Perhaps - New Guns N' Roses Single - Discussion

[SoulMonster]

I have no problems with Slash's solo. It is not spectacular, but most of his solos aren't. It is a good solo and it works in the song. 

[Yugoss88]

Slash’s solo is just fine

dont know why people have problem with it

its not shredding so…all good

[Free Bird]

5 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I have no problems with Slash's solo. It is not spectacular, but most of his solos aren't. It is a good solo and it works in the song. 

The solo fits the song, in a musical sense but it's not a wow moment which some, me included, expected.

What I really like is his riffin during the verses.

[SoulMonster]

1 minute ago, Free Bird said:

The solo fits the song, in a musical sense but it's not a wow moment which some, me included, expected.

What I really like is his riffin during the verses.

I agree. That's a huge improvement to the demo version, in my opinion.

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

My son is 12, and he already memorized it by himself and singing everywhere (I didnt play to him). It's catchy and not dated.

[THELINESMAN]

11 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

The solo fits the song, in a musical sense but it's not a wow moment which some, me included, expected.

What I really like is his riffin during the verses.

I agree with this. Wanted a wow moment. His verse riffin is major improvement.

[AxlRoseCDII]

It’s not so much about Slash’s solo being bad as it is that Finck’s was just definitively better. Masterful, even. It’s hard to listen to an average solo after that.

[LA_0013]

Quite a few on this forum complain when Slash noodles. Now they complain when he does an understated solo that fits the song 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Guitto]

On 8/18/2023 at 9:52 AM, bumbleslash69 said:

Unfortunately I do not. It had a skeleton sitting in a desert. It looked legit and had a few things that the amateur graphic designers mess up on - I.e, clean logo placements and a proper font that isn’t Helvetica for the song title. There was even a little hidden GnFnRs logo hidden that looked nice. Searching the photo didn’t result in any obvious hack jobs someone would make as fan art.  Again thought, could be a fake. There are plenty of great graphic artists out there that are huge Guns fans. 

 

I found it.

 

https://i.4cdn.org/mu/1691799027461107s.jpg

Yes, it looks fake to me.

[Sweersa]

3 hours ago, LA_0013 said:

If truth be known, Robin got sloppy seconds. Slash just coming back to check the job was done 

I suppose you're right, on the classic songs anyways. I guess they both double-teamed the GN'R catalog. 

[Eric Cantona]

There's a wide audience shot from Glasgow in the music video. Trying to zoom in to see if I can spot myself

[Voodoochild]

For what it's worth, the video is also on Apple Music. I watched very briefly on my TV and it seems that is a bit less compressed than the YouTube (which is fine in 4K already). But it's maybe just impression, and it's all the same bitrate.

https://music.apple.com/br/music-video/perhaps/1703145818

[Bitchisback]

3 hours ago, Yugoss88 said:

Slash’s solo is just fine

dont know why people have problem with it

its not shredding so…all good

People are used to Robin's solo, so pretty much anything else was going to stick out like a sore thumb. If they heard it with Slash's solo first they would have enjoyed it a lot more.

[WhazUp]

4 hours ago, THELINESMAN said:

I love Slash as a guitar player. I really do. He’s my favourite of all time. He makes the guitar speak when he wants to. His sense of melody and feeling is unmatched. With all that in mind, I think it’s fair to say, the Perhaps solo is shit. 

What exactly is shit about it?   I know it is a different approach for Slash and it isn't this like epic bombastic bluesy solo like on Estranged or other piano driven tunes he has played on, but I personally think it is a cool sound with the double tracked guitars and going for more of a thought out weaving through the chord progressions

 

[gunsnchalupas]

They should release full albums with all the different demos and mixes of each of these songs. 

Even if it is a digital only thing, they would ensure that the five figures worth of hardcores who actually listen to the new songs would boost the plays. Instead of one song getting up to 10k plays on Spotify, they would get a dozen songs that accumulate 100k+ plays. Obviously, people aren't going to listen to Perhaps (Robin Solo Down 1.5dB, Slash Kazoo w/ reverb) as many times as the final single, but I think it would still accumulate plays.

There is also the fact that they are trying to market the CD era as under appreciated. When you hear all the different versions of each song, and really go into the names of who was involved with these songs, it gives them a chance to push that this was a highly ambitious project and the last epic rock album. It wasn't just Axl dicking around, he had the drummer from the Foo Fighters! Stuff like that. Listen to Foo Fighters Josh Freese and Nine Inch Nail's Robin Finck on the 1999 industrial version of Perhaps. 

It is a real shame that Axl is so insecure or untrusting, or whatever it might be - because every one of these songs released could be marketed very strongly with some sort of documentary element where Axl or the people who were around him at the time go into what the songs meant, what they tied into, the journey to finally getting each one finished and released. Then they would have Slash and Duff going over the intention of what they added or changed. There is really a lot they could do to market these songs better because nobody cares about actual new GN'R music as it is now, but people might get into the fantastic almost movie like backstory to the Chinese Era. 

[THELINESMAN]

19 minutes ago, WhazUp said:

What exactly is shit about it?   I know it is a different approach for Slash and it isn't this like epic bombastic bluesy solo like on Estranged or other piano driven tunes he has played on, but I personally think it is a cool sound with the double tracked guitars and going for more of a thought out weaving through the chord progressions

 

Sounds like a beginner guitar solo IMO, not really like Slash overall. I’ve seen fan made solos for the song which sound more like Slash to me for example. Because it’s so simple but also strange, and rather low octave compared to the opening and I think better suited higher key bend from the old solo, I think it kills rather than builds the momentum of the song. It doesn’t sound very well thought out or dynamic. I expected and I do think most fans would have preferred a momentum building Estranged style epic solo that would have lifted the song into epic status with it. I guess it seems a bit lazy/below Slash’s capabilities. Perhaps shit is a strong word, but I expected more from Slash on this. 

