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Civil War on Nobody's Child compilation


WAR41

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Hey Marc,

Civil War was released in July 1990 on the Nobody's Child compilation, more than a year before the release of the UYI albums that the same version of the song would end up on. Was it a difficult process to get the band to contribute the song to the compilation? Was there ever an intention to re-record Civil War with Matt on drums before the release of UYI?

I honestly do not remember any hype around the release. Was there a lot of press behind its release because of the inclusion of a new GNR track?

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This is from a transcript of a 1994 interview with Axl and Slash found in this thread:

Phil - What was the inspiration behind "Civil War" and how did it end up on the benefit album, "Nobody's Child"?

Slash - Umm…

Axl - It ended up on the benefit album 'cause Tom Petty called me and asked me, which was really weird, asked me if George Harrison could call me.

Slash - [laughs]

[laughs]

Axl - And then George Harrison called me and we we're talking, and all of a sudden he started talking about his wife flying to Bangladesh… It just… All of a sudden my mind was like, boom… hyper-space, I'm talking to a Beatle. And he was very Beatle-esque talking about Bangladesh. [laughs]

Slash - [laughs]

Steve Downs - Yeah, of course [laughs]

Axl - It was pretty wild. They asked for the song and the inspiration was… A friend asked me to write a song about just how crazy the world is and certain things and… I just thought it was an interesting subject and just… Slash had this music and it exactly fit what I'd written.

Slash - There's something very unnerving about having George Harrison around, let me tell you. [laughs]

Steve Downs - Oh, I can imagine.

Slash - He came to my house once when I was… I was like: "Whoa". I should have brought the picture with me that he left. This Indian picture, it's hilarious. But, it meant a lot to him to leave…

Axl - Plus, I was trying to be the fifth Wilbury.

Steve Downs - Fifth Wilbury! That's right. There you go.

Axl - I was working.

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Thanks for the note Crazyman. That Rockline interview is so great. I go back and listen to it every few years.

I guess I can also ask any members of the forum here if they remember if there was any hype/press about Civil War being on this compilation. I still do not remember any.

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That album was organised by the four Beatles' wives for the Romanian Angel Appeal Foundation. It was in wake of the big scandal which erupted in the late 1980s concerning the plight of Romanian orphans who were subjected to physical and sexual abuse in these horrendous unsanitary state institution; it was a legacy of Ceaușescu who had prohibited abortion/contraception while seizing the Romania's economic assets in order to pay off foreign debt. This may be of interest,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4630855.stm

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I remember downloading it back in 2005ish when I joined the forum. Haven't heard it since (wish I could find it) but I remember the mix being different.

In regards to press surrounding it, all I see is that it was mentioned in a few reviews from the time.

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Holy shit, that demo is so incredible!

And what strikes me the most is how powerful Steven is with the drummin.

But don't you know the UYI material was much too complex for Adler?

Nah

Steven drummed on half of the songs, before the UYI recordings take place (aka in the AFD days) and he was OK, but Sorum was better. Of course his reverb drum sound was dated even in 1991, but he played much better than Adler, imho

Btw on this CW demo, Adler drums like shit

Ok, it was powerful, but sounds stretched as fuck

On the other hand, i like Back Off Bitch with Adler's drumming

here's Sorum's take (mixing is a bit different than the album version and the song is slower a bit)

Steven's take is much better, imho

Edited by Strange Broue
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Holy shit, that demo is so incredible!

And what strikes me the most is how powerful Steven is with the drummin.

But don't you know the UYI material was much too complex for Adler?

Steven was in still able to work when they recorded Civil War but by the time they were ready to record again things changed and he was in real bad shape

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That "friend" Axl talks about who asked him to write a song about "how crazy the world is", is, according to Axl, Erin's brother and the same guy who was suåpposedly the inspiration for Rhiad.

Correction: It was Erin´s brother in law who was from the Middle East. And the guy´s "job" was dealing weapons illigally to that region

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Holy shit, that demo is so incredible!

And what strikes me the most is how powerful Steven is with the drummin.

But don't you know the UYI material was much too complex for Adler?

Steven was in still able to work when they recorded Civil War but by the time they were ready to record again things changed and he was in real bad shape

Sorry, yeah I was making a snarky reference to the many posts I've seen on forums that (in the hypothetical reunion) Matt would have to play the UYI stuff because it's too complex for Steven.

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