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

[tboneman]

21 minutes ago, Seb91 said:

I agree that the Chinese era needs a line put under it. I think what we've seen from the locker leaks and official releases is that there wasn't some epic lost album waiting to go and that on the whole what made the cut for Chinese was the best stuff available. The song I think would have made sense to include in 2008 is Hard Skool as it's a classic GN'R style rocker that would have a good single. 

Absurd whilst fun due to Slash's guitar work (bro did the impossible and polished a turd there) was probably best left off and when it wasn't on the record in 2008 I assumed it was just because it wasn't that good. Hard Skool is a fun track and the best of the bunch so far I feel and Perhaps is a decent ballad. The least said about The General the better (I never thought I'd be saying that!). However, none are really up there with the best of Chinese in my view. 

Out of the songs we've heard Going Down, Oklahoma and Me & My Elvis are the strongest I feel. The first will never get put out there for obvious reasons and who knows if vocals were ever recorded for the others. If the latter two have vocals then I think they should just put them out and be done with it. The thing is even if Oklahoma and Elvis are in a position to be put out, I can see why they went with this drip feeding approach. An album of these leftovers would have been a massive flop as expectations would have been super high and they can put a couple of songs out whenever they're on tour and keep up the pretence that they're actually a creatively active band like the wording in the Perhaps press release implied. 

I also think it's more important to Axl get these songs finally out than anything. He probably doesn't care if they are flop or not. Like mentally he cannot move on to new things before he has finished the CD era. 

[DarkLotus1111]

I like the song. It's right up in my alley. The whole experimental rock stuff is my thing, so that's probably why I personally enjoyed it. However; the clipping is obvious and the overall production could've been better. It's a solid song for me and it reminds me of "Oh My God". 

I wasn't even around when the "mythical" rumors about this song took place, but I can understand why some of you are disappointed that it's not some epic rock ballad or the next "Coma". 

Let this be a lesson to NOT put a song in a pedestal that you haven't even heard. Didn't "Prostitute" received some mythical hype that ended up disappointing fans too? 

 

[Appetitefordiscussion]

Anyone else love the “don’t know what to tell ya now” part? 

[Rovim]

2 minutes ago, DarkLotus1111 said:

Let this be a lesson to NOT put a song in a pedestal that you haven't even heard. Didn't "Prostitute" received some mythical hype that ended up disappointing fans too? 

yeah, some fans were disappointed. IIRC, before the release of Prostitute Tommy said that it was better than SCOM. After listening to the song for the first time, it wasn't what I was expecting, but I think it's one of the stronger tunes on the album.

[dave94]

1 hour ago, star said:

 

Based on what has been released since the released of C.D. it makes sense why those songs failed to make it onto the album, as they sound unfinished. Hard Skool, Absurd, Perhaps, The General all sound, lacking to me. Hard Skool is probably the most G'N'R sound track of the bunch. I have yet to hear Monsters. 

The Monsters leak sounded decent and worthy of the Guns N Roses name, but I agree with everything else, it’s clear why this stuff wasn’t released and if it’s the best they had It’s no surprise CD II was canned by the label 15 years ago.
 

Hard School and Perhaps the demos were interesting but the final versions ruined (to no direct fault of Slash / Duff) by having the songs re-done so many times the original vision had been completely erased over. The General on the other hand just doesn’t sound completed at all, a distorted mess, off sounding drums, too many repeated sections and the ending sounds like scratch vocals waiting to be replace with lyrics which were never written. The crazy thing is we’ve been given this when we know a finished version of monsters exists and Atlas Shrugged could/should have been done too

Edited December 8, 2023 by dave94

[NormisX]

11 minutes ago, DarkLotus1111 said:

I like the song. It's right up in my alley. The whole experimental rock stuff is my thing, so that's probably why I personally enjoyed it. However; the clipping is obvious and the overall production could've been better. It's a solid song for me and it reminds me of "Oh My God". 

I wasn't even around when the "mythical" rumors about this song took place, but I can understand why some of you are disappointed that it's not some epic rock ballad or the next "Coma". 

Let this be a lesson to NOT put a song in a pedestal that you haven't even heard. Didn't "Prostitute" received some mythical hype that ended up disappointing fans too? 

