text:
Kirklees is under-represented in Involve YHs 'Action Trackers: One Year On' survey
Involve need your help in ensuring your area is represented in this vital survey on the impact of welfare reforms on Yorkshire and Humber frontline organizations. This survey is a follow up from the original 'Action Trackers' report we published earlier this year, which attracted widespread media interest, including this front page lead story in the Yorkshire Post.
If you have already filled the survey in – thank you so much! We have had some interesting comments and responses, which will be very useful to all of us in our lobbying and campaigning work.
They are therefore extending the deadline to Friday 5 December 2014 and asking if you could please forward the survey on to other frontline organisations in your area, asking them to fill the survey in too.
The survey takes just 15 minutes to fill in.
It is vital Involve document the impacts of welfare reform in the region. They want to put pressure on policymakers to give you more support to deal with the increased demand that welfare reforms have created. But in order to do this, they need to document the situation and provide robust data to back up your case.
It's time to step up and be counted!


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Honda Motor Company got the first place on the yearly insurance industry ranking of the safest new vehicles. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released the ranking on Thursday December 19, 2013, they award 39 vehicles top safety ratings for 2014. It went down by 70%, last year they have 130 vehicles on the list.
This year the vehicles needed to top the crash test scores and to have a high level front crash prevention system like automatic braking for it to be able to receive the highest classification. It's rank either "Top Safety Pick" or "op Safety Pick +".
Of the 39 vehicles, 22 go the top classification while the 12 receive the classification just below it.
Honda Motor Co got 8 vehicles on the list making them the automaker with the most vehicle on the list. 6 of their vehicles go the "Top Safety Pick +":
1. Honda Accord 2-door
2. Honda Accord 4-door
3. Honda Civic 4-door *hybrid version
4. Acura RL
5. Acura MDX
6. Honda Odyssey
7. Honda Civic 2-door
8. Acura TL
This is the list used by car shoppers who buy vehicles with high safety ratings. It is also use for advertising by the automakers.
The institute indicate that the "Top Safety Pick +" are those with optional front crash prevention systems, if they didn't get that rank they still met the Top Safety Pick criteria.
Here is the Full List:
- Honda Civic 4-door *hybrid version
- Mazda 3 - built after October 2013
- Toyota Prius - built after November 2013
- Ford Fusion
- Honda Accord 2-door
- Honda Accord 4-door
- Mazda 6
- Subaru Legacy
- Subaru Outback
- Infiniti Q50
- Lincoln MKZ
- Volvo S60
- Acura RL
- Volvo S80
- Mazda CX-5 - built after October 2013
- Mitsubishi Outlander
- Subaru Forester
- Toyota Highlander
- Acura MDX
- Mercedes-Benz M-Class - built after August 2013
- Volvo XC60
- Honda Odyssey
- Chevrolet Spark
- Dodge Dart
- Ford Focus
- Honda Civic 2-door
- Hyundai Elantra
- Scion tC
- Subaru Impreza
- Subaru XV Crosstrek
- Chrysler 200 4-door
- Dodge Avenger
- Kia Optima
- Nissan Altima
- Toyota Camry - built after November 2013
- Volkswagen Passat
- Acura TL
- Mitsubushi Outlander Sport
- Volvo XC90

subset: commoncrawl


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LD Systems Zone 622 19" 1U Rack Mount 2-Zone Mixer
About This Product
LD Systems Zone 622 19" 1U Rack Mount 2-Zone Mixer
LD Systems ZONE 622 2-Zone Mixer
The ZONE 622 is a particularly compact 1U zone mixer with 6 line and 2 microphone channels, that can be assigned to a stereo or a mono master output. The device has all the essential functions, an input for an external emergency announcement system with its own volume control, and a connection to the remote-controlled switching mute. The ZONE 622 is suitable as a sound system for separate zones in restaurants, clubs, hotels, fitness centres, and for presentations.
The two balanced microphone channels with stereo jack inputs are equipped with controls for Gain, Talkover volume, Talkover attenuation, 12V phantom power and a shared 2-band EQ. The line channels 1 and 2 can also be used to connect unbalanced microphones, and channel 6 is specially designed for balanced FOH signals. The stereo input channels of the ZONE 622 have a Cue button and volume control signal display, and the channels 1-5 have an additional gain trimmer. Furthermore, the zone mixer has a 3.5 mm mini jack input and a USB port , that is used as a Stereo Input and Output (Recording Out). So you can use the ZONE 622 as an external audio interface.
The stereo and mono output sections have their own meters, 2-band EQ, trimmer for adjusting the maximum output level, as well as electronically balanced jack plugs and terminal block connectors. In addition, the stereo section has unbalanced RCA jacks. An adjustable headphone jack for previewing and a recording output complete the equipment for the ZONE 622.
LD Systems Zone 622 Specifications
FOH Input Connections:
|Product number:
|Product type:
|Zone Mixer
|Number of Zones:
|2 (Master, Zone)
|Installation Height:
|Total Input Channels:
|8 (2x Mic, 2x Mic/Line, 3x Line, 1x FOH)
|Frequency response:
|20 - 40000Hz
|Microphone channels:
|2 (with phantom power 12 V)
|Microphone Channel Connections:
|6.3 mm stereo jack (balanced)
|Microphone channel controls:
|1 x EQ Hi, On / Off, 1 x Talk Over Level, 1 x EQ Low, Gain, 1 x Talk Over Damp
|Microphone Channels Display Elements:
|Microphone Channels Input Impedance:
|Microphone Channels Input Sensitivity:
|Microphone Channels THD:
|Line / Microphone Channels:
|Line / microphone input connectors:
|2 x RCA, 3.5 mm stereo jack (input 1), 6.3 mm stereo jack (balanced)
|Line / microphone channel controls:
|Cue, Trim, level, mic/lline
|Line / Microphone Display Elements:
|Signa-LED, Cue-LED
|Line Channels:
|Line input connectors:
|Input 3-4: 2 x RCA, Input 5: 2 x RCA + USB
|Line Channel Controls:
|level, Trim, Cue
|Line Channel Display Elements:
|Cue-LED, Signa-LED
|Line Channel Input Impedance:
|Line Channels Input Sensitivity:
|Line Channels THD:
|input sensitivity AUX/Line:
|FOH Channels:
|6.3 mm stereo jack (2 x balanced)
|FOH Input Controls:
|Cue, level
|FOH Input Display Elements:
|Cue-LED, Signa-LED
|Line outputs:
|3 (Master - Stereo, Zone - Mono, Rec - Stereo)
|Output Connectors Master:
|terminal block, 6.3 mm stereo jack (2 x balanced), RCA (x2)
|Master Controls:
|Max. Level, EQ Low, EQ Hi, level
|Master Display Elements:
|5-Segment Level Meter
|Master Output Levels:
|(unbalanced) 18dBu, (balanced) 24dBu
|Zone Output Connections:
|6.3 mm stereo jack (balanced), terminal block
|Zone Controls:
|Max. Level, EQ Low, level, Source Input 1-5/Mix, EQ Hi
|Zone Display Elements:
|5-Segment Level Meter
|Zone Output Levels:
|24 (balanced/ unbalanced)dBu
|Output Connections Rec:
|2 x RCA
|Headphones ouput:
|Headphone Out Port:
|6.3 mm TRS
|Headphone Output Controls:
|Cue Volume
|Headphone Output Voltage:
|(@ 32 Ohm) 1.25V
|Additional Inputs:
|2 (Emergency Input, Output Mute)
|Connections Additional Inputs:
|terminal block
|Additional Input Controls:
|Level Emergency Input
|Additional Controls:
|power switch
|Additional Display Elements:
|Operating voltage:
|220 - 250 V AC, 50 Hz
|Mains connector:
|IEC power connector
|Power consumption:
|T 500 mAL / 250 V
|485mm / 19"
|44mm / 1.7"
|179mm / 7"
|2.4kg / 5.3 lb.
|Accessories (included):
|terminal blocks, Power cord
The Zone 622 Box Includes:
(1) LD Systems Zone 622 19" 1U Rack Mount 2-Zone Mixer
(1) Power cable
(1) User manual


text:
Dinner Menu
Seasonal and local dishes offered nightly. Fresh fish, seafood, and USDA Prime Black Angus Beef cuts are available at market price. Ask your server for tonight's featured selections.
Bacon-Wrapped Dates- 12
Applewood-smoked bacon, Medjool dates, chorizo, goat cheese, roasted red pepper coulis, balsamic glaze
Pork Belly- 13
Sous vide and braised pork belly, Napa cabbage slaw, balsamic-soy reduction, pan reduction sauce, Sriracha
Salmon Canapés- 14
Toasted baguette, cold-smoked salmon, dill crème fraiche, red onion, flying fish roe, hard-boiled egg
House Flatbread- 13
Tomato cream sauce, fire-roasted bell pepper, caramelized onion, roasted mushroom, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Add chicken or house-made sausage: 4
Smoked Salmon Flatbread- 18
Cold-smoked salmon, capers, Campari tomatoes, red onions, Dijon mustard-cream cheese base, sunny side up egg.
The Spaniard- 11
Baked goat cheese, house-made marinara, toasted baguette, garlic-infused parsley oil
Artichoke Dip- 10
Baked artichoke hearts, roasted garlic, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, red pepper flake. Served with carrots, celery, and grilled naan.
Oven-Warmed Baguette- 6
Served with whipped garlic herb butter
Soup and Salads
Mushroom Bisque- 5 /cup 7 /bowl
Shiitake, portobello, porcini.
Bistro Salad- 6 / 11
Mixed greens, balsamic vinaigrette, red onion, cucumber, Feta cheese. Add chicken for 4. Add four pieces of grilled shrimp for 7.
Caesar Salad- 6 / 11
Torn romaine, house Caesar dressing, shaved Parmesan. Add chicken for 4. Add four grilled shrimp for 7. Please note: We make our dressing with anchovies
To Share
Coquille St. Jacques- 18
Two seared colossal sea scallops, mashed potatoes, garlic-lemon cream sauce, served in a large scallop shell.
The Burger- 21
Sous vide and broiled 8-ounce ground Black Angus beef, smoked Gouda, mixed greens, truffle butter, brioche bun. Served with roasted potatoes.
