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Choose your Illusion - the next (hypothetical) album


Choose your Illusion  

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On 23-8-2018 at 1:11 AM, RONIN said:

Given all the talk from Slash about a potential album....Where does the forum stand re: what should happen to the Chinese Democracy material, Axl's declining vocals and its effect on new compositions, etc?  Imho, I don't think the Chinese Democracy material should be touched - especially the Buckethead stuff. I'd hate to see his work get deleted a la the Brian May sessions ( a tragic fucking waste). I also think it's a big mistake to record new compositions with Axl's current vocals - given that he has completed vocal tracks from his prime still sitting in a vault.

The quandary for me is, how do Slash/Duff (and Izzy?) integrate themselves into the completed Chi Dem era Axl tracks organically and furthermore, preserve as much of Buckethead's presence as possible? If they find a way to do it, that would be my ideal scenario for a new album.  Perhaps release the Bucket stuff in a separate Chinese Boxset and do alternate versions of those songs using Axl's 90's/00's vocals? Similar to how Axl wrote lyrics around Slash's Coma riffs, maybe they can do the reverse with Slash and Duff writing around Axl's existing vocals - and Axl/Izzy can arrange it into something cohesive. That way the Chinese era is preserved and we get an "original GnR" twist to that material. Throw in some of their riffs from the 1996 album and voila, you have an album. The '96 album was supposed to feature a bunch of guest stars iirc - so in keeping with that, maybe toss in a few tracks using Bucket, Brian May, etc as high profile guests and have Slash/Duff weave their way around that. Best of both worlds right there. Hope springs eternal...:shrugs:

I think this would really stack the deck in their favor because you can bridge the gap from Illusions to the present in the most practical way possible. All this stuff is sitting right there in the vault - they don't even have to do any new compositions to make a great GnR album. Besides, (with all due respect) do we really want the "b-team" (Fortus/Frank) on a follow-up album to Use Your Illusion? Session players on a legendary band's comeback album? What have they done to earn that spot? At least Bucket and Brian May are legends in their own right - deserving to be featured with AFD 4. They would elevate that material. For the same reason Axl didn't want Gilby on the next album, there's a strong case to be made here about the participation of Fortus and Frank. 

Lastly, should you do a GnR album that doesn't feature Slash and Izzy riffing against each other? They tried that with Illusions and as per Axl and most fans/critics, the results were inferior compared to AFD (even though they arguably were working with stronger material for UYI). The Izzy/Slash tandem is foundational to the sound of the band. How can you do a new album without that? 

They need to do two things. 

1. Release a box set with ALL the 1997-2008 stuff. Get everything from the Chinese Democracy project out of the way. Don't re-work it any further, just put it out the way it was by the people who created it.

2. Start fresh with this band and create new music.

Edited by username
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2 hours ago, username said:

They need to do two things. 

1. Release a box set with ALL the 1997-2008 stuff. Get everything from the Chinese Democracy project out of the way. Don't re-work it any further, just put it out the way it was by the people who created it.

2. Start fresh with this band and create new music.

Why waste Axl lyrics and melodies on shitty songs by DJ Ashba or Bumblefoot? They don't gotta release those for some curiosity listens and then forgotten and wasted. They would be much better off taking Axls lyrics and melodies and using them on new music created by this lineup. If that stuff should ever be put out after the reunion, it should be as an Axl rose solo release, because that's what that project de facto was.

Edited by StrangerInThisTown
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10 hours ago, RONIN said:

So a more rootsy album in the vein of Wichita Lineman? Almost like an updated companion piece to GnR Lies. That could be interesting. I remember thinking after the last time I listened to Spaghetti Incident, that I enjoyed the Charles Manson track the most - simply because it was a nice stylistic change for Axl. Wichita for some reason made me think of Look at your Game Girl oddly enough....:P

Yeah, I think it could be described as something like a mature Lies, inevitably less raw and spontaneous (since they they're not a young boozed bunch and they're far from those surroundings and mindset), and with some piano - and less rasp. I guess it'd put off a maybe big part of the fan base though. But to me it would be preferable than them trying to do a vintage hard rock album, more so in the vein of Slash's work with MKC.

Quote

I think it will be hard to rework those CD era songs - atleast in a way that Slash will find satisfactory. GnR of AFD/UYI were a riff band. CD approaches the guitar as simply one instrument (a primary one perhaps) amidst a variety of different sounds and elements. To do it right, he'd have to rebuild the foundation and write around Axl's lyrics rather than cut/pasting a solo where Buckethead or Finck used to be. I really hope it isn't some lazy effort like the latter...

That's a good point, yes. It would depend on what Axl would want to do and what Slash would be willing to do. Maybe Axl has piano tracks or basic guitar tracks and Slash/Duff/the rest could build around that along with the vocal track, like in November Rain, and then Axl would add other tracks. Or they'd just erase the guitar parts and Slash would have to work around the tracks as they are. The first way would be much better, for sure.

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Regarding Axl's voice: I don't think new vocals would be a problem in the studio. Like others said, Axl could sound great on the record. The problem with the vocals, old or new, is that then he would have to sing, if not all, at least some of these songs live. And it would be odd if he used a totally different voice live (because it would be hard/impossible to sing with the studio voice) for newly released songs. So I think that this is the issue that should be taken into consideration.

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6 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Why waste Axl lyrics and melodies on shitty songs by DJ Ashba or Bumblefoot? They don't gotta release those for some curiosity listens and then forgotten and wasted. They would be much better off taking Axls lyrics and melodies and using them on new music created by this lineup. If that stuff should ever be put out after the reunion, it should be as an Axl rose solo release, because that's what that project de facto was.

The vast majority of the material would be from 1997-2004. Everything after that is just adding stuff to existing stuff. But the 1997-2004 stuff should be the essence of a CD box set. 

And how would it be wasted if it's already been recorded anyway?

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I think it's safe to say that all the Chinese Democracy era recordings belong to Universal. So it's up to Universal to release it or not.

My opinion is that this AFD boxset was "imposed" by the Label, with the band agreeing with the terms of the release after the negotiations, and with the band wanting to be involved on the content. So it is possible that they might want to save some of the CD era recordings for a boxset.

I think Axl will use the stronger songs (The General etc) for a future brand new album, and leave the rest for a boxset. I could be wrong though. It's only my prediction.

 

Personally I would do it like Username, I would have a boxset with all the CD era recordings, including the best songs, and I would have the band as it is, record a new album from Scratch.

 

Edited by Propaganda
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Option #2 for me and: 

On 22/8/2018 at 8:02 PM, GNR 1991 said:

You guys need to really let the Izzy thing go. He’s not going to go into a studio with these guys ever again and they aren’t gonna release any mid 90’s album that probably doesn’t even exist.

This makes me sad but I think it’s true. He won’t even respond to the petition. :(

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