voice or he was onyl able to hit it once every blue moon.

It's sort of the plague of rock vocalists who aren't trained. It's 50/50. They either have vocal chords of steel that just will not break down no matter what they do, or they write out of their range, strain their vocal chords, and then trash their voices in 5-6 years.

Very few actually think of the longevity of their careers. The first sign of intelligence Stapp has shown in this regard was to downtune the set for the tour. He still doesnt sing half the notes of the recorded versions of the songs, to which i say "then why write it in a way you can't sing it live?"

It's IMO the main reason they brough ERock on the tour, not to give tremonti support on rhythm, tremo is a beast and if the shit hit the fan he could cover rhythm and lead like he used to. They brough ERock on to sing backup on the parts that Stapp can't hit. That high vocal line in the recorded version of Overcome that Stapp sings, he can't sing live, so ERock does.

Ironically, the songs that sound the best are the ones that Stapp wrote to actually fit his vocal range. A Thousand Faces is by leaps and bounds my favorite song, but that's because Stapp wrote his vocal line lower in his register where he can get some power behind it and let Tremonti sing the high part because he CAN and SOUNDS GOOD there.
Again agree lol I don't know if you've seen/heard the Delray show but he was ON that show with little error...it was basically the Stapp of old imo. so I still have faith he can recover...I'm just still shocked he went from sounding so great to sounding so FLAT in a few months. At least he's a little wiser, working with a coach now & attempting to use technique.

[creediscool17]

One thing stapp has never been able to learn until perhaps now is what his limits are as a vocalist.

I would love to be able to sing as high as Myles can. Sometimes i play around with it in my writing, but at the end of the day i know that my voice doesn't sound good up there and it's definitely not healthy for me to be singing it, so i don't do it.

A smart writer has to sit down after he finishes a song and say "ok, can i sing this 8 times a week and still be able to do it again the next week without needing a shot of prednizone in my neck"

You can't tell me Stapp sat down after writing the chorus and especially the bridge of One Last Breath and said "yeah, no problem". (well maybe he did, but he SHOULDNT have is my point).

If you listen to some of the songs on the cd's and then listen to him live, it's clear that they either pitch adjusted his voice or he was onyl able to hit it once every blue moon.

It's sort of the plague of rock vocalists who aren't trained. It's 50/50. They either have vocal chords of steel that just will not break down no matter what they do, or they write out of their range, strain their vocal chords, and then trash their voices in 5-6 years.

Very few actually think of the longevity of their careers. The first sign of intelligence Stapp has shown in this regard was to downtune the set for the tour. He still doesnt sing half the notes of the recorded versions of the songs, to which i say "then why write it in a way you can't sing it live?"

It's IMO the main reason they brough ERock on the tour, not to give tremonti support on rhythm, tremo is a beast and if the shit hit the fan he could cover rhythm and lead like he used to. They brough ERock on to sing backup on the parts that Stapp can't hit. That high vocal line in the recorded version of Overcome that Stapp sings, he can't sing live, so ERock does.

Ironically, the songs that sound the best are the ones that Stapp wrote to actually fit his vocal range. A Thousand Faces is by leaps and bounds my favorite song, but that's because Stapp wrote his vocal line lower in his register where he can get some power behind it and let Tremonti sing the high part because he CAN and SOUNDS GOOD there.


absolutely... im already noticing on the new material from what we've heard that stapp has far beyond pushed his limits... some of the stuff i've heard is just bad, and im talking in the studio, not live. it's like hes trying too hard or something... it was best said when i heard "overcome" should of been called "overdone"... stapp nails the chorus in that song thanks to auto-tune, but the versus sound so off... "ill be damned fighting you" line is just too much, it sounds odd.

[rangers41394]

my favorite chorus/clip is definitely a 1000 faces no doubt about...i think it has the potential to be up there with best creeds songs of all time i cant wait to here the entire thing...however full circle sounded pretty good...compared to what it sounded like live...i think it was just an absolute total mess live but thats my opinion...but i think the studio version will win alot of fans over...bread of shame is definitely one of their heavier songs and i kind of like that...going down a different route...i think it sounds pretty good and i love tremonitis riffs in it...now ive listened to the on my sleeve clip and i gotta say im am really digging that chorus...i think it might be really catchy...of course you still gotta listen to the entire song but so far i like it...might be my favorite behind 1000 faces...suddenly sounds just alright...i dont know still gotta here more of it...songs that are just not doing it for me are fear and good fight...dont think they have a catchy/good chorus at all...sorry jarod i know u like fear but just doesnt float my boat...but overall it will probably be a good album...cant wait to hear the entire songs...then we can judge!

