19AT5

On 9/6/2021 at 12:29 PM, allwaystired said:

I always felt Hard School (Skool? I lose track!) felt a bit incomplete- like it was a quarter of a song played over 4 times. 

That makes sense to me actually.

On 9/6/2021 at 12:32 PM, 中国民主 said:

I love the Village intro because it shifts from a peaceful atmosphere in the very beginning to a darker/angrier one towards the 1st verse. It will be great to have another version anyway, but I'm definitely no fan of the intro I've heard on the rehearsal (Mexico 2020). 

Not heard the Mexico intro. But everything about that melodic intro annoys me! Totally 100% subjective of course and I have always preferred the heavier and darker side of GNR. 

59 minutes ago, betterman said:

Based on the songs we know and if this really is a collection of old stuff, how will your tracklist look like??

1. Absurd

2. Hard Skool

3. Atlas Shrugged

4. Soul Monster

5. Goin Down (w/ Duff & Axl)

6. State of Grace

7. Quick Song

8. Perhaps

9. Oklahoma

10. Circus Maximus

11. Zodiac

12. The General

GNR must be the only band in existence that take this long to release music, only for fans to have already heard leaked versions of all, some or most of the songs already. I've never heard of another band having such a problem. 

36 minutes ago, Malcolm Malcolm said:

There may be something to this. They certainly couldn't in the nineties.

Two things Rubin would certainly try to change would be 1) The ridiculous amount of layering of nonsense like sub bass and actual bass and real orchestras and synth orchestras, and 2) If Frank is the limited player many here think he is then Rubin would request a different/session drummer.

Hahaha! Sub-bass has its place. But generally most folk just use the plug ins and apply it to the individual track or the master as a whole. GNR seemingly have somebody individually making new sub-bass parts which is utterly pointless!

7 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

The old intro felt a bit tacked on, but as far as melody goes I liked it. 

It really did! That's my main issue with this approach to songwriting, a lot of CD feels very tacked on.

3 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Yes it's definitely reworked, it sounds a bit like the VR Sucker Train Blues intro in a way, absolutely better than the old version

Ah cool. Well that sounds hopeful like. I just had another listen to the version I do have and there's actually more I like than dislike. However the bits I dislike I REALLY dislike... if that makes sense! The melodic breakdown in the middle absolutely does not work in my opinion. However the wee guitar solo after second chorus is pretty nifty. 

10 minutes ago, Live Like a Suicide said:

Good thing it now seems to have a bass intro.

Ah does it, that's hopefully a bit better than that awful soft melodic intro. I've not heard any of the Slash/Duff versions. Only the old Village leaks version. 

Just had a listen to that video on Blabbermouth with Dave Grohl. Those Axl ad libs over the intro chorus to PC are, eh, horrid. The late whistle is fucking bizarre. And his voice is bloody shot. Band sound tight. But who cares if the singer can't deliver. I have a ticket for a show next year. I won't be going.

Does anybody else think the intro to Hard School is bloody terrible? I think the chorus is catchy as sin but the rest of the song is really quite bland. 

1 hour ago, mystery said:

Damn shame, how awesome would Guns have been live in 2004 or 2005?

Would it have really been any different to 2001/02? I mean, same line up, likely same problems, likely no album, so likely not all that awesome?! GNR were a joke by this point. I think the 2006 live performances actually got some credibility back but this was not a successful period in the band's history.

31 minutes ago, ax1 said:

I like the original version of Silkworms much much better, but other than that if the original has Slash in it Id find it even much better.

I'd agree with that. Still not quite great song but the original was better in my opinion.

1 hour ago, smokingbarrels said:

Being an opportunitist and being productive is not what makes a genius...at all

Ah yes, the unproductive genius. Gotchya! 🤪😀😅

On 8/28/2021 at 1:19 AM, goldentobacco said:

Been listening a lot to some of the songs on the Rough Mixes CD's. Truly some gems there, such a shame so little of them got released. State of Grace is probably one of my favourites, I love Axl's performance, but the instrumentation... my god! I love that riff, and I have such a soft spot for riffs that incorporate that flat fifth, (like It's So Easy, The General, Welcome to the Jungle). I used to think that SoG probably could be a couple minutes longer, but I don't see any reason to adding more stuff there, it's short and sweet with a cracking outro! Great stuff.

Kind of the opposite with Dummy. It's pretty underrated in my opinion, but it does drag for way too long. I love the vibe from that song. Devious Bastard is also such a badass song, reminiscent of Perfect Crime and Garden of Eden in some ways, just evolved. Not a fan of the quotes and voice recordings added, it's present in so many NuGuns demos, and it's honestly cringeworthy. Works excellently in Madagascar though. 

There's honestly so much good stuff there that really does hold their own ground without the prescence of Axl and his undeniable vocal capabilites. It's an eternal shame that all we got was Chinese Democracy, and GN'R never got to truly evolve from the sleaze rock image which they definitely did outgrow. The sleaziness is why I got into GN'R in the first place, but what a journey it would have been to go from a bare bones rock n' roll style to whatever could have been. An ever evolving style would in my eyes have cemented GN'Rs legacy in music in a much larger scale. I understand everyone who hates the musical direction GN'R went in, but I feel there's a stronger case to be made for the fact that GN'R would have regressed more had they continued to pump out albums in the vein of Appetite and Illusions. I've been very disillusioned with this band for years, since my personal connection with them kind of got bookended after I got to finally see them live, but the release of Absurd has truly brought me back to being a crazy GN'R nerd again. I welcome and embrace the frustrating dysfunctionality, because there is nothing like it, there's nothing like GN'R. There's a reason that after two decades this forum is still around with several active (and even new!) members discussing.

