Turn_It_Up

Somewhere in Top 5-10.

Other, better all-around fighters who also took a punch much better than Mike. If Mike didn't get a KO in very early rounds against the better fighters, he struggled.

Taking as long as that, working with that many hand picked musicians and spending that sort of $$, it's kinda crazy referring to any tracks as the Big Guns. Shouldn't they all have been big guns?

I recall Merck stating that while the CD material was, in his words, "challenging", it was the most accessible of the CD material to that date. To think Axl and especially the label would've held back bigger and better tracks for the 2nd CD era record after all that time is ludicrous. He had 1 shot to make his impression with the new band.

Have to hope he's written some better stuff since, but seems a longshot...

You're forgetting 2 things:

- Axl said he always considered Chinese to be a double.

- Axl said same musical approach, only "meaner, darker" for CD ll (like Chinese) and same players (probably, mostly Robin and Bucket)

You're not going to get something vastly different compared to Chinese. Axl said there were 32 songs in 2006. We've got 14 out of those 32.

The quote was from Merck after listening to all the material. And "Meaner, darker" sounds like a spin on less accessible to me.

Axl says a lot of things and I've no doubt he sincerely means it from his viewpoint at the given time. But it was pretty clear after the long, arduous struggle to get CD out the door, that there may or may not ever be a follow up. And from an artistic standpoint and wanting to prove you can succeed without the old band, in this situation wouldn't you put your very best stuff on the 1st record you know will be released? And then figure you can write some more great, new material to round out the 2nd record later as needed.

You had Ezrin telling him he had only 3 quality songs, so hard to imagine him thinking, "Awe screw it, let's save the other big guns for a rainy day that may or may not come and in the meantime throw out Scraped, Rhiad, Shackler's, etc. to get by on this 1st release in 15 years that I got the pressure of the world on my shoulders."

Who knows, he may be dividing the big guns up, but either way there must not be too many (at least at the time of choosing the CD tracks) if those types of filler tracks made CD1.

I never get nominated for anything.

Most forgettable member.... ME

No, I will never forget your 'review' of Slash show. You, little shit.

TinyRobot will be super pissed, but I'm going to go ahead and give Mike the 2014 "Blood Boiling" Award, edging out Axl for the sheer amount of gut wrenching angst he went through at the Slash show. And who could blame him with Slash playing a handful of GNR tunes. So unexpected and Soooooo wrong!!!!

Mike, this is really important--please be home between the hours of 12-3pm on December 31st as Myles is going to show up at your door to fist pump his way back into your heart as he personally presents the plaque with a serenade of YCBM.

Going to be EPIC, brah!!!!!!!!!!

I recall Merck stating that while the CD material was, in his words, "challenging", it was the most accessible of the CD material to that date. To think Axl and especially the label would've held back bigger and better tracks for the 2nd CD era record after all that time is ludicrous. He had 1 shot to make his impression with the new band.

Have to hope he's written some better stuff since, but seems a longshot...

My next Wii u purchase for sure. Hows the game pad if I don't find a GC adapter??

Also, hows the online stability?

Gamepad works fine. But you can also use a Wiimote + nunchuck or the Pro Controller. All work fine, but GC would be my preference.

So far, online has been consistently stable. Only a few matches with minor lag. Big improvement from Brawl.

Won't be able to play for a few days, but I made a lot of progress (I think) yesterday. Game is a good as everyone says it is.

After playing TLOU, have to readjust expectations for other games as almost everything else seems like a total POS in comparison.

Does the PS4 version include the Left Behind campaign DLC? If not, buy it for sure, it's a worthy addition.

The one that came with my system has Left Behind and whatever DLC that's been available thus far.

Friggin sweet. It's not even necessary given how great the story campaign is, but the multiplayer actually pretty damn good, too.

I've gotta replay this on a higher difficulty level. Hear it changes the game quite a bit...

Anyone else playing? Great mix between Melee and Brawl and the 8 players is insane.

Not a graphics whore, but damn this looks incredible in HD.

Sucks Nintendo has only distributed a tiny quantity of the GameCube adapters. Want that bad.

Won't be able to play for a few days, but I made a lot of progress (I think) yesterday. Game is a good as everyone says it is.

