An honest review of your song

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:42 pm

hey man, nice work on that review!

those were the first songs we recorded and since that we've worked on many aspects, including sum of the ones u wrote about. still no one had wrote to me anything about the mix. is good to hear sum opinion on that side. thanx for the comments, all really apreciated. And sincere apologies for the inconvenience with the files of our page.

Rock on!

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 5:33 pm

Hi Michael I'm new to this site so this person I am asking you to review will be new to you. His name is Brendon Neill I am not going to devuldge his age but I will tell you that he writes all the songs himself, plays all the instruments on his songs and does all vocals. I'm giving you links to two of his songs and I would like to hear your thoughts on them.

"Drowning"
http://www.brendon-neill.ukbands.net/uploads/music/drowning1.mp3

"I won't give in"
http://www.brendon-neill.ukbands.net/uploads/music/I_wont_give_in.mp3

Thanks

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 11:15 pm

Michael Frazier reviews Jack's friend Brendon Neil

Drowning - A lot of attitude, a bunch of crunch, a lame keyboard for the opening, nice lead guitar work, vocal is a bit thin I thought. Very odd stop and break after the guitar lead - song could have easily ended there - now it is reaching overdone. A decent piece of work. No real hook for this listener. A lot thrown at me but nothing special to drag me into it.

I Won't Give In - Writing about a movie script in this one - I'll watch the movie. Vocal a bit nasal and thin. Keys again are suspect. Musicianship is solid - nice work. I like the elctronically generated aaaah's (that keyboard sound works) in the backgroound - fills in nicely and well mixed. Another tightly grooved song with solid performances. Again, the message does not call this listener to some purpose.

Overall there is some solid musical work in terms of tightness and performance. Songwriting is a bit shallow in my opinion - but I'm just one man and this hard rock is really not my pick for styles. Still well done for the style just nothing special. Heard thousands of tunes like this the past 30 years. Nothing really new here. I do appreciate that you have done all of this yourself. That alone is pretty remarkable. Some solid ideas. Keep working on them.

Best of luck to you Brendonl and thanks for the listen. Michael

BTW - The I'm asking for someone else thing is a bit pretentious it seems to me.

Guest

Lapse of Luxury
here is our 3 song demo. recorded in our basement in philadelphia. we recorded these with a crappy 4 track recorder (had to use splitters to record 2 things at once) . We are primarily a live band and only make these recordings to get an idea of what the song should be. a listen and a review would be extremely appreciated. thank you. PS. We have an artist page on this site and I just cant get my songs to upload please dont mind these links from our site.

Job - www.lapseofluxury.com/job.mp3

The Spark - www.lapseofluxury.com/thespark.mp3

Epic - www.lapseofluxury.com/epic.mp3

Guest

PS, I know we are a weird band, please have an open mind we have our own sound.

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 5:14 am

Micheal hello and thanks for the very honest review.
I actully did not intend to ask you to review "Drowning" but when I put the link on here to the song I wanted to have reviewed the link would not work. I'm sorry for the cloak and dagger approach as to why I am asking you to review songs for some one else but that will all be revealed soon I promise. I will fix the link to the other song and add one more if that's ok with you and if you would be so kind to review them as well I will explain all and I promise you will understand. Again many thanks for a very honest opinion on music that I know is very heavy. Please bear with me Smile

ubw newbie Joined: May 20, 2005 Posts: 43

Hey
If you get a minute, we'd very much appreciate a listen.
Sunshine Instructions is our new one so I guess we'd like you to review that most, up to you though innit.
Cheers!
Link's in the sig.

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:23 pm

Hi Micheal crossing my fingers this works this time. Here are the other two tracks I mentioned and I hope everybody doesn't mind if I'm a bit greedy on this occasion.

"I'll be there for you"
http://www.brendon-neill.ukbands.net/uploads/music/i'll.mp3

"Rockstar"
http://www.brendon-neill.ukbands.net/uploads/music/rockstar_1.mp3

Thanks

ubw newbie Joined: Jun 15, 2005 Posts: 9

Hi Michael,

My name is Hoss and I'm from a band down here in South Florida named Surreal. I just joined UBW today so I'm not too familiar with how this whole thing works, but here are our two tracks on soundclick. If you have the time to review them, it would be greatly appreciated. Baked has a reggae feel to it, and Face Behind the Mask is more of mellow alternative. Let me know what you think, and I'll get back here with a review of your music.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/surrealfl_music.htm

Thanks,
Hoss

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:46 pm

Michael Frazier reviews Lapse of Luxury

Job - Interesting. I like the intro. The opening is a bit trashy sounding. The very sharp-edged solo guitar is too loud. I like the kind of jazzy feel in the next sequence. Next sequence has a very retro feel to it. Then it's kind of back to the beginning. Vocals really need some work - a lot of that is the recording quality you mentioned. The overall mix gets out of itself at times - that guitar I mentioned, still too loud. Song itself feels a bit scattered but there are some nice ideas in it. I'm guessing some high school jazz band influeneces are in this one.

The Spark - That guitar is back again. We need a bit of a fuller tone don't we? Playing isn't so bad - just the tone. Mix is still suspect. Again some cool ideas with a lot of retro feel to it. Reminds me of the late 60's and early 70's experimental kind of groups. Vocals are low in the mix a lot of the time so can't critique the lyrics. I like the kind of bluesy feel you get on in spots. Good feel to it.

Epic - Vocal feels like it is not solid on the pitch. Make that vocals. Kind of bluesy, I guess. Still has that retro kind of feel.

Overall - there is some solid musicianship and some that need a bit of work. I imagine the live sound is much better. Band shows the ability to get a nice groove going but the songwriting has this tendency to kind of thrash it up and bring it back. Starts to feel a bit too frenetic - might think about sticking with the best sides of the music.

