Flayer

24 minutes ago, kanecrescente said:

'Absurd! Absurd!' was literally the chorus.

Perhaps has the exact same verse and chorus over again before the solo... Hard Skool was the most passable 'GNR-esque' release and even that was short.

if you take them as one song together, the General and Monsters do stand out as the exception. First epic length piece since UYI. Coma’s deranged younger brother.

1 hour ago, kanecrescente said:

They all have such a predictable, boring and lazy structure to them all. They all follow the same formula of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus, guitar outro, done. 

I don't think The General, Perhaps, State of Grace, Eye On You, or Absurd stick to that formula, though in most cases it's something being left out rather than something extra being added. Eye On You doesn't have verses at all. The General doesn't either, it has three different choruses or refrains that all get reused, plus a bridge. Perhaps and State of Grace only use their chorus twice and spend most of their time on verses. Absurd had what passed for its chorus chopped out, one of the verses copy pasted to be the new chorus, and the other verse just left in there to fill space.

9 minutes ago, GNR 1991 said:

Damn, The General really is a grower. Wasn’t a fan at first, but after the tenth listen or so, I find myself humming “Daddy don’t” parts and even the chorus (which is better once you figure out some of the lyrics)

 

I can say both pieces are great but together they are a masterpiece. I’m just not sold on the “don’t know what to tell ya now” parts lol

Reminds me of Sweet Child O’ Mine where we ended up with “where do we go now?” because they couldn’t think of anything else.

I tried that listen in reverse order thing some people are saying and it just doesn’t work for me. Lyrically, Monsters provides closure to the General. I believe putting it second was the right choice.

1 hour ago, prairieboy said:

 

The verses of Monsters seems to be more about a jilted lover to me, and not child abuse like The General. 

My interpretation is Axl acknowledging that he unwillingly brought his “Monsters” into the ill-fated Stephanie relationship. 

[Verse 1]

A tour-de-force of an evil old passion
A broken heart that was out of fashion
Dynamic duo, in your big attraction
My early warning was your satan laughing

[Chorus]
I was there for you
It's all I could do
Oh but it's over now
Oh but it's over now
 

[Verse 2]
You stole my soul with the devil's romancing
All alone in your bedroom, dancing
Thought I could feel somebody worth having
But in the end I guess you're good for the damning

I hear it as “oh but it’s all burned down” followed by “oh but it’s over now.”

Now that I’ve heard it, I wonder why this song ended up being called The General.

48 minutes ago, eggers said:

Are you really needed in this forum?

Damn it I already used up all my likes for the day 

Streamed it while I was gaming with a friend yesterday. Her first reaction was “holy fuck, 9 minutes?!” but she actually enjoyed it. Said it reminded her of Alice In Chains.

AbsuRd on the other hand…

Just a request

No more songs like that pls lol

The rave thing

Did he just say pussy full of maggots

Perhaps these originated as separate pieces back when they were demos, but Axl felt enough of a connection between them to decide they belonged together as one. If that were the case, it must have been before the orchestral backing was recorded, since they’re both drawing on one common piece.

On a side note, when I was a kid I always thought Queen’s We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions were two halves of the same song, since they were invariably played back to back on the radio, and always in the same order.

2 minutes ago, Axl Rose aka God said:

I think what I really wanna know now is what Axl meant when he told us that we may have heard parts of it it before, regarding The General. 

The orchestra track that was played as a concert intro. It’s in the background throughout the song.

1 minute ago, Blackstar said:

Because it turns out that Me and My Elvis most likely wasn't Soul Monster but another song.

I agree. We should probably stop putting so much faith in these random info bytes we’ve gotten from band members and so on over the years. They’ve got dozens of these unfinished tracks with constantly changing working titles floating around, and they were all built up out of separately recorded bits and pieces. I don’t even think Axl himself could keep all of it straight. 

