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#511 Re: Guns N' Roses » Wtf happened to…Better » 276 weeks ago
Yup, 02 was when Axl needed to be 06 Axl. Everything would have been different. He needed that horse testosterone
Alternatively, if they'd managed to not burn their bridges with Buckethead and get him back for the 06 tour.
Axl was on fire then, but bringing a new guitarist in (especially one who doesn't really have an iconic look in the same way that Bucket and Slash do) heightened the appearance of a "revolving door" of musicians. Poor Ron got the short end of the stick trying to fit in to an established line-up on short notice (IIRC he was using consumer-grade/small-gig amps in the early days of the tour).
It also meant that Axl delayed the album again because he wanted to make sure that the new guitar hero shredder actually appeared on the album (but then, bafflingly, he didn't have Buckethead's parts overwritten entirely, once again creating the impression of a revolving door).
Those delays then led to Robin giving up, which meant another guitarist joining. I'm pretty sure that's why they gave up on the Better video, because you had this absurd situation where the video that was meant to "intro the band" had like a dozen names popping up (two drummers! Five guitarists! Two of whom aren't in the band anymore!).
Basically, if they'd had Bucket in the band in 06, you'd have a stable line-up, the album would've come out then and everything would've been dandy.
#512 Re: Guns N' Roses » Wtf happened to…Better » 276 weeks ago
James wrote:I'd like to hear a 2001-02 version of the song and see how it developed.
By all accounts those 05/06 leaks of IRS, TWAT and Better were the Summer 2003 versions of the songs from when he played the album at that strip club. So at some point between 01-03 he's back in the studio. Whatever version of the album was ready when that 02 tour goes off is probably the best cross point between the earlier raw sound and Bucket's contributions being on certain tracks (i.e. that TWAT solo). At some point in 03 they start rerecording the whole record and the project truly goes off the trails.
Up until 98 you can give Axl (and all involved tbh) a bye because the band is disintegrating and he's having to put together a new lineup. They work for a couple of years and then emerge at the end of 00 and the ball starts rolling. It's slow going, but everything with this band is like pulling teeth and the trajectory is still upwards towards an album release. At least by 02 it's progressed to doing a promo appearance on MTV and a North American tour. It all grinds to a halt after that tour implodes. They shouldn't have done the VMAs and the tour without at least a single and music video ready to go.
I fantasise about a 2002 where Axl had actually got a vocal coach and whatever horse testosterone injections he was on in 2006, and the band came swinging out of the gates with a one-two punch of a Chinese Democracy single (to prove they can still rock) and TWAT (to prove that they can do the November Rain epic stuff).
With decent management and PR they could've made something of it; there was curiosity there among the audience, you can see it in that VMA performance before Axl blew his voice out on the WTTJ scream and went all squeaky for the rest of the performance.
And while we're on the subject, whose bright idea was it to do a weird medley of old and new? With Madagascar, a slow number that completely drains the energy of the WTTJ opener, in the middle? They should've just blasted out Chinese Democracy and TWAT right there. Or WTTJ in full and TWAT.
#513 Re: Guns N' Roses » Wtf happened to…The Blues (Street of Dreams I guess) » 276 weeks ago
Original version with the big electric chords at the beginning is so much better than the weak acoustic intro on the album version. I basically never listen to the album version anymore since the demo came out.
#514 Re: Guns N' Roses » Wtf happened to…Chinese Democracy (song) » 277 weeks ago
This song was great at HOB and Rio.
Unfortunately... for reasons unknown...over the next 7-8 years they tried to forcefully turn it into an epic that it simply can't be.
The Village Sessions leak allowed the fan base to hear it how it was always supposed to sound.
The album version is unlistenable.
Village Sessions version but with Bucket's solo added would be perfect.
#515 Re: Guns N' Roses » Wtf happened to…Better » 277 weeks ago
One of the biggest dropoffs in my opinion. The original leak was fierce with a powerful mix. The album version loses punch and tones everything back. The leak was as good as this song was ever going to get, which is really good. They buried the album version with nonsense.
I will say that Ron's big fretless slide lifts that bit of the song, in the demo it's a bit of a gaping void.
#516 Re: Guns N' Roses » Wtf happened to…Shackler’s Revenge » 277 weeks ago
The second song on the album and likely one of the last ones finished.