Pork Tenderloin- 30
Grilled 7 oz tenderloin, blackberry balsamic, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables
Grilled Wester Ross Salmon- 32
Grilled Wester Ross salmon, cranberry walnut wild rice pilaf, seasonal vegetables, lemon black pepper butter
Roasted Chicken Breast- 25
Oven-roasted chicken breast, lemon garlic cream, Feta cheese, red pepper coulis, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables
Shrimp & Bay Scallop Carbonara- 29
Sautéed jumbo shrimp, bay scallops, pork lardons, bucatini, red onion, sweet bell pepper, garlic cream sauce
Orecchiette with Wild Mushrooms- 26
Orecchiette, rapini, wild mushrooms, garlic, goat cheese, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil
Linz Beef
Our Purveyor
We source our USDA Prime Beef from Meats by Linz. For over 50 years, this family company has grown from a neighborhood butcher shop to one of the country's finest meat purveyors. Meats by Linz sources its beef exclusively from the upper plains of the Midwest, and the USDA Prime grade of beef we offer to you is from the top 2% of US cattle each year. The Linz dry-aging process enhances the taste and produces the most tender cuts. Exceptional flavor, abundant marbling, and prepared to order. These steaks are truly special.
Top Sirloin- 32
Grilled 8-ounce USDA Prime Black Angus Beef top sirloin, wild mushroom potato pavé, seasonal vegetables, green and red chimicurri, whipped garlic demi butter.
Filet Mignon- 46
Grilled 8-ounce USDA Prime Black Angus Beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, whipped garlic demi butter.
Dry-aged New York Strip- 50
Grilled 14-ounce USDA Prime Black Angus Beef strip steak, Moody Blue bacon butter, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables.
Nightly Selections
We offer an ever-changing selection of house-made desserts, including our popular Duo of Crème Brûlée. Options may include seasonal tarts and cheesecake, homemade ice cream, and classic cakes and pies.


text:
Vexus's Hypothetical Rock Band 5! (91 on-disc songs, DLC, RBN return requests and a sandwich)
This week, another kinda rough one for the guitarists (and the drummers too!) and the "other reasons" I alluded to in this week's The Strokes/Warning DLC announcement.
This week's DLC:
A fusion of groove metal, samba and Amazonian tribal rhythms? It could only be Sepultura.
Sepultura 01:
Roots Bloody Roots (Spotlight) | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
Refuse/Resist | Band Tier Devils: Impossible
Ratamahatta | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
Similar tiering for all five songs, with each having a different take on that mix of metal and world music. The most balanced of the three is Roots Bloody Roots. This song's carried the most by its solid groove, with a brief guitar solo followed by breakdown. All three songs would have a mix of the drumkit and additional percussion charted, though this has relatively little of the latter.
Refuse/Resist is the most straight-up metal song of the three, coming straight out of the Rocksmith 2014 DLC list. The standout part here is the guitar, which gets a double-time solo part way through which pushes this up to the impossible tier for the band as a whole - gotta keep up with that (illusion of) speed, yo. Similarly to Roots Bloody Roots, there's little additional percussion apart from towards the very end - not that it'll help all the drummers out there!
Ratamahatta is the one with the most world music influence, and the only one to not be all-talkies on vocals. Even if it were, the speed of the vocal delivery and lack of pause time for some of it would put it at about a one alone. It has the least going on from the guitars, but there's that much going on with the vocals and percussion that it keeps the song as a whole at a 5 in band intensity.
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 2 Week 8: It's A Small World After All
Play songs by bands from anywhere that hasn't been in a challenge yet
Babymetal: Road of Resistance
Sepultura: Roots Bloody Roots
The Warning: Survive
I was struggling a bit with what to include in the final slot. Initially, I was thinking of picking a Santana song (Black Magic Woman in particular), but that would have made two weeks where the guitarists get nothing but hard songs in the spotlight. While I do believe that Rivals should reward skill, it shouldn't be that specific to an instrument. I thought about other acts from Central and South America we've got already but there wasn't much that really leapt out at me. I even considered Shakira at one point, but I already said that putting one of my own DLC songs in the legacy DLC slot seemed cheap. Then this week's actual DLC announcement happened...
The first song is pretty much a DragonForce one in disguise - not surprising since the guitarists from DragonForce play on it! As such, this would technically have been eligible for the UK week too. Sam Totman is the only musician to be from a location previously covered, however, as Herman Li's originally from Hong Kong and Babymetal are Japanese. I may have overtiered the vocals a bit, but it does push the vocalist trio more than most Babymetal songs seem to. For the rest of the band, I refer you back to my first sentence.
Sepultura are of course Brazilian, hence their inclusion here.
Finally, from Mexico, we've got a freebie that comes out this week. Survive is the second song from The Warning that I've heard, after Free Falling, and based on the latter I wasn't expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised to get a good strong alternative rock track, with plenty going on for all instruments. It feels weird putting a song that's not quite out yet here but like I said, I wasn't really feeling anything else.
That wraps up my second Rivals season. Next week, we're taking one more trip: to my spiritual home!
(Might as well just make Wednesday my main posting day tbh)1
The Warning: Turns out that Survive is a nightmare-tier drum song. I would say sorry to the drummers if last week's post were to happen, but I made the guitarists suffer in the European week. Plus it's a moot point since it's all hypothetical!
RBN: Drowning Pool's "Bodies" was on my top 20 RBN tracks, and it's confirmed. So... kind of a confirm from my wishlist? It's not in the Spotify list and I didn't tier it since it's kind of a rewind, though Harmonix aren't treating it as such.
This week's DLC:
I keep putting these earlier and earlier in the week, but I promised something big in the "More Metal" thread and I'd say I delivered.
@FritzyKatz did a pack based on Coachella. Harmonix gave us a free pack based on Firefly. I'll do you four packs based on this year's edition of a festival I've been going to for a few years now. Even though everything here fits into the Metal genre in the game, it's actually really diverse and eclectic - an argument, I'd say, for including subgenre tags and more base level genre tags.
Bloodstock: Ronnie James Dio Stage Headliners Pack
Gojira: Silvera | Band Tier Devils: Impossible [Progressive metal]
Judas Priest: Lightning Strike | Band Tier 4: Challenging [Heavy metal]
Nightwish: Élan (+KB) | Band Tier 3: Moderate [Symphonic metal]
Gojira is a French band and the most traditionally heavy of the three headliners - as you might expect from seeing the tiers being very close to the "every br00tal thing ever" (impossible everything except warmup vocals with harmonies optional) tier. I don't think many of the vocal lines would actually be charted as talkies, but Joe Duplantier's range in the song isn't huge and the chorus does follow the guitar melody at what's probably the trickiest bit to sing. Otherwise, there is a lot of tricky riffing and frantic drumming for the rest of the band, though the bassline does have a few light parts that just keep it out of impossible.
Judas Priest need no introduction, and this single from their latest album is proof that they're still amazing. Lightning Strike is fairly high-tempo but constant. Production aside, it sounds like it could easily have been a song Priest released back in the late 70s or early 80s. It's a callback to the NWOBHM era, yet still sounds fresh. Totally love this song and the new album.
Finally, with Élan we'll have one song with each Nightwish lead singer. By quite a margin the easiest song in the pack on instruments and hardest on vocals. The lead single from the Endless Forms Most Beautiful album, it's somewhat like Amaranth in terms of the arrangement, with a much lighter sound compared to the rest of the album and Nightwish's discography as a whole.
Bloodstock: Sophie Lancaster Stage Headliners Pack:
Arkona: Yarilo (+KB) | Band Tier 4: Challenging [Pagan metal]
Doro: Raise Your Fist In the Air | Band Tier 3: Moderate [Heavy metal/hard rock]
Watain: Malfeitor | Band Tier Devils: Impossible [Black metal]
Orphaned Land: All Is One (+KB) | Band Tier 4: Challenging [Oriental metal]
A track I can see some alt-charting in, at least until the guitars kick in, Arkona mix metal with Russian folk music and in this particular song, give us some fun up-tempo music with a good balance between heavy and light parts, acoustic and electric instrumentation and an overall fun and bouncy little song. I actually wish it was a little bit longer!
Not the best video, admittedly. Doro's arguably on the fringe between metal and hard rock, but I think the overall point I'm making with this post works better if I put her as the former! There's a fairly straightforward groove on this one, with the lead vocals proving pretty much all the challenge for the vocals. Guitar gets a few somewhat lengthy solos to add some difficulty, but they shouldn't be too tricky.
Watain actually does get the "every trve kvlt choon evahhhh" tiering, as well as bringing some much needed black metal to the series. Admittedly it's a bit of a low impossible, as the guitars have sections with long, held notes that make things a bit easier and a bit more atmospheric with the drums going at half-time to match. Then there are the full throttle parts with the vocals which would really make this a stamina and timing challenge.
Trying to pin down Orphaned Land's tiers was tricky, with the choir vocals and what I think is either bouzouki or oud (which would likely get alt-charted at points, and is close enough to a guitar that I'm totally okay with that fact - when it's not just replicating the guitar part anyway). As for the choir, it's used somewhat sparingly and the vocals otherwise aren't too broad in regards to range. As such I think a 4 is a happy medium between the two. The song as a whole has a bit of a power metal feel to it mixed in with the Israeli folk elements. Great, powerful-sounding music,
Come back tomorrow when I'll have the second half of my Bloodstock gigapost up.1
For the other two packs, I picked a mixture of bands from the two main stages.
Bloodstock: Ronnie James Dio Stage Miscellaneous Bands
Combichrist: Maggots at the Party (+KB) | Band Tier 2: Solid [Industrial metal]
Suicidal Tendencies: Institutionalized | Band Tier 5: Nightmare [Thrash metal/hardcore punk crossover]
Alestorm: Drink (+KB) | Band Tier 3: Moderate [Pirate metal]
Amaranthe: Drop Dead Cynical (+KB) | Band Tier 4: Challenging [Pop metal]
Who says industrial can't be party music? Maggots at the Party is a somewhat repetitive song, with the bassline being a synth bass rather than a bass guitar. It's a great party kick-off song though, especially if you're in the company of people whom might find Andrew W.K. a bit on the light side. Drums get some tricky bits later on in the song. Audio link above since the video's edited in such a way that it doesn't convey the song too well for our purposes - link here.
