IncitingChaos

There’s not much good vocally at the moment right? I think he’s trying but not much for his vocals to grip right now. He has damaged vocal chords. If there was ever a time for him to get his vocals right it would have been the break during covid. But I believe his options are to sit out a couple years and have vocal surgery or just accept this is as good as it will get.

The songs currently sound less energetic with the slowed down pace. The performances are less than ideal and casual fans are beginning to notice. I think Axl will require a lot of work surgically and will need a coach. I see neither happening anytime soon at the age of 60. Just enjoy what he can do at the moment.  

4 hours ago, Tom-Ass said:

What is teh difference than that and almost every other sing he sings? lol

He may not sound as good anymore but I give him credit for not giving a shit and playing the songs anyway..  As much grief they get for their setlists, I think they have shown they will try almost anything and I absolutely think there is a chance.  I would never say never for anything aside One In A illion ...

Reckless Life, Coma, Locomotive, Slither, Nice Boys, Dead Horse.. As awful as they are, Hardschool and Absurd?  Anything is possible..  

it’s very compressed vocally. But you’re right it would all sound the same now. I don’t hear any hope for his vocal chords at this point. Back in 11-14 you could make an argument he was holding back. Now you can tell he’s trying and it’s just not going to happen. Too old to have surgery on his damaged vocal chords. But as I’ve said before it’s all good. Glad they are still out doing their best! Hopefully breakdown makes a rare appearance for fun 

One of Slash’s best solos. He seems to have copied it a couple times on his solo projects 

Catcher is a song I feel has aged really well. I still have yet to hear a song quite like it. A lot of the stuff on Chinese isn’t easily duplicated (maybe there’s not much to take from it for other artist) but it’s a unique sound and I think Catcher actually would have been a hit with some grittier vocals. The musical arrangement on CD is great! I just feel like for a comeback album for Axl he could have had a less dramatic vocal change to make casual fans of GNR get more into the music. The clean vocals don’t hit all that well on some parts of the album. 

Axl’s vocals have lost a lot of its character. But it doesn’t matter. He’s up there in age, can’t ask  his vocal chords to be fresh again. They all appear to be in great shape and some of the concert photos are badass now. Setlist seems amazing. Glad they are on the road again. Hope it’s a good tour!

Lyric videos are kinda lame aren’t they 

I could see this song on Madden 03 soundtrack 

I think Slash said Duff was already drunk and passed out so they made him drink two shots to their one each round 

I thought Izzy was one of the first to recommend Axl use more rasp and distortion in his vocals after they were messing around on a song. I think i read that a long time ago and always assumed that’s why Axl got away from his early clean vocals 

50 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

I think you guys are dreaming. He has sounded the exact same 2016-2021 except for the ACDC shows. Fucking look it up. Nothing changed, he wasn't any less mickey in 2016, apart from the Houston show. He sounded awful on songs like YCBM and RQ and PC BEFORE the ACDC shows, and after. Didn't "damage" or change his vocals at all.

He sounds good on 15% of the show now versus 2016 he sounded good about 75-80% haha my favorite is to go watch the Washington DC 2016 show. He just looked and sounded like the old Axl. Great show, cool attire, easy to watch the whole thing without getting bored.

Axl struggled anytime Angus’s came back to join GNR on stage after acdc. But Axl could have had vocal work done recently as well and has to rebuild his voice back up. That would be unlikely considering he’s almost 60 and covid was going on. He doesn’t sound very capable of holding simple notes on songs, like his voice won’t lock on to anything, he’s just all over the place. I’m hopeful we see improvement though! 

On 9/26/2021 at 10:46 AM, oneway23 said:

- Better, Scraped & Shacklers , Going Down, & The General were likely recorded between 2004 & 2006, right?

- Soul Monster was, what, New Years Eve '06, or 2007?

- Vocals for Bach's record were done in 2006.

Either way, we're looking at these examples being over fifteen years ago. 

 

What other examples could we have for studio work beyond then?

- This I Love re-mix and Blood in the Water have DIFFERENT vocals, though, not necessarily newer.  Could have simply been different takes?

- The Looney Tunes track is much more recent, clearly.  This is the sole evidence we currently have that he's been in the studio at any point in the past decade.  Is that correct?

Haven’t read the whole thread yet but i hope Axl recorded everything in 2006. His studio vocals would have been flawless around this time 

6 minutes ago, Pele said:

Yeah, maybe that's unfair.

I just don't get how he undoubtedly raised his game several notches for ACDC then immediately dropped back down to his usual level when returning to GNR. 