[Kosonen]

Solo starts and ends good, but other stuff in a middle...not very good. Weird.

[chester]

54 minutes ago, THELINESMAN said:

Sounds like a beginner guitar solo IMO, not really like Slash overall. I’ve seen fan made solos for the song which sound more like Slash to me for example. Because it’s so simple but also strange, and rather low octave compared to the opening and I think better suited higher key bend from the old solo, I think it kills rather than builds the momentum of the song. It doesn’t sound very well thought out or dynamic. I expected and I do think most fans would have preferred a momentum building Estranged style epic solo that would have lifted the song into epic status with it. I guess it seems a bit lazy/below Slash’s capabilities. Perhaps shit is a strong word, but I expected more from Slash on this. 

One could say it doesn’t have a serious melodic significance to the song. It sounds  like he was just making it up... 😁

[GnR Chris]

4 hours ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

It’s not so much about Slash’s solo being bad as it is that Finck’s was just definitively better. Masterful, even. It’s hard to listen to an average solo after that.

Definitely better … in your opinion. I love Axl singing “you’re all alone” while Finck’s initial bend comes in. That part was retained in the studio release. The rest of the solo is good, but I think Slash’s fits the song better. And I think Slash’s solo is just better overall. Finck’s doesn’t really do much. 
 

Edit: When I say Slash’s solo fits the song better, I mean in the studio release. Because the guitar riff and bass are groovier in the verses. The solo matches that vibe. The demo we heard with Finck’s solo has a screaming guitar licks in the verses. Which is cool and ends up being bolstered by a similar solo as he goes into the bends. 

Edited August 21, 2023 by GnR Chris

[suckerpunched03]

Has anyone heard perhaps on their local rock radio stations? I haven’t heard it on local radio at all. 

[Ak1nney]

2 hours ago, suckerpunched03 said:

Has anyone heard perhaps on their local rock radio stations? I haven’t heard it on local radio at all. 

Local radio is dying a slow death. They can't be bothered to play a new song by a band more than a few times before going back to one of the well-known hits. They are that scared that someone will turn it off and never come back.

[GoodOlJohnnyK]

9 hours ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

Masterful, even. It’s hard to listen to an average solo after that.

Funny, because Robin’s solo, to me, is the definition of “average.”

My problem with Slash’s solo is that it’s not long enough - there’s no build. It seems like it’s going somewhere and then it just ends. The song’s under 4 minutes - they could have given another cycle for the solo. It’s not like anything else in the some is just so dynamically exciting or anything.

[GoodOlJohnnyK]

30 minutes ago, Ak1nney said:

Local radio is dying a slow death. They can't be bothered to play a new song by a band more than a few times before going back to one of the well-known hits. They are that scared that someone will turn it off and never come back.

Glad it’s not just my area. In the Baltimore area, it’s all late 80s-mid 90s rock. No other rock music exists.

Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Paradise City, November Rain if the DJ has to take a piss, *maybe* Live And Let Die, Kickstart My Heart, One, Enter Sandman, Sad But True, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam, Nothing Else Matters, Fuel, King Nothing, Give It Away, Californication, Scar Tissue, Soul to Squeeze, Under The Bridge, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium, Come As You Are, In Bloom, Plush, Interstate Love Song, Vasoline, Even Flow, Alive, Jeremy, Black, Yellow Ledbetter, Better Man, Everlong, Best Of You, All My Life, Monkey Wrench, Santeria, Basket Case, When I Come Around, Come Out and Play, and then a few random Shinedown, Linkin Park, and Godsmack songs.

I’ve just programmed 98 Rock in Baltimore for tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. And every day until the end of time.

A popular band will drop a new song that’s a decent hit - the Chili Peppers’ Tippa My Tongue, for instance - and it’ll get air play. But 6 months later, it’s like it never existed and we’re back to Breaking The Girl.

The General might be the single greatest piece of music ever recorded…but my local radio station will give it about 10 spins before deciding that we’re in the jungle, baby, and we’re gonna die.

Edited August 22, 2023 by GoodOlJohnnyK

[LA_0013]

5 hours ago, GnR Chris said:

Definitely better … in your opinion. I love Axl singing “you’re all alone” while Finck’s initial bend comes in. That part was retained in the studio release. The rest of the solo is good, but I think Slash’s fits the song better. And I think Slash’s solo is just better overall. Finck’s doesn’t really do much. 
 

Edit: When I say Slash’s solo fits the song better, I mean in the studio release. Because the guitar riff and bass are groovier in the verses. The solo matches that vibe. The demo we heard with Finck’s solo has a screaming guitar licks in the verses. Which is cool and ends up being bolstered by a similar solo as he goes into the bends. 

If they were going to keep anything from Robin, it should’ve been those guitar bend licks in the pre-choruses. They really added to the track and would’ve sounded great alongside the ascending synth lines that replaced them 

[Free Bird]

1 hour ago, GoodOlJohnnyK said:

Funny, because Robin’s solo, to me, is the definition of “average.”

My problem with Slash’s solo is that it’s not long enough - there’s no build. It seems like it’s going somewhere and then it just ends. The song’s under 4 minutes - they could have given another cycle for the solo. It’s not like anything else in the some is just so dynamically exciting or anything.

Exactly, it's not like they had to save space for the other songs on the album. It could and should easily take up where it ends.