GoodOlJohnnyK

L could be Lead?

I don’t know why they’d do that. Intentionally misspelling a word hasn’t been edgy since I was in middle skool.

It’s kinda perfect that we all disagree on this. It makes me understand the GnR media blackout. Some of us are Axls and some of us are Slashes and we all get along just fine so long as we don’t discuss anything.

I can’t keep up with the various iterations of the songs as well as everyone else. I believe Axl at one point named a song called Elvis Presley and the Monster of Soul, which turned into Soul Monster (I think). He described it as Sabbathy. That lines up with Me & My Elvis, which has a Sabbath-type of vibe to it. And it’d be just odd to have two different songs with Elvis related working titles.

Understood on the rest of your post. I did want to clarify this piece, though: I wasn’t questioning the legitimacy of the recording. I was simply saying it had been sent to me and I couldn’t make out what was a vocal and what was ambient background noise. I think I replied a few pages back where I pointed out three parts that sound like they could be vocals, particularly the last 10 seconds or so of the recording which sound like a very high pitched and raspy Axl. I could hear the guitar just fine - especially the lead line. It was the vocal. Wasn’t questioning whether the music played was real - that’s Absurd at the beginning of the clip I have.

Yeah I think Slash and Duff did their best on Hard Skool and Absurd, which is why I think they’re pretty good, if not mind blowing. The rest of the stuff with vocals, though, do nothing for me. The instrumental tracks are harder to gauge, of course, because Axl isn’t on them. But if there *are* completed vocals, which I doubt for most of them, then I’d hope they’re damn good because I don’t find the instrumental tracks to be very inspiring so Axl’s gonna have to do a lot of the heavy lifting, melodically.

I think it’s fine if they believe a new album is right around the corner. More power to them. Hell, I *hope* there’s a new album around the corner! I love Guns N’ Roses, why *wouldn’t* I want new music from them? I’d just like the new music to be good, and I don’t like anything else I’ve heard on the Village Leaks. But what I *want* and what I *think* are two different things. So I can hope for new music all I want, but if I’m going to post on a message board about it, I’m going to post what I think: I think Perhaps will be released soon, followed by another single which I predict to be Atlas even if some of the General talk around here is slowly starting to seep in to my thick skull. I just think I should be able to type all of this onto a message board without being told to leave because I don’t necessarily believe everything that Axl Rose has said in an online chat from 2008.

I would prefer new music with the NITL lineup. In absence of that, I’d rather they just release everything in the vaults of Chinese leftovers so it can be done with. At this point, I’m exhausted by it. I really enjoyed Chinese Democracy as an album. But I think the best bits made the album. There’s nothing on the Village Leaks (with or without vocals) that stand out to me to make me want to hear more. I also hear Chinese Democracy as a bit of a time capsule. Even when it was released, it didn’t sound like a 2008 album to me. It sounded like an unreleased album from the 90s, which it more or less was. So even now, listening to it, I hear it as a product of its era. Which is why the Slash and Duff remakes are fine…but also sort of sound weird. I like Absurd and Hard Skool, but they very much sound like songs from a previous era that they’re trying to “force” into a modern yet somehow also classic Guns sound. I’m perhaps not able to articulate what I mean, but ultimately I’d rather they just release the leftover Chinese Democracy songs and move on to something new if they insist on putting them out at all. I’m done with that era.

I’m just saying, it really does feel like any time anybody tries to insert any degree of skepticism regarding new material - whether it’s the probability of it being released or the quality of the new material - there’s someone there ready to call them a troll or tell them to leave or, my favorite, “why are you here then?” It’s happened to me here and it’s annoying. Meanwhile, there doesn’t seem to be the same reaction when someone says, apropos of nothing, that new music will be released soon or there’s something coming soon. I remember when the Spotify algorithm talk was going on and I tried saying that it didn’t mean anything, I was told to just shut up and “let everyone believe what they want.” But I was letting everyone believe what they want - I was simply stating what *I* believe. It’s just a little aggravating sometimes how vigilant the ChiDem2 posters can be about knocking down any sort of skepticism towards this band’s creative output.

