Shy - Shy (2011 album)

[JamesEagle]

I was surprised to find that there is no thread devoted to this band as yet. In light of the favourable reviews (so far) to their forthcoming self-titled album and some very positive comments from other HH-ers in the 'First Impressions' thread, I thought it might be worth starting one.

 

Some of the reviews I've found, which are all very positive:

 

HardrockHaven

 

seaoftranquility (includes the paragraph, which I have already quoted in another thread, but repeated here due to its boldness: "Put quite simply Shy is the melodic rock highlight of the year so far and when you consider the standard of what has come before in 2011, I don't make that assertion lightly.")

 

myglobalmind

 

Could this album be the one to rival Toby Hitchcock in the year-end lists?

 

My only concern is that one review I read (the English was so bad I didn't post it here) mentioned something about a "modern" sound. Personally I don't like modern-sounding rock at all and the 2 brief samples I've heard do not suggest modern rock to me - can anyone comment on this?

[Glen]

Ha ha, rest assured my friend this is not 'modern' in any way shape or form. Not sure about 'challenging' TH, but it is good. Full thoughts to follow in due course, but im off to post in the 'first spin' impressions..........

[Rockposer]

I'm liking the songs I've heard so far.

[Nightrain]

hey James, the thing you said that you need to get this at all cost,

you know you're going to sacrifice that blow-job chance right ?

[JamesEagle]

hey James, the thing you said that you need to get this at all cost,

you know you're going to sacrifice that blow-job chance right ?

 

Blow what? What's one of those? I've been married for 9 years!

[Jeff]

I've had 2 spins through this one and I will sort of say what has sort of been said above...

 

This has some pretty good songs no doubt, in fact some very good songs. I like it. That said, TM on vox would have put the very good songs over the top and lifted some of the average to decent songs up another level or two.

 

For me, I have never found every song Shy does to be great and they have some stinkers no doubt but when they deliver they have a unique sound that takes me to a different place. Hard to explain but just sort of a daydream or other worldly type of place. Mill's voice is a big part of that IMO. So this is a good CD but it will not have that same effect for me.

[Nightrain]

hey James, the thing you said that you need to get this at all cost,

you know you're going to sacrifice that blow-job chance right ?

 

Blow what? What's one of those? I've been married for 9 years!

 

yup, you told the other day it's easier to get that blow from your wife instead of buying a new cd rite

[JamesEagle]

hey James, the thing you said that you need to get this at all cost,

you know you're going to sacrifice that blow-job chance right ?

 

Blow what? What's one of those? I've been married for 9 years!

 

yup, you told the other day it's easier to get that blow from your wife instead of buying a new cd rite

 

Maybe I said that wrong. Just to clarify, given a choice between those two, she'd drive me to the CD shop!

[Nightrain]

hey James, the thing you said that you need to get this at all cost,

you know you're going to sacrifice that blow-job chance right ?

 

Blow what? What's one of those? I've been married for 9 years!

 

yup, you told the other day it's easier to get that blow from your wife instead of buying a new cd rite

 

Maybe I said that wrong. Just to clarify, given a choice between those two, she'd drive me to the CD shop!

 

 

so after 9 years of marriage, your wife could finally realized it's better to accept your hobby ?

 

just a joke friend

[JamesEagle]

 

 

so after 9 years of marriage, your wife could finally realized it's better to accept your hobby ?

 

just a joke friend

 

Joke taken buddy, no worries! I think for the missus it's all the same, I've got more chance of being the next vocalist in Journey than of her letting me buy any CD or ... the other thing we were talking about.

 

Copied in a few of the tracks mentioned in the album reviews. Any thought on these songs? I'm still not sure; some nice intros and the guitar is at times fantastic, but the tunes aren't working for me yet.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISRLjB7kJhs

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhF413LN9w0

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JZheI9VKps

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3fRMyGevEQ

[Glen]

Great album...gets better with every spin.

[Glen]

Great album...gets better with every spin.

