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

[Free Bird]

38 minutes ago, Seb91 said:

Chinese and that era isn’t Slash’s baby though. I don’t mind his reinterpretations and one of the more interesting aspects of the reunion has been hearing his take on the NuGuns stuff and Axl’s take on the VR stuff but complaining that Robin didn’t play stuff note for note (and he’s pretty much spot on there) but giving Slash a free pass just seems a bit contradictory. I mean, if pigs flew and Ritchie Blackmore came back to Deep Purple and changed solos from the Steve Morse era to arrangements people didn’t like as much then I imagine some folks would also be critical. 
 

Personally, I’m not bothered by Robin’s versions of Slash’s stuff or Slash’s versions of the NuGuns stuff. If I wanted to hear note for note recreations of songs I’d never go to shows and just listen to the records. I prefer bands who shake things up live. 

Thing is, I don't give a fuck if he plays it note for note but how he plays it sounds off to me. 

And I already admit that that Slash fucked their solos up as well but to me there's a difference and I pointed it out.

[Seb91]

3 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

Thing is, I don't give a fuck if he plays it note for note but how he plays it sounds off to me. 

And I already admit that that Slash fucked their solos up as well but to me there's a difference and I pointed it out.

Fair enough.

[Free Bird]

47 minutes ago, El Guapo said:

He did screw up a lot in the beginning, but this is cool as fuck.

Great energy and emotion in his playing here, it's pretty close and respectful to the original as well.

Well, when this is cool as fuck then I've seemingly forgotten how awful he sounded at the beginning.

 

[Cosmo]

3 hours ago, Free Bird said:

Perfect Finck solos 

 

I fucking LOVE the way Robin plays. You can feel he plays with heart every time. He doesn't give a shit, he plays 100% with his feelings, and I just love that. It never feels like he's on auto-solo or showoff mode. It's always sincere.

[felixGNR]

6 hours ago, DannyVinyard said:

Axl can only blame Axl for the downfall of NuGNR. His no show in Philly cost him the rest of the 2002 and Buckethead. He hid for 4 years, came back in 2006 and still refused to release the album. 2008 came and the record company said "FU Axl, we are releasing this album now". Axl refused to promote or support it in any way, and this caused  Finck to finally quit. Then Axl comes back in 2011 to Rock in Rio, all bloated, out of shape, and sounding like Mickey. Like he just stopped caring about everything(his look, his health, his sound, and his band), it was a wonder to me why he even bothered. What an embarrassment. His actions alone caused a disinterest in the band. Bucket, Finck, and Brain were amazing talents with so much potential and very high ceiling, all of which was derailed by Axl Rose. Their lack of success is no fault of their own. Nothing offbeat (musically speaking) about any of the original NuGNR. These guys were some of the best musicians on the planet. Axl gave up on himself and NuGNR. He sold himself (along with his early 2000's vision) out and gave into the money. Now we have a non-stop cash grab tour (2016-present) with Slash butchering perfect solos created by Robin Finck. Casuals can pay big bucks to see sloppy Axl Rose and washed up Slash play the oldies over and over all they want. I know damn sure I'm not going to.

Robin who? thats exactly what 99.9% of people  attending  the shows will answer. He is just one of   many good guitar players.

Amazing  talents?  I don't  know outside of Buckethead (niche, etc), the other 2 are way overrated  by NuGNR  fans, how much did Robin had to do with NIN sucess? 00000. same with GNR.

Perfect solos? just  ok.  ( following  directions bluesy hard rock etc) and getting paid , i guess a good amount of $. where are those fenomenal history writing perfect  solos in his other bands/projects? wait...

Nothing out of this world, 

why Slash should play note for note solos that  99.9% of the people seeing  the show , probably never heard?

[rebeldhipi]

1 hour ago, RONIN said:

Great post. Nu Guns had their shot - 1997 to 2014. The band as it stood in 2014 was truly an embarrassment.

It's like Axl had an identity crisis. He wanted to turn GnR into an experimental band with a lineup of underground players (a really cool idea) to reflect his eclectic taste in music. It didn't work because Axl wasn't real with who he was. He wasn't Perry Farrell or Trent Reznor. He was a rock god trying to rebrand himself into an auteur/producer...unsuccessfully. I'm listening currently to U2's Passengers album which apparently Axl was obsessed with in '97 according to Chris Vrenna. It's a cool little album of film score-esque tracks. I don't know how this kind of material was going to ever be integrated into GnR with Duff and Slash. One can only imagine their bewilderment as he used Passengers and Nine Inch Nails as a reference point for the next GnR album. He was moving away from guitar driven music to ambient - almost mood music soundscapes. Again, a really cool idea....but I think he just kind of bit off more than he could chew or he was so confined by what GnR's brand was that he couldn't escape that gilded cage to do the kind of experimental stuff he really wanted. The GnR name became his prison I guess. It would have been really fascinating if Axl could have composed moody pieces like "Plot 180" from the Passengers album as a background texture for Bucket and Finck to play around in. I think what I'm trying to say is, I wish the dude just went solo. He probably could have come up with a sick experimental album. But with his work ethic and creative inertia - who knows if it would have gone anywhere. That and the obsession with chasing whatever new trend was happening at the moment probably would have doomed the whole thing. Supposedly, Axl and the band worked on a number of more experimental tracks too advanced for the mullet head contingent of the GnR fanbase. This so called "experimental" material might have included the rumored moby influenced prodigy-esque tracks. Who knows if this stuff actually exists in some cohesive format?