By the way, slamming anyone for simply not being thrilled with the band or for not being optimistic about if and when new music will be released is *also* trolling.

While I like the mellow slide part in Hard Skool, I agree that the song would have been better served if they just extended Slash's guitar solo and let him rip a blistering solo for sixteen more bars before slamming right into the chorus again with no slowdown.

The beauty of this forum and why the thread should never be closed: differing opinions. Discussion is good. Soul Monster and metalavenger99 like Eye On You. I can't stand it. We meet here to discuss our differing opinion and to exchange ideas. He likes the vocal - I don't like the vocal, and my gripes about it are twofold: 1.) it's not good enough to be a chorus. 2.) it's too clean tonally, for the most part. I know that was Axl's style at the time (apparently intentional - he notes in the China Exchange that 'the public didn't like it.'). I think it could use - and I almost hesitate to use this word here because it's so overused in these arguments - a bit more rasp or grit. The last chorus has a bit of the grit in there, but not enough for my tastes. That said - as long as there is 'new' music being released, as in songs being reworked and released that had previously not been officially available, then this thread needs to exist. Look, I'm annoyed that we're getting ChiDem stuff still. I was fascinated by that era, but *in* that era. I have no desire to hear these songs that sound like 1998 being reworked to sound like 2023. But that's what's happening and, as of now, I haven't heard Slash and Duff's take on Perhaps. So it's 'new music.' Plus, if we close this thread...what else do we talk about? There's nothing else going on. The band is on tour, they've got a few new songs in the setlist this year, and that was fun to talk about for about 5 minutes. If people are tired of debating whether or not new music will be released, or if they're tired of weighing the merits of Atlas Shrugged or what does and does not have vocals, or if The General is ever going to be released...how will they feel when the only topic of conversation is "the setlist is the same again tonight," or "do you think they'll play Perfect Crime? We've seen a setlist with it on it!" or, my personal favorite, "Axl sounds like shit!/No he doesn't, he sounds good!"

I’m almost certain we’ll get a new album. It just might be 20 years from now when the estates take over and just start unloading the vaults.

I continue to be optimistic about his voice, which may be foolish of me. I thought the voice was gone in 2014 and not to return…but then 2016 proved me wrong. I agree with what blackstar stated though - something’s clearly wrong. I just think that there’s a solution.

This is why I temper my expectations when a recording engineer describes the new music being recorded as “sounding like Appetite.” I actually see what Bach is saying - it’s slower and plodding, and the chorus is sludgy. But it’s not how I would have described it, necessarily.

Wasn’t Bach on background vocals on Sorry?

I appreciate you sending it to me. I just listened to it again. I hear what could be vocals at about 1:30 in - some “doo-doo” sounding things. Then I hear something at about 2:00 in that sounds like it could be his Brownstone tone making an “ow” syllable. And then the last 15 seconds of the clip is where I hear it the most - sounds like Axl in a very high raspy voice, particularly at 2:52. That’s what I hear. So the point is, I’m not hearing a whole lot. The lead guitar sounds cool though. That cuts through pretty well. edited to add: I’d listened to the EQ’d version you sent me as well. My issue was I couldn’t match what I was hearing with the lyrics posted on the video. I remember a line about vampires he had singled out. I also remember a part where my thought was “I didn’t hear *anything* there, how’d this person come up with that line?”

Nevermind. I’ll just say that I hope The General is the next, and last, release from the Chinese Democracy era. Unless they ever got around to finishing Tonto.

My fault. I’m feeling particularly argumentative today.

I might if he was Saul from 1987-1994. Hell, there are still people who call John Mellencamp “John Cougar” or “John Cougar Mellencamp.” For some of us, we listened to these songs a *lot* under the demo titles. While I’ve mainly gotten over it for songs like Absurd, if “Atlas Shrugged” gets released tomorrow under title “To Be A Man,” it’ll take a while for me to adjust.

