Alt nation article: Slash and Duff working on unreleased CD tracks

[James Bond]

I think the only problem with Slash and Duff adding to already existing tracks is that it will feel just as "cut and paste" as CD did. Vocals recorded in 1999, a solo from 2004, half the drums from 2006 and the rest from 2007. IRS literally has the exact vocal track from the '99 "demo" version. It adds to an inorganic feel.

There's nothing wrong with using Axl's material - it's all songs he'd be bringing to the table anyways. However, they'd naturally sound better if they were re-recorded from scratch. No need for ten guitarists on the same track. I always laughed at how many playing credits the song Chinese Democracy has for such a simple riff and song structure.

Get Slash, Duff, Richard and Frank (or Izzy or whoever is in the band) together in a room. Get the arrangement of Atlas Shrugged or whatever down. Record it with just those players and add the overdubs (solos, etc...) after. Put a killer new Axl vocal on it and there you go. No excess, Axl still gets to use his song, and it'll sound fresh. None of that "this was pasted together from ten years of recording" feeling.

[Bobbo]

1 minute ago, James Bond said:

I think the only problem with Slash and Duff adding to already existing tracks is that it will feel just as "cut and paste" as CD did. Vocals recorded in 1999, a solo from 2004, half the drums from 2006 and the rest from 2007. IRS literally has the exact vocal track from the '99 "demo" version. It adds to an inorganic feel.

There's nothing wrong with using Axl's material - it's all songs he'd be bringing to the table anyways. However, they'd naturally sound better if they were re-recorded from scratch. No need for ten guitarists on the same track. I always laughed at how many playing credits the song Chinese Democracy has for such a simple riff and song structure.

Get Slash, Duff, Richard and Frank (or Izzy or whoever is in the band) together in a room. Get the arrangement of Atlas Shrugged or whatever down. Record it with just those players and add the overdubs (solos, etc...) after. Put a killer new Axl vocal on it and there you go. No excess, Axl still gets to use his song, and it'll sound fresh. None of that "this was pasted together from ten years of recording" feeling.

Exactly what I've been saying for months now. Couldn't agree more.

[NOVEMBER COMA]

17 hours ago, wasted said:

"Ours is not to question why, ours is to do and die"

Also,

Berlin aka Oklahoma

Seven - Beltrami orchestration

Thyme

Zodiac

Ides of March

Quick Song

also the Fortus/Slash song

 

maybe they would not rework all of them. Maybe some tracks are being finished off with Slash and Duff. 

My theory is the Beltrami material might not need or benefit from Slash and Duff. No disrespect intended at all. But their may be songs like Atlas where Axl really wants a Slash solo, he's got May and Ron solos already. 

It's these songs (Beltrami) that might not get lost in the shuffle. Just because they are what Axl does best. Whereas other material from Tommy (Goin Down), Silkworms(Pitman) might get dropped for either new songs or refreshed old stuff like Crash Diet, or 96 era stuff. 

So I'd throw a tracklisting like this:

1. The General - the sequel to Estranged/Beltrami

2. Jackie Chan/Checkmate leak

3. Soul Monster - Black Sabbath riff

4. Crash Diet - old unreleased demo

5. New 2016 song

6. Thyme - Beltrami

7. Atlas Shrugged - Glam Nov Rain

8. New Song 2016

9. Fortus/Slash song

10. Seven - Beltrami said best track he worked on.

11. Berlin - Axl quote about this one

12. Ides of March - confirmed title

 

So you can see there's kind of a framework there to drop in new material or reworked demos. You have to be semi-delusional to go all in but there is some quasi evidence to support something like this. 

Pinch of Salt etc. 

 

Forgot about seven, thyme & ides. Berlin I haven't heard of. What is Fortus/Slash?? any confirmation they are in studio besides rumors on classic rock??

Axl: Ides Of March, Oklahoma, Atlas Shrugged, Oh My God, Silkworms , Down By The Ocean (Izzy), Leave Me Alone, Seven , The General , Thyme , Quick Song , Zodiac Most all titles subject to change w/out warning and r considered working titles.

Edited March 9, 2016 by NOVEMBER COMA

[Rovim]

4 hours ago, James Bond said:

I think the only problem with Slash and Duff adding to already existing tracks is that it will feel just as "cut and paste" as CD did. Vocals recorded in 1999, a solo from 2004, half the drums from 2006 and the rest from 2007. IRS literally has the exact vocal track from the '99 "demo" version. It adds to an inorganic feel.

