D..

On 4/14/2024 at 6:47 PM, Free Bird said:

I think you missed the point completely. These new songs aren't either considered for GNR nor for the Conspirators. It’s a new project on his own and Slash organised a whole blues festival which he tours through the States supported by other blues artist such as Gov’t Mule. The baking band that recorded that album is as well the band he tours it with, while the rhythm guitarist, Tash Neil, will be the lead singer.

Edit: I don’t even bother to go through the personal taste part.

Kind of hard to keep track of what Slash is doing, even for me being on the forum ahah. I saw a video of Slash touring with Myles recently and I looked at recent setlists, thought he was touring with him. Too many side projects.

Sorry if those are covers, didn't know.

Still, that doesn't change the fact that I have a hard time understanding the point. I just feel it's wasted energy and talent.

Kind of like some bands releasing a new album every year or every two years, more often than not it's pointless.

I'd prefer Axl, Slash & Duff working on a real album, for 3, 4, 5 years if they need to and committing to it. Not doing ANYTHING except focusing on their own band.

If everyone goes on tour, doing their side projects and albums/covers/whatever, how can they ever work together properly? It's just something I don't understand.

So again, a lot of people blame Axl, but from what I'm seeing, the problem seems to be that everyone is doing whatever they want beyond Gn'R Tours.

On 3/24/2024 at 2:23 AM, Illusion1987 said:

The current Older Axl is scared shitless of EVERYTHING but especially about putting out music. He has no presence...no confidence...no swagger...no creativity 

The Younger Axl didn't give a Fuck...he was hell bent on being the best Frontman he could be, despite his psychological struggles, and NOTHING was going to stand in his way.

Today's version is a neutered beta shell of the creative alpha genius we once knew that revolutionized Rock N' Roll

Axl is clean & healthy nowadays, he doesn't even smoke, it changes your behaviour completely. Being clean as he is takes a lot of courage. Because not only does it change your behaviour/way of thinking/state of mind, it's also hard not to gain weight.

And aging changes you. When you're 18-30, you're not scared of anything. Not the same when you're about to hit 40 and onward and you lose people around you. Seeing someone very close to you die changes you forever.

Axl has matured a lot. He cherishes life, he knows how little time we have and tries to make the best he can do. He could have been selfish and just stop Gn'R, he has enough money.

I'm sure you'll come to appreciate how he is more when you grow older.

I'm very happy he's still alive and performing, especially at this level.

1. Soul Monster

2. There Was A Time

3. The General

4. Street Of Dreams

5. Madagascar

6. Hard School (the original demo, the "final" mix with Slash is a failure)

7. Catcher In The Rye

8. I.R.S.

9. Prostitute

10. Better

11. Chinese Democracy

12. This I Love

13. Sorry

I feel this should've been the tracklist for the 2008 album. I really love those 13 songs, the order could change a bit depending of my mood.

I can't really rate the other songs, I almost never listen to Perhaps, Riad, Scraped, Shackler, If The World, Absurd or OMG.

47 minutes ago, DTV88 said:

He has the Marc Canter book displayed? I sincerely hope this means they have reconciled. I met Marc a few years back and he was the nicest guy. 

Being nice doesn't mean you never lied or are indeed a nice person. Sometimes people who appear to be dickheads turn out to be real good guys, some people you thought were so nice are assholes. Nice people can be real nice people too, of course.

But I find it insane someone would save a picture allegedly from inside Axl's house and share it on the internet. It's his personal life, part of his home. Shouldn't be allowed on this board, if it's legit. Women these days with their fucking instagram stories...

If he does have this book, it doesn't mean anything. You have to know what's written about you and know who you want to see again, or not. Internet is great for that. People share so much shit and write so much nonsense, it's easier to know who your true friends are than before the internet & social medias.

Axl is a private man, and a very intelligent person. I'm sure he's been very hurt by a lot of nonsense people have written about him. This book may just show that, that he knows what's written about him.

Then again, he clearly is someone who can forgive. It's not been said enough, but he has this ability. I can't forgive some people. Maybe it comes with age and wisdom.

