Mikey Whipwreck

33 minutes ago, Amir said:

And what the heck does P.R.L. stand for?

Perception Reality Life

The General could be the end credits song for a horror movie. While not epic in the standard GnR sense, that chorus and underlying guitars are massive and that's a pretty epic solo at the end 

Monsters also has an underlying creepiness juxtaposed with an earworm chorus and melodies. Awesome guitar work by Slash on that one. The bridge vocals are as good as advertised by Axl.

If anything this is proof Slash could've easily integrated himself into Axl's industrial vision in the mid 90s and it would have worked. They could have just played nice and done an "Axl side" and "Slash side" in 1996 or 1997 and it would've been an interesting and worthwhile album. 

The Pitman Files from 2014 and 2015 are almost certainly the most interesting thing out there in terms of songs with finished vocals. Whatever's on there 

The "32 songs, 26 almost done" from 2006 would seem to be:

The 14 songs on CD, Oh My God, Silkworms, Atlas, Hard School, Perhaps, State of Grace, The General, Soul Monster, Going Down. Reasonable to assume but uncertain that Oklahoma/Berlin, Seven and Tonto exist with vocals which would be 26. The six others open for speculation.

Part of As It Began instrumental was played live by Axl as NR intro in 2002, similar to Prostitute, so that may be one that was finished. Thyme they thought enough of to pay Beltrami to add strings to. I believe there was a Thyme-PRL hybrid track in the Village leaks which would be an interesting song. Me & My Elvis sounds basically like a finished instrumental minus a big solo. Was it Zodiac or Quick Song that had scratch vocals? And then there's Eye On You and Nothing which seem unlikely to have been seriously considered or worked on past the early 2000s

7 minutes ago, rumandraisin said:

True. I just find it interesting from the Beltrami part perspective. The strings link the two songs and pats are in both. It's all very confusing though as Axl reffered to Soul Monster as a separate song as did Bach for General. 

I'm not so sure, Beltrami's parts were done in 2002 and he mentioned working on Gen and Leave (Soul Monster) separately. Yet they're the same strings? Just variations of the melody but clearly the same overall. 

So confusing. 

I think the simplest explanation is the songs were separate but intended as companion pieces to be sequenced back to back, which would have been conveyed to Beltrami. 

Similar to how Axl asked Sorum to reuse the same drum fill on NR, Don't Cry and Estranged 

Axl Rose and Caram Costanzo. Not because they're the best option but because that's the only slim hope we have of new music. 

The idea that Axl would ever work with a real, big name producer again is hilarious.

Me & My Elvis is a truly epic instrumental and would be a shame if it was not finished with vocals. Oklahoma has the makings of a great song too. As It Began and Circus Maximus had the makings of interesting ones as well 

Also wonder what the song was where Axl said Robin had a Stevie Ray Vaughan style solo.

1 minute ago, colonizedmind said:

I expect this/these song(s) to divide the old classic GNR and the NUGNR fans....this is far more playing into what the Chinese project was about and it's modus operandi....luckily i'm an equal fan of both...so quids in 👌🔥

Axl 🔥🎤

Slash 🔥🎸 some incredible work on last couple minutes of Monsters....classic Slash but meaner!

Agreed. These would have fit on an album with Oh My God, State of Grace, Shacklers, Eye On You, original Silkworms. So, I can see what Axl meant when he said if you don't like CD you probably won't like the second album 

1 minute ago, oneway23 said:

Monsters is the old listed track Monstrocity and not Soul Monster, yes?

Seems so. Me And My Elvis was the instrumental that supposedly became Soul Monster

Makes you wonder how much else is out there. They had some pretty awesome instrumentals like Oklahoma, Me And My Elvis and Zodiac too that supposedly have vocal versions. So much time and effort spent on quality stuff that's been locked away for two decades for no apparent reason 

7 minutes ago, mystery said:

I'm wondering what other worthwhile unreleased songs they have when the General comes out and if they'll continue to be drip fed like the recent singles?

Is Atlas Shrugged next? It's a song that continued to be worked on after the Rough Mixes and was allegedly almost included on Chinese Democracy according to Bumblefoot.