So what, if anything, from the Me & My Elvis demo actually made it into Monsters? Maybe I just haven’t listened closely enough, but they sound nothing like each other.

Easily the best playing Slash has done on any of the NuGuns material.

Just now, axlweave said:

Shine a light

Use the search filter option for Today or last 24 hours for best results

2 minutes ago, DingBat said:

Sebastian said Axl told him it was a sequel to Estranged...

I guess it doesn't have to be stylistically similar to Estranged to be a sequel?

Or maybe Seb was on the quaaludes and got it it all wrong?

Probably got it mixed up with another song entirely

It’ll come just as soon as everyone has gotten their Dr Pepper

29 minutes ago, Cosmo said:

I don't think it's the point, actually. When a band releases a vinyl-exclusive, it's not only to boost vinyl sales, but to make the song a rarity, a hidden gem, etc... like a present to diehards and vinyl collectors. 

Here’s a song you can’t listen to while you’re stuck in traffic, at the gym, on your headphones at work, or anywhere else you spend most of your day. Merry Christmas.

52 minutes ago, username said:

No no, you have it all wrong. You see, only a relatively small part of GnR's idiotic fanbase is desperate for new music and releasing it on vinyl only is a great way to scam these idiots (that would be us) out of more money. Try to think like a member of Team Brazil and you'll see why this makes so much sense. 

You’re halfway there. The elite scam is to hype it as vinyl only, sell all those records, and then give it a digital release a month or two later once the return date has expired.

5 minutes ago, evilfacelessturtle said:

I'm not sure you understand what the word "assumption" means. Going off of the available evidence, it will only be released on vinyl. Anything beyond that known fact is the assumption. Not the other way around.

Has there ever in the history of the band been a song they put out on vinyl but purposefully withheld from their digital catalog? No.

Is there any particular reason for them to do that now? No.

To say it might never happen is just as much of an assumption as to say it will. The difference is that one assumption is backed by precedent, and the other is not. 

31 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

31 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

This is assuming the song gets released digitally and is played live at all, neither of which may happen.

Why wouldn’t it? Every GNR song that’s been officially released has been gotten a digital release, and every song they’ve released since the reunion has been played live. I find it bizarre how far this assumption has spread.

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this sooner: what about taking the 2002 Rock in Rio show and giving it an AI remaster so we can finally hear what Buckethead and Robin sound like with some good vocals?

On 9/29/2023 at 12:49 AM, Flayer said:

I went with low expectations based on the earlier shows in the tour, but they really rocked tonight. Axl sounds like he does these days, strong on the low songs and weak on the high ones, but he wasn’t drowning on anything tonight and when you’re there live, the sound of the music is loud enough to obscure the weak falsetto.

The setlist was the best of any GNR show I’ve been to. Alice in Chains as an opener was a real treat. Slash’s playing tonight was phenomenal. I haven’t been all that impressed with it at the previous reunion shows I’ve caught, but tonight you really felt the presence of a guitar god.

I would actually rate tonight a better show all around than the last time I saw Guns in Houston back in 2021.

Forgot to mention, I brought a friend along who had never been to a big rock concert before or really listened to much GNR besides the hits on the radio. He ended up having a blast and being really impressed by the show, particularly with just how long they were able to play for (somewhere between two and a half and three hours, I think). Other funny feedback: “I’m trying to keep count of which is happening more, Axl changing shirts or Slash changing guitars.”

Other notes: the acoustics and the mixing were excellent, one of the clearest sounding shows that I’ve been to. None of the solos sounded phoned in at all.

Estranged was the highlight of the show for me. Really enjoyed that performance. Reckless Life was the worst, sounded like a mess and you could barely make out one word of it.

The setlist has also noticeably shifted to include a larger share of songs in his lower register. Between It’s So Easy, Brownstone, DOTF, Chinese, Bad Obsession, Pretty Tied Up, DTJ, Absurd, Wichita Lineman, Don’t Cry, and Patience, almost half the show is using his lower vocals.