I've read so much shit about Axl on this board too these last few months, with hearsays from 30 years ago. Didn't reply but I found a lot of comments so cheap, mean and deluded.

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone on this board and to Axl especially. The Paris show really was an important night to me, under the circumstances. Lost my dad on November 2, it's something you can never really recover from I'm afraid. I'm happy Axl goes on with his music & vision, it's one of the rare few things I still enjoy very much. It'd be cool if we just talked about the music and the band, and not the personal, cheap stuff, hearsays and so on. Fuck that.

Yeah I don't hear anything different with Monsters. I don't think Monsters will be a japanese cd as a bonus track, feels like a hoax.

3 hours ago, Arnuld said:

Ok got to hear it. Only difference is the bass. It’s definitely more thumpy for lack of a better word. Also it seems like the strings are a bit higher in the mix. I actually like the added bass. The biggest disappointment with this song is that it doesn’t have a ton of orchestra. In my mind it would because of how long and dramatic the string arrangements used to be before the shows would start back in the day

The original version must be longer. I'm now sure this song was reworked & shortened just like Hard School & Silkworms were reworked & shortened. I really hope we get to hear it someday.

1 minute ago, GNRRHCP98 said:

How’d you access it?

I have my sources.

I've listened to the japan leak, it's definitely the same as the leak we had, but the mix is a bit better. Axl's vocals are a bit lower, and you can hear the instruments better. No major difference, the quality is just a bit better overall. I'll wait for the vinyl and play it, but I don't expect much difference.

It was Slash & Duff playing, end of debate. Which means, we may hear the original one someday (Chinese Democracy Super Deluxe Box with everything please, I'd spend $1000 on this if done properly).

24 minutes ago, GNR 1991 said:

I’m starting to think the two songs leaked as a result of a hoarder trade gone wrong(?) where both parties thought they had The General, but one had Monsters (which we all thought was TG).

Yes I think the same, it's the only thing that really makes sense considering Monsters isn't on the Perhaps vinyl and was thought to be The General for years.

Haven't written in a while, thanks Blackstar for the summaries and good information.

So someone got the vinyl and no word about the audio quality/mix of The General? We need this information.

I'm not really surprised Monsters isn't on the vinyl, I doubt it ever was. Guns don't release a lot of songs, so having such a strong title as a hidden bonus track on a vinyl would have been weird. Extremely cool & weird but would make no sense financially.

I think TG & Monsters were registered together to save time. Don't know how this really works, but I guess that's what happened.

I have a new theory: I feel there's a strong possibility a hoarder had Monsters, anytime between 2019 and 2023 (because it's Slash, so it can't be much earlier). Back when that hoarder got Monsters, he may have believed he was getting "The General", based on evader's clip.

And so what may have happened is a trade between someone who had The General, and someone else who had Monsters. Both may have believed they had an earlier or latter version of The General and made a deal. Then they saw the registration thing, saw the name "Monsters" and renamed Monsters accurately because of the lyrics. They may even have believed the songs were one or connected because of this registration thing, and clearly thought both would be on the vinyl. So one of the two hoarders leaked both, thinking that's what was going to feature on the vinyl solely based on this registration thing, and thinking the value of both songs would be gone shortly.

And there are only two people (maybe even a third one) I know of who could have done this. But I'm pretty sure I know who it is. He's had a habit of lowering quality/interfering on tracks to maintain a bit of value, that's why I'm curious about the final audio quality on the vinyl.

I'm thinking of a deal because of where it was leaked, the nickname that was used, and the fact the registration thing clearly influenced the leak. I doubt the leak would have happened this way without the registration. We may just have gotten The General. And the person who did this isn't a hardcore hoarder, his aim is for everyone to enjoy most tracks, but still keeping things in case he can get more things to leak using a valuable track. There are many types of hoarders, he isn't someone who keeps everything forever.

Of course it could be simpler, and someone having access to the soundboard & recordings, but it doesn't make sense he would choose that specific board and choice of nickname. And I doubt anyone working for Guns would compromise their place just because a vinyl was delayed. It did cross my mind but it doesn't make sense.