There's nothing wrong with using Axl's material - it's all songs he'd be bringing to the table anyways. However, they'd naturally sound better if they were re-recorded from scratch. No need for ten guitarists on the same track. I always laughed at how many playing credits the song Chinese Democracy has for such a simple riff and song structure.

Get Slash, Duff, Richard and Frank (or Izzy or whoever is in the band) together in a room. Get the arrangement of Atlas Shrugged or whatever down. Record it with just those players and add the overdubs (solos, etc...) after. Put a killer new Axl vocal on it and there you go. No excess, Axl still gets to use his song, and it'll sound fresh. None of that "this was pasted together from ten years of recording" feeling.

Or fully rerecord a couple of tunes with Slash and Duff that they like and compare it to existing versions. They can just add their parts to some songs and completely rerecord others.

But we don't even know how Axl's vault material sounds like. If it's similar to Chinese like Axl said, it will be varied enough I suspect to serve as at least a start.

Personally, I think there's a good chance the material is strong enough to only benefit from Slash layers and some Duff arrangements cause Axl said it was completed for some time now. I didn't think Chinese copy/pasted approach ruined the album.

If they'll go for more organic and fully rerecord everything they're gonna use, it may take 40 years with Axl's need to tinker.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Rovim

[Bobbo]

2 minutes ago, Rovim said:

Or fully rerecord a couple of tunes with Slash and Duff that they like and compare it to existing versions. They can just add their parts to some songs and completely rerecord others.

But we don't even know how Axl's vault material sounds like. If it's similar to Chinese like Axl said, it will be varied enough I suspect to serve as at least a start.

Personally, I think there's a good chance the material is strong enough to only benefit from Slash layers and some Duff arrangements cause Axl said it was completed for some time now. I didn't think Chinese copy/pasted approach ruined the album.

If they'll go for more organic and rerecording from scratch everything they're gonna use, it may take 40 years with Axl's need to tinker.

I guess it depends on why one would believe Axl took so long to tinker. Personally I think a lot of it had to due with Axl's own insecurities from fear of how people were going to take a Slash-less (and co-less) gnr that sounded drastically different. I think another big part of that had a lot to do with establishing chemistry and cohevisiveness with all these new guys. Especially with them all coming and going like fucking square dance partners.

 

I personally believe, as long as they keep their dumb fucking egos at bay, the chemistry between Axl, Slash, Duff, and God willing, Izzy, is so natural and effortless, that it wouldn't take nearly as long coming up with some amazing stuff. But at the very least, they need to rerecord what they (Axl) may have from the CD era, so it doesn't sound so fucking murky and confused.

[Słash]

@downzy, Last year your "source" said that the album is in the works and it will be out soon, you still in contact with that person? If yeah then what does your "source" say about this thing? 

[NOVEMBER COMA]

On ‎8‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 7:58 AM, starlight said:

why do they have to carry on with this CD era ? it's too much of an Axl album and there are no contribution from Slash Izzy and Duff

 

There has definitely been contribution from Izzy at some point with Axl's chat mention in 08 of Down by The Ocean but I know what you mean. It seems very old. All the early guns tracks were written from 1984 onwards which is only a 7 year gap before UYI, not 20 years plus.

[SlashisGOD]

In the studio: Slash, Duff, Izzy/Gilby, Steven/Matt, or bust.

But yeah I really want to hear the old 96 demos they were working on become full songs.

Edited March 10, 2016 by SlashisGOD

[James Bond]

2 hours ago, Rovim said:

Or fully rerecord a couple of tunes with Slash and Duff that they like and compare it to existing versions. They can just add their parts to some songs and completely rerecord others.

But we don't even know how Axl's vault material sounds like. If it's similar to Chinese like Axl said, it will be varied enough I suspect to serve as at least a start.

Personally, I think there's a good chance the material is strong enough to only benefit from Slash layers and some Duff arrangements cause Axl said it was completed for some time now. I didn't think Chinese copy/pasted approach ruined the album.

If they'll go for more organic and fully rerecord everything they're gonna use, it may take 40 years with Axl's need to tinker.

I wouldn't say the copy/paste ruined the album for me, but I do find it to be quite the odd approach. The album is surprisingly mixed pretty well - I expected quite the mess initially. Sonically, it sounds good. I'm not a fan of say how UYI is mixed with everything overly compressed and drowning in reverb, but at least the sound is consistent. Even Adler's sole contribution of Civil War is mixed to sound like Sorum's drum sound and matches the other songs.