 

Totally agree - I love the song, but the drum clipping in choruses is just unlistenable. And the song could have been waaay better with some decent mixing and mastering... it just sounds thin and no power

[ZoSoRose]

I think there was a really amazing album in the locker leaks with all the instrumentals. I doubt they were all finished so it doesn't matter. 

A mean, lean hard rock album of completed, layered, and reworked stuff from the below list would have been cool and pretty heavy. Atlas, The General, Perhaps, and HS would need more work, though, even imo-

Hard Skool
Me and My Elvis
Quicksong
Perhaps
Atlas Shrugged
Zodiac
Seven
Absurd
Devious Bastard
Oklahoma
State of Grace
Tonto
Prom Violence
The General 
Monsters

It doesn't matter, though. Most of those ideas were surely abandoned. We have closure with the locker leaks and now The General and Soul Monster. The only one left to really speculate on is Seven (and maybe Ides of March), but I even question those songs, now. The Chinese chapter has been a ride, but we are scraping the bottom, now. It was fun and maddening speculating about CD2 from 2008-2019 (and beyond), but the more we have learned, the more I am convinced CD2 never existed as a final follow- up.

It actually all makes sense why we didn't get an album from 2008-2014. There wasn't one.

The four released songs are cool for diehards, but they aren't earth shattering. They are leftovers. It is just clear. They all have repeated lyrics and less layers and music than most of the album tracks. That doesn't mean I am not happy to have them. Bring them on, I say, but an album with these and other finished songs like OMG, Going Down, Atlas, etc. just is not up to the quality that calls for a major release. Monsters is pretty cool, but not enough to carry those other songs on its own for a full record. A real follow-up would have required all- new songs or at least going back to old ideas and completely reworking and rerecording them. We know Axl does not tend to do that. 

We could have gotten a double album with these and Monsters sprinkled in to pad out the tracklist in 2008, though. 

Edited December 8, 2023 by ZoSoRose

[SoulMonster]

52 minutes ago, Seb91 said:

I think what we've seen from the locker leaks and official releases is that there wasn't some epic lost album waiting to go and that on the whole what made the cut for Chinese was the best stuff available. 

If you by "we" mean you and I, then we certainly haven't seen that. 

[F*ck Fear]

Now, this is a question that shows how smart I am when it comes to modern technology but where would I go to purchase The General digitally in flac form?

I looked on Guns website and only see the hard copies.

[star]

18 minutes ago, dave94 said:

The Monsters leak sounded decent and worthy of the Guns N Roses name, but I agree with everything else, it’s clear why this stuff wasn’t released and if it’s the best they had It’s no surprise CD II was canned by the label 15 years ago.
 

Hard School and Perhaps the demos were interesting but the final versions ruined (to no direct fault of Slash / Duff) by having the songs re-done so many times the original vision had been completely erased over. The General on the other hand just doesn’t sound completed at all, a distorted mess, off sounding drums, too many repeated sections and the ending sounds like scratch vocals waiting to be replace with lyrics which were never written. The crazy thing is we’ve been given this when we know a finished version of monsters exists and Atlas Shrugged could/should have been done too

CD II ..that was a thing? ..i never knew that.

One song that no one seems to mention that got played live was Silkworms. I actually liked that track, as a Chinese D. era effort. Sure it wasn't very Guns'N'Roses, it worked well enough live. 

[NormisX]

1 minute ago, F*ck Fear said:

Now, this is a question that shows how smart I am when it comes to modern technology but where would I go to purchase The General digitally in flac form?

I looked on Guns website and only see the hard copies.

Flac format won't fix clipping

[Oxford]

I’ve held off commenting about this song for weeks now.   I think I’ll keep that up. 

[ZoSoRose]

I’m not an audiophile and I think the clipping is distracting. 

[Rovim]

11 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

I think there was a really amazing album in the locker leaks with all the instrumentals. I doubt they were all finished so it doesn't matter. 

A mean, lean hard rock album of completed, layered, and reworked stuff from the below list would have been cool and pretty heavy. Atlas, The General, Perhaps, and HS would need more work, though, even imo-

Hard Skool
Me and My Elvis
Quicksong
Perhaps
Atlas Shrugged
Zodiac
Seven
Absurd
Devious Bastard
Oklahoma
State of Grace
Tonto
Prom Violence
The General 
Monsters

It doesn't matter, though. Most of those ideas were surely abandoned. We have closure with the locker leaks and now The General and Soul Monster. The only one left to really speculate on is Seven (and maybe Ides of March), but I even question those songs, now. The Chinese chapter has been a ride, but we are scraping the bottom, now. It was fun and maddening speculating about CD2 from 2008-2019 (and beyond), but the more we have learned, the more I am convinced CD2 never existed as a final follow- up.

