THE GENERAL - MONSTERS - Official Discussion Thread. NO LINKS OR ASKING FOR LINKS

[allwaystired]

Those clicks and pops you all mentioned (and I thought I'd never notice!) are all over the last bit! 

I'm not a big one for worrying too much about production and mixing nuances....but even to me this sounds mixed terribly, especially the drums. 

What a wasted opportunity. Again.

[TheGeneral]

Am I just remembering it wrong, or were the vocal effects worse on the leaks?

Not trying to make any excuses, just haven't listened to them since they came out and I remember hating The General because of this. But now with the release it doesn't seem too bad? 

[kanecrescente]

1 minute ago, allwaystired said:

Those clicks and pops you all mentioned (and I thought I'd never notice!) are all over the last bit! 

I'm not a big one for worrying too much about production and mixing nuances....but even to me this sounds mixed terribly, especially the drums. 

What a wasted opportunity. Again.

I echo these sentiments wholly... Holy shit this b(r)and is regressing more with each half-arsed and delayed release 

[youngunner]

6 hours ago, agustingloger said:

the vocals indeed yes but there's so much reverb or whatever that sounds a bit off to me. reminds me of Oh my god 

I think that was the intention given the  lyric and theme of the song. 

[AxlRQ93]

are there frog sounds in the general

[Lies They Tell]

5 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

Am I just remembering it wrong, or were the vocal effects worse on the leaks?

Not trying to make any excuses, just haven't listened to them since they came out and I remember hating The General because of this. But now with the release it doesn't seem too bad? 

I think the effects are the same. It's just that the quality of the original leak was pretty bad, so the effects sounded even more muddy because of that.

[username]

I'm listening to TG now, just by itself. And the strange thing is, I've always listened to it as a combo with Monster. I actually like it better as a combo with Monster. Those tracks go well together. And yes, even in that combination TG is the weaker half of the two. But still, they have a similar vibe that makes them work well together.

In the same way that good album sequencing makes certain songs better than when you listen to them isolated.

[username]

I also still feel that TG would benefit from more lyrics. 

[SoulMonster]

I think it is a really good song.

[Spoon87]

Listened to it on YouTube for now as I am still waiting for the vinyl and boy, oh boy, the production and stylistic choices (mainly the distorted vocals) really kill most of the song for me.

I wouldn't say it could be a banger without these flaws, the banger was and is Monsters, but come one, they could have done so much better.

[El Guapo]

I still can't believe they put this out. XD

Slash and Punk as fuck are now offically the ultimate whores in the music world, wow.

[username]

44 minutes ago, Rovim said:

if my grandma had wheels, she would've been a bike. 

Even without wheels it's perfectly possible for a woman to be the village bicycle. 

[IzzysMissy]

I listened to it again on YouTube (prior to reading the.. interesting commentary) and I’m laughing pretty hard at some of the “this is GNRs top 5” and such feedback. No it isn’t the worst song ever released however it’s pretty subpar in terms of production which takes a lot away (imo).

we all know that opinions are like assholes and we’ve all got one, but it’s pretty delusional to call this a top 5 of anything. The layers of pasting everything to form one song release is amateur at best. I expect more from gnr releases, which is why I didn’t spend money on this.

if you like it more power to you of course, but in reality, gnr and their management deserve the heat they get from this.

People posted photos of the physical vinyl of Perhaps too - looks pixelated and low quality. Why they do this? Because they don’t care. Period.

[username]

4 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I think it is a really good song.

It certainly does seem divisive. The comments on social media are all over the place too. 

Personally I like it too. And sure, much like CD it was up against impossible expectations. For years it was talked about as the holy grail. The heaviest thing they've ever done (was that Baz?) etc. Some people seemed to be expecting the CD-era equivalent of Estranged or November Rain, but more rock and industrial at the same time. But that's pretty unrealistic. 

That said it's okay to good, but definitely not flawless or epic. Certainly not everybody's taste. The distortion of the vocals alone is divisive. I consider it the weaker of the two when compared with Monsters. And I feel like it would benefit from more lyrics / subject matter. Some bits seem repetitive. I do like the guitar work and I feel like Slash did a good job with the vibe of this. It's good. But I can also see why this isn't a good lead single or anything. To me it's a good album track. Sadly there's no album, but still. I'm glad we got this. 

[2020_Intensions]

1 minute ago, IzzysMissy said:

I listened to it again on YouTube (prior to reading the.. interesting commentary) and I’m laughing pretty hard at some of the “this is GNRs top 5” and such feedback. No it isn’t the worst song ever released however it’s pretty subpar in terms of production which takes a lot away (imo).

we all know that opinions are like assholes and we’ve all got one, but it’s pretty delusional to call this a top 5 of anything. The layers of pasting everything to form one song release is amateur at best. I expect more from gnr releases, which is why I didn’t spend money on this.

if you like it more power to you of course, but in reality, gnr and their management deserve the heat they get from this.

People posted photos of the physical vinyl of Perhaps too - looks pixelated and low quality. Why they do this? Because they don’t care. Period.

$$$$$$$ from suckers and kiss asses 

[SoulMonster]

Just now, username said:

It certainly does seem divisive. The comments on social media are all over the place too. 

Personally I like it too. And sure, much like CD it was up against impossible expectations. For years it was talked about as the holy grail. The heaviest thing they've ever done (was that Baz?) etc. Some people seemed to be expecting the CD-era equivalent of Estranged or November Rain, but more rock and industrial at the same time. But that's pretty unrealistic. 