Some people on GnR evo think that the band is burying the Chi Dem Era to promote the classic lineup. One can only hope that there is a boxset put out of the CD era. IF it's too embarrassing to reveal to the world that he doesn't have more than a handful of vocal tracks completed after 14+ years for that project (it's starting to appear that way) - just give us the alternate version tracks completed with each producer they had. That would be what, a 7 cd set minimum to cover the different producers + a cd that culls the best live material from that era + another cd of demos/outtakes?  That would be of primo value to many fans. Naturally, it won't happen.

The leaks had some stuff not too far from The Passangers.

Like Thyme

[kingcanyon]

6 hours ago, DannyVinyard said:

Axl can only blame Axl for the downfall of NuGNR. His no show in Philly cost him the rest of the 2002 and Buckethead. He hid for 4 years, came back in 2006 and still refused to release the album. 2008 came and the record company said "FU Axl, we are releasing this album now". Axl refused to promote or support it in any way, and this caused  Finck to finally quit. Then Axl comes back in 2011 to Rock in Rio, all bloated, out of shape, and sounding like Mickey. Like he just stopped caring about everything(his look, his health, his sound, and his band), it was a wonder to me why he even bothered. What an embarrassment. His actions alone caused a disinterest in the band. Bucket, Finck, and Brain were amazing talents with so much potential and very high ceiling, all of which was derailed by Axl Rose. Their lack of success is no fault of their own. Nothing offbeat (musically speaking) about any of the original NuGNR. These guys were some of the best musicians on the planet. Axl gave up on himself and NuGNR. He sold himself (along with his early 2000's vision) out and gave into the money. Now we have a non-stop cash grab tour (2016-present) with Slash butchering perfect solos created by Robin Finck. Casuals can pay big bucks to see sloppy Axl Rose and washed up Slash play the oldies over and over all they want. I know damn sure I'm not going to.

Axl can't blame himself for having mental health issues in 2002. he "hid" probably to fix his problems and when he came back in 06 he could've realised CD wasn't good enough to him. also they were meant to play in 2004 but that didn't happen because Buckethead left when CD was released in 2008 Axl's plan would've still been to release 2 more albums (2010 & 2012) there has been a lot of rumours why they didn't happen the most consitant one is that the record label refused to release it which could be why his vocals sounded shit because he couldn't be bothered for it which is why they became a nostalgia act. finally Axl is not invested in just the money the idea he's probably had since CD wasn't a big sucsess is that nobody would want to hear the rest of the songs hopefully with Perhaps being a big sucsess so far and maybe the General it might give Axl enough motavation to have one last Run and finish the CD vision and then move to getting Izzy & Steven back for one last tour before retiring maybe by 2040.

also not every solo was created by Robin, some was done by Buckethead others by Paul Tobias and a couple from Axl himself so stop giving Robin 100% credit for every solo. Slash isn't buchtering solos he's making them his own and we call them shit.

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by kingcanyon

[Sweersa]

7 hours ago, jimisbatman said:

This makes sense. Do you think it's a possibility that if its out there, it could leak in the future? 

It's always possible, I don't believe we have seen the last of the CD era leaks with this band. 

[Trin9498]

2 hours ago, Seb91 said:

Completely agree - 2006 was the biggest squandered opportunity. The hype was massive for that tour. Agree re Bucket and new material as well that seems to have been the biggest blow for Axl re NuGuns. 

Crazy that it was 17 years ago

[Seb91]

27 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

It's always possible, I don't believe we have seen the last of the CD era leaks with this band. 

I think a CD compilation release put out under Axl’s name would be fun. Pete Townshend put out a box set of a reconstruction of Lifehouse comprised of the demos. I’d love a compilation like that - stuff with the old band members still on, Tommy’s lead vocal songs etc. 