Institutionalized is… interesting! Vocals are mostly talkies, but get knocked up a tier for some of the rapid-fire lyrics without a pause during the choruses. Guitar's got a lot of improvisation in it, and there are tempo changes throughout the song that make it quite difficult to keep up with, in a fun way of course! As for genre, I could see the argument for classing this as punk rather than metal, but I'm not done with Suicidal Tendencies and genre tags seem to be consistent across a band's work for the most part.
Alestorm's a tough band to nail down stylistically since their attitude and style changes considerably depending on the album (partly due to them having so few constant members), but they're one of the few "gimmick metal" bands (I'll likely do a rant on those one day) where I can definitely consider their gimmick a full-on subgenre. Drink is a straight-up drinking song with nods to their previous songs. While it's one of their easiest songs to date, it's still got some pretty snazzy metal guitar arrangements and a solid rhythm to it.
I'll admit that Drop Dead Cynical's chorus does have a bit of Imagine Dragons in it, but I vastly prefer this. Amaranthe draw influences from all over the place, from power metal to melodic death metal to dance and pop music. Guitar and bass are very riffy, while the clean vocals take on some very interesting melodic and rhythmic patterns that make it tricky to keep up with. Amaranthe's entire discography is a very intriguing mix, and well worth checking out.
Bloodstock: Sophie Lancaster Stage Miscellaneous Bands
Lovebites: The Crusade (+KB) | Band Tier Devil: Impossible [Power metal]
Bloodshot Dawn: Shackled | Band Tier 5: Nightmare [Melodic death metal]
With the Dead: Isolation | Band Tier 1: Apprentice [Doom metal]
Pallbearer: I Saw the End | Band Tier 3: Moderate [Progressive metal]
Star-shaped cymbal attachment for pro drums when? The Crusade is fast, has numerous key changes, has duelling guitar solos and soaring Halford/Dickinson-esque vocals. Lovebites as a whole draw quite a bit from NWOBHM-era bands, as well as more recent power metal, with The Crusade being no exception. This song is badass, melodic as all heck and utterly relentless, and my number one choice in this entire post.
So, Shackled. The choruses just keep this out of the impossible tier for bass and drums, but the solos firmly place it in the impossible tier for guitar. Still, I'm glad that it's not quite impossible for the rhythm section. Otherwise, I'd have to break out the "literally anything extreme af" tier again. Not saying that this Bloodshot Down song doesn't utterly slam, but it lets up just enough to keep things fresh throughout.
Do not let Isolation's low tiers fool you for a moment - this is musically one of the heaviest songs in this double post, with utterly crushing guitar and bass tone, and loads of speedy drum fills for an otherwise slow song. The fact it's just over seven and a half minutes long brings the intensities for the guitars up a tiny bit. Otherwise, there's not too much that should pose a challenge. Yet, I love this anyway.
Atmospheric and melancholic, I Saw the Dead kind of reminds me a bit of Dead Black (Heart of Ice) (itself one of my favourite discoveries from RB4) but with clean singing and less of an emphasis on the heavy shredding. I've said it before, but I would love to see more atmospheric songs in Rock Band.
I think after Sepultura and that little lot, next week I'll give you something lighter, along with a bit more of a preview of my next Rivals season.
EDIT: Bloodstock's official site.
Also, I updated my 20 RBN requests - Bodies is out (because we're getting it) and replaced by Kittie's "The Truth".1
So apparently the link to The Crusade doesn't work in all territories. Here's an alternate link.
Dunno why they'd make it that different uploads work in different territories but there you go.0
Going Under confirmed, added Survive by Lacuna Coil to the RBN wishlist.1
This week's DLC:
Guilty pleasure time!
Avril Lavigne 02
Sk8er Boi | Band Tier 1: Apprentice
I'm with You | Band Tier 2: Solid
Girlfriend | Band Tier 3: Moderate
After the last fortnight's mostly unrelenting yet ever-changing heaviness, I thought I'd lower the tone. A lot. Rapidly. So, here's a song with txtspk in the title, a pop ballad and some absolute cheese.
First up, Sk8er Boi is probably my favourite of the three songs here. The guitar part is mostly chords with a few straightforward licks thrown in. Bass follows the rhythm guitar for the majority of the song, dropping out for the first verse and coming back in at the chorus. Drums are livened up with a few fills scattered throughout the song. This song's the easiest on vocals by a considerable margin.
I'm with You is relatively stripped back, with the easiest instrumentation of all seven songs from this week. The guitar chart would go between electric and acoustic, while the bass and drum charts are fairly stripped back. It's also the song where Avril really shows off her vocal strength. Due to that and the aforementioned sparse rhythm section, the strength of the vocal track really pulls up the band intensity ranking.
Finally, a song that was supposed to be ironic but I think ended up being lost on a lot of people. Girlfriend is catchy af, with a similar, chord and lick-based punk-pop feel to Sk8er Boi and a lot of Avril's better-known songs. This is generally a bit trickier, however, with faster changes and less of a straight rhythm.
Modern Day Singles:
Within Temptation: Paradise (What About Us?) (feat. Tarja) (Spotlight) (+KB)| Band Tier 4: Challenging
Jack White: Over and Over and Over | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
Myrkur: Ulvinde (+KB) | Band Tier 4: Challenging
IDestroy: Lemons | Band Tier 2: Solid
I thought I'd get the Rivals Theme started earlier, and since A Journey Through Time won by a landslide of 100% of the votes, that's what we're doing. I'm also going to kick things up a notch by doing four songs per week (ignoring the little Avril bonus).
Paradise (What About Us?) is another one of those songs that I think really suffers from the lack of keyboard in the current instrument setup, as does a lot of Within Temptation's discography. The guitar parts are mostly pretty straightforward and rhythmic, with a noodley solo putting the guitar intensity up a little bit. There's also one of those exceptionally rare solos that never counts as such - a vocal solo! That, along with the fact you've got Tarja Turunen and Sharon Den Adel as your vocalists pretty much put it straight into impossible tier on vocals. Incidentally, I put Within Temptation in the rock category rather than metal since a lot of their more recent material in particular strays just outside of what I would consider metal (but not outside of what I would consider good, of course!)
A big part of Over and Over and Over is the same guitar, bass and drum part over and over
and overcreating a rather tense feeling. Nearly 2 minutes in the song takes a bit more of an experimental vibe, with a few points that would likely be charted as guitar solos and even a drum solo at one point. The backing vocals make this a rather odd one to try and tier, as they're deliberately pitch-shifted to sound off-key.
For the next two, I want to shout out @LiveHomeVideo for tiering them in her own thread at my request. First off is Ulvinde by Myrkur, someone whom I've been looking for a good time to bring in. Ulvinde is a cool mix of dark atmosphere and Scandinavian folk melody that would be very interesting to see put into Rock Band. I didn't use Live's tiers for this one, but they turned out somewhat similar nevertheless.
For Lemons, I went with Live's tiers exactly since I absolutely agree in regards to them. So IDestroy is a band I've seen a few times now, two of those times at a bar that's a five-minute walk from my flat. As with a lot of their material, the bass is the stand-out part here, though all four parts are pretty solid in their own ways. For a song with a hook of "you ain't no fun", it's pretty damn fun! The one difference between Live and I is the genre - IDestroy have been fairly consistently been described by both the music press and themselves as a punk band, and who am I to argue? Indie wouldn't be inaccurate either, of course.
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 3: A Journey Through Time
Week 1: We're Looking Into the Future, Chuck
Play songs released from 2014 to the present day
Peaks: Eden
Within Temptation: Paradise (What About Us?) (Featuring Tarja)
Charlie Puth: Attention
Oh look, another band that I know members of personally! Peaks were formed at my university. Eden has a rather loose structure to it, with some tough drum parts. It's another song that would have pretty varied guitar chart and a bass part that loosely replicates the rhythm guitar. I'm not sure where I'd put them in terms of genre, but there are some definite metalcore and progressive influences there - luckily the game comes with a good catch-all term of "Rock" to put such things under!
I just realised how many parentheses I had to use to put Paradise (What About Us?) into the post. (It's not my fault.) (It's standard practice at this point to put featured artists in parentheses.) (Well, I suppose using parentheses to denote the spotlight song is kind of my fault but I've been doing it for all this time at this point I'm not going to stop or change.)
Attention actually came to RB4 in 2017 (Feel It, Still was in the spotlight pass and the other two songs in that pack were fairly hard passes for me) but has 2018 listed as its release date. It's also by a long shot the best song I've ever heard Charlie Puth on and went straight onto my wishlist as soon as it was released. A few months later I got it and it didn't let me down. The guitar and drum parts might be simple, but that bassline plays as good as it sounds, and it sounds really good. I might do a "forced bassist counterpicks" playlist at some point, and this would probably be one of the first songs put on it along with Longview.1
So, I noticed a few people are doing setlists based on their home nation or state. I love this idea for two reasons: I'm a sucker for music trivia, and I love the idea of giving lesser-known artists a bit of free publicity. However, I won't be doing one, and here's why.
I'm from the UK, and I've already suggested 111 songs featuring UK singers and musicians (out of 255 in total so far if my maths is right), and with the theme weeks based on the various patron saint days, I feel a bit like I'm repping my country just fine! Plus it has the potential to either majorly screw with my post plans by diverting what would be DLC songs to such a post, or force me to come up with a load of material that I'm not as interested in having for the sake of numbers. Either way, it's not a fun prospect to me.
"But Vexus! You could just do one for whichever bit of the UK you're from!"
Yeah... about that. I currently live in Wales, but I was born in Scotland, have lived most of my life in England and probably have Irish ancestry if my surname is anything to go by. Right now, Wales is what's local to me, but Scotland's my country of birth and England's the country that's probably had the most impact on me as a person. As such, I don't really consider myself English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish. I'm just British, so picking one feels a bit cheap.
That said, I'm not ruling out the possibility for a themed game setlist of some kind in the future. I just don't see the point of doing one based on my home country when over 40% of my suggestions are already British in some way.
(For the record, I've been sort of trying for roughly 30/30/30/10 between the UK, USA, mainland Europe and the rest of the world, although collaborations and multinational bands do mean there's some overlap.)
And just so I'm not totally wasting your time, I recently got Audiosurf 2. A YouTube Poop maker and video game streamer called cs188 has set his viewers a challenge to dethrone him on a particular song in mono mode. Much as I'm trying, I'm nowhere near.
If it was Rock Band 4 on the other hand...
