RB2: The End of Covers?

[MisterSchulz]

Awesome awesome awesome, I'm so excited by all this news. RB2 sounds awesome, I can't wait to see the songs. The Who, FINALLY!!

But with the announcement that Who's Next is finished due to lack of masters, and RB2 consisting of all masters, does this mean the end of Covered songs.

I hope not, because I'd pay to have Who's Next finished off with covers. I'd hate to see great songs not make it to RB because of a policy of only masters. Where would we (I) be without Last Train to Clarksville, Fortunate Son, the David Bowie pack, etc. There are so many fun songs that probably don't have the necessary masters that really should be covered. Your Covers are great HMX! Don't ditch them.

To that end, I'd really like more 60's songs this time, that probably need covers: (please don't move this to Ultimate Setlist, I'm just listing songs/bands that most likely we'd miss out on if there are no more covers...)
- Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
- The Beatles
- Jimi Hendrix
- Cream
- Creedence Clearwater Revival

[Apples]

I actually like most of the covers so I dont know if I like the idea of limiting/restricting the possible song pool in this manner.

[poopbullet]

well it was said that all 80 on disc songs for RB2 will be masters so if any of those you listed need to be covers you would only be seeing them in future DLC

[instantdeath999]

I don't think they should restrict the song choices to master only either.

[MisterSchulz]

well it was said that all 80 on disc songs for RB2 will be masters so if any of those you listed need to be covers you would only be seeing them in future DLC

ah yea, i mean i'm just speculating that those i listed need covers, since they're OLD OLD, older than anything that's been released thus far. (Although the announcement of original recording of My Generation sounds very very promising.)

[ManicMinerUK]

I'm glad someone has posted about this...

I actually find that a lot of the times the covers have a "tidy" and better organised guitar sound, meaning you can pick out the rythmns of what you are playing more easily and in a lot of cases I actually prefer the guitar playing on the covers, and sometimes the cover definitely suits being played on a five button guitar better than the master track.

The only downside of covers is the vocalist. No matter how good a session singer you get, they are never going to sound right and thats when everyone starts complaining about the covers. If you can get the original vocals, I think most people would either not notice or not care if the rest of the track was a cover.

So, erm yeah... HMX should just get the master vocal track and cover the rest in cases where the full masters are unsuitable.

[dirty_bird32]

the covers don't really bother me, and I wouldn't want to cut out some of the awesome older songs

[angry_jonny]

I prefer masters; covers lose a lot of the "character" of the song. And I suspect that from a marketing perspective, masters are vastly better.

What I'd really like to know, though, is how rare useable masters are. It's one thing if there are 100 great songs, and only 20 of them have masters so you tolerate covers. But in the real world there are literally thousands of great songs, so even a moderate percentage of masters still leaves you with more content than we'll see in the lifespan of RB2. Why bother with covers at all? Now, if the answer to my original question is 2%, then covers become more compelling.

[David2380]

Does this mean no Maiden??? I'm all for covers if its the only way to get Maiden.... :(

[Electric_Zen]

I actually like most of the covers so I dont know if I like the idea of limiting/restricting the possible song pool in this manner.

I agree, but I don't have a problem with making RB2 disc songs all masters, and relegating covers to DLC.

[ManicMinerUK]

well it was said that all 80 on disc songs for RB2 will be masters so if any of those you listed need to be covers you would only be seeing them in future DLC


I prefer masters; covers lose a lot of the "character" of the song. And I suspect that from a marketing perspective, masters are vastly better.

What I'd really like to know, though, is how rare useable masters are. It's one thing if there are 100 great songs, and only 20 of them have masters so you tolerate covers. But in the real world there are literally thousands of great songs, so even a moderate percentage of masters still leaves you with more content than we'll see in the lifespan of RB2. Why bother with covers at all? Now, if the answer to my original question is 2%, then covers become more compelling.

But "useable" masters means masters recorded in large scale modern studio setups etc... so anything in the classic rock spectrum is right out, as are a lot of the smaller/lo-fi bands... I guess its a bias thing but I'd rather have less Fallout Boy and more Hendrix, Iron Maiden, Stevie Ray Vaughan etc...

[Gyo]

yeah the whole avoidance of covers worries me since i would like to see more of sabbath and other bands that can only be featured as covers - and as the op said, this cuts down on the chances we'll see an increased volume of 60's songs, which I was hoping for

[pong0814]

I can see why it's a big deal having all masters for the RB2 disc, as it could be used as a selling point for the game, but I won't mind if we still see covers for songs they can't get masters for in DLC. I mean, my favorite song (on-disc/DLC) for RB1 is a cover ("Working Man").