With Chinese, there's no overall cohesiveness to the sound. Not just between different songs, but in the same songs. A couple good examples are Better and IRS which are part Brain, part Frank on the drums. The parts that are Frank are louder and clearly a different kit that is mixed differently - most notably the snare. There's a slight fade when it switches between the two. Not distracting enough to ruin the songs but enough so that it takes away from a rawer, more organic feel.

Sometimes I wonder what Axl was truly tinkering with. For such a perfectionist you'd think he'd replace vocal tracks, but those were the least changed. Instead, we get songs featuring multiple drummers and ten different guitarists. Two riffs by this guy, one by that guy, oh and this other guy did the solo.

It's not an approach I'd favour again. Imagine a song where the rhythm tracks were recorded by Paul Tobias in 1998 and Robin Finck in 2001, but the leads are all replaced and done by Slash in 2016. Somewhere around 2007 Fortus had added a bit more rhythm just to be in the track. There's just no true relationship between the guitars then. Just a bunch of random guys adding their input, for better or for worse.

[wasted]

3 hours ago, NOVEMBER COMA said:

Forgot about seven, thyme & ides. Berlin I haven't heard of. What is Fortus/Slash?? any confirmation they are in studio besides rumors on classic rock??

Axl: Ides Of March, Oklahoma, Atlas Shrugged, Oh My God, Silkworms , Down By The Ocean (Izzy), Leave Me Alone, Seven , The General , Thyme , Quick Song , Zodiac Most all titles subject to change w/out warning and r considered working titles.

Fortus was quoted recently saying he was working on a song that originated from Slash. This was before the rumors or reunion hype. It was taken like not meaning much. The riff of Chi dem was written by Freese. There's a lot of material we just can't work out how to release a record etc. 

Oklahoma is Berlin.

Leave me Alone is Soul Monster?

Then there's the Axl wanted Slash on 3 songs for CD. Were they set aside or did he get Ron or Robin to do it. For example, This I Love, Catcher, Shackler's were added to late (within context). Or are there 3 songs just sitting there and Slash is in studio now hauling ass on this shit. 

I know people are maybe against CD era songs, but I think some of that stuff is just UYI Axl songs, so it could great. But some people hate UYI Axl songs, so fuck everything. I think it's really hard conjure up the spirit of AFD and really nail it, that's maybe why that line up doesn't get back together. But it would be awesome for the fans I think or as a media story. The crowd would be crazy for the AFD line up. A record would sell even if it wasn't AFD...

And here's Wendy with the Sport or weather, is that a new dress?

[NOVEMBER COMA]

1 hour ago, wasted said:

Fortus was quoted recently saying he was working on a song that originated from Slash. This was before the rumors or reunion hype. It was taken like not meaning much. The riff of Chi dem was written by Freese. There's a lot of material we just can't work out how to release a record etc. 

Oklahoma is Berlin.

Leave me Alone is Soul Monster?

Then there's the Axl wanted Slash on 3 songs for CD. Were they set aside or did he get Ron or Robin to do it. For example, This I Love, Catcher, Shackler's were added to late (within context). Or are there 3 songs just sitting there and Slash is in studio now hauling ass on this shit. 

I know people are maybe against CD era songs, but I think some of that stuff is just UYI Axl songs, so it could great. But some people hate UYI Axl songs, so fuck everything. I think it's really hard conjure up the spirit of AFD and really nail it, that's maybe why that line up doesn't get back together. But it would be awesome for the fans I think or as a media story. The crowd would be crazy for the AFD line up. A record would sell even if it wasn't AFD...

And here's Wendy with the Sport or weather, is that a new dress?

Cool, Wasn't aware Berlin was Oklahoma. Did hear somewhere that Soulmonster was also called Elvis Presley & The Monster of Soul, as Axl said 'working titles', hence Blues/SOD. Not against CD era tracks, I think Chinese was a wicked album just a compilation that put together over a long period of time i.e. Maddy sounds very different to TIL, as you say TIL was added late & Maddy probably '01 or '02. I just wonder if a whole new fresh album would have great consistency in sound & meaning. Let's say written from 2015??? through to whilst on tour2016??? with a Nov 23 release?? On the other hand I don't want it to sound like World On Fire which was too similar between tracks, gunners have always had great variety on albums (bar say AFD).  We'd all be happy with any album I think but imagine GN'R getting the respect it deserves with a new album? Chinese was not respected & did not deserve most of it's criticsm. I feel the same about Spaghetti, unfairly reviewed in '94 because it was a cover album.

