Slash (album)

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Slash
File:Slash (Slash album - cover art).jpg
Studio album by Slash
Released March 31, 2010 (2010-03-31)
(See release history)
Recorded March 4 – November 4, 2009 at Barefoot Recording Studio
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 60:29
Label EMI, Universal, Roadrunner, Sony Music
Producer Eric Valentine
Kid Rock
Big Chris Flores
Slash chronology
Slash
(2010)		 Live in Manchester
(2010)Live in Manchester2010
Singles from Slash
  1. "Sahara"
    Released: November 11, 2009
  2. "By the Sword"
    Released: March 16, 2010
  3. "Ghost"
    Released: June 25, 2010
  4. "Back from Cali"
    Released: July 12, 2010
  5. "Beautiful Dangerous"
    Released: October 28, 2010
  6. "Starlight"
    Released: July 25, 2011
  7. "Gotten"
    Released: March 29, 2012

Slash is the eponymous debut solo album by Guns N' Roses guitarist and songwriter Slash. The album was produced by Eric Valentine and features multiple musicians, including four of the five members of the Appetite for Destruction-era Guns N' Roses lineup: Slash himself, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler.

History and recording

In his 2007 autobiography, Slash mentioned he was planning a solo album, and listed some of the vocalists with whom he would like to work. He stated that the album would be called Slash & Friends (although & Friends was later dropped from the title). Slash's wife Perla mentioned in a 2008 interview that the album would include "everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to Fergie."[1]

On January 16, Slash made an appearance at the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show where it was announced that his debut solo album will be released in the U.S. on April 6. The CD will be made available in Europe via Roadrunner Records.[2]

On January 19, 2010, Slash teamed up with Linkin Park's Music for Relief, along with Alanis Morissette, The All-American Rejects and others, and donated a previously unreleased track to aid the victims of the earthquake tragedy in Haiti. The song released was titled "Mother Maria" and featured Beth Hart. According to the track listing, "Mother Maria" will be featured as an iTunes bonus track for the record.[3]

On February 1, 2010, Ultimate-Guitar.com revealed the official track listing and cover artwork of the solo album. The cover art was produced from a painting by Ron English, a prominent Pop Surrealist artist and friend of Slash.[4]

On February 8, 2010, Slash announced that the album would be made available in the United States via EMI. A world tour was prepared for spring, to promote the album with Myles Kennedy as singer.[5]

In the United Kingdom, the album was set to be released on May 10, 2010, although a limited-to-1000-copies edition of Classic Rock magazine covering the whole of Slash's career complete with the album, amongst other memorabilia, would become available on April 7, 2010.[6]

The single "By the Sword" (feat. Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother) was premiered on February 27 on spinner.com.[7] It was released as a digital single in the US on March 16, 2010 and in the UK on March 28, 2010.[8]

On March 4, 2010, it was announced that another song featuring Myles Kennedy, entitled "Back from Cali," was added to the album's track listing at the last minute,[9] making Kennedy the only person to be featured on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. Slash also announced that Izzy Stradlin is the only other person who played guitar on the record,[10] performing rhythm guitar on the song "Ghost," featuring Ian Astbury.

On March 19, 2010, Slash exclusively released in a newsletter the instrumental song "Watch This", which features Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan.

Ultimate-guitar.com published on March 20 the session notes with the gear used for the recording of the album.[11]

On March 23, 2010, the songs "Crucify the Dead" (feat. Ozzy Osbourne) and "Ghost" (feat. Ian Astbury and Izzy Stradlin) were premiered on Amazon.com.[12] On the same day, the songs "Starlight" (feat. Myles Kennedy) and "I Hold On" (feat. Kid Rock) were premiered on ESPN Radio.[13] "I Hold On" was also featured on the season one episode of Hawaii Five-0, entitled "Malama Ka Aina," which aired on October 4, 2010; it was featured as Steve and Danny drive to the pizza shop.[14]

On March 26, 2010, the song "Back from Cali" (feat. Myles Kennedy) premiered on Amazon.com along with "Beautiful Dangerous" (feat. Fergie). On the same day, the song "Nothing to Say" (feat. M. Shadows) premiered on his MySpace page.[15] The next day, "Promise" (feat. Chris Cornell) premiered on Amazon.com. On March 29, 2010, "Gotten" (feat. Adam Levine) and "Doctor Alibi" (feat. Lemmy Kilmister) premiered on Amazon.com.

On April 6, 2010, the Best Buy exclusive version was released, which includes both the album and a Slash T-shirt. Best Buy also sells an exclusive digital version of the album that includes 2 bonus tracks on Napster.com: "Baby Can't Drive" (featuring Alice Cooper/Nicole Scherzinger/Steven Adler/Flea) and a cover of Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" (featuring Fergie/Cypress Hill).[16]

On April 23, 2010, Slash revealed that he would have wanted Thom Yorke to sing "Saint Is a Sinner Too" but that he was too nervous to call the Radiohead singer.[17]

In an interview with the Finnish Soundi magazine, Slash also stated that he would have wanted the record to also feature his friend, former-Hanoi Rocks lead singer, Michael Monroe, but there was not a song that Slash thought fit him.

