"The General" is officially delayed... but "The General" AND "Monsters" is (unofficially) out of the bag

[Its Tino]

6 hours ago, Arnuld said:

Ok so what are we putting the odds at of a version of The General leaking prior to an official release? I’d say about a 20% chance. 
 

And the big question- If this happens will you listen to it or wait for the official version? 

I’m about to wait until I spin that vinyl for the first time regardless. 

[Its Tino]

6 hours ago, Towelie said:

It's hilarious that folks think that Evaders mix will be anything like what the song will be. He had a Silkworms mix too back in the day, which sounded absolutely nothing like what Absurd turned out to be. 

You do know Evader isn't a band member don't you?

Thank you dude. Crazy some people still don’t understand that Evaders’s mix is a fantasy. Mind blowing shit!

No disrespect ti Evader of course. 

[DarkLotus1111]

6 hours ago, Arnuld said:

Ok so what are we putting the odds at of a version of The General leaking prior to an official release? I’d say about a 20% chance. 
 

And the big question- If this happens will you listen to it or wait for the official version? 

I'd say 15%, but also a 25% chance... 

Honestly, if an older version does in fact leak, I'll probably listen to it after I hear the official 2023 version. 

 

[rumandraisin]

I've always doubted a version of The General is out there. If a hoarder has it and has waited all this time it's like... What for?

There were rumours someone had/has Atlas, people used to mention that on here. If anyone fid have it I'm guessing it would have been from the batch of leaks in 2008 meaning it could've been more developed and had 4tus and Bucket on. 

[Lies They Tell]

6 hours ago, Blackstar said:

Having followed the abundance of posts and discussions about the General during the time I've been on the forums, I'm surprised by the fact that many people think that the lyrics in Evader's interpretation are the lyrics of the actual song. To a point where "There's a child now chained in the bed now" has become part of the whole legend, so if (or more likely when) they don't hear these words in the released song, they may think that Axl wrote new lyrics.

Yeah, and also some people act like we know for a fact that there's a long-ass intro in the song when in reality the orchestral part that we've heard could be just something that's playing in the background of the song.

If it doesn't have a long intro when it's released, it's pretty much guaranteed that some people will complain that they removed the intro, even though there's no evidence that the song ever had a long intro. 😄

[rumandraisin]

9 hours ago, McCoyGNR said:

 Losing value by the minute. once it’s released it would be reduced to the value of hearing another demo of WTTJ from the 80s. Very cool, maybe even mystical depending on the circumstances of the recording, but not the official release…

if the general demo exists in the wild, it has value, but it should be traded out today before it becomes worthless 

Not nessecarily. A large number of people here and myself included prefer the earlier CD versions and new leaks are always welcome. 

The earlier mixes are always my go to versions. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by rumandraisin

[Lies They Tell]

9 hours ago, Arnuld said:

And the big question- If this happens will you listen to it or wait for the official version? 

I still haven't listened to half of the Village session leaks cause I don't want spoilers. So now that we know that The General will be released soon, there's no way I'm going to listen to any leaks.

[DeadSlash]

This is the most paranoid take ever, but I want to get it on record.  I have an overwhelming feeling, we HAVE head "The General" and it will be State of Grace, or Atlas, or heavily cannibalized versions of them.

 

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, DeadSlash said:

This is the most paranoid take ever, but I want to get it on record.  I have an overwhelming feeling, we HAVE head "The General" and it will be State of Grace, or Atlas, or heavily cannibalized versions of them.

 

I am 99% sure The General is not State of Grace. 

[pbj_jam]

1 hour ago, DeadSlash said:

This is the most paranoid take ever, but I want to get it on record.  I have an overwhelming feeling, we HAVE head "The General" and it will be State of Grace, or Atlas, or heavily cannibalized versions of them.

 

I too hope you be wrong, if it's any salvation there'd be a good song to enjoy.

[SoulMonster]

If we are to trust Brain, he wrote The General and it was the first working title that track had. There is no track named 'The General' on the Village leaks so if it is actually there it must be under a new name (which likely implies that Axl had started to work on lyrics and renamed it accordingly or that for some other reason it was temporarily renamed) and recorded after April-August 2000 when Brain joined the band. Then for some reason, at some point, the track was renamed The General. It is not impossible, but also not likely. It can't have been State of Grace, Atlas Shrugged or Me & My Elvis though, because both of these were written before Brain joined. I guess it could be Eye On You, Zodiac 13 (which likely had lyrics), Nothing or Oklahoma (which also likely had lyrics) --not taking into account how the songs hears on the audio clip from the party -- but I highly doubt it, it just seems unlikely that the name would go back and forth like that after Axl had started with lyrics.

I find it more likely The General was one of the songs Buckethead and Brain came up with either after the tracks on the Village leaks were recorded/mixed, or that it is just missing from these discs. That is not unreasonable, we know other songs were written after this, with Scraped ending up on Chinese Democracy.

Could parts from tracks on the Village leaks have ended up in the final version of The General Yes, obviously, but likely not the core of the song.

[Mindray11]

It's gonna be interesting to hear that song for the first time in 12 years 

EDIT: *13, oh well...