Appreciate the raw style and the musicianship and enjoyed the listens. Michael

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:36 pm

Michael Frazier reviews Golden Hanshakes

Sunshine Instructions - Poppy feel. Nothing too innovative. Lryics don't offer the instructions. Decent instrumentation. Ovarall song pretty repetetive without much of a message. Doesn't do a lot for me as a listener. Sounds kind of fun but could be much more so.

Penitentiary Swiming Team - Some decent ideas. Recording needs some work - it's pretty washy. I'm thinking you all need a lyricist. Drums are a bit overdone in spots - partly due to the recording/mix issues. Got some decent melodies going in a bit of a retro sounding style. I like the upbeat energy of this one though.

Buggy Heat - TV show theme from the 60's feel in the intro. Gets a bit more 70's after that. Again the recording and mix could use some work and still it sound fun. You certainly generate some interesting intertwining melodies. I'd get a better sounding keyboard though - unless this retro tinny sound is exactly what you are after - and then - just keep on.

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:47 pm

Michael Frazier reviews more from Brenden Neill

I'll Be There For You - Just so you know there are a couple of spots where the recording skips a beat and another where there is an audible blip - like a punch in or something. Nice guitar work in the beginning. There are some musical timing issues when the strumming part comes in - it just isn't tightly in synch with the picking guitar. The timing drifts with the change in dynamics. Nice song - has a good feel. The vocals sound a bit heady and thin - a fuller sound would help a lot. Lyrics are pretty solid.

Rockstar - Intro - heard it a million times. Lyrics bring the freshness to an oldtheme and style. Decent musicianship. Vocal feels a bit thin for this style to this listener. Nice lead guitar work. Soooo 70's. Then the gratuitous Black Sabbath measure crunch. You have done a decent job bringing a fresh feel to 30 year old concepts and musical styles. I liked it.

BTW there are not any rock stars anymore. The pool of elements is drying up. Be yourself and play what makes you happy. I'm pretty sure that's all most of us wil get.

Thanks for the listen. Enjoyed. Michael

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 11:11 pm

Michael Frazier reviews Surreal (FL)

Baked - I do like the reggae kind of feel to this. Vocals are not clean enough and mixed right to comment on the lyrics - you really ought to post them. What I can make out I like - just too much effect for the current mix. Pretty solid musicianship and I like the groove - has a nice feel to it. Trim the effects back, push the vocal a bit to the front of the mix and this is a better listen. Still a fun song to listen to.

Face Behind The Mask - Once again the vocal is over effected and behind the music in the mix. I guess I think if you have something to say worth writing a song about then people should be able to discern each word without relying on a printed lyric page which you don't have posted. Vocals are hard to mix I think. Rule of thumb - vx 51% and music 48% of the sound. Most people push the music to the top and then bring in the vx till they can hear. Backwards. Anyway, decent musicianship, farily well together. Recording quality is listenable for the musical portion. Changes fell a bit awkward but they work alright. Another decent tune.

Hoss, you all have some talent - just need a bit of help with the recording end of things. Fresh sounding tunes. Thanks for the listen. Michael

ubw newbie Joined: Jun 15, 2005 Posts: 9

Hey Mike, thanks for your review. First constructive review we've gotten in a long time. Well, unfortunately we haven't got the cash yet to record at a professional studio, so we leave the recording and mixing to this guy and his homestudio. He dumps effects on EVERYTHING. The thing about the vocals - definitely need to work on that, I know they need to be understood clearly. I don't think Face Behind the Mask is as bad as Baked - which has a few lyrics that are completely ridicoulous ("fry an egg on the sidestreet") but everything needs to be worked on. Now a review on your music, as promised:)

Cobwebs - I'm digging that bluesy-type feel, but it feels that the bass farts out at a few points and takes over a bit. The vocals come in pretty strong and loud in the beginning, and they seem well integrated with the guitar and piano. Something I expect to hear in a movie, maybe in a part of a movie when they're showing people doing things that took them a long time to do over a short period of time (I hope you could understand that hehe).

Free and Flying - Once again, sounds blusey and melodic to me. I kinda liked how the vox came in strong in Cobwebs, maybe you should think about having that same loud approach in this song. Nice guitar work in that one, sounds a lot like what the two guitarists in my band do when they're alone and on acoustic guitars. Once again - if you ever get approached by a record company or anything, the first place I'd offer your music to if I were you were producers of movies. This is the kind of stuff I'd expect to hear. Btw, I'm really digging that whole part that goes "incase you didn't know". Great stuff.

Into the fire - All your guitar work seems really well integrated. Vocals seem a little rushed on this one, but maybe it's just the style. I noticed the back-up vox on this one more than the other songs (not really sure if your other songs had backup vox or not) and they sound well-placed and effective. Love the effect of that organ-style piano, fits the song really well.

Well Michael, you're stuff seems really ballsy man, you show some serious talent. Is that you playing all those instruments? It's great that you're not afraid to experience with sounds that a lot of bands and people this day in age are afraid to mess around with. I wish I could review your whole list but it's really long hehe.

Thanks for your review it helped me out.

Hoss

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 10:15 pm

Appreciate you listening to some of my music and taking the time to comment. A rare occurance for me here at UBW. Most people seem, as George Harrison would say, a little "I, Me Mine". I appreciate the comments and can identify with some of your thoughts about the tunes. As far as Cobwebs and Into the Fire - a good friend of mine, Jon Rose, played bass, keys and backup vx - I did the acoustic guitar and main vocal. Free and Flying is all me in my home studio. Thanks again for taking the time to listen and share your thoughts. Very decent of you. My best thoughts to you on your musical journey. Michael

An honest review of your song

UBW Resources

Music Forums

Music Forums

Partners