Voodoochild

1 hour ago, bmus1 said:

Editing fuck-up is my best guess too. It's not a mistake of Duff's either, just that the drums are too synthetic feeling to get any sort of groove between the rhythm section. My theory is someone else's that I read here years ago; Melissa programmed the drums using samples from Frank's kit and Frank's input, but the parts weren't actually performed by a drummer.

Looking at the five CD remakes we have, Hard Skool and Monsters (in the chorus) both use the same drum samples. From the afterparty leak, we know Monsters is now more of a straightforward rock beat song than it was in 2010. Hard Skool is also dramatically reworked from the Village Leaks. It's possible that the bass/drum intro of Hard Skool was written before Duff and Slash joined, but all of this leads me to believe Perhaps, Absurd, and The General were more or less arranged before Duff and Slash rejoined (we know this to be true for Perhaps and Absurd), while Hard Skool and Monsters were reworked in greater depth by Slash and Duff, leading to new drum machine drums. The drums also don't sound the same tonally as Frank's initial recording sessions (Chinese Democracy, Oh My God BBF version are the two best examples of that I think).

Thanks. I agree with you, but I doubt Melissa had anything to do with it. I think it's way more plausible to be Caram and Axl.

36 minutes ago, DTV88 said:

It’s fascinating to read these details. I have zero experience with garage band or pro tools or any of that sort, so to read where parts have been reused or where there is a potentially missing drum part helps me to understand why the CD leftovers sound so weird. Like the Hey Hey part being lifted from State Of Grace. 
 

I understand this is a legitimate way of producing music and it’s more common now than ever. It just feels so inorganic and forced if that makes sense. 

Everybody does this on pro tools. The secret is to not make it sounding like it. Kinda like movie CGI  

Larking Poe is really good. This should be a very cool festival. 

57 minutes ago, bmus1 said:

The drums aren't wrong as much as they feel incomplete when you try to play them note-for-note. From 0:14 to 0:18 there's the missing kick drum under the sudden switch to the cymbal and a swung snare hit followed by a heavy handed snare roll, all together in a row. Live, Frank doesn't switch to the cymbal and plays a more natural sounding fill to transition into the verse. 2:01 to 2:24 also sticks out to me as something a real drummer wouldn't play based on how little it grooves, and how little interplay there is between the kick drum and bass guitar. But re-watching the live version made me realize Frank plays it way closer to the original than I thought.

Still though, Frank adds ghosted snare notes and extra kick hits across the whole song, which goes back to the incomplete drum part idea.

(time stamps are referencing the studio version btw)

Thanks for sharing this info! It's really fascinating!

Maybe the lack of interplay between drums and bass is only some editing fuck up? Arguably, Duff recorded his parts after the drum track, but maybe he played following a different version/arrangement. 

My theory is that this was a heavily edited combination of real drums, samples and fake drums put together by Caram and Axl for some reason. 

47 minutes ago, Rovim said:

I think that maybe you're jumping to conclusions there. I believe Axl is aware of age limitations as a singer and maybe he's aware of a lot of other stuff as well but there are other possibilities like for example, he knows the clock is ticking, but he made his choices anyway, whatever those may be, or he's aware, but doesn't have the control, ability, or cares to change the way he moves through life as a person and a musician.

we just can't know these things, but my guess is the Chinese era is not done the way he sees it and maybe he feels he needs to complete that first up to a certain point that he decided on or until it feels like it's enough for him to move to a new thing (or maybe he has already)

 

It may be the case indeed. We sure don't know if he started working on something already. 

My comment about his lack of awareness was based on his live performances. He often struggles to sing something that he thought he could, or just ignore the options he considered (like Perfect Crime, OMG) probably because he found out he wasn't comfortable singing those. 

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

Well, there is a connotation to "leftover" suggesting that it is what remains when the best has been used, which doesn't automatically apply to the unreleased songs from the Chinese Democracy sessions. People who don't like the songs will tend to use that expression because of this connotation. Similarly to saying that November Rain and Don't Cry were leftovers from Appetite. Most people wouldn't use that term to describe those songs. 

Yeah, it's the connotation. It's based on personal opinions, which is fine. But it's rather not "literally" leftover if Axl didn't consider it that way to begin with. I don't love everything that has been out so far, but I can recognize this. 

14 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

I think most people don’t doubt that piecemeal thing. It gets tricky when the CD material is released and they should write new material. Nobody can force Axl to go into the studio. Does he have enough recorded vocals or is he willing to enter the studio? These are the big questions imo.

I understand that. The thing to me is that I 100% believe that he has enough recorded vocals, and that's the catch: Axl wouldn't throw away years of his own work because Slash and Duff rejoined, one thing doesn't have to do with the other. It's art after all, and it's not fair to disregard it if he can just do what he's doing: repurposing it with the current lineup. 

The problem, again, is the timing. Axl takes forever to do it, he thinks he'll be forever young and able to sing. He's dealing with the band as if he could just prioritize those old work and, when he feels like, he can *start to think* about recording new vocals. Obviously, time will show that he'll regret that.

