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The Chairman Appreciation Thread


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9 minutes ago, DurhamGirl said:

Please tell me, who is the Chirman?  He is obviously well admired.

Rick D, or whomever was closely associated with him at the time. Instead of trading the valuable material he had, he leaked it all for internet fame. It's amazing he even pulled off such a heist to begin with. 

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Just now, DurhamGirl said:

No I dont want to know who he is but what did he do to change lives?

image.png.57c0bd487d1d6fea88b4cb866877d5ee.png

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only kidding. They were responsible for getting the Village Session discs/Locker leaks out to the fan base, accompanied with some very well written poems of unadulterated venom. They tugged on the heartstrings of my youth with an honorable mention of Bill Bixby. They just don't make them like that any more.

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Just now, DurhamGirl said:

Is the General still around?  How does one access leaks etc?

Sadly not. He left officially after the residency in 2014 to pave way for McKagan to pick up the Bass again. I'm still somewhat annoyed at that but it is what it is.

They are out there, I'd suggest ripping from YouTube for the time being, there were a few of them up there when I last checked - Hardschool, Atlas etc etc

 

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I've heard State of Grace, Perhaps, Hard School and Atlas Shrugged from the leaks. Sadly none of which got me particularly excited to be honest. Thought there was some cool ideas in there (chorus in Hard School, intro in State of Grace, for example), but most of it was fairly bland. Appreciate this is subjective, but are there any hidden gems in amongst it all?

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18 minutes ago, 19AT5 said:

I've heard State of Grace, Perhaps, Hard School and Atlas Shrugged from the leaks. Sadly none of which got me particularly excited to be honest. Thought there was some cool ideas in there (chorus in Hard School, intro in State of Grace, for example), but most of it was fairly bland. Appreciate this is subjective, but are there any hidden gems in amongst it all?

Me & My Elvis is a killer instrumental, probably the best of the instrumental tracks.

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8 minutes ago, 19AT5 said:

Is the assertion that Axl was sitting on a treasure trove of unreleased material correct in the end? Subjective I appreciate! 

Of the previously unheard stuff there is easily enough material to have released a rock solid follow up to Chinese Democracy imo. Arguably though the bigger thing to take away from the Locker Leaks was the 2000 mix of Chinese Democracy. Most of the songs sound far superior to what eventually came out in 2008.

The Locker Leaks prove that Chinese Democracy was basically good to go in 2000, and the other material, with a bit more work (and vocals!) would have made a great follow up in 2002/2003. We should have had Axl's Chinese Trilogy by 2006 if things had gone right.

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41 minutes ago, jackparker123 said:

Of the previously unheard stuff there is easily enough material to have released a rock solid follow up to Chinese Democracy imo. Arguably though the bigger thing to take away from the Locker Leaks was the 2000 mix of Chinese Democracy. Most of the songs sound far superior to what eventually came out in 2008.

The Locker Leaks prove that Chinese Democracy was basically good to go in 2000, and the other material, with a bit more work (and vocals!) would have made a great follow up in 2002/2003. We should have had Axl's Chinese Trilogy by 2006 if things had gone right.

Aaah right gotchya. What was the tracklisting for the 2000 version? I have somewhere a pre-release version of IRS and it shits over the final version mix by a good stretch. Fair to say they just spent years and years tinkering with re-records of the same tracks?

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46 minutes ago, jackparker123 said:

Of the previously unheard stuff there is easily enough material to have released a rock solid follow up to Chinese Democracy imo. Arguably though the bigger thing to take away from the Locker Leaks was the 2000 mix of Chinese Democracy. Most of the songs sound far superior to what eventually came out in 2008.

The Locker Leaks prove that Chinese Democracy was basically good to go in 2000, and the other material, with a bit more work (and vocals!) would have made a great follow up in 2002/2003. We should have had Axl's Chinese Trilogy by 2006 if things had gone right.

I couldn't agree more, and really, really wish it were so.

At best, we will get CD2 with Slash and Duff, and probably Frank on it...

Best case, is we eventually get a proper CD2 and possibly more as bonus discs or material in a future anniversary release.

2 minutes ago, 19AT5 said:

Aaah right gotchya. What was the tracklisting for the 2000 version? I have somewhere a pre-release version of IRS and it shits over the final version mix by a good stretch. Fair to say they just spent years and years tinkering with re-records of the same tracks?

The locker leaks were several CDs, so people mix up the songs to get their ideal 2000 album. Rough Mixes CD 1 is a good starting point for the bulk of them, maybe swapping some of the songs on it for alts on the other discs. Then add IRS, Hardschool, If The World, etc. from other discs.

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25 minutes ago, 19AT5 said:

Aaah right gotchya. What was the tracklisting for the 2000 version? I have somewhere a pre-release version of IRS and it shits over the final version mix by a good stretch. Fair to say they just spent years and years tinkering with re-records of the same tracks?

