VELVET REVOLVER DISCOGRAPHY & VIDEOS

1.Contraband (2004)


2. Libertad (2007)

Contraband

Released June 8, 2004, Length 60:19, Label RCA

1.Sucker Train Blues 4:28
2.Do It for the Kids 3:56

3.Big Machine 4:26

4.Illegal i Song 4:18

5.Spectacle 3:42

6.Fall to Pieces 4:35

7.Headspace 3:43

8.Superhuman 4:16

9.Set Me Free 4:08

10.You Got No Right 5:35

11.Slither 4:08

12.Dirty Little Thing 3:58

13.Loving the Alien 5:49

Contraband is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Velvet Revolver, released on June 8, 2004 by RCA Records. A commercial success, Contraband debuted at number one on the American Billboard 200 chart and was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA.

Background and recording

Velvet Revolver formed when three Guns N' Roses musicians - Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum(drums) - combined to play at a benefit concert for fellow musician Randy Castillo in 2002. They decided to form another band and recruited guitarist Dave Kushner who had previously played with Suicidal Tendencies, Wasted Youth, and Dave Navarro. Kushner had gone to school with Slash and had worked with McKagan before. The quartet was known as The Project pending the selection of a permanent name.

The quartet then set about recruiting a lead singer with the recruitment process filmed by VH1. Several lead singers auditioned including Josh Todd of Buckcherry, Kelly Shaefer of Neurotica and Travis Meeks of Days of the New but they were unsuccessful. Scott Weiland had become friends with McKagan and had played on the same bill as Kushner when Stone Temple Pilots were known as Mighty Joe Young and Kushner was in the Electric Love Hogs. Weiland heard the material and offered his services as the lead singer and the band clicked. Slash suggested the name Revolver for the project and Weiland suggested the addition of 'Black Velvet' to the title. The 'Black' was dropped.

Velvet Revolver recorded its first track "Set Me Free" for The Hulk soundtrack in 2003, along with a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money" for The Italian Job. The band played their first live gig at the El Rey in Los Angeles in July 2003. It recorded Contraband in the latter part of 2003 with recording complicated by Weiland's court appearances for drug charges and his subsequent sentencing to undertake rehabilitation.

In February 2005, RCA Records released a "Tour Edition" of the album in Europe, which included a bonus disc containing three songs: "Surrender" (originally by Cheap Trick), "No More, No More" (originally by Aerosmith), and an acoustic version of "Fall to Pieces".

The United States release of the disc uses the MediaMax CD-3 system for copy protection, while Macrovision CDS-200 is used for the European release.

Chart success

Contraband debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 256,000 copies in its first week of release.Notably, this marked the best-ever debut for a new rock artist in the SoundScan era. The album would later sell over 2.9 million copies in the United States, and 4 million worldwide.

The first single, "Slither", topped a composite world modern rock chart in June, and later hit #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart for 8 weeks. The follow-up, "Fall to Pieces", was a major crossover hit that reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart for 11 weeks.

In 2005, Velvet Revolver won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance, an award Weiland had previously won for the Stone Temple Pilots song "Plush" in 1994. At the ceremony, they were asked to play the music for a cover of The Beatles' "Across the Universe". The live recording was a hit on iTunes, with all proceeds going to charity. In January 2005, Velvet Revolver were also asked to play the music for a cover of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven". The single was to aid victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, with all proceeds going to Save the Children Foundation.

Critical Response

Metacritic.com has given Contraband an average score of 65 based on 14 reviews, indicating that the critical response has been "generally favorable".

Mojo rated the album as "a perpetually guilty pleasure." (June 2004 page 107) Q magazine said it was "astonishingly good" rating it as four stars. (Jul 2004, page 127)

Rolling Stone rated it as 4 stars out of 5 said "it is a rare, fine thing: the sound of the perfect A&R sales pitch turning into a real band. Now we can find out if these guys can stay together, and go somewhere new." Best tracks: "Sucker Train Blues", "Slither", "Do It For The Kids", "Big Machine", "Fall to Pieces"

ShakingThrough.net rated it as 3.5 stars although it said: "Contraband, the debut result of said pairing, never does transmute its elements into something new and exciting. Mostly, it sounds like no more and a little less than one might hope for from such a union." Best Tracks: "Slither", "Spectacle", "Headspace", "Superhuman"

Entertainment Weekly rated it as 67 saying "Even at its best, Contraband feels secondhand, and much of it is also hobbled by a disconnect between band and singer."