The great news about Monsters not being on the Perhaps vinyl is that there's more coming. Probably Atlas as rumored. More songs and more vinyls, I'm all for it.

6 hours ago, evader said:

Holy shit, it just occurred to me that the cellphone guitar solo could have been Ashba. I may need to phone a friend on this one. @Voodoochild?

I did cross my mind, didn't want to mention it and upset people But I highly doubt it's DJ either, it just feels Slash all the way.

I think the only studio Gn'R song I heard from DJ was his Better remix. I sadly lost it, but I remember it being very Halloween-esque. Kind of like if Better had been reworked for a Tim Burton movie. It was

cool, but nothing like those leaks. I expect DJ to have reworked other songs with this kind of style.

5 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

In that case, though, it would be still an older version and not one with Slash and Duff. Because I don't know if that person would have access to recent recordings with Slash and Duff - I don't think that these would circulate in the "black market"

 

Yes it would mean older versions (without Slash and Duff). If we find out the vinyl features the same versions, then those leaks didn’t come from a hoarder.

8 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

If they are demos from the early 00's (they are not), how would the hoarders know that the song is now called Monsters ? It certainly had another title at that tham. Or how would they know that it was the same track that they had?

If the leaker is who I think of, he's a diehard fan and must have followed the credits thing regarding the vinyl, so either he named the second song because of those credits (& lyrics during the song) or it was already named like this when he bought & received the files. It's not impossible Monsters has been called that way for quite some time.

Or it's an inside job but it's unlikely the more I think of it, because it did leaked in a specific place.

Most likely scenario: as the vinyl was about to be released and the credits got out, whoever leaked those tracks bought it from a hoarder who felt the value of both songs would crash after the vinyl's release. The deal must have happened recently, but before October 26th, when it was clear the vinyl would be delayed or even cancelled.

If those came from a hoarder, it's more likely it's old versions from the 2000s. Maybe early 2010's. I'm just not hearing it, I'm still convinced it's Slash & Duff. If it's not then great news, means we'll have two versions.

5 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

True, but I guess they knew that once the first person received their 7-inch it would be ripped and shared. But until that point it would be a surprise.

Imagine if you spinned your record without knowing anything, The (real) General started playing and you're like "Wtf is this, where's the phone clip" and then another track started playing that is the one from the phone clip. And then the tracks get shared and there's speculation what the other song is etc. They probably were thinking it like that and laughing at the potential reactions.

Oh, I hadn't thought about this possibility. They know us hardcore fans knew this phone clip & evader's mix and that we thought it was The General. So had they just released The General, they may have expected the fanbase to not understand where was that phone clip/evader sound we heard. So they must have added Monsters as a bonus, and maybe went as far as fuse it somehow (legally anyway) because we have confused Monsters with The General for over 10 years!

We may have made Monsters turn into The General because of our confusion

I still don't know who leaked the songs. I have my money on someone considering the nickname he chose and how silkworms was leaked at the same place, using the same kind of nickname referring to lyrics of the leaked song, but I'm truly wondering if it's some inside job to make it up for the delay. Whoever it is, it's still great marketing for Guns. It makes everyone talking about the songs, and every hardcore fan wants to buy the vinyl to check the differences, if there's any. And at the very least we want the vinyl to have the songs in higher quality since most of us absolutely love them. This vinyl will be a piece of history, maybe my most important Gn'R piece, even if it's not rare, idc.

1 hour ago, colonizedmind said:

Didn't know it was that easy to reach Marco, he can't be as busy as he used to be.....is his email on his website or?

Good to have some pretty clear answers though.

Oh I believe he is still busy, his latest soundtrack was for The Nun II last month, and he still has other movies coming.

I just think he's a very nice man and that my mails came on a day he could find some time to answer. He's probably not mailed as much as A-list actors, but I do believe he is contacted from time to time, and that he's kind enough to answer his fans.

I wrote him through his website yes, couldn't find his twitter.