It actually all makes sense why we didn't get an album from 2008-2014. There wasn't one.

The four released songs are cool for diehards, but they aren't earth shattering. They are leftovers. It is just clear. They all have repeated lyrics and less layers and music than most of the album tracks. That doesn't mean I am not happy to have them. Bring them on, I say, but an album with these and other finished songs like OMG, Going Down, Atlas, etc. just is not up to the quality that calls for a major release. Monsters is pretty cool, but not enough to carry those other songs on its own for a full record. A real follow-up would have required all- new songs or at least going back to old ideas and completely reworking and rerecording them. We know Axl does not tend to do that. 

We could have gotten a double album with these and Monsters sprinkled in to pad out the tracklist in 2008, though. 

I believe Axl was telling the truth when he said the second half of Chinese was completed and I also think (as I've said before) that a full album's worth of tunes with complete vocals exists. 

the locker leaks just don't represent everything Axl kept in his hard drives if I had to guess, it's not even close. Some of us assume that we have a pretty good idea of how much work was completed, but we don't cause Axl never talked about it in detail.

it's likely that there are many, many instrumentals/material that Axl has worked on in various stages of completion.

[Towelie]

27 minutes ago, dave94 said:

the ending sounds like scratch vocals waiting to be replace with lyrics which were never written. 

It probably was and then Axl decided to leave it as is. I actually think it works.

[star]

1 hour ago, bangit said:

Probably right although that is because Axl can sing 'Absurd' repeatedly without much difficulty. I still hate the song. Worse than Riad for me. I just don't get it at all. 

Hard Skool is decent but was crap live in Budapest this year, really underwhelming. Haven't seen perhaps live. 

TG could be better love than on the single although it depends on Axl being able to deliver which unfortunately is less likely these days. 

Absurd. Not a track i like.

It takes me back to NIN's track 'Burn'. NIN perform Burn live, and all the NIN high-end effort cannot save what is average by NIN standard. The song's punch line 'Burrrn...' fails. NIN have too many other great tracks to play live over Burn.

For the record, i am not comparing Absurd to Burn. I am comparing the lack of that something when it comes to both tracks. If i had to pick one, i would pick Burn. 

[Spoon87]

7 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

I’m not an audiophile and I think the clipping is distracting. 

Yeah, it obviously is. Unbelievable that stuff like this got released in this day and age.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Spoon87

[AxlRQ93]

Are there frogs on The General

[star]

The General

Could almost be a Korn song.

The vocals sound way too processed. 

To be honest, i am not sure what to make of The General.

For sure it sounds far removed from the Appetite era. For me the Appetite reigns supreme

[We love Axl Rose]

4 hours ago, NormisX said:

Is there any way to contact the band about the clipping issue? The song is just un-listenable

4 hours ago, drlaban said:

Axl’s on Twitter/X.

Or Beta's on Instagram. 

[ZoSoRose]

4 minutes ago, AxlRQ93 said:

Are there frogs on The General

Thank god

[NormisX]

4 minutes ago, Spoon87 said:

Yeah, it obviously is. Unbelievable that stuff like this got released in this day and age.

I just can't get my mind around this... did anyone from the band even listen to this mix before release?

[Slugworth]

1 hour ago, Seb91 said:

I think what we've seen from the locker leaks and official releases is that there wasn't some epic lost album waiting to go

Yeah.

 

They had an unfinished second album with potential rotting in the vault that was in dire need of being fleshed out, especially in the lyrics/vocals department. It wasn't, never will be, so we get a drip feed of a handful of horrible mixes, shoddy LP covers, and other fuck ups instead.

The final unveiling of the grand vision.

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, 2020_Intensions said:

Agreed. I find it ABSURD that people are seriously suggesting The General is better than Catcher, IRS, and others off ChiDem ....

It's not really a suggestion, though. It's an opinion... 

[Nick85]

It’s a good melody, but not really a song you can sing along with without feeling utterly awkward due to the subject matter.