Edited August 20, 2023 by Mindray11

[DSTK]

I'm interested to hear it obviously, but if it was as good as Fernando claims on reddit, it would be more than a B side 

[AtlasShrugged]

Could it just be the case that it’s a “B” side because it is to be released second? And they couldn’t make it the A side and put it for sale when Perhaps came out 
 

 

[Seb91]

41 minutes ago, DSTK said:

I'm interested to hear it obviously, but if it was as good as Fernando claims on reddit, it would be more than a B side 

I'm not too sure about that as from what we've heard of The General it sounds like it's quite prog metally and different from GN'R's normal stuff. The more proggy/experimental stuff from Chinese didn't seem to go down well with the wider public so Perhaps was the better choice marketing wise. I'm curious as to what Slash will do guitar wise, in the clip it sounds like Bucket or Finck (or both more likely) going to town in their signature styles so not sure blues licks over the top will work but then it oddly really worked with Absurd so it should be interesting. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by BassistSeb

[D4NNY]

2 minutes ago, AtlasShrugged said:

Could it just be the case that it’s a “B” side because it is to be released second? And they couldn’t make it the A side and put it for sale when Perhaps came out 
 

 

At this point in time I don’t think “b side” makes it any less important as to say 30-40 years ago when b sides seemed to be left overs or remixes that didn’t quite make the cut on an album. If Guns were actually putting out albums and they put out Perhaps as a single with The General as a b side then sure I’d understand it was of less importance in terms of everything else they feel is stronger but that is not the case here. Guns seem to be just “single” driven recently and that’s okay with me as long as they can be persistent with it and treat us every year or two.

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, DSTK said:

I'm interested to hear it obviously, but if it was as good as Fernando claims on reddit, it would be more than a B side 

Maybe Fernando doesn't decide what goes on A and what goes on B? Maybe Axl thinks Perhaps is the better song but you will disagree? Maybe the decision isn't based on which song is the better? 

[DSTK]

1 hour ago, BassistSeb said:

I'm not too sure about that as from what we've heard of The General it sounds like it's quite prog metally and different from GN'R's normal stuff. The more proggy/experimental stuff from Chinese didn't seem to go down well with the wider public so Perhaps was the better choice marketing wise. I'm curious as to what Slash will do guitar wise, in the clip it sounds like Bucket or Finck (or both more likely) going to town in their signature styles so not sure blues licks over the top will work but then it oddly really worked with Absurd so it should be interesting. 

Nobody's properly heard it so where you get the Prog metal point from is strange...a muffled audio clip doesn't tell us anything...again I think it's a B side for a reason, or they'd just release it as a separate single , there's State of grace & Atlas which are probably more single release types 

[pentatonicamenor]

Last night I had a dream:

A whole new album in 2024. 🤘🏼🤘🏼

I hope it doesn't turn into a nightmare. 😆

[axljungle]

1 hour ago, DSTK said:

I'm interested to hear it obviously, but if it was as good as Fernando claims on reddit, it would be more than a B side 

Guns N Roses don’t release B sides as you said. They don’t release songs less important. Acoustics songs in Lies were in the R side for example.

[Sweersa]

5 hours ago, rumandraisin said:

I've always doubted a version of The General is out there. If a hoarder has it and has waited all this time it's like... What for?

There were rumours someone had/has Atlas, people used to mention that on here. If anyone fid have it I'm guessing it would have been from the batch of leaks in 2008 meaning it could've been more developed and had 4tus and Bucket on. 

I believe a lot of material is out there, of the likes you mention but those who have them simply have no interest in sharing, trading, etc. in any way or don’t have an interest in the band or material anymore and just abandon them or leave them on their PCs.

I also believe TB has reached out to some of the more known ones and got them to be quiet. 
 

[colonizedmind]

9 hours ago, Its Tino said:

I’m about to wait until I spin that vinyl for the first time regardless. 

A leak would (and listening to it) would totally spoil that amazing experience for yourself...either listen to it when they officially put it out or wait for your Vinyl....we're so good at ruining experiences for ourselves In today's times....myself included. This is a rare moment, it deserves respect (as grandiose as that may sound) 

[colonizedmind]

27 minutes ago, pentatonicamenor said:

Last night I had a dream:

A whole new album in 2024. 🤘🏼🤘🏼

I hope it doesn't turn into a nightmare. 😆

Was there a "monster" In your nightmare? Cause then you're ok 😉

[colonizedmind]

1 hour ago, BassistSeb said:

I'm not too sure about that as from what we've heard of The General it sounds like it's quite prog metally and different from GN'R's normal stuff. The more proggy/experimental stuff from Chinese didn't seem to go down well with the wider public so Perhaps was the better choice marketing wise. I'm curious as to what Slash will do guitar wise, in the clip it sounds like Bucket or Finck (or both more likely) going to town in their signature styles so not sure blues licks over the top will work but then it oddly really worked with Absurd so it should be interesting. 

Yea...also maybe not his natural style...but say a song like Coma is pretty brooding....if Axl wants and requests, Slash is more than capable of delivering something atmospheric and dark...he is a huge Horror score fan after all....he'd be pretty psyched that Marco (like General)  has worked on some of these other tracks....in fact if we're getting some of the ones we believe are coming, that's folks like Sir Brian and Marco and Paul, etc....I can only see us on a upwards quality trajectory with that talent involved and Slash is a competitive beast, folks of that sort always like to raise their level when working with talent like that ...

Edited August 20, 2023 by colonizedmind

[DSTK]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

Maybe Fernando doesn't decide what goes on A and what goes on B? Maybe Axl thinks Perhaps is the better song but you will disagree? Maybe the decision isn't based on which song is the better? 

Fernando couldn't make up his mind if its day or night