If you ever wanted to win a woman's heart...

[Ghost.]

You'd just have to sing like this man.

And it's still perfect every time I listen/watch it.


I'm still fairly pissed there hasn't been a new Winery Dogs record especially with all those sick singles Kotzen released.
These guys not together making records is such a waste... That self-titled album was perfect with a song for everyone.

Anyway...

[James]

Damn...

[Lee]

Billy Sheehan playing through a vacuum cleaner, ladies and gentlemen.

[Chris]

Kotzen could do really well for himself if he shifted his angle a tad towards the adult contemporary crowd like Bonamassa does. Dude is so unbelievably talented, he's just kind of stuck between rock and blues. He doesn't commit enough to either to make his songwriting work IMO.

[Mike]

Kotzen could do really well for himself if he shifted his angle a tad towards the adult contemporary crowd like Bonamassa does. Dude is so unbelievably talented, he's just kind of stuck between rock and blues. He doesn't commit enough to either to make his songwriting work IMO.

If some producer would just make him play songs other people wrote (kinda hard to argue with an Elvin Bishop tune, in this case), he'd be a star on AC radio.

He's not suited to the current Max Martin/25 songwriters world of pop at the moment, though.

Seriously, the current #4 Ariana Grande song has A.Grande, T.L.Brown, S.Nicholson, V.M.McCants, T.M.Parks, C.X.Herrera, P.L.Johnson, S.Franks, A.Stanaj, A.Z.Dlamini, and M.J.Pete listed in the credits. The song doesn't have enough going on for that many writers!

[Markus]

Billy Sheehan playing through a vacuum cleaner, ladies and gentlemen.

Yeah, that bass tone sounds really weird - would have been much better with a normal bass tone.

[RevDrucifer]

All I had to do was throw a quarter down my wife’s asscrack when she was bent over at work one day. That was, literally, our first interaction and we’ve been together ever since. This Friday is the 14 anniversary of us making our relationship official (though we were inseparable for about 6 months previous to that....I was just being a pussy). Gadddddamn time flies.

[Bloody_Inferno]

If some producer would just make him play songs other people wrote (kinda hard to argue with an Elvin Bishop tune, in this case), he'd be a star on AC radio.

He's not suited to the current Max Martin/25 songwriters world of pop at the moment, though.

Seriously, the current #4 Ariana Grande song has A.Grande, T.L.Brown, S.Nicholson, V.M.McCants, T.M.Parks, C.X.Herrera, P.L.Johnson, S.Franks, A.Stanaj, A.Z.Dlamini, and M.J.Pete listed in the credits. The song doesn't have enough going on for that many writers!

I posted on that silly Pop thread that the amount of songwriters in a top 40 hit can go as high as 30 people, which is gone far beyond ridiculous, with reasons even more so.

The whole Rob Thicke/Blurry Lines debacle had all the pop songwriters shaking in their boots. Sampled parts need to credit the original songwriter so their name is on, which you can assume where proof listeners and even the lawyers can be credited as writers. Topline writers are hired to write full arranged vocal lines, melodies/harmonies/gang chants and all. It's basically the Glenn Frey approach where if you were in the room and contributed even the smallest of notes, can be credited as a songwriter.

I can't imagine Ritchie Kotzen ever going the Max Martin route either. When shred died on it's ass in the 90s, he, along with Nuno and Paul Gilbert were reborn as songwriters and frontmen taking heavy influence from the Beatles songbook, so Kotzen takes pride in writing. If he was going to collaborate with a hit songwriter, I can imagine the old schoolers like Bob Ezrin, Bryan Adams or Jackson Browne etc.

[Chris]

The problem with his songwriting is that it's generic as hell. When anyone mentions him to me, I think "fuck yeah, that guy is brilliant". He can play his ass off, and he can sing his ass off. But as I sit here I can't name a single one of his songs.

In the same vein - look at Ian Thornley. He's every bit as good as Kotzen is AND he writes fantastic songs, yet his career is C-list at best too.

[Leon]

Billy Sheehan playing through a vacuum cleaner, ladies and gentlemen.

It's not so bad when he's just playing bass, but when he starts Sheehaning, it's very obvious that he's at the wrong gig or something

[noodles]

If some producer would just make him play songs other people wrote (kinda hard to argue with an Elvin Bishop tune, in this case), he'd be a star on AC radio.

This. The guy has an amazing voice, but his songwriting is boring as hell.

[Darren]

The bass mix on that recording is awful. And Billy is using way too much gain on his "tweeter" signal chain. It's a buzzy, fuzzy mess.

[Bloody_Inferno]

It's funny since when I saw Steve Vai years ago with the Live In Astoria lineup (and same songs), Billy's bass tone is fine when you're in the same room/hall and hearing it in the flesh. But every single time you hear a recording of his bass, it's never good. Not enough of the bottom end you want in bass and it's always that honky mid distortion with a 12 blankets put on top of the amp speaker.

The problem with his songwriting is that it's generic as hell. When anyone mentions him to me, I think "fuck yeah, that guy is brilliant". He can play his ass off, and he can sing his ass off. But as I sit here I can't name a single one of his songs.

In the same vein - look at Ian Thornley. He's every bit as good as Kotzen is AND he writes fantastic songs, yet his career is C-list at best too.

Yeah that too. The songs are fine and solid at best, but absolutely nothing interesting about them that makes them stand out.

[7 Dying Trees]

Billy Sheenans bass: overplaying everywhere to try and save a generic forgettable song and failing.

[Mike]

Billy Sheenans bass: overplaying everywhere to try and save a generic forgettable song and failing.

I will argue to the death that this song is neither generic or boring. There's a reason the original is a classic rock staple.