Billy Cundy

Thanks Karice 👍 kind of you to say.

I’d like to delete my account but I want my thread on Duff beer to remain open… I invested too much time in it for it to vanish. Is there a way we can archive my response from the Simpsons writer for historic info and I can delete the account haha

Surely there’s not an album coming. We’ve been drip fed Axl’s CD2 ‘big ones’… and they’ve all been standalone releases. Are people thinking they’re going to compile these and put out an album with hard skool, perhaps etc on it? Absurds been out for years. Makes no sense. The General is a B Side too perhaps, and Atlas Shrugged is getting the same treatment soon by all accounts. Why would they squander these tracks as standalone releases if they were intending to do an album? an album of original NILT material still seems hugely unlikely because the fact still remains, Axl can’t sing like he used to.

Stevens drumming made Appetite sound like Appetite. An integral element of the sound. By and far my favourite GNR drummer. You can HEAR him smiling as he plays. It’s awesome youthful musicianship, and pretty damn creative too at points. from a musician’s perspective though, I would rather play with Matt. He was a solid professional, with a heavy right hand and a heavier right foot. A very deliberate and measured player, ideal for UYI era. IMO, it’s the mix that lets him down on those albums, rather than his playing. Those drums sound silly. I’m glad VR happened, as those albums are a far more flattering drum sound and far more representative of how good he is. You can’t get away with being a sloppy player in arenas and stadiums. Steven threw it away. So sad really. Frank is a vibeless drummer. He calls himself a groove drummer, which is fine, but GNR requires some theatre and finesse, specifically when playing Matt-era/UYI tracks. It’s not really ‘groove’ material… it has its moment but they’re hardly Vulfpeck. Id like to hear him commit to the rock a bit more. Give it some beans. Sharpen the edges.

No probs. 👍

Yes, a producer and engineer will generally track drums for an album in one stint, meaning the gain structure, the mics and the preamps used will be the same across the album. Any compression/EQ printed/committed to tape will also be included. This is the majority of the drum sound, and as this is done in one go, this is why the overall sound and tone of the drums generally isnt going to change that much from song to song. however, after that initial set of tracks is printed, it’s pretty much entirely at the discretion of the mixer, so volume, compression, delays/verbs, effects and panning can change from track to track depending on what is needed. For example, right next door to hell is pretty simple - it’s two guitars, bass, drums and a lead vocal. It’s plenty of tracks to deal with as I’m sure they had plenty of mics on the kit, but generally a pretty sparse arrangement. The drums can breathe, they have plenty of room to be very present and front and centre, so it’s likely Bill Price cranked them louder than he would on a dense mix like say, Bad Obsession, that features keys, harmonica and more instrumentation. the drum sound comes from the initial tracking/production, but mixing is a free for all and rarely will tracks on an album have the exact same template as every song will have different requirements.

I like the weird stuff! I got into ‘em through my Steely Dan obsession (theres a big fanbase overlap), so I lean towards the weirder stuff

It’s just not a cohesive mix - the drums feel stilted and I doubt they’re programmed, they’re probably played it triggering with very boring samples. It doesn’t sound like a kit, it sounds like an annoying kick/snare, and cymbals overdubbed in and really low in the mix. No vibe. Compression makes everything sound same velocity too. the guitars are fine, not a tremendous amount of character, but they’ve got some width to them.. duffs bass is automated wayyyy down after the intro. Axl’s vocals do not sit very well at all. Perhaps does a lot better job at recontextualising the old vocal track into a new instrumental. Hard Skool, they sound dragged and dropped, tinny and distant. Just A/B’d with Perhaps and it’s remarkable how much better the Perhaps mix is. to sum up, HS suffers from shit sounding drums (the drum pattern/production sucks too) and poorly integrated vocals.

Probably good to start with Blues for Allah. Shakedown street is a great album, as is Terrapin station. Even the 80s stuff like Built To Last has some amazing tracks. I love Bob Weir’s voice so tend to lean towards his stuff, though obviously a big Garcia fan. Touch of Grey is one of my fave tracks (their biggest hit). There’s soooo much stuff. Garcia’s solo stuff is worth a listen too.

Get onboard with the Dead man, fucking amazing band.

Haha! Could be worse, Eminem has some tunes! Timberlake is a monster too. He’s got some enormous pop hits… gotta ask… was Nuno playing with Rihanna?

Your mrs sounds cool!

He’s a fucking wicked drummer, I am glad his tenure in VR gave us a chance to hear what he could do with less dated production. The drum sound on Libertad is killer. Great player. Exactly the type of guy you want behind you in a stadium!

Axl’s ‘fear’ of Matt was probably more of a rooted in his discomfort with Matt’s unwillingness to entertain all of Axl’s dictatorial aspirations. Axl knew duff, slash and Izzy were a soft touch and would lay down rather than challenge him. The slightest sniff of insubordination or challenge to authority scares control freaks. Musicians are generally wimps who avoid physical fighting, as they should. Don’t think anyone was worried about that.

Izzy set himself up for life by getting writing credits on a handful of the biggest and best rock hits of all time. Then, admirably, he dipped when things started getting cringe. He’s stayed out of the tabloids, kept his head down, avoiding the mudslinging, the merchandising, the silliness… and presumably now just lives a quiet life out of the spotlight. An absolute king in my eyes. Retained all his credibility in an industry that strips most people of every gram they ever had of it. he was in the biggest band in the world whilst they were cool, pumped out a few albums and did a few tours on his own steam, and then when he had nothing else left to say, retreated with no fanfare. What more do you want?