Big Data: Bombs Over Brooklyn (+KB) | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Obviously, this would require quite a bit of alt-charting, but it's pretty dope nevertheless. The "guitar" is some primarily pretty sticky synth hooks, while the bass is big long synth drones that add to the song's darker tone. Vocals are a mix of rather hushed verses and louder choruses with some notes quite obviously pitch-shifted. As such, I'm not entirely sure how those would be charted, but they're not used too much and don't detract too much from the melody.
Usual service resumes on Wednesday.1
This week's DLC:
Mixed Singles: 2010-2013
Halestorm: Love Bites (So Do I) | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Arch Enemy: Yesterday is Dead and Gone | Band Tier Devils: Impossible
Muse: Panic Station (Spotlight) (+KB) | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Haim: The Wire (+KB) | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Bits of hard rock, melodic death metal, funky alternative rock and pop this week. For this season I'm trying to have something heavy, something poppy and something in the middle each time. Little bits of something for everyone, you know?
First off we've got a fast and energetic track from Halestorm. Love Bites (So Do I) contains lots of fast riffing on guitar and a fill-heavy drum part with the whole thing tied together neatly by a solid bassline and emotive vocals, and would be one of the trickier Halestorm songs to come to Rock Band.
Yesterday is Dead and Gone doesn't quite earn impossible tiers for the rhythm section since both parts drop down a bit at parts to really give the guitar parts time to shine and oh boy, do they ever! The guitar chart on this would be pretty varied between frantic shredding, strong melodic hooks and gritty rhythmic playing. Khaos Legions was the last album that Angela Gossow sang on, and she brings her signature raspy growls to this track, just as she always did.
If the guitar was the stand-out part for the last two songs, it's definitely bass for Panic Station. Those rhythmic thumps and bass chords lay down the groundwork for the song, the rest of the song building from that. The guitar chart is also pretty solid, with some tricky lead work.
The Wire has a great drive to it, with a fairly varied guitar part for a pop song. The bassline (which should be performed with a ridiculous bass face) is mostly straightforward with a few fills in it. Vocals are the standout tough part here, with a delivery that jumps between notes quite frantically at points with some rapid-fire delivery. I was somewhat torn as to whether it was a high Nightmare or low Impossible, but went with the latter. This was initially going to be my spotlight song for last week, but then when it came to making the tiers I found out it actually came out in 2013 and not 2014. Oops!
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 3 Week 2: A Small Step Backwards
Play songs released 2010 and 2013
Within Temptation: Faster
Muse: Panic Station
Gym Class Heroes: Stereo Hearts (ft. Adam Levine)
There are some bands that I really like that I've been iffy about putting into this thread due to them having a major keyboard focus or having some great vocal lines but somewhat drab guitar and/or bass parts. I believe I called this "the Epica problem" but really, I think I should have called it "the Within Temptation problem". While Faster does have a fairly straightforward riff and chord-based guitar part (broken up a little by the solo) and the bass is all root notes, it's still chock full of nice melodic phrasing and powerful vocals. Besides, not every song needs to be tricky, especially in an on-disc set. Even "hard" games like Rock Band 2 and GH Metallica had relatively simple songs in the beginning of the game!
It's funny. The 2nd Law is my least favourite Muse album (at least based on the songs I've heard from it and the others) but I like Panic Station on its own enough that I was more than happy to put it in this thread. Muse is another band with a mild case of the Within Temptation problem, but there's still plenty of stuff of theirs that fits the four instrument arrangement flawlessly (or close to it).
Finally, I decided to have something a little bit outside my usual taste for the legacy DLC spotlight slot. Specifically, Gym Class Heroes baby! Stereo Hearts is mostly a pretty chill pop-rap song with a surprisingly tricky guitar line, though nothing too ridiculous. Drums and bass are the real stand-out parts here, as one might expect in a rap track. This is just a pleasant song that I ended up getting as part of the Fueled By Ramen pack years ago that I sometimes go back to as a bit of a warm-up.
Rest of the season preview:
Back in season 2, I did a list of the artists I planned to include in that season. So, why not do it again? Though I think the era for most of them will be pretty obvious...
New DLC: Alphabeat, Aretha Franklin, Ashlee Simpson, The Bangles, Barry McGuire, Clutch, Cornershop, Coven, The Cult, Electric Light Orchestra, En Vogue, Fuzzbox, Joan Osbourne, LA Guns, Limp Bizkit, Marty Robbins, Meat Loaf, Mindless Self Indulgence, The Osmonds, Pantera, A Perfect Circle, The Romantics, Sex Pistols, Sick Puppies, Velvet Revolver
Other spotlight stuff you get the privilege of reading me gushing about: Avenged Sevenfold, Biffy Clyro, Busted, Cake, The Clash, Iron Maiden, Johnny Cash, Michael Jackson, No Doubt, Suede, Suzi Quatro, The Who
Finally, no RBN songs off my wishlist this week, but I'm still having better luck with those than with new songs. Next week, the first half of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Or is it the second half? It's a funny one since we're counting backwards...1
Another week, another couple of songs not checked off the RBN wishlist. Another early post since I've got the post ready to go anyway. Guess I wasn't as busy as I thought I'd be this week.
This week's DLC:
Is symphonic coffee a thing?
Another load of singles, from 2005-2009
Alphabeat: 10,000 Nights (+KB) | Band Tier 1: Apprentice
Clutch: Electric Worry (+KB) | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Mindless Self Indulgence: Shut Me Up (+KB) | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Sick Puppies: Odd One (Spotlight) | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Europop, blues rock, electropunk and the alternative end of alternative metal, and not a single UK act in sight!
You may remember Alphabeat for their song Fascination, which made it to the series as DLC as well as showing up in Band Hero. I'm not sure how big they were in America but they had a few other hits here in the UK, and this is the one I remember most after Fascination and is probably my favourite. The guitar part has some fills and mini-solos to keep it varied, but it's the vocal parts that really stand out here.
I was a bit hesitant to put Electric Worry on here due to how much I hated the harmonica solos in Run Around by Blues Traveller. I'm also a bit iffy about charting keyboard solos, and as such, this is generally another "Within Temptation problem" song to some extent. That said, the guitar parts that are there would still be pretty satisfying even without alt-charting those parts. Lead vocals follow the guitar during the quieter sections, giving singers something to lock in with during those parts and helping with finding the key of the song. This is a song that would have been amazing in RB3, but would still be pretty good in RB4. Official, slightly truncated video here.
Oh hey, speaking of songs that would have been amazing in RB3 but would still be pretty great in RB4, it's a song with a title that reflects what you probably want to do to me when you're reading these blurbs! Shut Me Up is a fairly straightforward, but fast punk song with electronic flourishes. Vocals have a bit of an unhinged delivery that rapidly switches between high and low notes, while the guitar parts are mostly rhythmic in nature.
I sort of wish I'd done this theme before the world tour theme, as we'd have at least one other Aussie band by adding Sick Puppies to the game. This is another song where the bassline is more interesting than the guitar part, with the mutes and chords in the intro and outro and overall a fairly similar part for the rest of the song. It feels like the guitar is following the bass rather than the other way around. Even that aside, it's just a nice little alternative rock song.
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 2 Week 3: Depression and Hysteria
Play songs from 2005 to 2009
Spotlight songs:
Biffy Clyro: Bubbles
Sick Puppies: Odd One
Avenged Sevenfold: Afterlife
Oh wait, there's your UK act. Biffy Clyro is a band. I thought I'd clear that up immediately as I've heard waaaaay too many people refer to singer/guitarist Simon Neil as Biffy before. Anyway, this song's a pretty interesting mix of parts carried by a solid bass rhythm. The song as a whole is pretty anthemic and would create some great singalong moments. Just look out for that tricky little HOPO lick in the intro and pre-chorus!
I've seen Sick Puppies listed as an alternative metal band, which I suppose makes them a great little transition from the alternative rock of Biffy Clyro to the metal of...
Avenged Sevenfold is admittedly something of a meme given how popular their songs are among a certain segment of Rock Band players. In fairness, I get it. They're mainstream (for a metal band) and generally pretty challenging on guitar and drums, so there's a good amount of crossover appeal to them. Afterlife is my personal favourite of theirs, even ignoring the context of RB or this particular challenge, with some nice guitar leads and the obligatory noodly solo, solid drumming from the late Rev and even the odd bass fill. Vocals are a bit more varied than the typical metal song (though if you've been following this thread for any amount of time, you know how much I sneer at the concept of "typical metal") so it really is something for everyone. Well, everyone who doesn't hate Avenged anyway.
Next week... well, you should know the format by now!1
So you know how I hinted I might do a themed setlist and I've made a few posts about "the Within Temptation/Epica/Clutch problem"? Well...
Basically, I'm going to do a Return of the Keyboard expansion setlist. Thirty-five songs that would be great if we had keyboards back, plus adding a little (+KB) to all songs I've put in the thread thus far that would get keys added to them. I'll not be re-tiering anything, but I might add keyboard tiers to future DLC posts where appropriate after RotK is up. All songs in the RotK expansion will have a guitar, bass, drums, keys (obviously) and at least one vocal part, though the keys part might be another part alt-charted to the keyboard (a form of alt-charting I really had no issue with in RB3) and will be tiered relative to each other and the RB5 on-disc list. Not sure when that will be up, but it's in the works.
EDIT: Added the (+KB) tag to every song I think would be relevant, but if I've missed any then please let me know.1
This week's DLC:
Well, let's wrap up this century then!
Variety singles: 2000-2004 Edition
A Perfect Circle: The Outsider | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Velvet Revolver: Slither (Spotlight) | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
Ashlee Simpson: Pieces of Me | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Limp Bizkit: Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle) (+KB) | Band Tier 3: Moderate
It's funny. The first week of DLC after I announce a keyboard expansion has no keyboard parts in it, but does get a song with a standout part for each of the other instruments. - bass, guitar, vocals and drums respectively!
Guitar Hero managed to get two A Perfect Circle songs on-disc, and this is my preferred one of the two. This track uses two different time signatures, though both are fairly common ones (6/8 and 4/4). Guitar's fairly laid back, with the bass being more prominent and even getting a solo. Official video here - audio-only link above due to the use of dialogue over the music in the video.
Another GH/Rocksmith catchup, Slither would mark the third act featuring Slash on guitar (after GnR and Slash's solo material) and to be expected, it's a very riff-driven song. While the bassline is no slouch, the fills and solo give the lead guitar a bit more of a stand-out part.
