Taking

Duff Mckagan's Loaded | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 19, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Eagle Records
• ASIN: B004QDCYPG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,052 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Lords Of Abbadon

2. Executioner's Song

3. Dead Skin

4. We Win

5. Easier Lying

6. She's An Anchor

7. Indian Summer

8. Wrecking Ball

9. King Of The World

10. Cocaine

11. Your Name

12. Follow Me To Hell

Editorial Reviews

Duff McKagan is a founding member of both Guns `n' Roses and Velvet Revolver. He has sold over 100 million albums in his career.The Taking is the brand new studio album from Duff McKagan's Loaded. It is the band's third studio album and the first to feature new drummer Isaac Carpenter. The album features 11 new songs, which continue the band's trademark blend of hard rock with a punk edginess that makes them instantly identifiable. The songs were written over a period of time in late 2009 / early 2010 and the band went into the studio in August 2010 with renowned rock producer Terry Date (Slipknot, Pantera etc). The result is Loaded's most accomplished and most hard hitting album to date.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars High intensity and hard rocking album with amazing songs! April 22, 2011

By Polar Bear

Format:Audio CD

First off, this album ROCKS! It combines elements of hard rock, punk, and heavy metal, and it sounds amazing! Loaded is the brainchild of Duff McKagan featuring McKagan on lead vocals and guitars, and The Taking delivers with a sonic boom! With dark undertones, rough edges and grungy vocals, there is not one filler song on this album. "Executioner's Song" features some amazing guitar work with heavy, pounding riffs. "Cocaine" and "Follow Me To Hell" ooze with pure rawness. "King of the World" shows off Duff's vocals and has a punk infused bluesy rock feel. "Wrecking Ball" rings of street spirituality and features wailing guitar riffs, while "Dead Skin" shows off McKagan's pop rock slide guitar playing. The songs are well written, the production is crisp, and it leaves you wanting more. I would highly recommend this album to anyone as Duff succeeds in giving us yet another hard rocking, high energy recording!

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars If you don't like punk music then avoid this one May 25, 2011

By wizey

Format:Audio CD

Ex- Guns N Roses & Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan serves up another offering from his self named "Loaded" project, which if you go by the reviews posted on-line is a very good album. McKagan's punk influences have always shone through in his music right back from early GNR days, and now that he is able to steer his own ship those influences have come to the fore even more. This album has quite a degree of punk overtone and as such it sounds quite raw and full of attitude, the latter for which McKagan has become renowned. The result of making such an album though is that the production sounds quite noisy and chaotic. I actually quite like a certain degree of "rawness" which I believe is severely lacking in a lot of music produced in today's digital age and McKagan should be commended for bringing this quality through, but the overall sound here is just not appealing to me at all because it's just too noisy. I also think that part of the problem with the sound is that generally speaking the songs just aren't that good either. Maybe I could have handled the sound better if the songs themselves were better, but with production like this and bad song writing it makes for a pretty poor album overall in my opinion, and not one that should be a contender for my top five 2011 albums in the slightest.

It doesn't help when the man really hasn't been blessed with a decent voice, and certainly what McKagan lacks in vocal ability he makes up for in attitude and effort, but that alone isn't enough for me when this album also has the previously mentioned detriments. As far as the songs themselves go the whole album in my opinion consists of pretty poor stuff that doesn't really rate a repeated listen, with a few exceptions in the songs Executioner's Song, Dead Skin, We Win, and Indian Summer. However these four songs are by no means anything special, in fact they're just pretty average really. And as for the last song Follow Me To Hell ...well we really do with that one, it's just awful.

So with Velvet Revolver on indefinite hiatus and apparently no likelihood of a GNR originals reunion on the horizon at all, McKagan is highly unlikely to get any sort of mainstream success anywhere near the level he has achieved previously by releasing this kind of stuff. (He probably doesn't need to or even care to now though, he's been there and done that so now he can release what he wants so good luck to him in that respect). This album does have its fans and the on-line reviews are testament to this, but I suspect the majority of fans will generally either be fans of punk music (or those who don't mind a good dose of it), or those who themselves are "loaded" when they listen to it. For someone like me who grew up on NWOBHM & hair metal, then later became a fan of power metal, Euro-metal, symphonic metal and other sub-genres, the hard rock/punk genre has little appeal at all, and this album does nothing to change that. (Plus the cover is a rip-off of Accept's Objection Overruled album, McKagan has just used 2 of the same hand). So my advice is listen to it before you buy it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars SOLID ROCK RECORD!!! Axel Eat yer Heart-out! May 16, 2011

By D. Aughey

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

As I type I'm listening to "Indian Summer" and if it doesn't bring you back to a place in time where you'd love to revisit (like it or not). Duff is his solo career has showed us a lot more then a raspy whiskey voice he once had. This record starts off with a pretty generic riff but the drums coming in and the slide sound make this "criminal". The music and vocals (lyrics) I think are better then round 1 of LOADED (SICK)-which I have. Trying to compare the two is like (Poison to Motley Crue) completely different (IMHO) 'cept for the voice. Here's my Song by song:
Lords....A bit Sex Pistols, a bit dirtier
Ex.Song....A bit guitar Sabbathy
DeadSkin....A bit of Guns and a bit of STP
WeWin....Good song not sure you.."You've got to give it a try"
Easier Lying....not the best song, reminds of music I didn't listen to in the 80's (basement stuff)
She's an Anchor...decent song, edgy guitar, a sexy break up song..."Yer own yer own now"
Indian Summer...I already said (see above)
WreckingBall...The slow breakup song on the record
KingOf...Total Pistols with Melody!
Cocaine...Once past the "Bottle of Vodka" part it reminds of a Dirtier version of LA Guns Hollywood Vampires record all rapped in one song
YerName...A bit Meat Puppetity, with a subtle FU!
FollowMe...Drawing a blank on who it reminds me of, but not the worst song, good to end the record, but I got the Exclusive Download so...
Sympathetic...Ends this exclusive record on a good note one of the best songs on this version, it's got speed, swears, and gives you a punch in the gut! Great Ending to a SOLID RECORD!!