Nizaraul7

The 2000 intro didn't really fit the song, so I'm happy they cut it out. Guitars sound more organic with Slash and Fortus playing slightly different parts with less gain. Also, the solo/bridge is WAY better now. However, I think Hard Skool doesn't cut it to A list songs specifically because of the drums. There's a kick drum missing which gives it a totally different vibe that does not suit the song. <= This guy easily wins the "Worst GN'R drummer" poll. Lord I really despise his work

Y'all so lucky I can't help but feeling a bit jealous I live in a third world ass country where the band would never even THINK of showing up to. Probably one of the longest serving fans who never got to experience a GN'R gig. But hey, please enjoy my share as well

Hollywood would like a word. But yeah, you could make this statement for almost every other business. I've seen it in sports, education, entertainment... Our male ape brain seems to struggle putting back our crotch in its right place.

Yes - Close to the Edge This band, this record, and specifically the title track... I'll never get over how it heals my soul. I should've known WAY back that I'm a prog rock guy when my favourite GNR tracks were Estranged, Coma & Locomotive lol.

The whole 'reworked' argument doesn't really make sense to me, as in when you rework a song, there surely would be some idea, some riff, some part of your original attempt that makes it to the final take. I didn't dive into the technical side of these songs but as another user stated, there seems to be nothing in common between The General, Monsters & State of Grace (my favourite out of CDII btw). Different keys, tempos, scales.. So three distinct songs in my opinion. I assume you've listened to earlier demos of Anything Goes. THAT is what reworking a song sounds like to me: loose the rap verse, change the build-up, re-write the lyrics, re-arrange the song and voilà. These changes notwithstanding, the AFD version remains very much recognizable compared to said demos. On the other hand, what I totally agree with you on is that The General is meh at best. It totally failed to get my attention in any way. Monsters is a good & honest effort however. You might not like the CD driven sound of it, but I bet it would've stumped you did it receive a UYI-like or any Slash solo effort treatment.

The files are quite compressed so I'm not going to talk about guitar tone though it's clearly different from Slash's usual sound, but the bends mate... they are definitely NOT of his making. I personally feel Robin's hands all over the place. The bass tone is also a big sellout that these are NuGNR era leaks, and I could swear it's Josh Freese on the drums. Ferrer's toms are always tuned lower than that (wich is why I never liked his work). I guess we'll have to wait for the official release and see.