A much lighter song, Pieces of Me is all about the vocal. There is a good mix of short and long notes sung, with a very catchy chorus and very dynamically varied performance. Of course, dynamics aren't marked, but there are some trickly little melodies in there. Guitar is mostly chord-based but has a few little licks in there to keep things varied.
Finally, a song I'm surprised we didn't get sooner. I speculate it's because it has a few too many swears in it, but we got Killing in the Name and songs like "The B**** is Back" and "Beethoven's C***" which have it right in the title so who knows? The biggest guilty pleasure here (yes, more than Ashlee Simpson) with one of the easiest vocal tracks in the whole thread. The guitar and bass licks are simple, with the drums getting the standout part here.
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 2 Week 4: A Century, a Decade, a Millenium
Play songs from 2000 to 2004
Busted: Crashed the Wedding
Velvet Revolver: Slither
Evanescence: Everybody's Fool
Crashed the Wedding isn't quite the biggest Busted song but is one of my favourites. A pop-punk band with heavy emphasis on the "pop" part, Busted were a pretty big deal in the UK circa fifteen years ago. As such I'm a little surprised the only song of theirs we got thus far was a tie-in for a Thunderbirds movie which to my knowledge absolutely tanked. I do plan on making up for that with a three-pack including their two biggest songs at some point though! This one gives all three vocalists a spotlight and in a fairly balanced manner. While of course a solo vocal chart exists, this one would pretty much need to be played on harmonies.
Just realised - I should probably compile the spotlight pass packs at some point. But yeah, Slither's there for variety in both the spotlight pass and the spotlight tracks themselves.
Finally, I was a bit torn on which song from Fallen I wanted to put in the spotlight. I decided to go with Everybody's Fool as I personally find Bring Me to Life rather overrated (decent, but overrated) and Going Under has already been an actual spotlight song. While not particularly highly tiered on anything, the HOPOs in the guitar part are pretty tricky, so be careful! Official video here - similar deal with A Perfect Circle.
Next week, it's the decade I'm from.1
Hey, another tribute post that I'm just going to sort of wing.
So, Vinnie Paul Abbot died today. He was the drummer in a few bands, some with his brother, the late "Dimebag" Darrel Abbot. The most notable of those bands was Pantera, who have had a fair few songs added already - Walk, Mouth For War, I'm Broken, 5 Minutes Alone, a live version of Cowboys From Hell, and the entire The Great Southern Trendkill album. Bit of a kinda spoiler kinda not-spoiler, but I had Cemetery Gates planned as a track request for my upcoming post. I'm not going to bring that forward, but I am going to suggest a few songs that feature Vinnie Paul.
Vinnie Paul Tribute Pack
Pantera: Domination | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
Damageplan: Pride | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Hellyeah: Moth | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Skipping Cemetery Gates, the next most played song Pantera have on Spotify is Domination. The lack of songs from the Cowboys From Hell album is kind of baffling to me, as it's a classic metal album and pretty much flawless from start to end. This track is very much peak Pantera, with a guitar riff that kicks you in the face that forms the basis for most of the song. The song does slow down towards the end, creating a breakdown that's no doubt inspired countless other bands who never quite managed to match it. The drums on it stay powerful and tough throughout but adapt perfectly to the tonal shift towards the end.
Damageplan was a band brutally brought to an end after Dimebag was shot dead on-stage. Save Me was the lead single from their only album, Their sound has more of a nu-metal vibe, with a bit more usage of clean vocals - hence the higher vocal tier compared to most of the Pantera tracks. Pride has a pretty solid groove over it, with some lighter and heavier passages and a pretty big chorus.
Rounding off the three-pack is Moth by Hellyeah. This is the most ballad-like of the songs listed in this pack, and the most downtempo. It's also the most chord-driven of the three, with some rather pretty clean guitar parts. I picked this track for a bit of additional variety among the three tracks.
So long and thanks for the music, Vinnie.
Regular service resumes on Tuesday.2
NightmareLyre Rising StarWow, didn't know about Vinnie Paul, sad to hear that
Btw small thing regarding Rollin', it has Keys actually, if you listen closely in the verse there is some piano chords1
I never noticed them. Ah well, it's probably zero-tier stuff. I'll still wait until my 90s week for my first key tiers. Adding the (+KB) notice anyway.NightmareLyre said:
Btw small thing regarding Rollin', it has Keys actually, if you listen closely in the verse there is some piano chords1
This week's DLC:
The fact @FritzyKatz specifically namedropped Cemetery Gates when I announced this season and that Vinnie Paul died recently are a happy coincidence and an exceptionally unhappy coincidence respectively. I always planned on having Cemetery Gates as the spotlight song.
Variety singles: '90s Edition
Joan Osborne: One of Us | Band Tier 2: Solid
Cornershop: Brimful of Asha (Norman Cook remix) | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Pantera: Cemetery Gates (Spotlight) | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
En Vogue: Free Your Mind | Band Tier 4: Challenging
The 90s were a great era for pop-rock and alternative rock scenes. Here are a few songs that I think are cruelly overlooked these days. Oh, and Pantera.
I'm an agnostic atheist, but One of Us poses an interesting hypothetical scenario regardless of your faith (or lack thereof). It's a pretty nice pop-rock song with a bit of a light alternative rock touch to it. The main chorus melody is shared between guitar and vocals, the former of which also gets a solo to make things a little spicier than most pop-rock songs, particularly the moderately down-tempo ones like this one. Unofficial upload of official video here.
I don't usually pick remixes, but this one was a huge UK hit and while I do like some pretty roughly made music, Norman Cook did a brilliant job with this one. The guitar part is mostly some tricky, syncopated chord rhythms with some fills in there for variety. Drums have the toughest time here by far, though. Also, my first keyboard tier is in this song! You've got some synths and sitar intermittently in here, nothing too tricky. I'll explain why I'm only charting regular keys and not pro when I post my keys expansion.
I've said it before, I'll say it again - Cemetery Gates to me seems like the most blatantly missing Pantera song so far (but by no means the only one). This particular song is a mix of slow and introspective verses, faster bridges, and mid-speed and heavier choruses. As such there's a good variety of flavours and feels, coupled with some amazing instrumental work from Darrell, Rex and Vinnie. Even vocalist Phil Anselmo gets a tough part, compared to other Pantera songs at least. Official vid with shortened song here.
Rounding off this nineties week, an absolute stormer of a track with a message that should resonate more these days than I think it should. This track sort of blew up in the community a little while ago and I said I'd add it, so here it is. This is a great hard rock-flavoured track from a group mostly known for pop and R&B. With that in mind, the vocals are by far the toughest part here, solo or harmony, but watch out for the guitar solo towards the end too! Video here.
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 2 Week 5: Millenium Bug-Types and Green Gunge
Play songs from 1990-99.
Suede: Trash
Pantera: Cemetery Gates
No Doubt: Don't Speak
Much like the DLC, the spotlight songs this week are alternative rock, pop-rock and Pantera.
There's quite a lot of britpop in this thread. I've requested Blur, the Manic Street Preachers, Cornershop, Ocean Colour Scene and a bunch of other vaugely-associated, not-Oasis bands. It was a big part of my formative years, and so a lot of it holds a high amount of nostalgia for me. That's also the case for Suede and songs of theirs like Animal Nitrate, Filmstar, The Beautiful Ones and this particular one - Trash. Incidentally, I may have just accidentally leaked a future pack--
I don't really have a lot more to say about Pantera. Pretty much all their most notable songs are covered now in Rock Band, if you add Cemetery Gates and Domination, apart from maybe a few smaller tracks from Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display of Power. I kind of feel like I've been talking about them a lot recently (for good reason, mind), but yeah...
Speaking of bands that have had pretty much all their most notable songs in Rock Band and not talking, adding Don't Speak to the list gives the spotlights this week a bit of a more chilled and solemn feel. I also wanted to give the challenge a big UK hit, a beloved underground song and a big US hit respectively, though Don't Speak was more of a global hit, reaching #1 in fourteen countries and the top ten in a further six (as well as #1 in Flanders and #2 in Wallonia since Belgium seems to have two separate charts). This is also not counting a #1 in Scotland. I kind of feel like that level of success means you don't need me to talk about the song itself much!
This week, I kind of wish I could have covered more movements within the decade, but next week I think I cover most bases between the spotlights and the singles! Legwarmers are totally optional...1
This week's DLC:
Harmonix are being gracious enough to release this week's pack a couple of days early, so I thought I'd do the same!
Variety Singles: 80's Edition
LA Guns: The Ballad of Jayne | Band Tier 2: Solid
The Cult: Love Removal Machine | Band Tier 4: Challenging
The Bangles: Hazy Shade of Winter (Spotlight) | Band Tier 4: Challenging
The Romantics: Talking In Your Sleep | Band Tier 2: Solid
Power ballads, hard rock, pop-rock and new wave (that's listed as pop-rock for consistency with their other song in RB). Yep, sounds like the 80s to me!
Lead guitarist of LA Guns, Tracii Gun, would later be a founding member of Guns N' Roses. Here he and singer Phil Lewis take the spotlight while the rhythm section lay down a rather simple backbeat. With that in mind, the song is similar to other glam metal ballads we've had in the past such as Every Rose Has Its Thorn and I Remember You.
The Cult may have been a big influence on gothic rock, but they later moved to more of a hard rock sound. Love Removal Machine (particularly the video) embodies this. Loads of improvised licks and some fancy soloing on guitar and a double-time outro give this plenty of variety.
Hazy Shade of Winter is another rock cover of an older song, this time a Simon and Garfunkel track. This isn't the only such track I've got lined up. You pretty much need to get two other people to sing on this one as it's one of those rare tracks where all of the Bangles sing lead throughout the whole song. Instrumentally it may be simple, but those vocals are going to be tough.
The first song was one from the original Saints Row, and the fourth song is one from the fourth Saints Row. Not entirely intentional (even if it was, there's so little left in SR2 to go for!) but a neat little bookend, I suppose! The guitar chart for Talking In Your Sleep would go between about three different layered parts, while the bassline stays on a single motif for most of the song, changing to a straight rhythmic part in the pre-choruses. Drums have some extra hits in said pre-chorus to spice things up a little bit.