I think the reality is though that the current band are going to use all the salvageable CD stuff they can so I don’t see an archive release being on the cards. Musing on it - I think Lifehouse is reminiscent of CD - whilst CD isn’t a concept album it was an ambitious project which ultimately was never fully released. 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Seb91

[Seb91]

15 minutes ago, Trin9498 said:

Crazy that it was 17 years ago

Yeah - I feel old thinking about it  

I have so much nostalgia for that tour even though I never got to go. My Dad booked a holiday and I won tickets to Wembley and begged my parents to let me go by myself. They wouldn’t let me and when I had a strop my Mum’s reply was priceless - “My Mum didn’t let me go and see Jimi Hendrix when I was your age so you think you’ve got it bad…” 

I consoled myself by listening to the Rock Am Ring bootleg on a loop. To be honest probably best I didn’t go - my Dad would have just moaned about the late start time and dragged me home before the show started. He wanted to leave the Foos gig in Hyde Park that year before Queen rocked up and that was an early gig!  

2010 made up for it though - got to two shows and in 2008 I got to meet Bumble during his promo tour. Man I really miss that era - it’s funny I have more nostalgia for NuGuns as that was ‘my’ GN’R as it were. Also, I was getting massively into folks like Satriani, Steve Morse, Zakk Wylde, Steve Vai etc. so loved Bucket and Bumble. 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Seb91

[Voodoochild]

5 hours ago, Free Bird said:

Perfect Finck solos 

 

Yeah man, sorry that you dislike it, but this is really good. I missed this guy a lot. I know that the majority disagree, and casual fans don't know him, I just couldn't care less.

But anyways, why are we rehashing this Slash vs. Robin/Bucket again? If nothing leak, we won't know how The General sounded for real before and this is probably better for us as we will judge the song by it's face value.

[Free Bird]

1 minute ago, Voodoochild said:

Yeah man, sorry that you dislike it, but this is really good. I missed this guy a lot. I know that the majority disagree, and casual fans don't know him, I just couldn't care less.

But anyways, why are we rehashing this Slash vs. Robin/Bucket again? If nothing leak, we won't know how The General sounded for real before and this is probably better for us as we will judge the song by it's face value.

There's many posts every day about how bad of a guitarist Slash is nowadays, which I disagree with. I think I should be allowed to tell my opinion as well. Especially when other opinions are often expressed like facts. I just play the same game. 

But it's a fact that I feel exactly what I'm telling here. I really enjoy some of Fincks playing on CD but cringe when I hear him play the classic solos. I don't get the love for his Perhaps solo, while Slash's not special either but I'd prefer Robin's Better solo instead of Slash's for example. 

[Voodoochild]

6 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

There's many posts every day about how bad of a guitarist Slash is nowadays, which I disagree with. I think I should be allowed to tell my opinion as well. Especially when other opinions are often expressed like facts. I just play the same game. 

But it's a fact that I feel exactly what I'm telling here. I really enjoy some of Fincks playing on CD but cringe when I hear him play the classic solos. I don't get the love for his Perhaps solo, while Slash's not special either but I'd prefer Robin's Better solo instead of Slash's for example. 

I know, it’s fair enough that you dislike how Robin played the classics. I just think there was plenty of worse videos for an example lol. Robin fucked up a lot. 
 

My point was more towards the fact that Slash is back, he is what people wanted and we will hear him playing the leads on The General. There’s nothing we can do about it, and we shouldn’t do anything about it anyways. Slash is a legend, and as much as some people (me included) think he could do better, it’s still very good and fitting. With The General, we will experience his take first and I’m fine with it, there’s really no use to assume it’s worse or better than the previous players. 

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, Free Bird said:

There's many posts every day about how bad of a guitarist Slash is nowadays, which I disagree with. I think I should be allowed to tell my opinion as well. Especially when other opinions are often expressed like facts. I just play the same game. 

But it's a fact that I feel exactly what I'm telling here. I really enjoy some of Fincks playing on CD but cringe when I hear him play the classic solos. I don't get the love for his Perhaps solo, while Slash's not special either but I'd prefer Robin's Better solo instead of Slash's for example. 

So because you get hurt from reading people criticize Slash's current performances, you have decided to criticise Robin, who hasn't been in the band for over a decade, just to get back at them? Is that the level of maturity at play here?

[Lethalis]

9 hours ago, DannyVinyard said:

Casuals can pay big bucks to see sloppy Axl Rose and washed up Slash play the oldies over and over all they want. I know damn sure I'm not going to.

So... what are you still doing here?

I nearly left this forum and then they released Perhaps (just when I stopped believing in its release) and now The General is coming. Guess I'll stick around for a while longer

[rumandraisin]

2 hours ago, Sweersa said:

It's always possible, I don't believe we have seen the last of the CD era leaks with this band. 

There's still endless versions that could leak. We could have a locker style set of discs from any year prior or post 2001. 

Then there's songs they might have dropped by the 2001 discs we have. 

 

[TrixAreForKids]

2 hours ago, Free Bird said:

There's many posts every day about how bad of a guitarist Slash is nowadays, which I disagree with. I think I should be allowed to tell my opinion as well. Especially when other opinions are often expressed like facts. I just play the same game. 