As of April 18, 2010 the album has gone gold in Australia. The second single, after "By the Sword," was "Back from Cali".

2010 World Tour

Slash during a concert in Rome in July 29, 2011

On February 4, 2010, Slash announced via a MySpace blog that "Myles Kennedy is going to be fronting the band for the upcoming tour. Something I'm really stoked about. Myles sang a killer track on the record & I think he is by far one of the best Rock & Roll singers out there today. I'm really honored & proud to be working with him." Concert dates and ticket information had not yet been released but the guitarist confirmed, via Twitter that he was in talks with England's Download Festival promoter Andy Copping regarding an appearance with Kennedy and the rest of the touring band at the festival.[18][19] Slash confirmed that he will play his own solo material and songs from Guns N' Roses ("Civil War", "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Nightrain" among others[20]), Velvet Revolver, and Slash's Snakepit, as well as Alter Bridge material ("Rise Today").

The touring line-up for the upcoming tour, besides Myles Kennedy and himself is Bobby Schneck (Slash's Blues Ball) on rhythm guitar, Dave Henning (Big Wreck) on bass and Brent Fitz (Alice Cooper) on drums. He then announced via Twitter that Todd Kerns (Age of Electric, Static in Stereo, Sin City Sinners) would be performing bass duties on the tour instead of Dave Henning.[21]

Slash performed "By the Sword" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 6, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 9. While performing the song on Jay Leno's show, Slash was wearing an "I'm With Coco" pin, to show support for former Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien. There are very few close-ups of Slash during the song, but TMZ caught one second where the pin was displayed on camera. Slash also played "By the Sword" on Lopez Tonight on April 9, 2010 and performed "Back from Cali" on the show on April 12. Slash and Adam Levine performed "Gotten" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on May 11.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (56/100)[22]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 2/5 stars[23]
Los Angeles Times 2/4 stars[24]
About.com 3/5 stars[25]
MusicOMH 4/5 stars[26]
Classic Rock 9/10 stars[27]
Ultimate Guitar 9/10 stars[28]
PopMatters 4/10 stars[29]
Futuretunez 3.5/5 stars[30]
NOW 3/5 stars[31]
The Guardian 3/5 stars[32]
The Washington Post (mixed)[33]
Sunday Mercury (positive)[34]
Star Tribune (mixed)[35]
Billboard (73/100)[36]
Rock Sound.tv (8/10)[37]
Yahoo! Music Album Review (7/10)[38]
New Musical Express (7/10)[39]
MTV News (Positive)[40]

Upon release, Slash entered the Billboard 200 charts at number 3 (also at number one on the Rock, Hard Rock, Digital and the Independent Albums Chart) with 61,000 copies sold during the first week.[41][42] The album also debuted at number one in Canada, Austria, New Zealand and Sweden while it also broke into the top 20 in Germany, Finland, Australia, France, Norway, Poland and Switzerland.[43]

The album's first single, "By the Sword" (feat. Andrew Stockdale) peaked at number 41 on the Rock Songs Chart and number 78 on the Canadian Hot 100.[44] "Beautiful Dangerous" (feat. Fergie) charted at number 11 and number 58 on the Heatseekers Songs and Canadian Hot 100.[44] The cover of "Paradise City" (feat. Fergie & Cypress Hill) also charted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 75.[44][45]

The album has received generally mixed-to-positive reviews, scoring a 56 out of 100 ("mixed or average reviews") on Metacritic.[22] MTV News Writer Kyle Anderson called the album "a tremendous collection of hard rock songs that center around the axe man's signature chunky, swirling riffs.... On balance, it's an excellent album, and it feels good to have that classic Slash sound back."[40][46] Writer Shelby Powell took note of Slash's precision on guitar, rating the album 3.5/5 thumbs, but took off points for "a little too much reverence paid to the 90s and some of the feature selections may have old head purists poking their bottom lips out and putting their lighters down," but concludes that "the assortment of genres blends well."

As of the summer of 2010, the tour has been promoted as "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy".