[nagpo]

absolutely... im already noticing on the new material from what we've heard that stapp has far beyond pushed his limits... some of the stuff i've heard is just bad, and im talking in the studio, not live. it's like hes trying too hard or something... it was best said when i heard "overcome" should of been called "overdone"... stapp nails the chorus in that song thanks to auto-tune, but the versus sound so off... "ill be damned fighting you" line is just too much, it sounds odd.
I would like proof that he uses auto-tune otherwise that is just BS. Go listen to lil wayne or kanye west, they use auto-tune and you can tell because their voice sounds like computers. Stapp doesnt sound like that at all. So unless you can back up your claim that he uses it, then this is just stapp bashing to me.

I'll agree that his voice is not the same as it was and that maybe he can only hit some notes every once in a while. Maybe those notes are really hard for him to hit and singing live certainly is not going to help. But stapp, to me anyways, has to much self-respect as a singer to use auto-tune. And personally, I'd rather seem him retire before he gets to the point where he needs to use it. Because I also have much respect for him as a singer.

[Icedmofo]

They are auto tuning nagpo, i hate to say it. I wish i could get into the album tech stuff to prove it, all i can really go by is my ear.

It's hard for me to describe what the sound of pitch correction is in a recording. There is the way too much pitch correction like on kanye and stuff, but when they do it in pop and rock it's a little more subtle.

The only way to really describe it is that the voice just sounds TOO pure and it has a weird mix quality to it. If you listen to stapp's live voice and then listen to the AOL sessions, the AOL sessions are rife with pitch correction, even tremonti never sounds like that and he's usually on his game pitch wise.

They layer his voice a bit in the album to hide it, but it's definitely pitch corrected. Honestly, the best proof of this is that he can't even come close to hitting many of the pitches live.


I don't mean to say this to bash stapp, but it's the truth and sometimes the truth blows.

[Dark_Knight]

Definitely hard to explain but it's being used Nagpo... they also used a bit on Walmart Soundcheck.

[Icedmofo]

And they didn't use it on the Houston concert performance, so if you need the difference, listen to a song from houston, a song from walmart sound check, and a song from AOL all back to back.

[XALTERBRIDGEX]

Definitely hard to explain but it's being used Nagpo... they also used a bit on Walmart Soundcheck.


ya if you listen close Stapp's voice is real scratchy, some pitch correction was used I think..

[nagpo]

Listened to a thousand faces live from the houston show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr3nYQCWB3U&feature=related

He still sounds good. At some points he didint sound right. But overall it was good.

[Creed009]

bullets and freedom fighter had no melody? just because its not the gay melody that you hear on the radio doesn't mean it isn't melody. there is such a thing as instrumental melody in case you didn't know... some of us actually enjoy hearing a guitar riff.. there really wasn't any screaming in either of those songs also, scott stapp has never really done that. Weathered had some shoe-in singles, but it was a pretty ballsy album.. an 8 minute epic featuring 2 minutes of indian chants... their heaviest song to date starts the album, and their slowest song to date ends it.

it was by far the most dynamic album they made. a lot of people can't be happy with it because they want every song to sound the same for some reason people can't accept too much variety in their music.

If you compare a song like "Bullets" to their other hard songs like What If, Unforgiven, Young Grow Old, etc there is a clear difference. These songs have much more of a melodic chorus than Bullets. I think that Creed's sound really changed when Brian Marshall left, and not for the better. All of their hard songs simply lost the melody that they once had. It's amazing the difference that one person can make.

[creediscool17]

i gotta tell you i dont think brian marshall has anything to do with the melodies in creeds music or vocals. mark tremonti and scott stapp write all the songs together, and not to dog on brian marshall but he is just another bass player that does whats called "shadowing" he basically just plays behind whatever mark is playing. i actually thought the bass playing on weathered was the best which of course mark played on that album. "whos got my back" comes to mind

flip even said when making black bird that him and brian just pretty much follow what mark does. musically mark is the leader of the band no doubt

[Icedmofo]

I gotta disagree with you there, the bass work that marshall did on my own prison and human clay is brilliant. All Mark did on weathered was follow the chord changes.

Listen to the bass line in songs like Torn, Say I, and Is This the End, it's good shit.