GNR LIVE ERA

[classicguns4life]

4:55 - 5:02 That's the Axl Rose I love.

Thats the Axl Rose we all love! And thats also the Axl Rose that died in 1993. I'm sorry to put it so bluntly, but he's never sounded that good in any of the new incarnations. Its 5 second clips like that that make me not understand why people have to lie that thats not true, when it so clearly is. Its not saying he's bad now, its just saying he used to be incredible and people are straight wrong when they say he's ever reached anything close to that level in the last 10 years.

[Estranged Reality]

@IndiannaRose

I posted this a while back. I think it can pretty much answer your question:

For Live Era-vocally-I can tell you a lot of info. For example when you're a person that collects over a hundred audio and video bootlegs you start to see the changes and different sounds that the band had through years. Axl's voice to me, can be easily defined by eras or certain live shows. His voice is very dynamic, which means that it sounds different in almost every bootleg, but stll having a basic sound for a specific era. I can give you a list, pretty close to the actual list of re-recorded vocal tracks:

Disc 1:

-Nightrain: This is pretty obvious. Axl could just not do these type of screams from 1988-1994. His voice is very high, but has the tone of Axl's current voice. This Nightrain is close to being flawless. If you want a good representation of what Axl's Nightrain truly sounded duing that time period you can liste to the 6-17-93 Buenos Aires, Argentina show. Or you can listen to the Tokyo DVDs which have more access.

-Welcome to the Jungle: certain sections of Welcome to the Jungle were re-recorded, for example the best example I can give you on this song is Axl's final scream at the end where he says "you're gonna die", not many people notice it but his voice is very clean in that scream and in various certain sectors of songs, but at the same time he can give out a growl which only pertains to the late 90s/early 00s. RIR3's Welcome to the Jungle can be comapred the best when speaking of 'the new rasp'. If you're not a fan that's familiar with live shows then it will be very hard to distinguish this track.

-My Michelle: This song is just as easily distinguishable as Nightrain. Axl's 'new rasp' is very punk-ish and high, while Axl's 'old rasp' persay was very angry and deep. A good representation of Axl's 'old rasp' is the easily accesible Freddy Mercury Concert performances. His voice in this track sounds very refreshed, and again, flawless. There's a ceratin tone to his voice, again, that can be associated with Axl of the late 90s/early 00s vocals.

-Used To Love Her: Now, much of this tracks was left untouched, vocally. This was a 1988 performace, which is easy to tell since Axl's voice 'deteriorated' as this year went on. (Axl's voice in Donnington '88 was almsost non-existing, it was pretty horrible) The only vocal section that was re-recorded in this song was the last verse were Axl sings:

"I used to love her

But I had to kill her

I used to love her, Mm, yeah

But I had to kill her

I had to put her, Oo, six feet under

And I can still hear her complain"

If you listen to the album right now, you will be able to see this right off the bat and you'll go "Ha, how did I miss that?"

-November Rain: Axl's voice is very clean on this track. It is the exact opposite of what Axl's method of singing November Rain used to be. If you listen to any 2001-2002 bootleg then you'll hear that Axl's voice sounds almost exactly the same on this record compared to those performances. This is horrendously easy to tell.

Disc 2:

-Pretty Tied Up: Axl's voice in this tracks is just exactly how I described it on My Michelle. It is almost flawless. His pitch and tone is exactly how I described it for My Michelle, so you can pretty much get the general idea.

-Move to the City: The vocal track was obviously re-recorded here. Axl's voice is just very stable and strong. In the orginal show, where this track was derived from, which is the 2/22/92 Tokyo show, his voice had more of a gargled glass quality. It sounded like he was gargling glass, originally. Axl uses a much more mature 'raspy' voice here. The tone is just as deep as it was during 1993 but without 'all the jangled mess'. His voice is cleaner and stronger in this track, you can make out the words more easily.

You Could Be Mine: About 1/2 of this song was re-recorded vocally. Axl's new voice can be easily distinguishable right at the start were he says:

"I'm a cold heartbreaker

Fit ta burn and I'll rip

your heart in two

An I'll leave you lyin' on the bed

I'll be out the door before ya wake

It's nuthin' new ta you

'Cause I think we've seen that movie too

With your ass in the air!"

This sounds like almost nothing the Axl of the early 90s would do. His voice is very punk-ish, high, and clearly shows his 'new rasp'. Now some growls and screams were left alone. The 'rapping' part was clearly left alone. His voice is very tired and angry in that section. Now there is a part that you can clearly tell was re-recorded. I'm speaking of the scream in the middle of the song. I'm speaking of the scream right before "You've gone sketchin' too many times". His vioce is extremely clean, something the early 90s Axl would never possess.

-Rocket Queen: This track is the most obvious re-recorded track out of the whole record. This track sounds amazing. The entire piece was re-recorded. Again Axl's 'new rasp' which is very punk-ish and high pitched is used here. Even though it's re-recorded, this is one of my favorite vocal 'performaces' of Rocket Queen, period. Axl's voice is so close to perfection. The outro is just 'so' the Axl of the late 90s/early 00s. If you compare the outro of Rocket Queen here to the outro of Rocket Queen to any 2001/2002 performance then you will almost get the exact same sound, it is uncanny.