Maybe the thrill of new, fresh songs (for him)?

Maybe the pressure of winning over the ACDC fans who didn't want him there?

Maybe not being the boss and needing to perform?

Probably having a vocal coach there to tell him when he sucks and how to fix it. 

8 hours ago, batatadoce said:

what?

he should sing an octave lower on the verses, like he does on nightrain and Chinese democracy, then on the chorus go full mickey, since he doesn't seem to be comfortable whit using distortion on his high notes anymore, or maybe try to go for the chinese democracy chorus voice, but that part is maybe to high for that. But then again axl must know better than me.

As for the reverb from his voice, i have no idea what do you mean.

 

Reverb would be like using auto tune, Axl use to have a voice that would have such a powerful fullness in it that it sounds like he’s singing in a chamber. I wouldn’t be opposed to him using reverb on his voice during the shows on the lines outside of the chorus. It would sound much better IMO. Currently he sounds a little weak and so the lines don’t hit as hard as they should. The chorus I would think he needs to go into his Back in Black Brian Johnson voice for that. Its too high for how it was recorded but  I think Axl struggles more when he’s trying to hit a “mid voice” seems his low voice is obviously intact and I believe if he wanted it to be he could hit some full power notes still. 
 

but I like the songs you selected to grab vocals from. I agree I think he’ll get better on this song. They have such a long tour planned that I think we could see a big reversal in his vocals later in the tour. You can’t afford to blow out your lead singers voice this early into a 2 year tour. 

He needs to sing like an octave higher. It sounds like he’s singing a song he doesn’t know the lyrics to, and is just making out the sounds with no power. Using more power would give the reverb from his voice to make it sound good. 
 

glad it got played  though 

I hope they win something so they can say “this is Guns N Roses first Grammy” haha 

Billie Eilish will probably win best rock song haha 

Basically I think they both worked. Slash would have wrote Paradise and Sweet Child before Axl pinned lyrics to em, but obviously songs like Edtranged, November Rain were already made before Slash got to em 

7 minutes ago, alfierose said:

That's interesting. I can see why that becomes an issue. Which one has the more 'usual' way of working? Is there a more usual way?

With the disclaimer that I have never written a song nor played an instrument beyond the recorder in school, Axl's method seems the most logical to me. It strikes me as harder to write a song around guitar riffs than to overlay them onto something that already has structure and lyrics.

Axl said they did AFD more his way then UYI got complicated because he started getting handed these guitar songs and told he had to put lyrics to them. I don’t think all of AFD was written like Axl said though, Izzy could do a riff and write lyrics, but seems like Axl and Slash relied on eachother more to do 50/50

6 minutes ago, denin said:

I too have come around to enjoy Hard Skool 2.0. It's certainly better to have Slash & Duff re-do the music, instead of copy-pasting bits into the mix.

Yet, Axl in around 2000:

"I write the vocals last, because I wanted to invent the music first and push the music to the level that I had to compete against it."

20 years later his line is approximately:

"I throw the original music away and have the new band compete against my age-old vocal takes. That'll show 'em."
 

This weird-ass approach does appear to meld Slash's UYI-informed playing with Axl's CD era quirks pretty well. Unusual way to make music, but... this band.

 

Axl also said he prefers writing lyrics and melody first then having Slash work the instrumental arrangement out, and Slash likes writing “guitar first” songs abut it’s harder for Axl to write lyrics that way and led to writers block once haha so idk if the man knows what he wants 

I think Axl should bring Izzy on to do Going Down on a recording together. It would be a good moment on an album and I still like that song 

I would like Dont Cry from Houston 2016 and Youre Crazy from Brooklyn Bowl 2013 haha 

9 minutes ago, BadApples87 said:

it's a mediocre  song.  I mean, be honest, this is no paradisce city, night train, jungle, etc etc etc.  

I’d contest there has been no rock album as good as AFD since haha but hey if this song gets Axl into the mood to release more then it did it’s job. Absolute travesty that that man hasn’t given more to music based on his level of songwriting talent. 

I’m seeing it in the top 10 of best new music and trending on Apple Music 

I avoided the leaks for the most part and so this was first time I’ve heard the song complete. I actually like it. Idk how Slash did it but during the solo I hear a little AFD and a ton of illusion mixed into it. Almost hear a little Double talking jive as it slows down. It was like a trip down memory lane of Slash’s GNR career. Axl’s vocals are solid, good chorus, not as ambitious lyrically as I like but this was nice to listen to. They all brought back some classic GNR moments into this Nugnr song