i also agreed with a lot of what he said/says. he definitely does have an axe to grind (or a couple) but who involved in the GnR shitstorm doesn't?

this interview inparticular brings into view a lot of the contradictions of mother goose that have also troubled me for this long time: when axl first spoke of 'branding' in the dexter chats it did kinda make my skin crawl - i always thought axl woulda been man enough to walk away from any situation that was detrimental to his happiness but he seems to have turned the argument on it's head as an artistic endeavour when in reality staying as GnR was financially motivated. axl coulda had great success under his own name or a new band but chose the safety of the GnR brand, which i can understand i just think he'd have gotten more kudos in having the desire & strength to start completely afresh; the point about his lyrics being based on the amount of love he has yet he seemingly spends his days in somewhat glorious isolation 'cause no one understands him; also the comments about his muse being driven by confrontation, which is also a good thing at times but how many don't damn me/scraped/GITR/sorry kinda lyrics do we need at this stage? but by the same token the lyrics of better are fuelled by similar feelings yet transcend the base cause to talk about something much more universal - in way axl's always been an inconsistent lyricist but when he gets it right he's one in a million, but i'd agree with niven by this stage he oughta be more consistent & grandioise, less petty & infantile (altho a lot of the lyrics of those other songs i mentioned are pretty awesome 2 - sorry's playground chorus being actually one of my fave axl moments).
& what he had to say about azoff was pretty otm 2.

but yea he'll never work with axl again.

in relation to the 'progressive' debate, i thik CD & AFD are quite similar in the way both manage to be the final stop of the decade or period of rock that preceded the albums releases. AFD was more of an exclaimation mark really, but in terms of 'classic' blues hard rock lineage & even the cock rock glam pop of the van halen/sunset strip crue AFD singalled the culmination of those influences (and topped them all).
likewise a lot of CD is an attempt to encapsulate a lot of influences (& a lot of other older influences, elton john/classic 70s rock) & thread them together into a coherent whole. it doesn't achieve as successful a mixture as AFD or transcend it's influences as effortlessly & consistantly, & that's because of the songwriting talent of izzy (& slash n duff - axl is always axl but the influences & talents of the earlier guys, IMO, outweigh in terms of quality the guys who helped write CD).
but i still think it's a stunning cocktail & tho no AFD i would say that like UYI2 (& loadsa other really great albums but not The Greatest, knowwhatimean??) it's simply another landmark hard rock album. in that it has some dodgy moments & a wears a heavy history, but there are so many amazing songs buried on there that it's still a brilliant record that withstands all the negativity surrounding it.

i don't really care for how dated it sounds. Better is sounding better every passing year. a lot of the songs are as good as the best GnR material & those songs are timeless tbh. GnR have always tried to make albums that are built to last & CD is no different. it's definitely worthy of the GnR name & there's not much stronger praise u can give i think!

use your delusion.
let it take you where it may...

is he still requesting the square watermelon?

the most interesting thing is having CD finally released & the pressure of it being taken away.
but pressure is already building to release a new album, and rightly so - 17 years for 14 tracks/75min record simply isn't enough to satisfy the demands of a band of GnR's [supposed] status.
obv the next thing to look forward to would be a new album but until this current 'world tour' comes to a close i can't see anything new happening.
they'll definitely maybe hit the USA in the new year & after that it's either disappear into the studio again then release a new record, disappear into the studio & don't release a new album, tour again in four years or disappear completely. i certainly don't subscribe to the doomsday prophecies & i agree with the people who say the recent tumultuous behavious is par for the course since '98 but we are coming to the end of another cycle & whether the next one is a continuation of the past 10 years or a fresh beginning we'll have to wait and see - there hasn't been any indiction of what may happen except a continuation of form. there has been no real reason to believe this is the end of the line.