After playing TLOU, have to readjust expectations for other games as almost everything else seems like a total POS in comparison.

Does the PS4 version include the Left Behind campaign DLC? If not, buy it for sure, it's a worthy addition.

I think Chinese Democracy is kinda overrated outside this forum. For an inconsistent album from an old LA rocker trying to mix Linkin Park guitars and beats with Elton John piano it gets way too much praise IMO.

I think it's a melting pot of what Axl liked and it's not a melting pot of what old Guns liked as a band, and Slash's unique guitar playing is not there to make it sound quite as "right" for many old Guns fans.

I would agree with the latter part of your above sentence, but I'd also say the guitar playing was the strength of the album while Axl's lyrics and voice were the overall weakpoint with some exceptions.

It's hard to know whether Axl WANTED to make a melting pot album with "a little something for everyone" or whether than was the ultimate outcome of his not really ever deciding on a strong direction and throwing a mishmash of material together at the end. At least early on it seemed like Robin was his guy and musical muse for CD and I woulda preferred he stuck with a lead guitarist whether it be Robin or Bucket and had a strong collaboration throughout. As he added more and more guitarists, just seems like things started going in different directions with no real direction if you know what I mean. The result was some cool material or bits of material even within a song, but not at all cohesive and far more hit and miss than this record shoulda been.

But that all goes back to Axl as the conductor...

Listen to both albums again straight through. CB curb stomps CD and is such a more consistent and cohesive record. Spectacle(which is the worst on CB) may not be better than the best of CD, but it is better than about half of CD which says a lot.

Always been a huge Axl fan, but unless you still somehow buy into Axl's imaginary fight against the world, much of the lyrics on the album are abominable. Scott outclasses him in every way on these records which is crazy since he was coming off one of his worst drug and arrest stints and Axl had all that time and money. Sucks VR never really gave themselves a chance to properly build on CB, but no one to blame but themselves...

Surely music historians will look back at this article as the turning point for CD's resurrections and subsequent universal acclaim.

Probably not, and not universal acclaim, but I think it will be more accepted in the future. In 15 to 20 years or so.

More accepted by who? In 15-20 yrs, who do you really think is going to be giving more thought to CD?

It is what it is and will always be. A scattershot album with Axl's vocals clearly recorded over a very lengthy period of time and showing. When Axl said it's got a little something for everyone, I think he was right. Literally. The record mostly got fair and decent reviews--there is no big slight or travesty that will be made good in the future by music historians.

Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense are the only good movies he made.

Yep. 2 great flicks and the rest embarrassing. Angelica lays it out perfectly...

CD suffered from the monumental hype and expectations attached to it. It could never live up to it

This is the biggest misperception repeated often on the forum. There was increasing chatter about the album over the years, not sure I'd call it hype as it was based mostly around the intrigue of the album taking so long and some crazy related rumors why(most reinforcing negative old impressions of Axl). It became a running joke and expectations amongst industry types and I'd say most fans was actually very low without the old band. A very large % of people expected him to either never release the album or, if he did, odds favored a pile of dung. People were holding his reported "I want to deliver the greatest album ever" over his head to make the awaited fall that much bigger. IMO, the generally low expectations is why the album was reviewed OK.

In the end he delivered exactly the album a realistic fan could expect--a wildly uneven record that did show occasional bits of Axl brilliance, but weighed down heavily by a collection of half baked ideas and over indulgence that went unchecked within the band(Ezrin was right, sorry Tommy). But if you're that into Axl, I can see why you'd dig it as the output screams Axl. It represents him perfectly.

Not the best video, but here it is, TOO FAR GONE!

He nailed that fucking solo.

He's a musician, a guitarist, and he was asked to join one of the biggest rock bands of all time.

This is an extremely dumb question

He'd already auditioned for RHCP years earlier. Believe Antony picked him up at the airport if I recall correctly from his book. Would've loved to have heard that car ride conversation.

BH also auditioned for Ozzy a few years back as we all know given Ozzy's famous line about "Well, just call me mum". Classic.

World at War a fuckin' classic.

Combine Black Ops Zombies w/BLOPS2 multiplayer and you have a near perfect COD game.