That said it's okay to good, but definitely not flawless or epic. Certainly not everybody's taste. The distortion of the vocals alone is divisive. I consider it the weaker of the two when compared with Monsters. And I feel like it would benefit from more lyrics / subject matter. Some bits seem repetitive. I do like the guitar work and I feel like Slash did a good job with the vibe of this. It's good. But I can also see why this isn't a good lead single or anything. To me it's a good album track. Sadly there's no album, but still. I'm glad we got this. 

I agree, except that I find it slightly better than Monsters. I benefit from not really expecting much. I didn't expect it to be fantastic, I never listened to evader's version. It's good, not fantastic and not terrible. Good. It could easily have replaced a few of the weakest songs on CD. I also don't listen to it on some fancy system so I don't notice anything wrong with how it is mixed or mastered. 

4 minutes ago, IzzysMissy said:

we all know that opinions are like assholes and we’ve all got one, but it’s pretty delusional to call this a top 5 of anything.

So in the start of that sentence you seems to accept that personal preferences in music is highly subjective and that whatever we like is all valid, but then in the second half you still feel like shitting on people who think this is one of GN'R's best songs. Classic.

[Rovim]

10 minutes ago, IzzysMissy said:

we all know that opinions are like assholes and we’ve all got one, but it’s pretty delusional to call this a top 5 of anything.

too bad we all don't know the meaning of the word "subjective". It can't be delusional, cause it's music we're talking about here. 

[Showty]

58 minutes ago, allwaystired said:

Those clicks and pops you all mentioned (and I thought I'd never notice!) are all over the last bit! 

I'm not a big one for worrying too much about production and mixing nuances....but even to me this sounds mixed terribly, especially the drums. 

What a wasted opportunity. Again.

I had to check my headphones connection, thought there was something wrong with them. 

 

Kind of glad those noises actually belong the to song, which is a very weird thing to say. 

[Seb91]

I think it's a decent enough song but nothing like the track we were expecting. If anything, I'm reminded of the first time I heard Atlas Shrugged, having built it up in my mind for so long I was underwhelmed when it was just a decent enough GN'R song. The General seems a bit undercooked as a song to me and I feel some more work probably should have gone into it for it to reach its full potential. I agree it's a shame Monsters wasn't included. Although it seems apt that in GN'R land the song a lot of folks think is better is still a leak and yet to be released!

Still, it's trippy that it's finally out there! Hope my vinyl and merch finally comes soon, seems ages ago I pre-ordered that! 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Seb91

[axlweave]

 Beltrami said Seven was the best out of the songs he worked on sad thing is we will probably never hear it

[Dacroix]

WHERE'S THE EPIC?

[colonizedmind]

2 hours ago, allwaystired said:

Those clicks and pops you all mentioned (and I thought I'd never notice!) are all over the last bit! 

I'm not a big one for worrying too much about production and mixing nuances....but even to me this sounds mixed terribly, especially the drums. 

What a wasted opportunity. Again.

What were they doing when they even bothered to turn up and listen to "mixes"...did they choose the wrong one? Those photos gave the illusion that they were caring quite a bit about the upcoming releases...

To be honest, it sounds Frankensteined...and I expected it to, as it was Frankensteined...it's a recording with material recorded over 20 years apart and in many different sessions and it's probably as finished as it was when Axl left it....he's the custodian of all this particular material and I don't think he's gone back to add anything to any of the last 4 tracks which if they were actually CD2, he definately would of added vocals/verses/layers...

Some of that would of been welcome...others not. 

So, I'm indifferent...still waiting for my Vinyl though, have folk got them today! I got a dispatch email at least.

1 hour ago, axlweave said:

 Beltrami said Seven was the best out of the songs he worked on sad thing is we will probably never hear it

Pfft...we said that about General...then we ended up with that AND Soul Monster....you'll hear it, you just need to live long enough...

Edited December 8, 2023 by colonizedmind

[IzzysMissy]

30 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I agree, except that I find it slightly better than Monsters. I benefit from not really expecting much. I didn't expect it to be fantastic, I never listened to evader's version. It's good, not fantastic and not terrible. Good. It could easily have replaced a few of the weakest songs on CD. I also don't listen to it on some fancy system so I don't notice anything wrong with how it is mixed or mastered. 

So in the start of that sentence you seems to accept that personal preferences in music is highly subjective and that whatever we like is all valid, but then in the second half you still feel like shitting on people who think this is one of GN'R's best songs. Classic.

With all the hype this song had, lol, delusional is the perfect word to describe the top 5 reactions, imo of course. For the record, I think/feel that Perhaps is easily the best if their most recent releases. There I said something nice.

[SoulMonster]

19 minutes ago, axlweave said:

 Beltrami said Seven was the best out of the songs he worked on sad thing is we will probably never hear it

Why don't you think we will hear it?

[Rovim]

18 minutes ago, IzzysMissy said:

With all the hype this song had, lol, delusional is the perfect word to describe the top 5 reactions, imo of course. For the record, I think/feel that Perhaps is easily the best if their most recent releases. There I said something nice.

you said something silly....again cause you don't seem to understand that there is no person in the world that is qualified or able to decide objectively on which are the best Gn'R tunes. Hype is not relevant. Music is just expression of emotion, like art. 

for example, Rolling Stone magazine was of the opinion that Led Zeppelin was shit at first. Many people disagree. It doesn't mean anything cause the listener and how he perceives the music is also a factor which makes music subjective. 

believe it or not, your opinion is just your opinion.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Rovim