Here's my grading of their performances on Meteora and my suggested improvements: Mr. Hahn - (A) - "Session" had a great vibe to it, and Joe is amazing at what he does, but he should get more involved and try some new things with sampling/turntabling. I think more solos should be in order for him. I loved the one on 'With You'! Chester - (A-) - He has an amazing voice, lots of range. He should focus more on his lyrics now. Improving that and he put in a great performance next album. Mike - (B) - IMO the most musical of all LP ( a fresh new tone on Meteora), but his lyrics were not up to his standard at all! Keep up the good work, just work on your lyrics! Rob - (B+) - The most improved on this album. Loved what he did on ETR. Keep working as hard as you are now, you're emerging as a very promising drummer! Brad - (C-) - This is where things get bad. Sorry Brad, but I can't take your no-soloing excuse! Well, if you won't solo, at least try some acoustic stuff or at least different power chord techniques. Phoenix - (D+) - My, my, my......Except for Easier to Run, Somewhere I Belong, and a bit of Numb, Phoenix's basslines were either inaudibly following the guitar riffs, or BORING, boring, boring..................I was extremely disappointed. Overall compostition: (C+) They NEED to grow musically. I mean, their music is the simplest in structure and the musicianship must be better. They should try longer songs. They just need to expand on their structure. That takes some work but they need to do it to grow.
Well, Phoenix tries to tie his basslines in with the vocals and the drums, that's why you don't really hear the bass all that much. I can hear the bass when I use my CD player and headphones, and the basslines sound really good to me. But, like I said, Phoenix explained how he likes tying the basslines in with the vocals and drums, so that's why you don't hear it much.
I personally think that mike was fffffffffaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr better on hybrid theory than meteora ... i just felt most of the songs on meteora were just chester...
Yeah I think Mike was better too....on HT some of the songs sounded like he rushed the lyrics and they were too fast. On Meteora, (especially SIB) it seemed like his parts were more melodic and and some points sounded like singing
Besides ETR, none of Rob's drums were that great. Atleast, thats what tons of drummers have told me. Personally, I think Phoenix did a much beter job with the bass than Brad did on HT. Look at the tabs, they are more complicated on Meteora than HT (with exception of Forgotten).
Yeah, lots of his stuff is average, but take a look at the improvement he made from the utterly simplistic drumming on HT. If he can keep improving he'll be a good drummer! I agree with your comment about Phoenix too. Will said that he likes to 'following the vocals and drums) or something. I can hear that he is following the guitar riffs, so he is hiding his sound, and following the riffs doesn't take too much creativity does it? And on the samples, when there is no guitar, there is NO BASS. These are parts when other bassists (like greats Flea or Levin) shine with basslines that you can hear really well and help the songs energy. Phoenix should do this in the future. Notice except for a couple of songs (ETR + SIB, some of numb) Phoenix only played when the guitars played? @ Nate - I said that I don't like the fact Brad won't solo, but I'm not saying he has to either. And yes, it would still be LP if Brad solos. Soloing adds interest as well as song lengths, and their songs are too short. And as far as Mike goes, I like his different approach to Meteora, but I was saying that his lyrics were lacklustre, and all of us can agree on that! But I have to say that there is much praise in my grading as well. Constructive criticism is a good thing!
Be open-minded HT87. Even if you like something this can't be perfect. Mr. Hahn - (B) - He does a great job, nice use of Mike's samples. Chester - (A) - When screaming sounds good . Nice work on Meteora. Mike - (A-) - Yes, he improved his rapping. He should add some "emotion" to his rapping. Rob - (B) - I liked what he did on Meteora. Even if it may not be really complicated, it souded good. ETR was excellent. Brad - (B-) - Sounds good but too simple... It could be more melodic... Phoenix - (B-) - Same than Brad... Overall... B
I think that the bass adds color to the music, eg: samples at beginning of Somewhere I Belong. It's kinda weird...Rob had more recording cababilities recording Meteora than recording Hybrid Theory but people think that the HT drums were better... I guess it was just his effort. I think he did a good job on Meteora though. And about the grade thing: B because I think they used too many samples, HT had original ideas with samples used correctly in a couple songs. even though meteora sounds good, i think they need to make more variety. cough*guitar solo*cough