Track listing

Standard Edition[47]
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Ghost" (feat. Ian Astbury) Slash, Ian Astbury 3:34
2. "Crucify the Dead" (feat. Ozzy Osbourne) Slash, Ozzy Osbourne, Kevin Churko 4:04
3. "Beautiful Dangerous" (feat. Fergie) Slash, Fergie 4:41
4. "Back from Cali" (feat. Myles Kennedy) Slash, Myles Kennedy 3:35
5. "Promise" (feat. Chris Cornell) Slash, Chris Cornell 4:41
6. "By the Sword" (feat. Andrew Stockdale) Slash, Andrew Stockdale 4:50
7. "Gotten" (feat. Adam Levine) Slash, Adam Levine 5:05
8. "Doctor Alibi" (feat. Lemmy) Slash, Lemmy Kilmister 3:07
9. "Watch This*" (feat. Dave Grohl & Duff McKagan) Slash 3:46
10. "I Hold On" (feat. Kid Rock) Slash, Kid Rock 4:10
11. "Nothing to Say**" (feat. M. Shadows) Slash, M. Shadows 5:27
12. "Starlight" (feat. Myles Kennedy) Slash, Myles Kennedy 5:25
13. "Saint Is a Sinner Too" (feat. Rocco DeLuca) Slash, Rocco DeLuca 3:28
14. "We're All Gonna Die" (feat. Iggy Pop) Slash, Iggy Pop 4:30


Notes:
*Different countries list the track title as "Watch This Dave".
**"Nothing to Say" and "Chains and Shackles" are two versions of the same song with different lyrics and production.

Personnel

Release history

Region Release date Format Label Catalogue
Japan March 31, 2010 CD, Digital download Universal Music UICE1156
Malaysia April 1, 2010
Australia Sony Music 88697675922
Spain April 5, 2010 Roadrunner Records
France
United States April 6, 2010 EMI 31433
Canada
United Kingdom April 7, 2010 Classic Rock Slashpack Roadrunner Records
April 2, 2010[59] CD, Digital download RR77952
Germany April 9, 2010
Brazil[55] April 30, 2010 Music Brokers 7798141333530

Miscellaneous

  • The whole album was recorded with analog equipment only.
  • Slash worked on a song with Steven Tyler which has not been released.
  • With Slash, Izzy Stradlin is the only person who plays guitar on the album.
  • Axl Rose is the only original Guns N' Roses member who does not perform on the album.
  • Ozzy Osbourne said he wrote "Crucify The Dead" lyrics about what he would tell Axl Rose if he was in Slash's shoes.
  • "Back From Cali", featuring Myles Kennedy, was added to the album track listing at the last minute.
  • "I Hold On" was recorded in Kid Rock's personal studio.[60]
  • Slash originally composed "Saint is a Sinner Too" to figure on the film This is Not a Movie.
  • "We're All Gonna Die", featuring Iggy Pop, was the first song Slash recorded.
  • "Mother Maria" was first used for Download to Donate for Haiti, a compilation album to earthquake victims in Haiti.
  • Upon release, Slash entered on the Billboard 200 charts at number 3 with 61,000 copies sold during the first week.

Charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[61] 3
Austrian Albums Chart 1
Canadian Albums Chart[41] 1
Danish Albums Chart[62] 4
European Top 100 Albums 3
Finnish Albums Chart[43] 1
French Albums Chart 15
German Albums Chart 4
Greek Albums Chart[63] 2
Hungarian Albums Chart[64] 12
Italian Albums Chart 6
Japanese Albums Chart[65] 7
Mexican Albums Chart[66] 34
New Zealand Albums Chart 1
Norwegian Albums Chart[43] 4
Polish Albums Chart[43] 11
Spanish Albums Chart[43] 26
Swedish Albums Chart[43] 1
Swiss Albums Chart[43] 3
UK Albums Chart[43] 17
UK Rock Chart 1
U.S. Billboard 200[41] 3
U.S. Billboard Hard Rock Albums[67] 1
U.S. Billboard Independent Albums[67] 1
U.S. Billboard Rock Albums[67] 1

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Music for Relief official website. Posted January 20, 2010. Archived 12 March 2011 at WebCite
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Classic Rock Presents Slash special edition magazine - reviewer Mick Wall rates 9/10
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Ramirez, AJ. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Futuretunez review
  31. ↑ Boles, Benjamin. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 43.5 43.6 43.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Slash - Slash (2010) [Japanese Deluxe Edition, CD DVD] in AvaxHome Megaupload Rapidshare Torrent download Archived August 1, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 50.2 50.3 50.4 50.5 50.6 50.7 Liner notes, Appetite for Destruction, Guns N' Roses
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 51.3 51.4 51.5 51.6 Liner notes, Greatest Hits, Guns N' Roses
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  59. ↑ [1] Archived August 29, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Los Mas Vendidos - Musica
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 67.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Preceded by New Zealand Albums Chart number-one album
April 12, 2010 – April 25, 2010		 Succeeded by
Iron Man 2 by AC/DC
Preceded by
Canadian Albums Chart number-one album
April 24, 2010 - April 30, 2010		 Succeeded by
My World 2.0 by Justin Bieber
Preceded by
Jajamen by Rolandz

 Swedish Albums Chart number-one album
April 16, 2010 – April 23, 2010		 Succeeded by
Yours Sincerely by Anna Bergendahl
Preceded by
Austrian Albums Chart number-one album
April 21, 2010 – April 29, 2010		 Succeeded by
Iron Man 2 by AC/DC

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