15 minutes ago, bmus1 said:

This made laugh harder than it should've. I was learning Hard Skool on drums over the weekend note-for-note and there's a couple sections that are so damn unnatural.

Is there any part you'd like to point out? I'm not a drummer, but I've been trying to learn a bit more about it (without having any means to actually play it) for music production purposes. 

46 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

If Hard Skool ends up on an album (hopefully it will get a remix if so), I hope they have credits so we can figure out who/what played drums. 

It will be an URL:

https://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/

14 hours ago, KeyserSoze said:

I am so late to this topic so i haven't read the the whole thing, i just hope the album sounds like this:

 

OMG people clapping out of tempo 

15 hours ago, Amir said:

Also plays guitar on Look at Your Game, Girl and TWAT. I think the acoustic on TWAT is Axl? Not sure.

No, Axl plays some very faint notes in TWAT. I believe you can hear it better on the RB stems, but it's more noticeable during the part where the backing vocals sing the line alone, before Robin starts his riff: "yeah there was a time.. didn't wanna know it all..."

5 hours ago, Cosmo said:

I just saw an article that went "Meet the guitar player who played with Ryan Gosling at the Oscars" and the subtitle read "The Guns N' Roses guitarist collects awards and praise since the beginning of his career".

 

What a smart move for Slash. This is how it's done. He just got exposure to a whole generation that barely knew him, right before the release of his new album.

 

This is what happens when you get real management and a competent team behind you, instead of your ex-housekeeper and her family.

This article made me feel very old though. 

---

I think you guys should not take things that serious. It was just a fun thing to do. Even Martin Scorcese was dancing and smiling during the performance. 

45 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

The original was way shorter, wasn’t it?

I think so, and it was buried in the mix

I honestly loved the solo he did live. Can't remember if it was the same as the studio version. And I don't care if the bends were a bit out of tune, it was still pretty cool.

Just in case you can't see the YouTube videos, here @ajoota98 posted on Twitter:

57 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

 

I think his TIL solo is a bit overrated. Not that it’s bad but I like his work on Better and TWAT more.

I also prefer his work on Better, but TWAT is just good to me. I love his solo on SOD, tho.

11 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

That is some of Robin's best work, as is Better. Better and TIL are my favorite CD songs. (Not including the Village leaks, I love Robin's work on Zodiac 13, Perhaps, and Hardschool as well) 

I don't really care at all for TIL besides the solo. Robin elevated it from mediocre to excellent. 

It's a shame that he often doesn't get the recognition for his work on CD. 

20 hours ago, bmus1 said:

A new version of TIL with the complete drum take, 2010 vocals, and Slash and Duff parts that compliment the original would probably be the *best sounding* thing the band could put out today.

And replacing Robin's excellent solo? I'd rather not have it.

Not disappointed at all. Kinda expected that, to be fair. Very usual for artists to cover blues songs in a fun "side project" instead of creating new ones. 

18 hours ago, bmus1 said:

This I Love has been going crazy on Spotify lately. It's up to over 70,000,000 streams, and last I checked a year ago it hadn't cracked 60.

Maybe it was used in some TV show or something? Those things tend to have a huge impact on streams.

2 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

He was in Slashs band in the late 90s, seems appropriate. Wonder if they picked a song they used to do back then (or even better, a new original)

And he was in that MJ video for Give In To Me (along with Gilby). 

1 hour ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

The tracklist just leaked, and apparently it's all new songs

 

1. Dead Under A Bad Sign (feat. Corey Taylor) 3:59

2. Straightroads (feat. Eric Clapton) 4:21

3. Key To The Motorway (feat. Myles Kennedy) 5:50 

4. Hoochie Coochie Woman (feat. Taylor Swift) 6:49

5. Not Superstitious (At All) (feat. Stevie Wonder) 2:30

6. Don't Bring It On Home (feat. Robert Plant) 5:15

7. The Thrill Is Here (feat. Axl Rose)  3:30

8. Blues #49 (feat. Joe Walsh) 3:26

9. Magic Carpet Hike (feat. Steven Tyler) 3:12

10. Voodoo Child (Immense Return) (feat. C.C. Deville) 4:36

11. Daylight Prowler (feat. Angus Young) 5:20

You forgot 12. Machine Gun (Kelly) (feat. Demi Lovato) 

3 hours ago, t-p-d-a said:

 

It's old Axl vs. young Axl.

And the band plays it better than current lineup.

14 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

Well, promo and first single obviously in March. I still doubt the whole record will be out in March while his current tour still going.

I know, that's why I said "kinda right" 

Don't @ me, but I really think he needs a boost like a Tube Screamer for his current low gain sound. If only he could get his old Illusions tone back...

Anyways, seems also like he'll be using that semi-hollow guitar that was posted a few months back. Good to know that Gibson will have more overpriced things to sell (and that I would 100% buy if I had the cash). 

Updated the first post with this. Seems like the Magnatone guy was kinda right.

2 hours ago, DeNfr said:

 

aren't we all...

We're just innocent men.