-Sweet Child O' Mine: All I can say is that Axl's voice in this track is very raw and deep. It was indeed re-recorded. You can hear this especially whenever he does any type of screams, they are just too clean. There was also a re-recording error here that I caught. Right at the end where Axl makes those dozens of screams he ends singing (the re-recorded Axl), but about 1.5 seconds later, very faintly, you will hear the original vocal track ending, after the song had already supposedley ended. You have to pay real close attention to notice this. I encourage everyone else to listen to this as this clearly shows this tune was re-recorded.

-Estranged: This is the last track of Disc 2 that was re-recorded.Axl's 'normal' speaking voice for the first few minutes was left alone, but right after the piano solo there comes the re-recorded vocals. Now, another error can be found here that will clearly give the re-recording enigma away. The music to this track originates from the 2/22/92 Tokyo show. Now I may not be the only one that has caught this. In Tokyo's vocals Axl sings the words:

"And you don't talk so loud

An you don't walk so proud

ny more, and what for"

In the original vocal track right after the words "and what for" Axl says "Nooo" with the same type of voice. Just watch the Tokyo DVD and you will notice the "Nooo" I'm speaking of. But listen to this, in Live Era right after the words "and what for" (which were re-recorded) then you will very faintly hear the "Nooo" being muffled out. You have to pay real close attention, but after the words "and what for"" on Live Era you will hear a very silent "Nooo" that was muffled out to give way to the re-recorded vocals.

Trust me, Live Era was a very complex process.

If you can't tell, then your ears have not been exposed enough to the live and studio sound of Guns N' Roses through out the years to make a solid opinion.

I hope this helped.

You're right about all of this.

There's also another HUGE clue on Estranged from Live Era. You can literally hear the moment where Axl spliced in the original recording during the outro at the end. It goes from being the redubbed version, back to the original (for the raspier parts that he obviously couldn't re-record after his voice changed in the late '90s). I forget exactly where it is, but it's in the outro, and if you listen, you'll notice it.

[ZoSoRose]

Even with all the bullshit that comes with Live Era, I really like it. A lot of the tunes still sound awesome.

Wish they used a different Estranged though, Slash's little flub in the first solo always gets me

[classicguns4life]

IMO, the "nooo" doesn't seem tinkered with at all in Estranged. When you compare it to the Tokyo DVD on Youtube, the noo sounds muffled there too. I think thats how it was at the show. I'm not saying Estranged wasn't rerecorded, because I completely think it was, but that doesn't seem like a good example. Those parts sound similar to me on both versions.

[GunnerRose]

You re Crazy is the best track on the album

[Nosaj Thing]

I believe it's Fink at the end of RQ too - he's credited in the liner notes, and it really doesn't sound like Slash at the outro

Huh?

I always thought Finck was backing vocals on Mr. Brownstone. You could hear his distinctive sort of raspy voice in the chorus but maybe that's just me.

[Nosaj Thing]

Levi,

Do you mean Finck playing the outro? That's a big NO, that's definitely Slash.

[saber_]

According to Wikipedia, Axl dubbed over his vocals on 12 of the 22 tracks on the Live Era '87-'93 album. So do you think Live Era should be called "Live Era" since some of it was not live?

[wasted]

Yes, if RHCP can play pre-recorded tapes at a live show the road ahead is open.

I'm sure all Live albums are tampered with.

Recorded across the universe leaves a lot to interpretation.

[EvH]

KISS ALIVE II.

[username]

I can see how the marketing department objected to calling it "Dubbed-over vocals Era" though.

[Amir]

Pretty sure all of the singing in Estranged is overdubbed, you can hear the difference in volume from when he finishes the hara-kiri joke, and the whole song sounds completely different vocally to the Tokyo video, and you can see him take breaths in that video where he just holds a note in the Live Era version.

[wasted]

I listen Live era the most after CD.

[magisme]

Interesting to call it live when so much of it is studio recorded. Must be science!

[DR DOOM]

After reading all this I really should listen to Live Era again to spot all this crap.

Or not.

[terminalboredom]

As someone has already mentioned the mastering on this album makes it nearly unlistenable, that high end digital shrill makes my ears hurt. As for the re-recorded vocals, most hard rock band do it which i personally disagree with (what the point?). Wasn't there a rumour that Axl was using Live Era as a experiment/warm up for CD?

[Amir]

I don't mind KISS or whoever rerecording vocals for a live album, but it really doesn't suit GNR. Live Era is a real wasted opportunity, should be more stuff from '87-88, and some '93 gigs too, lord knows why they focus on '92 and Tokyo (and if you're gonna focus on '92, where's the killer Civil War performance from Paris?!).

[DR DOOM]

It sucks, it blows.

You would think it would be hard to fuck it up, just cram it with as much AFD era performances as possible...

[EvH]

Overdubs are common, constant studio trickery suck. Live Era, Unleashed by J Priest, Alive II suck.

I really would have liked a re-recorded Rocket Queen from Tokyo 92, but the one we had is great, apart from the missing rythm guitar.

[Dean]

I personally love Live Era, I'd say it's my most listened to Guns N' Roses album. The overdubs etc. definitely don't spoil it for me, it just makes it a more complete effort all round, obviously many disagree.

A point I made in the Canter section was that I didn't believe every show from the UYI tour was recorded, using Live Era as an example, as if there were so many shows to choose from, why would they need to re-record vocal and guitar parts on tracks that were available 8 years prior to the release of the album?

Still though, I'm very happy with what we got. A lot of it has incredible energy.