The rough mixes version sounded like a work in progress lyrically so it'd be interesting to hear what a final version is like.

One thing I can assure you, the vocals will be identical to the ones on the 2000 version. 

I actually think it could be a cool song. I'm a fan of the first minute and the solo. The jarring key change can easily be fixed with a simple transition. The vocals have a very Southern rock feel to them, so Slash could easily do something in his wheelhouse to beef up the bland instrumental and make the song stronger 

51 minutes ago, WayTooManyOstriches said:

I don't know.  The Smashing Pumpkins put out Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol. 3 aka Zodeon at Crystal Hall exclusively on vinyl in May and I've still seen no digital version of it.  I hate it when my favorite bands make it so hard to listen to their new music.

 

I love your username by the way.  I was recently rewatching some old ECW and  it was hilarious seeing Cactus Jack drag a terrified Mikey Whipwreck out to be his tag team partner against Public Enemy. 

I can't say I'm up to speed on the Smashing Pumpkins record you mentioned but did quick search it seems the songs were recently recorded and included as a box set bonus?

Whereas with The General, it would be like if someone mentioned 15 years ago Billy had a recorded some amazing song, an epic tune with a full orchestra and the heaviest guitar tracks he's ever laid down, then he decided to finally release it as a vinyl only B-side 

23 minutes ago, allwaystired said:

Very likely- but I'd say that of any song really that we've waited years and years to hear. 

Just builds the hype and expectation.....then reality never lives up to that. CD was a victim of that in the eyes of many. 

Exactly. The longer you keep the audience waiting the higher the expectations 

Setting quality and creative direction aside, there's no way CD could have lived up to the hype. If they'd just released what they had in 2001, it would have been better received if only because expectations would have been lower. It also would have given them some artistic credibility as a real band performing new material they created 

1 hour ago, Master Of Reality said:

I don't think he was ever considered to be the drummer for the 2016 reunion. Matt's ego and lifestyle might have been considered as a big risk for the reunion to fall apart after a while. I always felt he was more responsable for the demise of Velvet Revolver than Scott. There was a lot of discipline in the early days of VR. They were all sober, helping Scott beat his heroine addiction, getting in great shape,... But it is well documented that he was the first to start doing drugs again as soon as succes came. They all fell off the wagon soon after. His ego seemed to be another big problem. 

As far as I'm aware, Slash and Duff haven't worked with Matt in  any meaningful way for 15 years. There's probably a reason for that.

45 minutes ago, Nick85 said:

It’s a revenue stream they’d be missing out on for sure, so I’m struggling to understand the why behind *not* releasing it digitally.

It will be ripped and widely available for free online the moment the vinyls ship, so not releasing it digitally or on streaming means they're forgoing additional money and good publicity for no reason. It would make no sense. 

In other words, it seems there's a decent chance this rumor is true 

It's been many years since I listened to the radio with any consistency but Hard Skool hit #9 on the mainstream rock airplay chart so it must have gotten some consistent play 

Perhaps debuted at #26

https://www.billboard.com/artist/Guns-N-Roses/chart-history/RTT

7 minutes ago, RONIN said:

Yeah fair enough, it could very well be as you said. As @Cosmo mentioned earlier, maybe Tobias was a strawman for Slash and the band to vent their frustration at Axl. Just a guy that was thrust into a situation that was already toxic and falling apart. He wasn't a particularly likable person which probably disintegrated relationships faster. I remember Marc Canter once saying here that Slash didn't like him because he wasn't cool enough to be in the band - that Paul was considered a "bedroom" guitar player by Slash. I'm not a guitar player so I can't evaluate Tobias' playing but what we know is that he doesn't really have significant writing credit (above 15-20%) on any of these tracks he's associated with. There are a number of songs with Izzy as the primary songwriter. That's difference #1 between Izzy and Tobias. Izzy was also an excellent rhythm player, hall of fame worthy - him and Slash are a legendary guitar duo. Izzy may not be the most technical player, but he's got the chops to elevate songs with his playing - much has been made of the guitar interplay of Slash and Izzy on Appetite. Does Tobias have that kind of influence on CD songs from a songwriting or playing standpoint? DId he even play rhythm on anything aside from Sympathy for the Devil?