Edited March 10, 2016 by NOVEMBER COMA

[dalsh327]

23 minutes ago, NOVEMBER COMA said:

There has definitely been contribution from Izzy at some point with Axl's chat mention in 08 of Down by The Ocean but I know what you mean. It seems very old. All the early guns tracks were written from 1984 onwards which is only a 7 year gap before UYI, not 20 years plus.

Duff also said a while back he wrote songs with Izzy and wrote songs with Dave Kushner, plus songs they may have planned for a third VR album. 

[NOVEMBER COMA]

2 minutes ago, dalsh327 said:

Duff also said a while back he wrote songs with Izzy and wrote songs with Dave Kushner, plus songs they may have planned for a third VR album. 

Yes I remember that too, I wonder if that's why Kushner was first rumoured to be part of this reunion? (I think it was Blabbermouth)

 

[wasted]

1 hour ago, NOVEMBER COMA said:

Cool, Wasn't aware Berlin was Oklahoma. Did hear somewhere that Soulmonster was also called Elvis Presley & The Monster of Soul, as Axl said 'working titles', hence Blues/SOD. Not against CD era tracks, I think Chinese was a wicked album just a compilation that put together over a long period of time i.e. Maddy sounds very different to TIL, as you say TIL was added late & Maddy probably '01 or '02. I just wonder if a whole new fresh album would have great consistency in sound & meaning. Let's say written from 2015??? through to whilst on tour2016??? with a Nov 23 release?? On the other hand I don't want it to sound like World On Fire which was too similar between tracks, gunners have always had great variety on albums (bar say AFD).  We'd all be happy with any album I think but imagine GN'R getting the respect it deserves with a new album? Chinese was not respected & did not deserve most of it's criticsm. I feel the same about Spaghetti, unfairly reviewed in '94 because it was a cover album.

I'm not sure CD was compilation. It sounds like that maybe because it was recorded over a longer period but also has different styles and unusual scope. But lyrically maybe the songs are in a group according to theme. There is a theory it was seen as stand alone and there were other tracks but only Atlas was considered for CD. So there were these guitar driven tracks and more heavy electronica tracks at some point. But also Fortus was writing with them for another seperate record (rumor) None of which is really been talked about. We talk about the second half of Chinese which are songs from the 26 that were finished in 2006, 14 of which are CD. Thematically they are about petty dictators, Axl's struggles with CD and those connected with GNR. It's a spiritual album without going religious I think Axl said. Axl didn't want Bucket's porn associated with the record, that's why I think Silkworms isn't on it. There's a whole another record which nastier and meaner, maybe a liitle more like UYI. So I think the material is split more thematically than sonically. That's why you have songs from 1994, 98, 2000, 2004 with different productions on the same album. Beavan claimed most of Axl's vocals were from around 2000. So it's about that late 90s fallout. But that doesn't mean that in that recording process they weren't writing more electronica based stuff or hard rock things or Axl was writing more fucked up lyrics. I feel like Axl was over it before he brought in the horns for Madagascar but he was still held back by the weight of the name and getting the material out in successful way. CD is Axl's side of the story, the feud or whatever. In my opinion.

All this is conjecture/fantasy but it's what I've got as just a fan following it.

Edited March 10, 2016 by wasted
Typo

[dalsh327]

47 minutes ago, NOVEMBER COMA said:

Yes I remember that too, I wonder if that's why Kushner was first rumoured to be part of this reunion? (I think it was Blabbermouth)

 

Kushner didn't really take center stage often in VR, he did here and there in Kings of Chaos. 

[Apollo]

1 hour ago, NOVEMBER COMA said:

Cool, Wasn't aware Berlin was Oklahoma. Did hear somewhere that Soulmonster was also called Elvis Presley & The Monster of Soul, as Axl said 'working titles', hence Blues/SOD. Not against CD era tracks, I think Chinese was a wicked album just a compilation that put together over a long period of time i.e. Maddy sounds very different to TIL, as you say TIL was added late & Maddy probably '01 or '02. I just wonder if a whole new fresh album would have great consistency in sound & meaning. Let's say written from 2015??? through to whilst on tour2016??? with a Nov 23 release?? On the other hand I don't want it to sound like World On Fire which was too similar between tracks, gunners have always had great variety on albums (bar say AFD).  We'd all be happy with any album I think but imagine GN'R getting the respect it deserves with a new album? Chinese was not respected & did not deserve most of it's criticsm. I feel the same about Spaghetti, unfairly reviewed in '94 because it was a cover album.