 

by the way that last clip isnt Blood On The Line its 'So Many Tears'

[Glen]

That clip for 'So Many Tears' ends quite early...end of the track is great

[JamesEagle]

Tony Mills himself appears to have commented on this one on rockreport.be:

 

Shy s/t comments

 

Few more reviews too if anyone's interested:

rocktologist review

chesy rock review

metal fields review

 

Pretty consistent at 8/10!

[Clutch]

Tony Mills himself appears to have commented on this one on rockreport.be:

 

Shy s/t comments

 

Few more reviews too if anyone's interested:

rocktologist review

chesy rock review

metal fields review

 

Pretty consistent at 8/10!

 

I appreciate you providing the links. Good stuff.

[Jez]

Only 3 spins in but 'Ran Out Of Time' and 'Save Me' are 2 of THE best songs I have heard this year on any album. The rest isn't far begind either. Love the new vocalist too, very Glenn Hughes throughout the album. All in all a very very pleasant surprise

[Geoff]

And just before I retire for the night, I spun half of this this afternoon. I have to admit, I would not have wanted to be the CD that came on after my initial spin of the new Steel Panther CD, but holy shit. Well done to the Shy guys for making something that - so far - seems really great. What is it with the band and Mills' absence? This is only the 2nd time the band have had any balls, and the 2nd CD without Mills. But the band sound f*cking amazing. Who'd guess in a million years that this is Shy if you randomly heard it, with razor sharp Winger's 'Pull'-esque riffs in places? LOVE the beefy hard rock sound this CD has, great production, much better vocalist than Mills, and importantly, the songs too. As I said, only halfway through but so far I love the killer melodic rocker 'Ran out of time' and 'Breathe' is a really splendid ballad.

 

What I've heard so far reminds me more of how tragic Steve's passing is, considering this is the last song-writing output we will hear from him. But on a more upbeat note, there are few finer ways to leave your last imprint on the world.

[Geoff]

What a really pleasant album this ended up being. A collection of my thoughts:

 

The album is too bloody long. 66 minutes for 12 songs when other bands do 13 songs in 47 minutes... it's just not cool. Only 3 songs clock in under 5 minutes and none of the others need to be that long. Instantly, I would not have included 'Live for me' and 'Union of souls' which I thought were both fillers, even if the outro on 'Union of souls' was pretty good. But the album could easily do without those two songs and would have rated a lot better with me without them. And also, 'Sanctuary' should have a solid 3 minutes edited from it. 7 minutes and 40 seconds is ridiculous.

 

Okay, so all that said, the rest of this thing is excellent. My favourite song on the CD is the magic 'Over you' (one of my faves of the year) with 'Ran out of time,' 'Breathe,' and 'Only for the night' not being far away at all. Also worthy of mention is the killer opener (what a riff!) and 'Save me,' which are both also very good.

 

But the overall style/production of this CD is so pleasing to the ears. I don't know if there is still a future for the band without Steve Harris, but if not this would be an excellent note to finish off on, if this is the last we hear of Shy.

[JamesEagle]

Got this one playing at the moment and it's steadily growing on me. Some really nice songs, the standouts at the moment are 'Land of a Thousand Lies' and 'Pray', but plenty of the others are good too. The really remarkable thing about this album is the guitar solos. Most (if not all) of them are in-f***ing-credible! Stunning guitar work, real pity that Steve Harris passed away far too young, but as Geoff says, what a way to go!

 

[Geoff]

Played this again today myself. A really brilliant CD. I'll put it out there that 'Over you' is not only my favourite song from 2011, but I think I could validly list it in my top 10-20 songs of all time. I love it that much.

 

And I must mention 'Only the night,' 'Ran out of time' and the ballad 'Breathe' is pretty much my 2nd fave song of 2011. Man that is an incredible tune. Love a lot of the rest of the disc, but those songs. Wow.