26 minutes ago, Amir said:

Thanks @D.. for emailing Marco. It's interesting that when he was interviewed in 2003 he talked about working on Seven, Thyme, Leave Me Alone/Soul Monster/Monsters, and The General, none of which appeared on ChiDem; but by the time of the release of the album he had also been brought in to work on SoD, TWAT, Madagascar, TIL, and Prostitute, all of which (with the possible exception of TIL in its final form) already had demos by 2000. So I guess that's actually 9 songs he worked on, unless Thyme was never really a song and more of an instrumental intro.

No problem. Yes it could be 9, he said 8 but that was so long ago he may not be 100% precise.

That said, I don't hear Beltrami's signature sound for the CD era in the Thyme version we've heard, it doesn't sound like anything else he's touched on CD & General/Monsters, so maybe he doesn't count that one. Or maybe he forgot and there's another version of Thyme that sounds more like him.

I'm really hyped for Seven, apparently it's the best one. It will be hard to beat Monsters, it's becoming my favorite out of all CD songs. On par with TWAT at least, I just love the mean section, it's crazy I've listened to it countless times, can't get bored.

8 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Yes, you're missing something. The instrumental you're referring to is not Soul Monster.

*

Maybe it would be a good idea if @D.. started a separate thread with the information from Marco Beltrami and his confirmation that Monsters is Soul Monster, because it will be lost in this thread and every couple of pages someone will ask the same questions about Me and My Elvis saying that Monsters doesn't sound like it etc.

 

Please feel free to start a Soul Monster thread with the informations provided by Marco Beltrami, it will make for interesting debates for sure.

5 minutes ago, Rindmelon said:

You can't receive PM's.

Thanks! Cleaned my inbox & pm'd you!

5 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

The main takeaway from what Marco Beltrami said is that it's now 100% confirmed that Monsters is Soul Monster.

As far as the two Vs. one song debate, in addition to what Marco Beltrami confirmed, the two songs were clearly still separated at least at the time of Axl's chats in 2008, as Axl seemed to refer to them as two different songs.

The confusion arises 1) from the fact that they have been registered as one song in credits databases and moreover the takedown notices for Monsters said that it was due to illegally uploading The General and 2) from the fact that parts of the orchestral intro can be heard on both songs.

Regarding the orchestral piece that was used as intro at concerts, I think it's possible that it was its own thing and a mashup of Beltrami's work on both The General and Leave Me Alone/Soul Monster.

And then maybe, at some point after 2008, the two songs were paired together, not necessarily to be made into one song in the form of Rocket Queen, but more like a "suite" of two songs that are linked thematically. I think @WhazUpis on to something about Axl's original idea being to have them back to back on an album. Bach said that Axl told him that The General would be on a post-CD album because it was connected lyrically to other songs that would be on that future album as well. So now, since these songs are not being released as part of an album, Axl probably decided to release them as a song that has a Pt. 1 and Pt. 2.

Dammit, can't add more reactions today. Great post. Would love to listen to the orchestral piece again, can't find it. I think someone even recreated it properly at some point. But yeah this intro to gigs was possibly a mashup. It's also clear to me The General's version we have was chopped, which further makes me think it's Slash & Duff on this version. I can totally picture a version of The General with a longer intro, and they must have cut it like they cut Hard School's intro. Like Beltrami said, those versions (leaks) have been modified from what those songs were 20 years ago.

15 minutes ago, estrangedtwat said:

I don't know why everyone is so insistent that these two songs are somehow one song.

Each song has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  They are separate.   There's no segue.  There's no connection.  This isn't a "9 minute epic."  It's two 4 minute songs.

 

Just listen to them and enjoy them.  Stop trying to force your opinion into existence when it's clearly wrong.

 

If the record comes out and these songs flow seamlessly together as one track, then I'll change my tune.  But until then, all we have is two songs.

Well now we have direct confirmation from Marco Beltrami himself that these were two different songs 20 years ago, his orchestrations are meant for two different songs. And as it is (the leaks), it's two different songs. Unless like you say they add a transition and that they flow together on the vinyl's release, it's two songs.

That's why I'm very curious about the vinyl release. Did we understand the credits wrong? Will the vinyl feature exactly the leaks we have or something different? Will both The General & Monsters be on the vinyl despite the vinyl just indicating "The General"? Do Slash & Duff really play on those leaks? December 8th can't come soon enough.