Lol. So CD and Spaghetti didn't "get the respect they deserved."  So albums 20 years apart, with two completely different bands, are unfairly judged by fans and critics? 

Or maybe people have different musical taste and preference than you do. And the fact that CD and SI both pretty much tanked in comparison to GnR's first four albums might have something to do with it as well. 

Lol. Didn't get the respect they deserved. Unfairly reviewed. Sometimes this forum cracks me up. 

[wasted]

On 8 March 2016 at 7:03 PM, Silent Jay said:

I'm sure Slash was blown away by Atlas Shrugged. And if it will be included in the next best of collection then that mean it's an instant classic.

Free at last!

[tberrie007]

2 hours ago, wasted said:

I'm not sure CD was compilation. It sounds like that maybe because it was recorded over a longer period but also has different styles and unusual scope. But lyrically maybe the songs are in a group according to theme. There is a theory it was seen as stand alone and there were other tracks but only Atlas was considered for CD. So there were these guitar driven tracks and more heavy electronica tracks at some point. But also Fortus was writing with them for another seperate record (rumor) None of which is really been talked about. We talk about the second half of Chinese which are songs from the 26 that were finished in 2006, 14 of which are CD. Thematically they are about petty dictators, Axl's struggles with CD and those connected with GNR. It's a spiritual album without going religious I think Axl said. Axl didn't want Bucket's porn associated with the record, that's why I think Silkworms isn't on it. There's a whole another record which nastier and meaner, maybe a liitle more like UYI. So I think the material is split more thematically than sonically. That's why you have songs from 1994, 98, 2000, 2004 with different productions on the same album. Beavan claimed most of Axl's vocals were from around 2000. So it's about that late 90s fallout. But that doesn't mean that in that recording process they weren't writing more electronica based stuff or hard rock things or Axl was writing more fucked up lyrics. I feel like Axl was over it before he brought in the horns for Madagascar but he was still held back by the weight of the name and getting the material out in successful way. CD is Axl's side of the story, the feud or whatever. In my opinion.

All this is conjecture/fantasy but it's what I've got as just a fan following it.

man that might be the most reasonable explanation i have ever read anywhere about CD. you sold me 

[Rovim]

10 hours ago, James Bond said:

I wouldn't say the copy/paste ruined the album for me, but I do find it to be quite the odd approach. The album is surprisingly mixed pretty well - I expected quite the mess initially. Sonically, it sounds good. I'm not a fan of say how UYI is mixed with everything overly compressed and drowning in reverb, but at least the sound is consistent. Even Adler's sole contribution of Civil War is mixed to sound like Sorum's drum sound and matches the other songs.

With Chinese, there's no overall cohesiveness to the sound. Not just between different songs, but in the same songs. A couple good examples are Better and IRS which are part Brain, part Frank on the drums. The parts that are Frank are louder and clearly a different kit that is mixed differently - most notably the snare. There's a slight fade when it switches between the two. Not distracting enough to ruin the songs but enough so that it takes away from a rawer, more organic feel.

Sometimes I wonder what Axl was truly tinkering with. For such a perfectionist you'd think he'd replace vocal tracks, but those were the least changed. Instead, we get songs featuring multiple drummers and ten different guitarists. Two riffs by this guy, one by that guy, oh and this other guy did the solo.

It's not an approach I'd favour again. Imagine a song where the rhythm tracks were recorded by Paul Tobias in 1998 and Robin Finck in 2001, but the leads are all replaced and done by Slash in 2016. Somewhere around 2007 Fortus had added a bit more rhythm just to be in the track. There's just no true relationship between the guitars then. Just a bunch of random guys adding their input, for better or for worse.

The mixing and mastering are excellent. We do have the 1999 demos so you can kinda get an idea of what he did.

I.R.S shifting around Robin's solo, adding Bucket's which improved it imo.

Or Better where he slowed down the tempo a bit, changed the silly word play in the chorus, added some effects to his backing vocals, etc.

Finished songs are not really finished cause with time, some new ideas can pop up sometimes when you revisit your work.

My guess is Axl wants to always improve it, use whatever is available to him and sometimes it works like how There Was A Time sounded after Bucket added his outro, and sometimes it can get messy. He always takes it up to 11, spending years perfecting songs he believes are good enough to someday be released. His insecurity leads to overcooked work sometimes, but the quality is there, for the most part imo.