Treyarch always delivers a fun game so looking more forward to next year. But I'll pick up AW, hopefully Sledgehammer's version of Zombies is cool...

C'mon, Slash, don't make me beg for Too Far Gone and The Unholy.

Though I'm happy to do so.

The FTP solo as Slashy as anything he's ever done. Also, song as close as you'll get to a musical panty dropper at the old VR shows.

Lyrics repetitive and would seem shallow if they didn't connect so closely to Scott's life at that time. Monster track as is.

Logic - Soul Food

Got previews of both Unity and Rogue at Pax Prime, and if I had to choose Rogue actually looked more interesting. But these were only 10 min previews of each and both looked good.

Just saw the Rogue preview and trailer...... gotta say, I agree with your post.

Weird thing was, the presenter who was wearing a Ubi shirt told the preview audience, before going into the content, that from what he'd seen he's leaning toward Rogue. Maybe throwing a bone to those who haven't upgraded so they feel better. But still a bit strange with everyone in the room and this being the last big show before the launches.

BTW, if you ever get the chance to go to Pax, DO IT. A frickin' 4 day blast.

I see a little progression in the verses. After a few listens you get the idea it's a father abusing his kids? But I kind of guessed that.

Think you're missing the narrative. Song is about child sexual abuse in the Catholic church and by "father" he is calling out a priest toward the end.

Solo and song ends perfectly, IMO. No need to go Stairway at the conclusion of such a track...

Annatasia is overrated. It kind of goes nowhere, same as Unholy.

Saying The Unholy goes nowhere is just crazy. That last 90 secs or whatever the best on the record. Truly epic in all the right ways.

Goes nowhere? Please gimme a heads up when Axl writes something on par or even close.

Evil shadows they are falling

And the misty-eyed are calling

To a God so far

People; troubled times are coming

Still you wonder why I’m running

I will take no part

Evil

(I know it was you this time; I know it was you this time; I’ve seen it with my own two eyes; you lie; you lie)

Unholy so vile

How can you justify a lie?

One more sacred alibi

Concealing your crimes

Until the end of time

Oh, why?

It’s you that should be crucified

Echoes of your true intentions

Well I guess you failed to mention

What was in your heart

Now I say it all so clearly

What you did to them has nearly

Torn us all apart

Evil

(I know it was you this time; I know it was you this time; took them like a sacrifice; you lie; you lie)

[Chorus:]

(Vocalizations)

You say on your knees that you don’t believe now

Don’t question a thing at all

Just receive what you’re meant to see

Now fall

On your knees

Evil shadows they are falling

And the misty-eyed are calling

You will break their heart

[Chorus:]

The broken how they cry

They only gave you heart and mind

How can you justify?

They loved you

Now father don’t deny

You took them like a sacrifice

We finally know the truth about you

Oh, yeah

(Solo)

You’re unholy

So vile

How can you justify?

Oh my, how they loved you

Oh, yeah

Concealing your crimes

But now they’ll see this time

The blind will deny you

I loved the first game. It's an extremely stylish and over-the-top action game along the lines of Devil May Cry. PlatinumGames is the best developer out there when it comes to action games right now and I don't think it's even remotely close. Both their gameplay and presentation are always top notch. Hideki Kamiya, the director of the first Bayonetta and one of the key people at PlatinumGames, was a game director at Capcom for a number of years and created awesome action games like Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami while he was there. It pains me that his and PlatinumGames' next game appears to be an Xbox One exclusive.

But yeah I'm going to get Bayonetta 2 as soon as possible. My last school payment of the semester is due November 1st, so I'll be saving up for a number of things asap afterward, including a Wii U, Bayonetta 2, Smash Bros (for Wii U), and the new Pokemon games. Winter should be fun.

Talk me out of playing 2 first if it really will be a huge mistake. Sounds like the story isn't the strongpoint in either game, so not a lot to lose not playing in order.

But let me know.

Know it's wrong, but I'm gonna jump right into Bayo 2 first and then play Bayo 1 after. So hyped for Bayo 2 there's no reason to kid myself and think I'll have the self control to play all the way through Bayo 1 first.

Sounds like both games will be physical discs, at least in N.A.

Can't freakin' wait for this dual monster.