Simply a fun rock album excellent for exercising and working out to. The song Can't get you out of my mind is particularly pleasant with a memorable melody, production and lead guitar passages. The hidden track at the closing will have Rolling Stones fans smiling.

I was trying to balance the two extreme reviews of this album. First the Amazon review is a joke as has been pointed out. No way is this anywhere as good as Contraband. I do think they were going for a different sound and it works sometimes but most of the time the entire disc seems forced and recorded with no group unity whatsoever. It is easy to hear the songs Weiland wanted on the album vs. the songs the rest of the band wanted. And that is ultimately what brought the band down. Corporate rock is a great description of this album. No real stand out tracks but nothing completely horrible except the "bonus track". A lot of rehashed ideas also but I think there are a couple of good moments.

The first album actually really embodied the sunset strip as it is now very well. I live somewhat near there in CA and can tell you that "Contraband" was pretty much the real deal like it or not. I have always heard that Izzy was part of the band and actually recorded all the rhythm guitar tracks on Contraband. I know they played a couple club shows before it came out and Izzy was there for those shows. And I think Kushner was too. I actually have desktop wallpaper with Izzy not Kushner in the pic too. But Izzy wasn't up for touring so he quit. But I have always thought that this might be why Libertad ultimately sounds so different. But it is only a guess and Kushner might have recorded those tracks again but I really doubt it.

So I would recommend buying this used if you are a really curious hardcore GNR/STP fan. This album is much better than the two Snakepit albums which some have said. That material is really horrible. And this is also much better than anything Duff put out on his own. Izzy's first cd is worth seeking out and is awesome if you like his songs on UYI 1&2. It is my favorite GN'R solo album. And you be the judge and see if he is the most underrated member of GN'R ever.

I have heard VR is getting a new singer. I am hoping for the best but they might just want to hang it up. I have also heard Slash is working on a solo disc. He should make a cool instrumental album and forget having a singer. People would love it and most of his hardcore fans would eat it up. This disc should be near the bottom of the wish list for the hardcore Slash GN'R fan but is not nearly as bad as some have said. But it's not good either just very mediocre.

I'm huge fan of Scott Weiland's music. Right now this is by far my favorite album. Hopefully, he is able to produce great stuff with the re-united Stone Temple Pilots.

After reading reviews, I thought I'd pitch in my 2 cents. I've had this album since about a couple days after it's release, and feel like I can provide a valid commentary on it. This album isn't THE album of the decade nor is it the WORST album of the decade. Plain and simply put, it's just another album. I am a little disappointed by the fact that you've got members from GnR and STP and all very talented musicians, and this is the product. If this album was made by another band, it would probably receive glowing reviews from reviewers all across the board. I remember interviews in anticipation of Libertad being released, and it being more of an experimental album, and I'd say VR hit that on the head. Since Scott is now officially back with STP, I'd like to see if VR puts out another album or if they'll fade away. It seems like they'll still be together, and choosing a singer could be a challenge, and it could also be quite rewarding, depending on who steps up to the plate. She Builds Quick Machines and The Last Fight are probably standouts if you want to call them that. I was never into ELO so I didn't know Can't Get it Out of My Head was a cover- well done and it definitely had me fooled and is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album. I admit, it took a few times listening to Libertad to really like it- I'm dating a girl who loves VR and got me into this CD- even a year after its release, I still listen from beginning to end, even with the low points of the album. Metalheads will condemn this album to the fires of the underworld, but fans of older hard rock will like it. I like all types of rock and music in general and enjoy the cd. True, the signature work of Slash isn't really there. The songwriting and delivery by Scott is lacking. He sounds clean on this album and I don't think that people are used to hearing him sing that way. This album is alright, but not the best of the year or decade, or that VR has done. If they stay together, there is only one direction for them to go, and that is up.

With this sophomore effort that falls monstrously short, Velvet Revolver has "fallen to pieces"...they've gone "Down" in quality relative to Contraband...they sound like they're "Dead and Bloated"...listening to Libertad is like a "Big Empty" feeling...what I'm scheming to express is that Libertad is the epitome of the sophomore slump. I used STP song references to comedically pun on the failure of Libertad. Clever, huh????