I’d be interested in seeing the results of that poll. Personally, I’d vote that the lyrics matter a lot. I think what set Guns N’ Roses apart from their contemporaries was that Axl actually had something to say. The Illusions aren’t just a rock album - they’re a work of art, and a lot of that is because Axl was at his absolute lyrical peak. It wasn’t just how he was saying it, it’s what he was saying. Which is not to say that it all has to be Shakespeare. Nightrain isn’t anything poetic, but certain lines mixed with their delivery are right for the song. “Wake up late, honey put on your clothes and take your credit card to the liquor store” isn’t poetic…but it’s a fucking great line. And it works for the song. The inverse of that are songs like Out Ta Get Me, which I skip every time I listen to Appetite because I find the lyrics to be so cliché and bad. I know Anything Goes is popular here because the riff is awesome and it’s a rarity, but to me it’s just a standard 80s hard rock song about sex that Aerosmith could have pulled off better with a wink and a smile. So lyrics, to me, matter a lot. And the Illusions were just absolutely masterful. Locomotive would be repetitive and almost boring, if it wasn’t for Axl’s fantastic wordplay. The entirety of Coma is perfect. Chinese Democracy is an interesting case because it’s a different side of Axl’s writing, one that works with varied results. His lyrics are a lot more abstract on that album than anything he’d written before. The wit is gone - a song like “Sorry” probably could have been a bit better lyrically if it was written right after the Illusions, because it would have been sharper and more venomous, as opposed to it being so direct. Riad and the Bedouins is a bit too abstract to really understand the message. If the World is pretty vague to the point of having no emotional connection. On the other hand, songs like Madagascar really shine with a more abstract approach. The metaphor of a man lost in the wilderness and trying to find his way to shore is great. Same goes for TWAT - it does an excellent job of setting the mood. The imagery is evocative without being incredibly specific - it seems to be about a breakup, but who knows what’s actually going on there. Yet it works. Of course, this is all just my personal opinion. But for me, lyrics absolutely matter.

What’s your problem? I say the same thing because the same topic is being discussed, and I’m still not sold. I’m not supposed to share my opinion on a fucking *discussion forum* just to make you feel better? So because other people say they hear it, that means I should accept it? Do you know how many people here were convinced that Spotify had a copy of a new album because they searched “Soul Monster” and Guns N’ Roses popped up in the search query? How’d that turn out? And I didn’t say I don’t hear it. I said there are times when I listen and think “that sounds like a vocal” and other times when I think “hm, that could just be background noise.” I said it’s inconclusive to me. If you have a problem with that, that’s your fucking problem. Not mine. I also say, every week, that I don’t like Perhaps. Should I change my opinion on that as well? For the record, I hope they *do* release The General next because, cell phone recordings or not, there’s not enough that’s audible for me to have an opinion on it one way or the other. So hopefully it’ll be good, because I’m not crazy about Perhaps or Atlas Shrugged, and I’d like to hear another Guns N’ Roses song that I enjoy. Is that okay?

Well first off, I commend you and the others on your excellent listening abilities. I apologize for not being able to hear it myself. As for the 2002 flashbacks, I very much heard those and instantly identified them as new studio recordings - especially Madagascar, which had never been performed in that broken raspy timbre live. I guess my ears have degraded in the last 19 years.

Yeah, I’ve listened to the recording. There are moments where I think “that -might- be a vocal” but nothing concrete.

Sorry, but so much of that is too much of a stretch for me. When is that setlist from? The same era they were supposedly using the the instrumental track as intro music? Are there any NITL-or later setlists with The General on it? That’s a very basic drum pattern. That is the only one that intrigues me. Though looking at it, I’m curious what the next letter is after “The G,” because it doesn’t look like an E. It almost looks a lower case G, which obviously doesn’t make sense. Was Garden of Eden ever soundchecked or listed as an alternate? Possible someone write “The Garden of Eden” vs. “Garden of Eden”?