[jeccaneko]

I'll agree with most of the people in this thread. I don't care if there's covers so much. As long as there's fun songs to play that's all that matters. IMO most of the RB covers are pretty good.

Case in point - Train Kept a Rollin'. I don't particularly care for that song, but that singer sounds amazingly like Steven Tyler.

I've heard complaints about the Rush covers, but I think they're pretty good and they're a ton of fun to play.

[LoopyChew]

And if it's the only way we can get Rush on there, covers are fine by me.

[crivit]

The press release just said it was all masters for the disc. From what I remember GHWT is going to have all masters on thier disc, so this has to be done from a competition standpoint (as well as the fact that we all prefer masters anyway).

I'm sure we will still see covers in DLC when appropriate. I honestly can't imagine that HMX would just automatically rule out all the clasic songs they would have no shot at releasing without covers.

[kiggidykev]

I actually like most of the covers so I dont know if I like the idea of limiting/restricting the possible song pool in this manner.

I'm with you. Sometimes the master just isn't available. In those cases, I'd much rather play a cover of that song than have it omitted completely.

[dada limbo]

I'm with you. Sometimes the master just isn't available. In those cases, I'd much rather play a cover of that song than have it omitted completely.

I third the motion.

The motion passes.

[BathTub]

No one I have played with has ever complained about the covers when they've popped up, and certainly if it's a choice like, No Covers or No Rush? Gimme Rush!

[MF-PO'd]

I think covers are all but dead now with both RB and GH going strictly with masters for their next games. Well, if anyone wants covers, they can pick up the Konami game I guess. :p

[pureebil333]

how does rock band 2 sound awesome?


there was no info on the game from the interview

[TuesdaysGone]

I'll agree with most of the people in this thread. I don't care if there's covers so much. As long as there's fun songs to play that's all that matters. IMO most of the RB covers are pretty good.

Case in point - Train Kept a Rollin'. I don't particularly care for that song, but that singer sounds amazingly like Steven Tyler.

I've heard complaints about the Rush covers, but I think they're pretty good and they're a ton of fun to play.

Yeah, Train Kept a Rollin' is a good example of a good cover. Hell, I didn't even know it WAS a cover until now :eek:

[HyeJinx1984]

I wonder what this means for Black Sabbath, since it's become tradition to have at least 1 BS song in every rhythm game since GH1, and they're ALWAYS been covers (too expensive?).

Does this mean we won't get any Sabbath, or Harmonix/Activision will finally shell out to get the masters?

[Melkite445]

No covers means no old stuff, which is (mostly) IMO, WAY WAY WAY better than this new crap we get..

I'd be real sad if at least some old stuff didn't appear in RB2..

EDIT: And, if you want to hear bad covers, pop in GH3... now those suck.

[GEEMIEE]

I think everybody is sort of in agreement that all masters are great, but only if that means Harmonix isn't compromising possible great songs that would have to be covers. It seems "all masters" is just a selling point, so hopefully some more high-quality covers of good songs could still come out as DLC.

[Rock_Starman]

It would be very diasspointing for there to be no Sabbath,Maiden,CCR,Rush and a lot of the other stuff there's only covers for. Though I guess it's possible for some of the bands to have re-recorded them.

[GloriosoZoso]

And if it's the only way we can get Rush on there, covers are fine by me.

I agree 100%.

[Bass182]

I would be perfectly fine with using a vocal master in conjunction with a cover band. As I understand it, a huge problem is that there has to be a track for every individual drum pad. If that were eliminated, I think it would greatly increase the pool of songs from which to draw from.

[geo2n2]

Does this mean no Maiden??? I'm all for covers if its the only way to get Maiden.... :(

Amen!!!!!!!!!! People make too big a deal about covers. We wouldn't have those songs otherwise.

[mazzy]

No covers means no old stuff, which is (mostly) IMO, WAY WAY WAY better than this new crap we get..

I'd be real sad if at least some old stuff didn't appear in RB2..

EDIT: And, if you want to hear bad covers, pop in GH3... now those suck.

Is the Who stuff not masters and also old (60s/70s)? I think that there are probably more old stuff that is useable as masters than you would think. The problem is getting the legendary bands/record management to buy into the video game platform.

I can not imagine that The Who would have masters that can be used but Iron Maiden would not.

[darknessmoon]

Covers > Nothing at all from respective band with unavailable masters!