Amir

Hats off to Axl for singing The General, especially on the second of two gigs in two days. I think it works better live without all the vocal effects and the more powerful guitar. I honestly wouldn't mind shorter setlists like this in future, I was good with it at London in 2022, and they're still longer than most UYI shows or the 2001-2 ChiDem concerts. I can't see them doing two consecutive nights in future, it's obviously really taxing on Axl these days.

I like it.

I think coolest litho this year has to go to Charlotte, so neat having that aeroplane design: After that, my favourites are Paris (glad I got the tee of this), Toluca, and the two Hollywood Bowl shows, and I like that Toluca and one of the Hollywood ones come in white:

That is an awesome tee. I've always felt the Mexican tees had potential but this one really executes on that.

I've thought about this and at this point to be honest there's not enough material for me to put together a whole ChiDem II/P.R.L. I'd enjoy listening to. Instead, I've put together a Best of ChiDem: Chinese Democracy Shackler's Revenge Better Catcher in the Rye Eye On You There Was A Time Atlas Shrugged (New Brain Drums) ABSURD Perhaps (2000 demo) Sorry I.R.S. Madagascar This I Love Prostitute The flow of Better to Catcher works better than TWAT to Catcher on the album, as does TWAT to Atlas. If Me & My Elvis, Oklahoma, and D Tune ever get released versions I might reconsider, I really dug those instrumentals. Hard Skool is so frustrating because there's things I really like in both the demo and released versions and things that really bug me in each, so there's no definitive version for me. EDIT: I have this saved on my phone now as Chinese Supremacy.

I like that they went with a white tee, cool design: https://gnrmerchtruck.com/products/2023-city-event-tee-los-angeles-night-1

It's super obvious it's just Billionaire + State of Grace with Ashba playing all the leads, and it's actually Shaq on bass.

The Village leaks almost certainly predate his involvement (Madagascar, TWAT, and Prostitute all have synth strings on those versions) so I'm sure he came in on Thyme later. Now the question is how it integrated with P.R.L. Was it an intro? Or did it come later in the song? And what the heck does P.R.L. stand for? So weird that there was one mention all the way back in 2001 of it being the follow-up to ChiDem and we never heard those initials again until the Village leak when a track with that name appeared...

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.

In Shackler it sounds like two characters: low demonic voice being the shooter, and the “I don’t believe in the reason” being Axl.

Also the air of finality in Monsters (“it’s over now”).

I think they work better as two separate songs. I know they’re thematically the same but it’s like listening to Estranged right after November Rain or Riad right after Chinese (the two most explicitly political songs on CD, and both rockers). You need a palate cleanser between them, and Guns N’ Roses has always been about the dichotomy, in album sequencing and musical variety. This is what I’ve currently put together as a bootleg “P.R.L.”. I like the incongruity of opening with Thyme and then going into the absurdity of ABSURD (went with the Village leak of Perhaps as well): Only went with the one instrumental since it fits with The General and Monsters, hopefully we get vocals for it and some of the others one day.

I was thinking about this last night. At first I thought Slash was making the song sound too happy (I feel that way with the official release of Perhaps versus the darker demo), but now I feel it’s the child/main character growing up and overcoming his demons, sort of triumphing in the end? Which makes me think it’s the final part of the trilogy. Maybe Me & My Elvis is the first part, and there’s a version with vocals out there?

Tuned in time for Prostitute but then they stopped streaming as it was getting to the best parts :/

I hear “have your self-respect”?

I wonder if Me & My Elvis is the third part of the trilogy, which is why Monsters had a working title of Elvis Presley & The Monster of Soul? Has that same doomy vibe, too good of an instrumental to never have vocals added.

The General and Monsters no longer has Guns N' Roses listed as an artist, only comes up in results if you search for it by title.

Yup, this is what I think as well. His initial quote was about it being part of a trilogy, the Estranged bullshit came later and was likely Rolling Stone not understanding him.

It is 100% Monsters, I can hear the lyrics now that I’ve listened to this leak, guitar is the pretty much the same as well.

Guessing the vinyl starts shipping today/tomorrow, people get it within the next few days, and a digital release on the 3rd. That's just a guess, though.

Yeah, he does "ooooooohhhhhh, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" while the scream is played.

Just stories from GNR's official Instagram (tap on the profile pic, you need an Instagram account).

Axl sounding really good on Perhaps on that Instagram story, also sounds better on verses in Prostitute than he did in Paris.