My personal feelings with GN'R get encapsulated with the phone recording of The General. Behind the wall of shit you can hear something. You don't really know what it is, but it's so thrilling. The wailing solo, that haunting motif and Axl belting out some gut wrenching lyrics. ''There's a child now chained to the bed now ... I think it's high time you should fuckin' die, child, I think this time you've broken everything inside''. What the fuck?! How come this isn't out? Based on that clip and the orchestal motif, I really feel that song is something different. Along the lines of Queen's Innuendo perhaps. I don't know, there's just fucking SOMETHING about that song that's been thrilling me for years and years and years. Those lyrics can be so much further from what's actually being sung, but honestly what the actual fuck? That's what fucking confuses me, if I was sitting on that stuff I'd do my BEST to get that out, to get people listening to this. It's so different from everything else from Guns, and that's not even a bad thing! ''And if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last''

I still carry hope that Axl finds it in himself to just bring more music. Whether it be orchestal film scores, electronic weirdness or even classic GN'R rock, I don't really give a shit but I do know Axl is a genius. He has so much to give.

I love this game!

Axl is good, but a genius? No, I wouldn't say so. 1 album in 30 years, some pretty ropey performances in the past 10 years, and many many many missed opportunities in that same time frame. A genius knows when to pull the trigger and deliver the goods! Axl was a bloody superb vocalist and an underrated lyricist. But he is also the main reason for the breakup of the first era of the band, as I understand it. In his prime, a bloody brilliant frontman. 

And how the hell anybody can get overly excited about a shitty phone recording of an unreleased track... well I'm guessing you might have been drunk when you posted that! Hahah!

On 9/4/2021 at 7:40 AM, jamillos said:

But unlike us, at least she can wake up, grababrushandputalittlemakeup, you know? 

(I'll see myself out.)

This made me laugh!! Hahaha!

GNR really are an incredible band. The only band I know who take decades to finish albums, only for fans to discover that most of the material was leaked years before and then realise that most of the tracks have been needlessly saturated with overdubs and pointless intros. I don't recall any other band having this problem with leaks?

I've always liked Axl doing Dead Flowers. Used to nail that chorus like a motherfucker! 

Holy fuck, some of you folks need a new hobby or some professional help! I think it was Eddie Trunk who said GNR fans are some of the mental around. And I am beginning to see why he said this! 

1 hour ago, Sweersa said:

CD box set in 2038

I'm sure there will be a huge demand for it by then!

Imagine after all this, GNR only managed to release a bloody live album recorded over the NITL tour. But there's a twist... it features Axl vocals from 1999! That would presumably be in line with the ChiDem fanboys who favour the copy and paste recording approach! 

8 hours ago, RussTCB said:

That tracklist has been well circulated for several years and no one believes we're getting a studio album with a new version of Knockin that features vocals from 1999.

Pele, where are ye son?!!?! There's a non-believer amongst the ranks!

13 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Maybe not to us, those leaks are from 1999. Just songs we got to hear, pretty dumb to assume that's all there is just because that's what we got to hear. I find Oklahoma amazing though, and SOG will be made great by Slash.

Yeah I get ya to a degree. I think my 'beef' here is... a lot of the material has been known about in some capacity since the late 90s/early 00s and the expectations were likely completely unrealistic. But then when it finally sees the light of day, albeit illegally, it's just a little underwhelming and a little light. I think what I'm trying to say here is I like GNR to be more on the heavier than lighter side. Songs like Catcher In The Rye, This I Love etc just bored the tits off me. I don't mind a piano ballad if it is dark (e.g. Estranged) but generally speaking that's not what interests me. 

29 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

Why should Guns throw away the material that they already have? The "leftovers" from the CD era aren't rejects, Axl planned for a trilogy. There are some real heavy hitters left- Perhaps, Atlas, General, SoG, Hard Skool all have insane potential. 

Heavy hitters!!!!? P-p-p-p-please! 🤪🤪🤪😀😀 I've listened all songs except The General and State of Grace is the best of the bunch. I will however say that the chorus in Hard School is very catchy. Rest of it less so. Atlas and Perhaps don't do anything for me. I've played the tracks to pals who are GNR fans (we are all due to go see them in Glasgow next year). I let the boys hear all those tracks you mentioned and nobody was really biting. It's purely subjective obviously but I doubt a song like Atlas Shrugged is going to do much. But then again I fucking loathe it! Haha! Perhaps just bored me. Another meandering Axl piano ballad.

20 hours ago, Martin Riggs said:

This is definitely a big issue with CD. They cut/pasted the soul out of it and you can tell. There’s a reason outside the obvious as to why people don’t typically sit around for 10+ years working on an album…because it doesn’t help it sound better!! Are there any songs on it that actually sound superior to earlier versions leaked or played live? 

TOTALLY agree here. Spot on in my opinion. 

5 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

If the best of the unreleased material is reworked by Slash and Duff the way they managed to lift Silkworms, then I think the next album could be even better than Chinese Democracy

Slash just joined the band, he shouldn't get to dictate what music they make and release.

I sincerely hope it would be better than CD! But Absurd has done little to encourage me. 

Slash and Duff returning to the band breathed some life into it. The final years of the pre-reunion were pretty sad to be honest. 

19 minutes ago, agustingloger said:

Many bands work that way ... Metallica for example. Lars and James writes everything and then Kirk and Robert play his parts.. ACDC was kind the same Angus n Malcom writes the song and then everybody else did his parts. Brian Jhonson is not Even in the credits of the last album

No, they don't. Metallica and AC/DC have primary writers but the band record together. Power Up was written using riffs and song ideas written by Malcolm but they didn't use his parts and overdub them. I've said before and I'll say it again - there's a reason bands don't regularly utilise this approach. Ron Thal has even expressed how difficult he found it trying to add parts onto existing recordings for CD.