It seems to me like Paul was in GnR not necessarily for his talent but rather to fill an emotional void in Axl's life.

This quote:

"Paul is in my mind completely useless. I hate that guy. I’m sorry, I’m sure he’s very nice but in a rock n roll context he’s pathetic, and as far as his relationship with Izzy, they’re Indiana kids, I can understand he feels comfortable, but I refuse to ever play with him again. I have to go home and deal with that, but as far as I know he’s out [Spin, Kerrang! July 1995"

To me shows how personal and juvenile things had gotten. 

You know this guy's a personal friend of Axl's so to publicly air him out like that, he was going out of his way to be antagonistic

2 hours ago, Cosmo said:

I think the "situation" with the drums is a lot worse than in the rhythm guitar department. I mean... ok, Izzy doesn't want to do it, it's his call. Maybe they could've called Gilby but I think Axl wanted Richard cause of the CD stuff but... why Frank? I get it, Steven is a bit unreliable, and I feel really sorry for him as he seems like troubled but really kind person. But what about Matt? Did Matt have an even worse beef with Axl somehow? Or did they just ignore Matt because of Frank? Cause Matt is on a whole other level, IMO. Dude's one of the best drummers out there, 

The concert going public only cares about Axl and Slash. And, to a much lesser extent, Duff. Having Matt there over Frank would probably be a lot more expensive, with no impact on revenue. And make no mistake, GNR in its current form exists to make as much money as possible for Axl, Slash and Duff

33 minutes ago, Martin Riggs said:

Do we even know what his contributions actually were? Axl destroyed the old band over the guy so I’m not surprised his name was in the credits. 

It's hard to say but they had no problem working on Shadow or Back Off Bitch which predated Guns. 

Paul's just a convenient scapegoat. What destroyed the band was Axl and Slash refusing to work on each other's songs and without Izzy there as the bridge between them they couldn't work together.

All they had to do was say, Axl, Paul and Dizzy go off and do your piano ballads and industrial songs, Slash, Duff and Matt go do your crunchy blues rock songs. Each "subgroup" comes back with their best 5 or 6 songs, everyone helps flesh them out and that's the album. Really no different than UYI. 

A few years ago I went back and re-read a bunch of the 1994-1997 articles and interviews and it's remarkable going through all of it at once how simple and stupid most of the issues were. Most of it boiled down to, Axl and Slash had creative differences and refused to compromise or work on each other's stuff.

7 minutes ago, DTV88 said:

When was Izzy ever disinterested? He left in 1991 because he was sober and didn’t want to continue tour with a band of addicts and Axl’s over the top spending on backstage parties. 

In the subsequent 32 years he's shown very little interest in touring 

1 minute ago, Karice said:

I remember asking on here something like,"I wonder if Izzy would still be a part of Guns N'Roses today if money has never existed? " Posters were like,"What a weird question." I seriously still want to know. 🤔

Guns N' Roses wouldn't exist today if not for money 

10 hours ago, jacdaniel said:

I think Izzy wanted Guns to stay cool. Like a hard rock band with Stones, Aerosmith and punk vibes. I think Slash and Duff wanted that too 

I can imagine him rolling his eyes when they started adding Stephanie and dolphins into their videos and breaking out the piano. 

I can only imagine what he thinks of the whole Chinese circus... 

 

I think Axl could have really benefitted from having people like Izzy around who would tell him the truth instead of a bunch of enablers. 

The excesses of UYI albums and tours, from the saloon piano and gospel choir to the backup singers and Teddy Zig Zag were thoroughly influenced by the Stones excesses. Izzy could have played the role of Richards to Axl's Jagger but didn't want to deal with it. Which is fine. But let's not pretend the Stones were some down and dirty anti establishment band for most of their career. 

Same with Aerosmith who re-energized their career doing the Walk This Way remake with Run-DMC and making a hair metal style album that heavily utilized outside pop songwriters. Their biggest single of all time is a pop ballad written by Diane Warren for a Michael Bay movie