But it's a fact that I feel exactly what I'm telling here. I really enjoy some of Fincks playing on CD but cringe when I hear him play the classic solos. I don't get the love for his Perhaps solo, while Slash's not special either but I'd prefer Robin's Better solo instead of Slash's for example. 

Wouldn't say "bad", but he has def slowed down, which is to be expected from someone carrying at his age. 

[GNRfanMILO]

The cringe part is that he posted a video in which the player actually plays the original solo while adding his own take to it.

I still have to find a Slash video in which he plays a Chinese Democracy solo and I'm still able to recognize parts of the original one.

But hey! That's alright because "Slash came back to HIS baby. He has every right to play the solos like he wants to." 

Edited August 21, 2023 by GNRfanMILO

[Free Bird]

2 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

I know, it’s fair enough that you dislike how Robin played the classics. I just think there was plenty of worse videos for an example lol. Robin fucked up a lot. 
 

My point was more towards the fact that Slash is back, he is what people wanted and we will hear him playing the leads on The General. There’s nothing we can do about it, and we shouldn’t do anything about it anyways. Slash is a legend, and as much as some people (me included) think he could do better, it’s still very good and fitting. With The General, we will experience his take first and I’m fine with it, there’s really no use to assume it’s worse or better than the previous players. 

I'm sorry I didn't search for a weaker one. It was the first one that appeared on Youtube when I searched for Finck Sweet Child Oh Mine, I thought it's good enough to proof my point 

Anyways. I agree with your further point and mostly I think 'fuck it' but sometimes I get fooled into reacting on someones post that I desagree with.

 

32 minutes ago, GNRfanMILO said:

The cringe part is that he posted a video in which the player actually plays the original solo while adding his own take to it.

I still have to find a Slash video in which he plays a Chinese Democracy solo and I'm still able to recognize parts of the original one.

But hey! That's alright because "Slash came back to HIS baby. He has every right to play the solos like he wants to." 

Fuck it 

 

 

 

Because you dont get it anyway

[El Guapo]

4 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

I'm sorry I didn't search for a weaker one. It was the first one that appeared on Youtube when I searched for Finck Sweet Child Oh Mine, I thought it's good enough to proof my point 

Anyways. I agree with your further point and mostly I think 'fuck it' but sometimes I get fooled into reacting on someones post that I desagree with.

 

Fuck it 

 

 

 

Because you dont get it anyway

We're waiting for your apology!

 

 

[©GnrPersia]

4 hours ago, Cosmo said:

I fucking LOVE the way Robin plays. You can feel he plays with heart every time. He doesn't give a shit, he plays 100% with his feelings, and I just love that. It never feels like he's on auto-solo or showoff mode. It's always sincere.

Thank you sir for your somehow brave words in this AFD-5 oriented environment.

[Free Bird]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

So because you get hurt from reading people criticize Slash's current performances, you have decided to criticise Robin, who hasn't been in the band for over a decade, just to get back at them? Is that the level of maturity at play here?

Ok, again... threre are a few kids who I feel they're trolling around those threads and most of the time I don't react. 

But sometimes I read such ridiculous things that getting tempt on reacting. I know it's not the most clever thing to do, but it happens.

In this case somebody spoke about Fincks perfect solos which I find to be a laughable statement and an attempt to troll, nothing more. Therefore I posted a video that shows Robin playing the solo in a way don't like. Should I apologize for that? Fuck no. That's my opinion, even when everybody else might think how perfectly Robin plays it there. I'm allowed to have my own opinion and I'm also allowed to express my opinion, like everybody else does.

It's not even about who prefers what but about the kind of negativity spreading towards Slash in a way that's, to me at least, nothing more than trolling.

But somehow thats ok to all of you, but when I express my opinion, you do the same thing and react to it while saying I shouldn't react.

You of all people, Soulmonster should know better. You're smart guy... so c'mon.

[Free Bird]

54 minutes ago, TrixAreForKids said:

Wouldn't say "bad", but he has def slowed down, which is to be expected from someone carrying at his age. 

He may lost some of his aggressiveness but he's still good enough. To good for this kind of bashing that's going on on here

[Rovim]

1 minute ago, Free Bird said:

He may lost some of his aggressiveness but he's still good enough. To good for this kind of bashing that's going on on here

you're like Slash's lawyer sometimes. It seems to bother you that not everyone on the internet respects Slash. You and a few others. I think the issue is not that you chose to react, it's that the reason for your reaction is kinda childish. I don't mean to be a dick about it, just sharing my view on how I see it.

like you're trying to balance the scales cause sometimes people talk shit about Slash, you didn't pass the chance to talk shit about Robin. Surely you see that that's kinda silly.