It's not the first album that takes this approach of copy/pasting, or putting together solos in the studio. It's like a tapestry of many ideas that form the big picture, and it revolves around Axl's vocals, melodies, and lyrics. It's not consistent in it's sound, but it sounds more unified as an album in a way compared to say UYI imo. I think the idea was to make it varied, so 2 drummers, 5 guitar players, whoever comes up with the best idea. But Catcher sounds like Axl was trying to fit it to Chinese, so there is a feeling like the tunes do belong together for me.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Rovim

[amacfantasy]

First to comment on what James Bond said above me, I definitely get what your saying about CD. But on the flip side I would add being a novice musician/song writer myself there is no one true/pure/right way to create music you can have a opinion one way or the other but in the end music is music there are a million ways to approach it and come to some conclusion on a song. And what I have learned over the years on my own work is just when I think I like doing something the best one way I figure out this other way is just as brilliant in as many ways.

 

But now back to the reunion talk. This all is getting me more excited that we might get more of the "other" CD era material finally! Which I have raved about since the whole reunion thing started, that is the hopeful prospect that it still gets released in some capacity. I mean it makes sense if Axl had all this full production finished material and I'm sure at least some of the songs Slash and Duff would of found really interesting and all they have to do is add their track on it. It seems like a win win to put some of those songs out at some point, and hopefully we get all that unreleased stuff even if they just years down the line put them on the internet for us or whatever. So the world at least can better appreciate the CD era. 

 

I am curious ultimately what form this first new material will take with Slash and Duff in now. What if they started by releasing a double album with one disc with 12 CD era songs with Slash & Duff added on top and then the other disc with 12 totally new Slash, Duff, Axl songs ? OMG 

Edited March 10, 2016 by amacfantasy

[IkaruFunk]

Lots of people don't get it, but it always seemed to me the songs on Chinese are like a compilations of different sounds and instrumentals (almost like samples) forming a unified and cohesive whole. Like a painting or mosaic. 

Like when Axl was tinkering with those Brian May solos, he glued them together and made it sound completely different. That's the true beauty of CD material I think, even if it sounds messy or unorganic at times. 

[Rovim]

34 minutes ago, IkaruFunk said:

Lots of people don't get it, but it always seemed to me the songs on Chinese are like a compilations of different sounds and instrumentals (almost like samples) forming a unified and cohesive whole. Like a painting or mosaic. 

Like when Axl was tinkering with those Brian May solos, he glued them together and made it sound completely different. That's the true beauty of CD material I think, even if it sounds messy or unorganic at times. 

Bumble said that more than 90% of the solos in Chinese were put together that way. Is he lying? why would he? which solos, exactly? regardless of the approach chosen to create it, it sounds good to me. Like the way he crafted it, all these ideas, all the details. Sounds inspired, so I don't actually care how he achieved it. The actual songs sound very musical to me. It does sound like it was worked on for years and a lot of money was poured into it, but all those things, that approach seems to match the whole character of Chinese as an album. It's very rock n' roll actually. Just the vibe. All of it.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Rovim

[kok]

They should just release CD era songs with Buckethead and Finck playing as a retro box set.  Slash Duff and Axl should record something new or at least their song ideas from 96.

[Philipm787]

26 minutes ago, Rovim said:

Bumble said that more than 90% of the solos in Chinese were put together that way. Is he lying? why would he? which solos, exactly? regardless of the approach chosen to create it, it sounds good to me. Like the way he crafted it, all these ideas, all the details. Sounds inspired, so I don't actually care how he achieved it. The actual songs sound very musical to me. It does sound like it was worked on for years and a lot of money was poured into it, but all those things, that approach seems to match the whole character of Chinese as an album. It's very rock n' roll actually. Just the vibe. All of it.

Could you explain to us less well informed how Chinese is 'very rock n roll?'

[Rovim]

The most appropriate thing will probably be to release it untouched and work on something new, but he added Bumble on top of Bucket, replaced "Brian May" with Bumble and really has no problem with trying everything. If Slash is at his disposal which he is, there is nothing that makes me believe he won't use him on material he believes in, just trying to see if he can improve it. It's just a guess of course.

If Axl is interested in releasing another record, I'm guessing it will be the best ideas from Slash, Fortus, CD ll material which is also interesting. Even less cohesive.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Rovim