Intercourse wrote:

Rasp, power, confidence, soul and taking on Coma...? Incredibly brave and not just brave either..fucking KILLING it too.
I can even see Axl's younger face starting to re-emerge from the bloat...this has been very good for Axl's health, this is obvious.

Yup, he looks reinvigorated and confident. Taking on Coma means business. Delivering with it is pretty exciting.

Also agree on his physique, he fell into heavy drinking after the disappointing CD release and I reckon he gave up to the urge to 'live a little' after being sequestered in the studio and his mansion for over a decade. He'd been entitled to the Rock Star deal for a long time, only to use it as a leverage to make his own art, exercising ferociously in the process. Despodence followed, along with decadence.

Intercourse wrote:

Slash has been so generous to Axl here, he's a huge act on his own, his back catalogue with GNR could fill the night  easily, yet he still graciously agreed to work on these songs.

I think Slash mostly cared about the freedom to create his own gtr solos after Axl explained to him why he wanted those three songs. It's generous, but, across the table, it's also Axl. His songs, which he offered to Slash to elevate, like Estranged. And there's still good tunes for this band on that album, like The Blues, Catcher - and TWAT.

TWAT hasn't sounded this good since it leaked. Unfortunate that we never got to hear Bucket play it. We wanted the best but he couldn't fucking make it....so here's what we get....from Hollywood.....

bigbri wrote:

Amazing TWAT solo. I'll expound later, but I think it says something that he completely gutted the TIL solo but followed the TWAT blueprint while putting his own spin on it.

Good observation. Respect the chicken but throw away the mashed potatoes.

Not a dig at Finck but its obvious he did not like that solo.

Axl is nailing this song vocally. I love how he sings 'Lonely tear drops are calling you....but I don't wanna know it now....'

We need this in HQ very badly.

AtariLegend wrote:

Disagree entirely on that. There Was A Time/Chinese Democracy sound excellent at the minute. The less layers actually making them feel more alive (live) now to me.

I agree. I'm surprised zombux isn't too thrilled with it as he's a huge fan of the early CD lineups and this reunion is taking the songs back to their roots. The current version of CD and the HOB version blow away the noise pollution album/ post CD performances of the song out of the water.

AtariLegend wrote:

One upside/downside to take out of this. There Was A Time looks like it's the alternative for Coma. That means there's a chance when Axl is out of the chair they'll be playing it more often, but it might mean Coma will become rarer again.

For the moment. This strategy was used by Soundgarden as well....a rotation of deep cuts. One night fans get Head Down, 4th of July, etc. and the next night in those slots you get Mind Riot, Birth Ritual,etc.

They aren't phoning it in. This strategy also points out the laziness of the CD years. Those rehash set lists could have been performed in their sleep. I'll never forget how they wanted us to think those set lists were "spontaneous".

bigbri wrote:

And so what if he's shredding?

Yeah...no shit. Its ok for Ron to wank all over the songs needlessly but its somehow a disappointment for Slash to shred within the context of the song.

I agree with DCK on how Bucket gave great renditions of certain old songs but Ron jumped the shark on some of the material and I don't see a problem with Slash adding his own ingredients to songs. If any guitarist to ever perform in this band has the right to take liberties with material, it is Slash...

And I would almost guarantee we'll have new music my Christmas.

One song? A possibility. Full album? Set your watch for next year.

otto wrote:

Do you guys think it's ironic to hear Slash ripping on a Paul Huge's song?

And by the way, do you think Slash KNOWS it is a Paul song?

Of course he knows. He's also heard the rest of the material and likely knows who was involved with each track. When he starts retooling songs he's going to want to know who is playing specific tracks within each layer that require removal.