SPIN streaming Weiland Christmas album NOW!

[lovemachine97]

Oh thank god. This is way better than the samples made it sound.

I agree.  The higher quality makes a difference.  I don't know that I think it is a great, but it is better than first thought (not that that necessarily makes it good; it was starting from a pretty disadvantageous position).

I know I am going to sound like I am nitpicking, but I'm not.  I think Scott sounds okay, and the instrumentation is really quite good. 

But does anyone else think that Scott's voice sounds curiously disjointed from the rest of the band?  I know almost 100% of album vocals are recorded at a later time from the music, but this album seems to really sound as if that is the case.  The vocals sound very dry to me.

It could just be the laptop speakers.  It sounds much better than the crappy samples, so I have no reason not to believe that hearing it in top quality on good speakers will make a bigger difference.

[sonofthecastle]

Better than Purple!

Favorite track is "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

This, along with O Holy Night. Great album, much better in full then those 30 second clips

[CMCracker]

Oh thank god!!  Now I will buy it because I actually want to lol

[Vaporized]

What am I missing that everyone thinks this is so appealing? Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas got me excited. If he would have sang the rest of the songs in a similar style, this album would have been amazing. The music that backs him actually is quite good. But honestly, Scott sounds boozed on 7 of the 10 tracks.

There are sour notes all over this thing. I don't get it.

Please tell me what I am missing here. If this was anyone else that released this thing and it sounded like this... would you all still listen and think it was actually good?

I gotta be missing something here.

[wickedpilot]

I still agree with Vaporized.  I just can't fool myself into thinking he actually put REAL effort into this.  I'm saying this based on his past catalogue.  Hell, he at least had his vocals tuned on the previous albums.  I'm not bashing the fact that he wanted to do a 'corny christmas album', that's fine.  I, along with anybody else, should be able to voice their distain when our favorite artist puts out a painfully obvious half-assed record such as this.  Smite away, I at least wanna get to 15 by the end of the day-hopefully more cause the smites can't, and won't, stop personal opinions!

[CMCracker]

I guess I am super excited it sounds better than the clips. 

[Yanks241]

I'm not hearing anything that sounds "half-assed".  How can you tell by listening to his vocals?  I think it sounds pretty good for what it is, xmas music.  I think it's pretty cool how he used different style vocals for each song.  I think between this and the covers album, we got some pretty cool material "in the meantime".

[Volant9353]

I am not sure a lot of people on this forum listen to a lot Xmas stuff but a lot of the old time Xmas standards have a similar sound to them...it's not half assed but more a by the piano with the family on Xmas vibe. This def has that same vibe, besides the backing music is awesome and you have to love the jazz flute!

Also if you have read either his or Mary's bio Scott really loves the holidays. He did not do this to exploit fans he did this because he loves the holidays and loves to make music.

[Shangri]

As I expected, songs 1 and 3 have grown on me. I'm still struggling with "I'll be home for Christmas" but I know I'll give in.

Winter Wonderland is my favorite. I felt like Christmas this evening while I streamed this around 3 times.
I think is quite an unique piece we're having.

SIlent Night kind of reminds me of Sometimes Chicken Soup

Got that feeling with Happy Christmas and many more (which it's awesome)

[Vaporized]

I'm not hearing anything that sounds "half-assed".  How can you tell by listening to his vocals?  I think it sounds pretty good for what it is, xmas music.  I think it's pretty cool how he used different style vocals for each song.  I think between this and the covers album, we got some pretty cool material "in the meantime".

To be fair, I never said it was half-assed... I said he doesn't sound good on 7 of these tracks. You mean to tell me nobody can hear how flat the vocals on this sound in most of these tracks?

Some of those are beyond painful to listen to. Reminds me of walking into a hotel bar in December and hearing some piano player singing Christmas tunes or karaoke.

Look, I give credit to Scott for taking the time to do this. I also respect whatever effort he put into it... I just don't feel it was very well done and for that, I'm more than just a little disappointed seeing as this was in the making for 2 years or more.

[Unglued812]

As I expected, songs 1 and 3 have grown on me. I'm still struggling with "I'll be home for Christmas" but I know I'll give in.

Winter Wonderland is my favorite. I felt like Christmas this evening while I streamed this around 3 times.
I think is quite an unique piece we're having.

SIlent Night kind of reminds me of Sometimes Chicken Soup

Got that feeling with Happy Christmas and many more (which it's awesome)

Debe ser una cosa de nosotros Latinoamericanos, porque mi favorita tambien es Winter Wonderland!

[Pingfah]

I still agree with Vaporized.  I just can't fool myself into thinking he actually put REAL effort into this.  I'm saying this based on his past catalogue.  Hell, he at least had his vocals tuned on the previous albums.  I'm not bashing the fact that he wanted to do a 'corny christmas album', that's fine.  I, along with anybody else, should be able to voice their distain when our favorite artist puts out a painfully obvious half-assed record such as this.  Smite away, I at least wanna get to 15 by the end of the day-hopefully more cause the smites can't, and won't, stop personal opinions!

No they won't, and neither is anybody attempting to suppress your right to say what you want. So the persecuted whining is totally unnecessary.

I agree that his vocals are a bit wobbly, it's nice to hear his actual voice for once as well though, not buried under layers of compression and overdubs like on the last STP album.

[stpfanjosh]

What am I missing that everyone thinks this is so appealing? Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas got me excited. If he would have sang the rest of the songs in a similar style, this album would have been amazing. The music that backs him actually is quite good. But honestly, Scott sounds boozed on 7 of the 10 tracks.

There are sour notes all over this thing. I don't get it.

Please tell me what I am missing here. If this was anyone else that released this thing and it sounded like this... would you all still listen and think it was actually good?

I gotta be missing something here.

I agree with you 100%  I dont get why people on here think its good. He sounds so flat and drunk on most of them apart from "have yourself..." It makes me wonder whether scott actually listened to it and thought he sounded good because to be honest if i were him i wouldnt let this album be produced and sold in shops sounding like it does, and to the fans who think this is a good record then your just delusional. Im still a huge fan of Scott however im not just gonna praise him for everything he does because to me this is a huge disappointment

[Humble Kidney Pie]

Well, I didn't think he could pull it off, but he did.  These songs all sounds pretty much great.  Everytime I seriously doubt Scott's abilities/decision making, I'm mostly proven wrong.  Maybe it's time to show a little more faith.

[Silver guns and Candybars]

My only complaint is timing.
Why oh why is this not an early December or late November release?
I was  literally putting up halloween decorations while streaming the whole album yesterday.