  1. Madagascar
  2. T.W.A.T.
  3. Atlas Shrugged
  4. Perhaps
  5. Prostitute
  6. Rhiad
  7. Catcher
  8. Chinese Democracy
  9. The Blues
  10. Silkworms

That was Rough Mixes CD 1 of 4, so they could obviously have added the likes of Hard School, I.R.S. and State Of Grace to bulk it out a bit.

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16 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

Nah... people have been saying since it leaked that "it needs a Buckethead solo" but I don't think so... why cram a solo into a song, purely to have a solo? All the song really needs is some re-recorded vocals and a proper mix.

I think it would work without a solo, but I think a proper solo could serve to enhance the song.

Soul Monster instrumental also lacks a solo, and would probably work without one, but I'd prefer a sweet Bucket solo in that one too. The Better instrumentals from the village discs also didn't have solos. If I had to guess, most every song from that era was intended to have a solo.

Some of my favorite solos from those leaks are in Perhaps, Hardschool, and Zodiac 13. Sadly, there's a chance most, if not all of these will be rerecorded.

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10 hours ago, 19AT5 said:

I've heard State of Grace, Perhaps, Hard School and Atlas Shrugged from the leaks. Sadly none of which got me particularly excited to be honest. Thought there was some cool ideas in there (chorus in Hard School, intro in State of Grace, for example), but most of it was fairly bland. Appreciate this is subjective, but are there any hidden gems in amongst it all?

Oklahoma and Me & My Elvis are the best of the instrumentals, but there are a few other decent ones in there as well like Zodiac. 

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  • 2 years later...
11 hours ago, Trin9498 said:

revisited some of the instrumentals since they are on YT now.....I like Oklahoma

For when it was recorded, it really does sound like what the natural graduation of GNR would’ve been at that time.

It’s got a banger of a chorus, post-Nirvana Hard Rock—Sounds like a Velvet Revolver song that never was.

The coda of Oklahoma is simply gorgeous too..  Reminds me of Locomotive a bit.

UYI III

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My favourite of the demos is, by far, Going Down. Especially the version without Axl's over-the-top backing vocals. I wish Tommy had played that during the tours instead of Sonic Reducer or whatever he played during Axl's break.

Atlas and Perhaps could also be good songs if properly worked on. Perhaps really needs a better chorus dynamic. Too much going on vocal-wise. Gotta trade those fast vocal lines Axl shouts for a Slash guitar lick a la Estranged and keep only the "you're all alone now" line, between the guitar licks.

State of Grace has a good instrumental but that verse vocal line sucks ass. Since it's highly unlikely Axl will ever record new vocals for these tracks, I'd give the verses to Duff and leave Axl for the choruses, which are fine.

Quick Song needs a decent vocal line instead of the "ooh oohs". The instrumental is ok.

Oklahoma is a good instrumental that would become a good track if given a good vocal line and solo.

Devious Bastard has some potential, if worked on.

Soul Monster kinda sounds too "2000s" for it's own good. Those garageband-esque strings on the pre-chorus are really cheesy.

Zodiac sounds like it would have been a really awesome song played by the Axl/Bucket/Robin line-up. Man, it has Buckethead written all over it.

 

Anyways, I am grateful the Chairman shared this with us. Thanks, man. Whoever and wherever you are.

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21 hours ago, Cosmo said:

My favourite of the demos is, by far, Going Down. Especially the version without Axl's over-the-top backing vocals. I wish Tommy had played that during the tours instead of Sonic Reducer or whatever he played during Axl's break.

Atlas and Perhaps could also be good songs if properly worked on. Perhaps really needs a better chorus dynamic. Too much going on vocal-wise. Gotta trade those fast vocal lines Axl shouts for a Slash guitar lick a la Estranged and keep only the "you're all alone now" line, between the guitar licks.

State of Grace has a good instrumental but that verse vocal line sucks ass. Since it's highly unlikely Axl will ever record new vocals for these tracks, I'd give the verses to Duff and leave Axl for the choruses, which are fine.

Quick Song needs a decent vocal line instead of the "ooh oohs". The instrumental is ok.

Oklahoma is a good instrumental that would become a good track if given a good vocal line and solo.

Devious Bastard has some potential, if worked on.

Soul Monster kinda sounds too "2000s" for it's own good. Those garageband-esque strings on the pre-chorus are really cheesy.

Zodiac sounds like it would have been a really awesome song played by the Axl/Bucket/Robin line-up. Man, it has Buckethead written all over it.

 

Anyways, I am grateful the Chairman shared this with us. Thanks, man. Whoever and wherever you are.

Didn't the Chairman say there were still more leaks to come? 

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