All sardonicism aside, Libertad absolutely is a godless, merciless and brutal failure of an attempt at a CD, a collaboration by a so-called "supergroup," and just as music!!!! Before the VR-sheeple get incensed to the point of intolerantly detesting me, let me just clarify that I loved Contraband and also STP as well as Guns N' Roses. That's why my unassailably virtuous critique of Libertad is so painful to me, personally: I had to become intellectually honest with myself and liberate myself from the stubborn blinders I had on for wanting to like this CD just because it was VR. Pitifully, I see that many VR-sheeple are still suffering from having blinders on, which leads to their shortcoming of evaluating Libertad on an intellectually honest basis.

What I want--nay, DEMAND, in fact!!!!--is that the misguided reviewers who are unduly praising Libertad to the high heavens stop lying to people and misbehaving like VR's publicists. These censurable rogue reviewers have feloniously embellished Libertad as the record of the decade, as something avoiding the sophomore slump, and even (egregiously) as an improvement over Contraband!!!! These claims are merely hardcore lies by these reviewers who must be VR ideologues who just refuse to criticize Libertad for what it is: a nightmarish failure of cataclysmic proportions. I implore these brownnosing reviewers to stop lying to people to get them to part with their money to support VR's sub-par CD. An unemotional, independent and objective examination of Libertad will prove that it's inferior to Contraband and anything that STP and Guns N' Roses, respectively, have ever emitted.

I admit: upon first going through the tracks on Libertad, I, too, endured the same, sheeple-minded mentality of these reviewers with their blinders on. I was actually deluding myself to imagine that Libertad was a stellar CD, that Weiland's voice sounded awesome, that Slash's guitar-playing was sweet, that the songs were memorable. But, after confronting myself with intellectual honesty--which I insist these VR-sheeple do at once!!!!--I was easily able to recognize Libertad for what it is.

Libertad, indisputably, is a CD which Weiland and company hyped as "exactly" the record they wanted to make on account of its writing and song structures allegedly being "tight.". However, listening to Libertad, we discover the songs are rushed, uninspired, and redundant. Many songs are disorganized/chaotic (Spay), sentimentally sappy (For a Brother), rehashes of ballads of both groups' previous albums (Gravedancer), immature (Mary, Mary), or inane (...Quick Machines?).

Two of the faultiest parties on Libertad are Weiland and Slash whom VR fans should primarily come to hear due to their respective singing, guitar-playing abilities. However, on Liberad, both Weiland and Slash come abjectly short as Weiland's voice sounds impermissibly high-pitched and lacking a "punch." Slash's guitar "work" disappointingly sounds like it was sloppily rushed and thusly sounds uninspired, careless and just chaotic. This sub-par failure from Weiland and Slash is not what VR listeners should tolerate because we all know both are obligated to do so much better.

Weiland, after all, comes from the STP school of singing (roaring, crooning in a somewhat baritone pitch), especially with Core and Purple. In fact, he's maintained this superior form of singing even on later STP songs like Down, and on Contraband, many songs also feature this better singing style. For almost all songs on Libertad, Weiland sings like his privates are in a vice as he struggles with projecting a truly booming, deeper sound. Slash is a gross disappointment because he's one of the best guitar players around, yet on Libertad his solos are wretchedly sloppy. NOT ONE SONG has any inspirational guitar work where the listener can marvel at his usual guitar-wizardry.

My accusatory thesis that Libertad is the epitome of VR's ignominious sophomore slump is vindicated by the real-life under-performance of this coaster-posing-as-a-CD. Whereas Contraband debuted at #1 on Billboard in 04, Libertad bombed with a #5 debut and quickly fell off the Top 100 in album sales in only a few weeks. This supergroup officially has to be tarnished with the brand of "sucking!!!!" Unless VR atones and returns with a CD that's truly worthy of the expectations that former STP and Guns N' Roses members instill, VR should disband and quit because they're just a mortification.

I bet many VR-sheeple are imperceptive to the fact that Duff McKagan has a financial degree and manages a small portfolio on the side. If VR's trajectory continues down this slide, McKagan should consider quitting music and focusing solely on managing his portfolio as a fund manager!!!!