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 2 Week 6: Cold War, Blazing Passion
Play songs from 1980-89
Michael Jackson: Beat It [GB]
The Bangles: Hazy Shade of Winter [GB]
Iron Maiden: The Trooper
No, this mashup was not the inspiration for the challenge spotlights. Still, a bit of a tricky one for the guitarists and the singers amongst you...
Beat It was the final vocal encore in Guitar Hero: World Tour, and quite rightly! Guitar is no slouch either, with a solo by Eddie Van Halen. With a pretty solid rhythm section holding the groove down during the song, this was one of my least expected but most appreciated songs in GHWT, and one of the first I thought of for my RB5 list.
There's just one Bangles song left that feels missing between Walk Like an Egyptian (already DLC), Eternal Flame (in the Valentine's pack), Hazy Shade of Winter and Manic Monday. I wonder where the last one could be! Could it have something to do with my keyboard expansion? Because that's what the [GB] tags have to do with. This is the first spotlight song I've picked would have a playable keyboard part in theory. That's because with the addition of a fifth instrument, Rivals would need to change a little. The best way I can see it working is if for spotlight songs, four of the five instruments took high scores for that part of the challenge. The fifth instrument could still contribute XP, of course. Drums and vocals always rank scores, with the other two being any two of guitar, bass or keys, and are tagged as appropriate - [GB] for guitar and bass, [GK] for guitar and keys, and [BK] for bass and keys.
Guitarists don't get it too easy this week either thanks to this and the Beat It solo. The Trooper is a song about the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War (pretty much the only ways I learn history are from metal and videogames), and as such as a very frantic pace to it from the intro to the galloping bass line, dual solo and almost yelped vocals. No need for a [GB] tag as The Trooper doesn't have any instrumentation outside of guitars, bass, drums and vocals.
Next week is one of my favourite ones for popular music. You could say it's an awesome mix of styles...0
I have a bit more of a fleshed out idea for how the career mode would work in my RB5. Basically, there are five chapters and each one is split into a bunch of gigs, each one pitched by the in-game members of your band. Across the various gigs, you have to earn a certain number of stars to unlock the final gig of that chapter. Completing that gig unlocks the next chapter.
Each gig also comes with its own positives and negatives - some grant higher amounts of cash (for buying customisation options), some grant extra fans (which are used to unlock special gigs akin to the ones in RB4's Go On Tour mode), others grant high amounts of both with a catch, and yet others unlock side gigs, which can be used as an alternative to the four main gigs for earning stars.
Until you complete your first gig, you can only put on custom gigs in your parents' garage, but once you complete a gig you can use it for future custom gigs. Custom gigs let you play any song you have downloaded or exported that fit within the tier bracket. You can play two songs in a custom gig for the first two chapters, unlocking one song slot per chapter from chapters 3 to 5.
In the final gig of each chapter, if you earn an average of four stars per song (gold/crimson stars still only count as one), you unlock an encore song which, if completed, multiplies your earnings for that gig by half the amount of stars you earn for that song, along with thematically-fitting customisation items.
Chapter 1: Getting the Band Together
Tiers: Warmup, Apprentice, Solid
You decide you're going to form a band and rock the world, but first, you must make your mark on your local scene.
Earn 16 or more stars to unlock gig 1E.
1A: House Party
Vocalist: "We could always throw a party at my place and invite our friends. People love free food and booze, right?"
Setlist: High School Never Ends, (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)
Earns very little cash, but gives you a lot of fans.
1B: Jam Night
Bassist: "So there's this jam night we could play at. Cash prize for best performance of the night and a free audience. Not bad, right?"
Setlist: Teenage Kicks, Swords of a Thousand Men
Earns a moderate amount of cash and fans.
1C;: Your First Opening Slot
Guitarist: "I know some guys who are playing at Dempsey's and need an opener. And it's a paid gig!"
Setlist: Hail the Apocalypse, Bleed It Out
Earns a high amount of cash, but not many fans.
1D: Folk Festival Audition
Drummer: "Why not audition for the folk festival? We're good enough to get on the bill, right?"
Setlist: Somebody That I Used To Know, Red Cortina
Earns no cash or fans, but unlocks gig 1X
1X: Folk Festival Lunchtime Slot
Drummer: "Told you we could make it! Now let's give it our all!"
Setlist: Rotterdam (Or Anywhere), Jolene
Earns a large amount of cash and fans
1E: Marie's Wedding
Vocalist: "My cousin Marie's getting married! Let's make her reception one she'll never, ever forget!"
Setlist: Mama Weer All Crazee Now, Go All the Way
Encore: Crashed the Wedding
Unlocks: Tuxedos and bridesmaid dresses.
Chapter 2: Small Town Circuit
Tiers: Apprentice, Solid, Moderate
Now that you've made a name for yourself in your hometown, it's time to hit the road.
Earn 20 or more stars to unlock gig 2E.
2A: Pub Garden Festival
Vocalist: "So this guy who runs a pub saw our set at Marie's wedding and wants us to play at a festival he's putting on in his beer garden!"
Setlist: Girl From Mars, Parklife
High cash, low fans
2B: Working Men's Club
Bassist: "A working men's club in the next town over is interested in us. It's a tough crowd, so we'd better bring our A-game!"
Setlist: The Wanderer, All the Young Dudes
Grants a high amount of cash and fans, but only if eight or more stars are earned. Seven or fewer earns nothing but the stars.
2C: Beachside Café
Guitarist: "Why rely on other people when we could just put on our own show? I know a great place by the sea that would be perfect!"
Setlist: Provoke Me, Royal Jelly
Grants a small amount of cash and no fans, but unlocks chapter 2X if completed with seven or more stars.
2D: Comic Convention
Drummer: "I know it's a bit geeky, but a comic convention nearby is looking for entertainment. We could fit the bill, right?"
Setlist: Live and Learn, Fox On the Run
Grants a small amount of cash but plenty of fans.
2X: Seaside Stage:
Guitarist: "So what if nobody turned up to the café show? The owner liked us enough to put us on his festival lineup! How cool is that?"
Setlist: Stacy's Mom, Domino
2E: Big Club Show
Bassist: "We're opening for a big band, so let's make sure to make a big impression!"
Setlist: Comfortably Numb, Bubbles
Encore: Beautiful Tragedy
Unlocks: Bling instruments (guitar, bass, drumkit, mic stand)
Chapter 3: Underground Darlings
Tiers: Solid, Moderate, Challenging
Anyone who's anyone has heard of you, but you're not quite big names yet. That might just be about to change...
3A: Radio Session
Vocalist "A local radio station wants us to come on and play live! This is a big chance to get our music out to the world!"
Setlist: Waterfall, Asleep at the Wheel, Video Killed the Radio Star
Grants little cash but a huge amount of fans.
3B: Studio Time
Bassist: "If we really want to get our name out there, we should really think about getting some recording done. It'll be a huge boost in the long run!"
Setlist: Thank God I'm Not You, Take It Off, Anarchy in the UK
Grants zero cash or fans, but increases all future income of both by 10%. Earning at least 10 stars unlocks chapter 3X.
3C: Corporate Lounge
Guitarist; "Corporate entertainment has its perks - like a huge pay cheque!"
Setlist: Mamma Mia, Venus, Evil Woman
Grants a huge amount of cash, but not many fans.
3D: Car Fest
Drummer: "Petrolheads love everything loud. That includes music, not just the roar of their modded supercar's engine!"
Setlist: Ready to Go, 48 Crash, The Distance
Grants a moderate amount of both fans and cash.
3X: Album Launch Party
Bassist: "We should totally hold a launch party to sell physical copies of our CD and spread the word that we've got music out next!"
Setlist: Danger! High Voltage, Can't Stop, All the Things She Said
Earn 12 or more stars to get a huge amount of cash and fans, but get nothing but stars for 11 or less.
3E: European Festival Dome
Guitarist: "It's our first time playing on foreign soil! Better pack that English-Hungarian phrase book!"
Setlist: Oh My God, Feuer frei!, Kiss Me Deadly, Beautiful Dangerous
Encore: Boys of Summer
Unlocks: Chic decor options for your practice space1
Chapter 4: Flavour of the Month
Tiers: Moderate, Challenging, Nightmare
Sure, everyone knows who you are now. Who's to say you'll still be in demand further down the line though? Prove the naysayers wrong and show you have longevity!
Earn 64+ stars to unlock 4E
4A: Concert Hall
Vocalist: "I know the rest of you have big ideas, but let's not stop touring any time soon!"
Setlist: Hundred Mile High City, Children of the Grave, Brianstorm, Fallout
Earn 16+ stars to get a huge amount of cash and fans. Earn 18+ to unlock 4X.
4B: Video Shoot
Bassist: "We should think about doing some music videos. If they go viral, just think of the exposure!"
Setlist: Vanity Loves Me, Motorcycle Emptiness, Don't Mess With Me, Another Girl Another Planet
Low cash and fans, increases the number of fans and cash earned by 10% (stacks with Studio Time for 20% total.)
4C: Soundtracking
Guitarist: "Got a call from some people who think we would make a great soundtrack for their new web show, and the pay cheque is huge!"
Setlist: B.O.B., Black Cat, You Lost Me, Trash
High cash, low fans
4D: Rock the Goths
Drummer: "For some reason, the goths really love us. Let's pay them our respects by playing at the biggest goth weekender in the country!"
Setlist: Suckerpunch, I Think We're Alone Now, Spellbound, Eden
Low cash, high fans
4X: Secret Show
Vocalist: "I'm really worried that people think we've forgotten our roots. Let's prove them wrong with a secret set at Dempsey's!"
Setlist: Rock and Roll, Substitute, The Chain, Don't Believe A Word
Grants no fans, but gives a huge cash boost dependant on the number of fans you already have.
4E: Arena Headliners
Drummer: "This is the big one! We smash this, there will be no doubt that we've made it as rock stars! LET'S HAVE IT!"
Setlist: Na Na Na, Rattlesnake, Bang Bang, Two Skin, Paradise City
Encore: Time to Say Goodbye
Unlocks: Golden instruments
Chapter 5: Living Legends
Tiers: Challenging, Nightmare, Impossible
There's no denying that you're going to go down as a beloved band. Have you got what it takes to go above and beyond that and become legendary though?
Earn 20 or more stars with 4 stars or more on each chapter 5 song to unlock gig 5E. Every gig grants a high amount of cash and fans. There is no 5X. Custom gigs only have three songs.
5A: TV Performance
Vocalist: "We're on national TV, and we've been asked to play our biggest pop bangers."
