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The big "Fuck Bob Ezrin" thread


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10 minutes ago, username said:

I made this thread for everybody who would like to say "Fuck you" to Bob Ezrin for turning down the 2000/2001 material and essentially slowing down the Chinese Democracy release for about 7 or 8 years. 

So yeah, I'll go first. 

 

Fuck you Bob Ezrin! 

since when is Ezrins fault? I missed that memo. 

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13 minutes ago, El Guapo said:

Nah. You have to see the context here. Have we heard even ONE finished song with vocals with all the leaks that comes close to former GNR material? 

The Rough Mix #3 stuff is great but very differnet, so it might have bombed hard.

And the leaked songs with vocals? I enjoy hearing them a lot, but after a while...Atlas? No. Perhaps? Kinda cool but come on, doesn't make anybody dance in a hallway, right. Hardschool is great, but not a big gun too. 

You're just excited about the leaks, that's it.

that's the thing with the CD songs. The lyrics don't have usual topics (love, money, sex, drugs)… the topics are outside of our own experience. They are not that relatable, but are more political/social awareness or event stories. It doesn't talk a lot about feelings, as just narrate a subject.

That's why I like eye on you... since its a first "pov" song that you can easly get in the mode of. But most of other songs are not about feelings, but are narrative. CD is about china... rhiad is about something else, etc. etc.

Even "feel" songs are not constantly about feel... but are chopped up into several parts. So its hard to find a song that's definitely "something", and not several somethings that might not be as relatable. 

and that's why not a lot of songs are about dancing in the hallways. It means the music is more mature, but it cant all be detached reality. 

 

 

Edited by username05
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I don't want to deny Bob Ezrin's greatness. He's one of the greatest producers ever and even when he was called as an external consultant he's been able to accomplish some great work (see his contribution to NIN's The Fragile, which is my #2 all time fav album).

Reznor had recorded a huge batch of music for that record but he found himself stuck at some point, he didn't really know what to do with all that stuff. Ezrin was called in to help. He listened to all the material and helped Trent to put together a final tracklist and turn all those songs into an epic double album with the perfect flow.

I'm pretty sure that's the reason why GNR camp called him in 2000. Axl had recorded all this diverse stuff and they wanted Ezrin to do the same thing he did with Trent. Unfortunately, Ezrin was very wrong on this one. I guess he didn't see Axl as a musician that could evolve and try different paths. Or maybe the record label just instructed him to push for more "classic style" material, I guess we'll never know.

After listening to the leaks from the locker, it's clear that there was enough stuff toput together an epic double album. I don't think casual fans would have embraced it back then (Ezrin was probably right about this), yet it would have been an amazing work.

Edited by Twinaleblood
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9 minutes ago, Twinaleblood said:

I don't want to deny Bob Ezrin's greatness. He's one of the greatest producers ever and even when he was called as an external consultant he's been able to accomplish some great work (see his contribution to NIN's The Fragile, which is my #2 all time fav album).

Reznor had recorded a huge batch of music for that record but he found himself stuck at some point, he didn't really know what to do with all that stuff. Ezrin was called in to help. He listened to all the material and helped Trent to put together a final tracklist and turn all those songs into an epic double album with the perfect flow.

I'm pretty sure that's the reason why GNR camp called him in 2000. Axl had recorded all this diverse stuff and they wanted Ezrin to do the same thing he did with Trent. Unfortunately, Ezrin was very wrong on this one. I guess he didn't see Axl as a musician that could evolve and try different paths. Or maybe the record label just instructed him to push for more "classic style" material, I guess we'll never know.

After listening to the leaks from the locker, it's clear that there was enough stuff toput together an epic double album. I don't think casual fans would have embraced it back then (Ezrin was probably right about this), yet it would have been an amazing work.

Can you pls direct me to this interview. I don't understand where we get info that Ezrin was the one blocking it.

 

Iirc CD after rir was slated for may 21st 2001 release. And only later did Axl say that the release date and summer tour was arranged without his consent.

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Full link: http://www.gnrevolution.com/viewtopic.php?id=3531

Here's the Ezrin part:

Quote

In the fall, a new A&R man was hired to help bring the project into completion. He was someone specialized in providing the 'final push' for albums nearing completion. Interscope'd recently relied on him on one of their other top acts, hooking him up with Trent Reznor to provide the 'flow' to the tracklist of the Nine Inch Nails double album, The Fragile.

"To this day, really good songwriters that are ready to finish an album call me up and go, 'Do you have Bob Ezrin's number?' [...] Bob's not going to be a yes man. He's going to go in there and tell you how many (decent) songs you actually have. [...] He did it with Guns N' Roses."  (Alice Cooper, King County Journal, 10/15/04)

"It started off when Jimmy Iovine (ed: producer, chairman of Interscope/ Geffen) asked me for a big favour. They were stuck, they were stuck in a studio in North Hollywood for years with Roy Thomas Baker (ed: Queen’s producer), and nothing was happening." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"Here's how things worked [with Interscope since '99]. Jimmy [Iovine] and whoever would come down to the studio. Things would be good for a month. [Then,] someone above Jimmy would start putting pressure regarding us on him, Jimmy would start pressuring others at his label [and they] would begin doing the same with us." (Axl, Billboard, 02/06/09)