There isn’t much about the Chicken Dinner leak that differentiates is from the album version, outside of extra bells and whistles and Ron noodling on the verse. As is the case with a few of the songs, I don’t know why you wouldn’t leave Bucket’s solos. I don’t mind Ron’s solo in this, actually kind of like it, but it’s a Bucket song and it should have a bucket solo.
Do we even know there was a Bucket solo? Like, he wrote it, but that might just have amounted to laying down some riffs and a basic structure.
#517 Re: Guns N' Roses » Will GNR release new music in 2021? » 286 weeks ago
There's no doubt in my mind there will be new music, I even think it'll be this year, perhaps Axl finally got the perfect Cookie Monster vocal for the chorus in Perhaps. Despite all the theories and pessimism, this is unfortunately just how Axl operates.
I was listening to the instrumental to Sorry and I can't help but think Axl didn't deserve that band. They were too good to be subjected to the shit they had to endure.
I think we'd have had new music from Axl a good few years ago were it not for the reunion. As soon as the record company suits got wind of the fact that there was even a possibility of it happening, it killed any chance of the 2010-era band releasing anything. And then came the NITL cycle; no point releasing new material when the very fact of the reunion will keep the money printer chugging away. And then there's all the time it takes for Axl to take essentially-completed songs and rework them with Slash and Duff, hash out which ones are to their taste, maybe even write new material 'cos they don't want to be exclusively dealing with Chinese leftovers…
Aaaaand then the pandemic hit. And yes, you can argue that bands like AC/DC released new material during lockdown, but GN'R is primarily a touring band, any new record would exist to promote the tour first and foremost, and if they can't tour, well…
#518 Re: Guns N' Roses » Will GNR release new music in 2021? » 286 weeks ago
yeah i hear you guys.
It's sure frustrating.
I mean there's dead folks on my spotify putting out albums, I'd kinda like to see GNR do something while they are still in control of the artistic content. But yeah I also get the vibe they don't want to. I had been hopeful that the 2021 shows were the start of something, but now with the pandemic and make up shows and the world tour business being down for years, I think when things reboot it will be back to a hits tour - which is kinda depressing. Hope I'm wrong.
Kinda mind blowing to think VR is nearly 20 years old. There was such promise and vitality back then.
I miss Velvet Revolver. Moreso that GN'R they were "my band" – I saw their early shows crammed into the Hammersmith Apollo, I saw them play Live 8. I'm still pissed off that it all fell apart, 'cos with hindsight they nailed what Axl should've been trying to do – taking the raw rock n' roll of GN'R and updating it to a more contemporary sound. Oddly I don't think I've bit hit quite as hard by any celebrity death as that of Scott Weiland.
#519 Re: Guns N' Roses » What was better on the official release than the locker leaks? » 286 weeks ago
On point, in the end, some really great songs got cluttered up by way too many guitars. The songs and feel of the 2000 version is infinitely better than the Frankenstein version we got. The guitars basically drowned out the rhythm section of Stinson and Freese/Brain plus the cool synth and keyboard of Dizzy/Mother Goose. Arghhhh.
Yeah, in retrospect what they should've done was get Bucket to add his flourishes to the 2000 version, and then release that. Based on the fact that Paul Huge didn't really like touring, they should've just gone with a Bucket/Finck two-guitar line-up, or if that results in a clash of egos between two lead guitar players, a Bucket/some other rhythm player line-up. Since, with the best will in the world, Finck's solos are not beyond the scope of Bucket's abilities.
Like, the 2000 version is pretty much bang-on apart from the fact that it's missing stuff like Bucket's second Chinese Democracy solo, the Finck I.R.S. solo being moved up and the Bucket solo at the end.
The one thing I really liked from Bumblefoot's additions was the fretless in Chinese Democracy and tbh it's not really that necessary if you listen to the 2000 mix. It's propulsive enough on its own with the bass and synth driving the verses.
#520 Re: Guns N' Roses » What was better on the official release than the locker leaks? » 287 weeks ago
TWAT stands out for me. The release version is perfect for me
My favourite version of TWAT is the… second leak? I think? It's the one where it has the big outro solo but doesn't have Bumblefoot on the choruses (and, crucially, playing single chords with distortion over the "Yeah there was a time" bit – I much prefer the strummed guitar on those bits, which I think was played by Axl himself IIRC).