Setlist: Beat It, Everything About You, Suffocated
5B: Documentary Shoot
Bassist: "Some wannabe intellectual wants to film a documentary about our careers that shows off our artsy side and eclectic influences? I'm so up for that."
Setlist: Paranoid Android, Superman, Fuwa Fuwa Time
5C: Lecture Hall
Guitarist: "We've been asked to do a guest lecture for some music students in order to help them improve their chops. Better not let them down!"
Setlist: Black Night, Knights of Cydonia, Wishmaster
5D: Festival Headliner
Drummer: "I know [vocalist] reckons we should gig more, so here's one where we're going to need to play some of our heaviest songs to date."
Setlist: Moth Into Flame, Cry of the Banshee, The World Is Yours
5E; The Gauntlet
[player 1's character]: "The biggest stage we'll ever play on, shown live to millions across the world. The toughest songs we know. There's no room for error here. We pull this off, the world will never forget us."
Setlist: Wynona's Big Brown Beaver, Headlong Flight, Captain Morgan's Revenge, 21st Century Schizoid Man, Beyond the Matrix, Road of Resistance
Unlocks: The ending, depending on the amount of stars you earn across the six songs.
Less than 19: Bad ending.
19-24: Normal ending.
25-30: Good ending
30 gold/crimson: Perfect ending.1
So, this song has become something of a meme in the UK (well, mostly England) lately. With the English national team doing rather well in some sportyball thing, the nation seems convinced that "it's coming home".
Alright, while I'm not following the tournament particularly closely, the hype from England's top four placing in the World Cup is inescapable. I'm currently in Wales and even here, there's a bit of a division between those rooting for England and those who would never bring themselves to do so. If you're into it and you've got a much stronger sense of patriotism than I do, then I do get the hype. Last time the England men's team reached the top four of a World Cup was 1990. The last time they reached the top four in any major international tournament? Well~
Sportyball Single
Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds: Three Lions | Band Tier 0: Warmup
The year was 1996. Britpop was in full swing, England was hosting the European tournament and it had been thirty years
of hurtsince England's victory in the 1966 World Cup. Comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel teamed up with the Britpop band The Lightning Seeds and wrote what I consider to be one of a mere three good football songs - the other two being New Order's "World in Motion" and the Manic Street Preachers' "Together Stronger (Come on Wales)". However, the latter is (as suggested by the subtitle) a song for the Welsh team (who didn't even qualify for the World Cup despite a top 4 Euro 2016 place) and the latter just hasn't stayed in the public consciousness in the same way.
What I love about this song is that it doesn't have the whole "heck yeah we're invincible boiiiis" attitude that you'd expect in most sports songs. Rather, it's pretty open about how aside from that one time, England have always had their hopes dashed, but the fans maintain something of a level of optimism despite that. "I know that was then, but it could be again", as the song itself succinctly puts it. Incidentally, all that is why its recent adoption and twisted meaning into "we're definitely going to win the World Cup" pisses me off. That's not really the song's fault, though. It's still good, despite the context of the original song being lost on a lot of people now and the meaning being perverted somewhat.
Ah well, at least they picked a good song to spoil!
Seventies stuff will be up later in the week.1
Since Hard to See is confirmed, I thought I'd replace it in the RBN wishlist with a sandwich.1
This week's DLC:
Pop-rock, hard rock, punk and progressive pop. Only one of those has been in an Awesome Mix volume though!
Variety singles: Disco is banned edition
The Osmonds: Crazy Horses (Spotlight) | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
Sex Pistols: Pretty Vacant | Band Tier 2: Solid
Electric Light Orchestra: Mr. Blue Sky | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
Crazy Horses is an "actually somewhat heavy song by a not particularly heavy act" song, sort of like Free Your Mind. Certainly, it's heavy enough to have been covered by Lawnmower Deth and Butcher Babies! There's a pretty neat triplet strum pattern on guitar, with a pretty simple solo towards the middle. Being an Osmonds song, the harmonies have the toughest time here. Keyboard gets a mix of the accompanying horn parts and OH MY GOD THAT SYNTH WAIL!
Next is one of the rare Meat Loaf songs that would work almost as well without the piano part being playable as with, hence its inclusion here rather than in the keyboard expansion. Still, what a piano part! And what a monster of a song too, clocking in at just under ten minutes. I hope I'm not the only one who enjoys the super-long tracks, because this thread already has plenty and even more to come.
Of course, contrast is the backbone of any good variety set, and a more normal-length and to-the-point punk track is a solid contrast. The song has a bit of temp to it, with some surprisingly tricky little bits in the guitar parts, though nothing too tough. The vocals aren't so much sung as yelled and sneered - the rerecording in GHWT charted them mostly as talkies, and the same would likely be the case here.
Another artist from the disc (I did promise that everyone would end up with at least two songs between the disc, current content and song suggestions from the thread, after all). If there's something that unites all four songs in here, they're all pretty high-energy. Mr. Blue Sky has all sorts of fun thrown into it. On solo vocals you of course have Jeff Lynne's lead vocal, but also some choral leads and vocoder. Backing vocalists fill in some of the other parts. Guitar gets a brief solo, with the keyboard getting some of the string parts for a bit of variety while the bass and drums (the latter having a fire extinguisher charted to the ride at points) hold down the groove. Oh, and it's almost like two songs in one as the last minute and a bit is completely different from the rest of the song. Incidentally, I'm not sure why I searched up the album art when I could have just downloaded @MCSMeister's avatar. Oh well.
Please turn me over...
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 2 Week 7: When Music Was Real
Play songs from 1970-79 (not just the early seventies!)
Suzi Quatro: 48 Crash [GB]
The Osmonds: Crazy Horses [GB]
The Clash: London Calling
Ironic that in a challenge that references Brutal Legend, I don't have a single metal song in my new DLC or spotlight. Then again this season has brought in Within Temptation, Myrkur, Arch Enemy, Sick Puppies, Limp Bizkit, Pantera and L.A. Guns for metal and metal-ish representation.
A woman singing glam rock? An American singing glam rock in the 70s? Yeah, both utterly unbelievable, right? Suzi has a pretty good bassline going on this one too, with solos on guitar and drums and the keys mostly just holding down the chords for the rest of the band to have their fun on. I wonder if I may have undertiered it, actually! Then again, Wishmaster it ain't so maybe not? Relative tiers are always bizarre.
Initially I was going to put Bat Out of Hell in the spotlight, but given that I'm not putting a keyboard part in the spotlight until the Keys Expansion gets posted, I feel like it would be utterly wasted. Same thing with Mr. Blue Sky, and putting two punk songs in there wouldn't feel right. Thank you, Osmonds!
London Calling's the title track of a classic album, so I wasn't going to shift it out of this part. An iconic bassline, over a very rhythmic guitar part with a discordant solo, a somewhat swung drum pattern and post-apocalyptic lyrics? Yeah, nothing else stood a chance! Shame the official video has potato-quality sound though.
Next week, we finish this rivals season. The week after, the last four-song single set for a while. The week after that, a new Rivals challenge. It's not one of the reject ones from before (they'll have their time!) but I will say that some of the challenges will feel very familiar...1
Activity will be a bit patchy over the next few weeks. Festival season = lots of work + a brief holiday for Vexus. It also means no promise of internet access...1
Do I get half a mark for four songs in one week?0
This week's DLC:
Let's wrap up this season in a nice little 50's and 60's bow.
Variety singles: The Beginning of Popular Music Edition
Marty Robbins: Big Iron (spotlight) | Band Tier 5: Nightmare
Aretha Franklin: Respect | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Coven: Wicked Woman | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Barry McGuire: Eve of Destruction | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Our first song this week needs no introduction to all the Fallout: New Vegas players out there. While the drums on Big Iron are pretty minimal, and the bass is fairly simple, the vocals and guitar are the stars of the show in this track. Some great storytelling on the lead with some tough drawn-out backing vocals, and the guitar part lacks a solo but has loads of little flourishes that would make this one of the most varied guitar charts in RB.
Otis Redding may have done the original version of this song, but Aretha MADE this track. The horns would go to the keyboard part in a 5-instrument configuration, and to guitar in a 4-instrument configuration. If the latter were to happen, I can see the tier for guitar going up one. Aretha's another vocalist I don't see ever getting tiered low. As a soul classic, the bassline has more going on in it than the guitar part.
Metal might not have been a proper thing until the seventies, but there were certainly bands that came pretty close to the sound. Coven's track Wicked Woman, for instance, certainly tapped into a lot of the same psychedelic bluesy influences that bands like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath (incidentally, the title of another track on the same album - and the bassist was called Oz Osborne!) with a somewhat Joplin-esque frontwoman. The imagery is also pretty metal before metal was a real thing. Cool stuff, and I know for certain I'm not alone in thinking we need more proper rock songs with female vocals in RB.
The 60's were a peak time for protest songs and folk rock, and here's a one-hit wonder that's a great example of both. Trying to tier Eve of Destruction's gritty vocal performance was tricky, and I'm tiering guitar as if harmonica is not alt-charted (since it's there mostly for a bit of flavour rather than a more prominent lead part a la Karma Chameleon, What I Like About You or the Blues Traveller tracks). Rather, the keyboard gets harmonica. Some of the lyrical content still resonates today, some doesn't. You be the judge!
Rock Band 5 Rivals Season 2 Week 8: Rockin' Primordial Soup
Play songs from 1969 or earlier
The Who: Substitute
Marty Robbins: Big Iron
Janis Joplin: Piece of My Heart
The Who have had a song in every single numbered Rock Band title to date, even with the greatest hits package covering most of the biggest songs they've put out. As such, it created the challenge of "find another Who song" and "find one that isn't in already". This is one of their earlier songs, with different lyrics in the US version - "I look all white but my dad was black" is substituted (AHAHAHAHAHA) for "I try walking forward but my feet walk back". I've gone with the original, longer version.
Big Iron. Because I really need to come up with more good country songs - especially if I do eventually do a genre season!
Piece of My Heart is a fun cover version of the Erma Franklin song and features a pretty solid bassline, some pretty guitar licks and soloettes, and a raw and passionate vocal performance from Janis Joplin. Funnily enough. Erma Franklin was Aretha's sister and there's a Janis Joplin live bootleg of her final ever concert titled "Wicked Woman". None of that was intentional, but damn it feels nice when stuff ties together like that!