[Glen]

Played this again today myself. A really brilliant CD. I'll put it out there that 'Over you' is not only my favourite song from 2011, but I think I could validly list it in my top 10-20 songs of all time. I love it that much.

 

And I must mention 'Only the night,' 'Ran out of time' and the ballad 'Breathe' is pretty much my 2nd fave song of 2011. Man that is an incredible tune. Love a lot of the rest of the disc, but those songs. Wow.

 

'Ran Out Of Time' is still my fav. But a great disc.

[Geoff]

Played this again today myself. A really brilliant CD. I'll put it out there that 'Over you' is not only my favourite song from 2011, but I think I could validly list it in my top 10-20 songs of all time. I love it that much.

 

And I must mention 'Only the night,' 'Ran out of time' and the ballad 'Breathe' is pretty much my 2nd fave song of 2011. Man that is an incredible tune. Love a lot of the rest of the disc, but those songs. Wow.

 

'Ran Out Of Time' is still my fav. But a great disc.

Legit fave - seriously killer track.

[TIM (2)]

Played this again today myself. A really brilliant CD. I'll put it out there that 'Over you' is not only my favourite song from 2011, but I think I could validly list it in my top 10-20 songs of all time. I love it that much.

 

And I must mention 'Only the night,' 'Ran out of time' and the ballad 'Breathe' is pretty much my 2nd fave song of 2011. Man that is an incredible tune. Love a lot of the rest of the disc, but those songs. Wow.

 

'Ran Out Of Time' is still my fav. But a great disc.

Legit fave - seriously killer track.

 

I standby what I said before, I think you both underrated this one. Because you do your fancy scoring of every track (and it has a couple of obvious weak tracks) you miss the whole point. Your fave discs should be the ones you play the most and the ones with the best tracks, not just those that are most consistent. An album with 5 killers and 5 fillers is better than one with 10 songs inbetween. I still LOVE this disc (as you might have guessed )

[Geoff]

Played this again today myself. A really brilliant CD. I'll put it out there that 'Over you' is not only my favourite song from 2011, but I think I could validly list it in my top 10-20 songs of all time. I love it that much.

 

And I must mention 'Only the night,' 'Ran out of time' and the ballad 'Breathe' is pretty much my 2nd fave song of 2011. Man that is an incredible tune. Love a lot of the rest of the disc, but those songs. Wow.

 

'Ran Out Of Time' is still my fav. But a great disc.

Legit fave - seriously killer track.

 

I standby what I said before, I think you both underrated this one. Because you do your fancy scoring of every track (and it has a couple of obvious weak tracks) you miss the whole point. Your fave discs should be the ones you play the most and the ones with the best tracks, not just those that are most consistent. An album with 5 killers and 5 fillers is better than one with 10 songs inbetween. I still LOVE this disc (as you might have guessed )

Valid call, but I'd believe that any CD I did rate higher than this did have a lot of killer tracks too. No CD with a lot of consistently "good" songs but no stand outs would ever near this in my scoring system, I honestly believe. It is a great disc.

[JamesEagle]

Played this again today myself. A really brilliant CD. I'll put it out there that 'Over you' is not only my favourite song from 2011, but I think I could validly list it in my top 10-20 songs of all time. I love it that much.

 

And I must mention 'Only the night,' 'Ran out of time' and the ballad 'Breathe' is pretty much my 2nd fave song of 2011. Man that is an incredible tune. Love a lot of the rest of the disc, but those songs. Wow.

 

'Ran Out Of Time' is still my fav. But a great disc.

Legit fave - seriously killer track.

 

Normal service resumed - I find myself seeing things slightly differently to Geoff and Glen. Love the album, could well top my 2011 list when/if I eventually come to do it, but 'Ran Out Of Time' is one of my least favourite songs on the CD. 'Live For Me', 'Pray', 'Land Of A Thousand Lies' and 'So Many Tears' are probably the standouts for me, great tunes. Excellent album.

 

(Just listening to the guitar solo on 'Sanctuary' now - f***ing incredible!!!)