Allmusic rated it as 3 stars out of 5 saying "With Contraband, Velvet Revolver has pulled off something tidy, fashioning music that manages both hedonism and maturity. It upholds legacies while grading a new route." Best tracks: "Big Machine", "Fall to Pieces" "Slither"

Blender said it was "A showcase for Weiland's vocals" (#27, page 148). Playlouder rated it as three candles out of five saying it sounded more like Stone Temple Pilots and "anyone who'd hoped for Guns N' Roses mark II (or III) will be very seriously disappointed." Best track "Fall to Pieces"

Libertad

Released July 3, 2007, Length 51:48, Label RCA

1.Let It Roll 2:32
2.She Mine 3:24
3.Get Out the Door 3:14
4.She Builds Quick Machines 4:03

5.The Last Fight 4:03

6.Pills, Demons & Etc. 2:54

7.American Man 3:56

8.Mary Mary 4:33

9.Just Sixteen 3:58

10.Can't Get It Out of My Head  (Electric Light Orchestra cover written by Jeff Lynne) 3:57

11.For a Brother 3:26

12.Spay 3:06

13.Gravedancer" (contains hidden track "Don't Drop That Dime" from 4:40) 8:42

Libertad is the second studio album by American hard rock band Velvet Revolver, released on July 3, 2007. The name is Spanish and translates to "liberty" or "freedom" in English. According to a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, along with the Stone Temple Pilots albums Core and Stone Temple Pilots, Libertad is one of only three albums lead singer Scott Weiland has written while sober.

Libertad was the last Velvet Revolver album to feature Weiland on vocals, after his departure from the band in April 2008. Libertad is also the last record the band released on RCA Records.

Release and Promotion

Velvet Revolver originally announced their plans for a second album in late 2005, when lead singer Scott Weiland said that the band was planning on recording a concept album. Although it is not certain how concrete the concept album plans were, they were eventually scrapped and the band began to work with famed producer Rick Rubin. However, the bandmembers felt that Rubin was not a good fit for the band and thus parted ways with him. In December 2006, Velvet Revolver began working with producer Brendan O'Brien, who had previously produced albums for Stone Temple Pilots, Weiland's former band. As Scott Weiland commented in Kerrang! magazine, "We were really excited about six months ago, when we first began writing. Then we really kind of flat-lined for a while, We didn't know which way we were going. Once Brendan (O'Brien) came on board, it was kind of like a shot in the arm. It was a new energy." Recording began on December 11 and continued through December, January, and February. The process was documented by a series of video blogs, or "Vlogs", available on the band's website.

On June 26, 2007, Velvet Revolver released a sneak peek of Libertad in its entirety.

Libertad was a released as an Enhanced-CD which includes a 10-minute video documentary called "Re-Evolution: The Making of Libertad" (Directed by Rocco Guarino). A deluxe Best Buy edition was also released which includes a DVD containing a 30-minute documentary called "Tierra Roja, Sangre Roja" (Directed by Rocco Guarino), that documented the band's journey across South America.

To promote the album, Velvet Revolver embarked on a South American tour with Aerosmith. The final performance saw 70,000 fans in attendance. Shortly thereafter, VR embarked on a North American club tour, revealing several new songs. The band also played major music festivals such as the Download Festival. On August 2007, they began a North American arena tour with Alice in Chains, and later toured Europe and Asia.

Songs from the album were featured at X Games XIII as being the official background music to the event. The track "Let It Roll" is also used as the official theme song for the 2007 WWE Diva Search. The song "American Man" has also been used in promotional ads for the popular drama Prison Break.

Reception

The album debuted at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 92,000 copies in its first week; as of October 12, 2007, it has sold 222,000 copies and had fallen off the charts. Compared to the multi-platinum success of Contraband, Libertad was seen as a commercial disappointment for the band. The album is certified Gold in New Zealand. Upon its release, Libertad received generally positive reviews and was said to possibly be "THE rock record of the summer" according to the Associated Press. Rolling Stone also gave the album a good review, stating that "there is plenty of thrill in the fuzz-lined hard-rubber bends of Slash's guitar breaks and the way bassist Duff McKagan keeps time, like a cop swinging a billy club" and that the album had "honest depth."

Cover

The album's cover features a stylized 10 Chilean peso coin from Chile produced from 1973 to 1990. The coin is an allusion to the Coup d'état in Chile in 1973.During the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, the coin bore the image of the winged female figure. To her side, in small Roman numerals, the date of the coup d'état is marked, and underneath the word Libertad (Freedom, meant as freedom from communism) is written in capitals. After the return of democracy, a design with the portrait of Bernardo O'Higgins was used.

It was actually later stated by Slash in an interview in September 2007 by 102.1 The Edge in Dallas that the image came from a friend's necklace. Slash reported that he had no idea what the significance of the image was until a concert in Brazil.