Next week, four songs but an unusually low amount of playable parts...
LiveHomeVideo Trying too hardThat's a weird coincidence, I just started playing more New Vegas last night...2
And @FritzyKatz usually likes my posts and Eve of Destruction was in his 2018 wishlist! It all falls into place!LiveHomeVideo said:
That's a weird coincidence, I just started playing more New Vegas last night...0
This week's DLC:
It's pretty rare that we don't get a song with parts for all four players, but there are some good songs out there that only have parts for three. That's the theme for this week's songs - four songs with three playable parts, with no keyboard (apart from one) and no part for one of the other roles.
Variety Singles: Giving It 75% Edition
No guitar: Oaf: No More Tickets for the Time Machine | Band Tier 6: Impossible
No bass: Deap Vally: End of the World | Band Tier 0: Warmup
No drums: Mungo Jerry: In the Summertime | Band Tier 3: Moderate
No vocals: Slash: Watch This! (ft. Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan) | Band Tier 6: Impossible
Oaf isn't a big band. They're also not a serious band. They're ALSO not a band with many songs that would probably clear the censors. This one might just make it, though. Sure, there are a few utterances of "We're all [effed]" but beyond that… They're a duo (not the only one we'll be using!) consisting of a bassist/vocalist and a drummer, so for once the bassists among you get to borderline shred!
Deap Vally is a band I like a lot more than I thought I ever would. I really wanted to include them on the disc, but due to the fact they don't have a bassist and don't really compose songs as if they did, it was tricky to find them a spot on there. Between this and a pack I have lined up, we have most of the songs I initially rejected since I didn't think it would be worth alt-charting any of the guitar tracks to bass. This one is pretty low-tiered overall but still has a few little solos in it to keep it varied on guitar.
Next, we've got the one song that has a keyboard part, but it's not too different from the bulk of the guitar part as both play the same riff for a lot of the song, and so would work just fine in the traditional four-instrument configuration (three-instrument configuration? whatevs). This time it's the vocalist who gets to make the car noises. Incidentally, this is now two weeks running when I've featured a song from the One Hit Wonderland series on YouTube. I've got more of those lined up!
Finally, the obligatory instrumental. It can and will kick you in the face on guitar, and it's no slouch on bass or drums either. Technically there is someone's voice saying "watch this!" at the beginning, but it's one of those parts that's so unnoticeable that it wouldn't be charted. Most of the guitar chart would be counted as a solo, so a good guitarist on it would be able to rack up an insane score with the solo bonuses. Said bonuses and the sheer amount of notes also put a lot more of the proportional score on the guitarist, putting it in the impossible tier for the whole band - the rhythm section might be two-thirds of the playing band, but they'd likely only contribute about 50% of the score.
Not sure when next time will be, but it'll be in another thread. There will be stuff in here too, mind.0
So I'm putting this thread on hiatus for a bit and picking it up in September. I would have posted Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, but I already used that in the positivity thing... I'll still put tiers and stuff up in the keyboard expansion thread, however. For now though:
Variety Singles: "I'll be back at some point don't get too emotional okay?" edition
Bill Haley and His Comets: See You Later, Alligator | Band Tier 3: Moderate
Within Temptation: Summertime Sadness | Band Tier 4: Challenging
Johnny Cash: We'll Meet Again | Band Tier 2: Solid
Rock Band-friendly covers of popular songs are a recurring thing with my song requests, and that's an unintentional theme with these three songs.
Our first track was originally by Bobby Charles but later covered by Bill Haley (and slightly more cringe-inducingly, by Dr. Feelgood, to name but a mere fraction of the acts who have done versions of this track). It was Haley's version that became best known, of course. Keys has a mix of piano and saxophone (though the latter could work on guitar I SUPPOSE), and there's a duelling sax/guitar solo later on into the song. Short, sweet, lovely.
Lana Del Rey is one of those singers I'm never sure if I like or not. Every song of hers is one I either really like or really... well, let's just say "don't" and leave it at that. I do like the original Summertime Sadness, and it could work as one of RB's rather rare slow jams, I prefer Within Temptation more generally. They give the song a load of power, making a much more interesting part for guitar and bass. Drums have a slightly tougher time of it too, but they're one of the two main standout parts of the original, along with the vocal.
Finally, We'll Meet Again was a song originally performed by Dame Vera Lynn during World War II and pretty much became a second national anthem for the UK. Johnny Cash's version is stripped back, mostly being acoustic guitar and his vocal. Without keys being a thing in RB4, charting some of the accompanying instrumentation might be tricky (it could go on bass, could go on guitar while some of the guitar goes on bass, or it could just not get charted at all). It's probably not the Cash cover you were expecting, but it's still absolutely lovely, with a bittersweet feel given both the original's use in World War II as a morale raiser and as one of the last things Cash released before his death.
When did I get so extra?1
I came to mark off The Touch, but it turns out I never put it down. Oh well, if we'd had something between Hard to See and it, then it would have been the next to go on my RBN list. Then we're also getting a free RWBY theme that's not Time to Say Goodbye.
So near yet so far!1
So I noticed that "The Crusade" by Lovebites is on Spotify now, so I can finally add that to the playlist. Upon listening to it on there, there seem to be some very quietly mixed string parts on there, which would likely be zero- or one-tier. Still, they're there so that's a (+KB) notice added to that.
(Incidentally, they're also by far the politest band I've ever met. Something something Japanese national stereotype.)1


text:
One, Jebbit, has a really great way to engage customers by asking questions about your own website … the value is "pay-only-for-performance" because you only pay when they make correct answers!
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text:
we oughta do lunch at the old farts café! slaplaughwj
Quote from: aubrey on January 02, 2018, 11:50:51 AMwe oughta do lunch at the old farts café! slaplaughwjSay when and where, count me in. Does Duff qualify as old? Rigger?
Very true but.....ya never know
g, you know that duff ain't gonna show, it's ice fishin' time.and rigger driller, is outta state. he's got a new gig makin' dead folks more comfy.so likely it's just us 2 old farts, unless ken wants to show up this time.wj
Nymex and Henry Hub. One in the same?


text:
A. Crowdfunding is an innovative concept of gifting / donating directly certain amount in one's individual capacity for another person's need or venture. This noble cause was started in the USA and UK sometime back and is spreading to the the other European countries and to all the countries in the world.
Q. How can I make (raise) some funds for my personal needs?
A. It is explained in detail below. Please read carefully till the end. There are many web-portals that enable you to make money through 'crowdfunding'. But what I am going to suggest below is easier, faster and unlimited.
Q. Can we raise huge amounts of money through crowdfunding for the start-up of some mega projects?
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Q. Can I earn sufficient money for starting / running my charity?
A. Yes.
A. Is the money collected, completely free?
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Q. Is accepting online donations through crowdfunding websites and portals is legal?
A. In most of the countries it is legitimate and more and more countries are making it legal.
In this post I wish to clear the doubts of the common man about 'crowdfunding' and its workable methods and probable success. All the above questions will be addressed below.
We see the rich people these days are depositing their (black) money (mostly earned in illegal ways) in Swiss banks which will never be of any use to them or their children or the society. And most of the honest people throughout the world are becoming very poor as they have no funds for the start-up of a business or an institution or an industry or some projects for their lively-hood. We hear the news of many innocent farmers and debt-ridden people resorting to extreme steps of committing suicides as they lose all their hopes. Even all the banks in countries like India entertain only the rich people or those people who can manipulate things falsely, and offer them huge loans and extend all supports to these people only, against the very purpose and guiding principles of many financial institutions. There are many poor people with amazing ideas who are unable to implement them for want of sufficient start-up money.
Along with the development of the internet and social media based activities people are using them for many good causes also. Majority of the people on the earth have a generous heart with a mind to help. Thanks to the support of many websites, blogs and online portals, anyone from any corner of the world can accept donations for any of his/her needs or wants. It may be for a purely personal need or for a public / social cause.
Here I wish to share such a company's website and the methods of using it which will enable a person or an organization to post his/their campaigns or projects and receive money in the form of gifts and donations in two ways.
The Name of the Company is Online Sensor (https://onlinesensor.com/Register). According to the promoters and information available in their website, it has opened its offices in USA, Singapore and India. It is in the process of opening many offices further in other countries also...!
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Easy Step-1: You need to click the website and 'JOIN' (Register) it by filling all your details. registration is absolutely FREE. In the 'Project' choose your favorite project or needs for money. After successful FREE Registration, you can login to your back office and 'create your campaign' which will be scrutinized by the Admin and posted online enabling you to receive funds. There is no cost for this as the site owners deduct some percentage as their service charges while paying the beneficiary.
Another way of Raising funds to your needs is by sharing / referring this concept with other people who need money. For referring and joining others you need a website with your personal 'username'. For getting your own website, you need to make a ONE TIME donation of $5 (Rs.325) to your sponsor's project (that is mine). When you voluntarily donate $5 for my campaign, your account is upgraded (activated) and you can refer other people with your website. When you refer one person, he/she makes a donation of $5 (Rs.325) to you and you receive your entire investment (after reaching the minimum criteria). There are seven levels and the system automatically upgrades your positions in all the levels by deducting the money you receive by the contribution of the referrals in these levels..
How to make Money by helping / sharing / referring this '5 Dollar' Opportunity to others who are also in need of money?
Step 1. Click the link and Join: https://onlinesensor.com/Register
Step 2. Upgrade with Rs.325 ($5) Only one time. This is your non-refundable gift to your sponsor.
Step 3. After up-gradation, log-in to your account back-office (dashboard) and find your referral link with your username. Join / Refer this to all people who need money. (If you and others in your team refer 4 people each, the money you make will be huge in seven levels)...! If you join more than 4 persons in your team, the fifth person will be placed under your down-line and it will be a help for him also.
Note: This is an easy earning plan. The plan and mission of 'online sensor' appears to be not scam and is risk-free and hence no liability. As you join one person and when he activates his account, the full joining money of $5 (Rs.325) will be added to your account (up liner). Hence, even if you help (bear) your down-lines upgrade fees, neither you nor he loses anything. And when he gets donations and makes money through crowdfunding, you also get benefited.
Warning: For any reason, if the above projections or calculations fail, or something happens with the company, promoters or the system one day, you or anyone who upgrades should be prepared to suffer the lose of $5 which is the maximum risk one can incur.
Wish you Happy Earning...!