"[The band] needed to be closer to the scrutiny of the record company and Jimmy’s team, so there could be at least some measure of control." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"After a month of this the whole thing would get ugly and extensively interfere with getting anything productive done, and near the middle of the third month we'd arrange for Jimmy to come down again. They'd go away happy and the entire process would repeat itself over and over and over." (Axl, Billboard, 02/06/09)

"I agreed to help out if Axl would agree to work with me, which he did. He had the idea that the only person who could finish the album with him was me, based on what I don’t know." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"Bob Ezrin - best known for producing Pink Floyd's The Wall - has signed on as A&R man for the project." (Allstarmag, 10/30/00)

"I came, I listened, I said to [Axl], I will listen and will give you notes we will see together." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"Axl was a definite perfectionist. Almost to the point where you wanted to say, 'At some point, Axl, it's gonna be good enough.'.. You never know if a person is not happy with it or if they're afraid of the material."  (Alice Cooper)

"I spent a lot of time listening... " (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"Bob listened to it and said, 'Three songs.'" (Alice Cooper, King County Journal, 10/15/04)

"What I heard was something that he had painted over too many times." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"I'm afraid of [rock] sounding too perfect. I mean, Bob Ezrin recorded Pink Floyd's The Wall three times." (Alice Cooper)

"So, by the time I heard it, the original content was lost and it was just a highly produced piece of something." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"I went to see Jimmy Iovine and I gave him my perception of the situation. They had to get out of Rumbo Studios immediately – not because Rumbo is a bad studio, it’s a wonderful studio... I recommended we move them to the Village Recorder in West Hollywood. So, they did that, and moved everybody there." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

Axl felt the album was there and ready to be mixed. Production had been flourished by Baker and Buckethead had contributed solos. Now, Ezrin had listened the album through and had ordered the production to be moved to Village. Axl had cause to feel nervious.

"[Axl] was nervous about hearing what I had to say... When he sat down, he started saying me that he has finished the record."  (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"Every time that we thought that we had the correct songs, then somebody [in the record company] thought that we could make it better." (Axl, Rock & Pop FM, 01/22/01)

"It was a bummer. Most of the songs that are on the record now were done 10 fucking years ago. But all the talking heads in the mix were saying, “Make ’em sound better! Make ’em sound better!” So we kept redoing this and that." (Tommy, AV Club, 05/19/11)

Bob Ezrin: 'Axl, we are not ready to mix this record. This record isn’t ready to be mixed. There are two great songs on it and I know that you’re capable of more, that’s the reason why I’m here. You’re such a great talent and I would do you a disservice if I didn’t tell you the truth, which is that most of the songs aren’t great. But I‘m very happy to help you get there and I believe that it’s possible, if you would like to continue to work on the record, to make it better.'

Axl: 'I don’t agree with that. We are ready to mix.'
Bob Ezrin: 'You have my number, if you change your mind let me know, but I have a dinner party at home now and I had to go.'

I left and I haven’t heard from him since."  (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

 

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Ezrin wanted those co-writes just like on all his other projects. Back then it was still very lucrative. So he essentially undermined the effort so that he could get in on the writing imo.

I dont think Ezrin is especially engaged with cutting edge music either. Trends yes - think the disco beat on another brick in the wall 2. But on that same album he scored a musical theatre piece "the Trial." And no surprise, Roger Waters wanted a musical theatre production of the work. More money for Ezrin!

Those are the considerations that motivate Ezrin, not so much innovation and exploration. In that lens "good songs" means "serviceable to a hugely wide audience" Like if the local orchestra cant include State of Grace in a "Symphony Plays Rock Songs" event then Ezrin says its not "good."

Fuck you Bob Ezrin.

Edited by soon
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47 minutes ago, Twinaleblood said:

"What I heard was something that he had painted over too many times." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

"So, by the time I heard it, the original content was lost and it was just a highly produced piece of something." (Bob Ezrin, HitChannel, 04/12/12)

What a fucking liar. These those recordings were the very opposite of that. He was part of what caused them to keep rerecording and over-producing in the first place.

FUCK YOU BOB EZRIN.

You twat.

Edited by Azifwekare
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If a producer was enough to make Axl this insecure then Axl wasn't ready for Chinese Democracy himself. If you gaze long enough into an abyss...

Axl shouldn't rework that material with the current lineup but on top of a new album with Slash rather release "Chinese Democracy Redux" as a triple CD box for a nice price just to honor his own work and that of the contributors to that music, using the original pre 2006 mixes he truly favours, keeping the guitars of Buckethead, Robin Finck and Brian May. I would buy it in a heartbeat.

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15 minutes ago, adamsapple said:

If a producer was enough to make Axl this insecure then Axl wasn't ready for Chinese Democracy himself. If you gaze long enough into an abyss...

Axl shouldn't rework that material with the current lineup but on top of a new album with Slash rather release "Chinese Democracy Redux" as a triple CD box for a nice price just to honor his own work and that of the contributors to that music, using the original pre 2006 mixes he truly favours, keeping the guitars of Buckethead, Robin Finck and Brian May. I would buy it in a heartbeat.

I absolutely agree; however, a double record like this would inevitably lead to tough comparison on the fans’ part, and I doubt Axl’s "solo" could win compared to the new material, just for the sake of Slash’s renewed presence, which is not something Axl would love to hear, one could imagine. But they definitely should do something in this sense. 

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