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

[rumandraisin]

What I find interesting is we never realised there were two separate orchestral pieces being used as the intro from 2006 to 2011. Monsters was used in some 2010 shows, we were hearing parts of Soul Monster all that time and never knew. 

Although the strings out of context do sound quite similar from both songs. 

[Rovim]

29 minutes ago, alfa75 said:

Why would anyone intentionally choose to release a ‘worse’ version of any song?

idk, I think for example the officially released version of Catcher is not nearly as good as the demo version with Brian May. I don't agree with some artistic choices Axl has made regarding Chinese cause what Axl thinks is better doesn't always match with what I prefer as a listener. 

 

[Brixtongeordie]

2 hours ago, rumandraisin said:

What I find interesting is we never realised there were two separate orchestral pieces being used as the intro from 2006 to 2011. Monsters was used in some 2010 shows, we were hearing parts of Soul Monster all that time and never knew. 

Although the strings out of context do sound quite similar from both songs. 

Which shows? Always enjoy these comparisons 

[alfa75]

2 hours ago, Rovim said:

idk, I think for example the officially released version of Catcher is not nearly as good as the demo version with Brian May. I don't agree with some artistic choices Axl has made regarding Chinese cause what Axl thinks is better doesn't always match with what I prefer as a listener. 

 

Fair enough, but my point is, I cannot imagine he would choose to release a finished product that HE felt was inferior to some earlier version. As I believe he said in the chats, people get attached to a particular version of something, but that doesn’t mean it fits his vision of what the final song should sound like. 

[alfa75]

On 2/29/2024 at 2:53 PM, Tom2112 said:

At this point what would be the point of releasing a compilation album including all the songs they've released. 

In terms of effort vs reward it won't pay off, because the material has largely not connected with people. Hardskool and Perhaps were closest to getting a positive reaction upon release. And the idea of rehashing songs from the original CD album, I mean it's not a good idea. They would be slated "guns n roses are so out of ideas they reach back to 2008s flop for inspiration" that could be taken from any potential review. I don't consider Chinese a flop btw😄 

IF gnr are releasing an album at this point, it has to be material we haven't heard, it would ideally break away from the 97-08 sessions and be current gnr centred (no credits for bucket, robin, Paul, Tommy, Chris etc. just the current members) with maybe 2 songs from the previous era which would be seriously reworked and rearranged, stripped down entirely and completely re-recorded.

“Largely connected” is kind of subjective. Perhaps has around 6 million views on YT, and some of the newer stuff has more Spotify streams than TWAT, PTU, Locomotive, CITR, Breakdown, Perfect crime, The Garden, etc. I mean HS is #38, which is not at all bad considering that between AFD and CD, they’ve released 78 songs. 

Edited March 2 by alfa75
Omission of content

[Rovim]

49 minutes ago, alfa75 said:

Fair enough, but my point is, I cannot imagine he would choose to release a finished product that HE felt was inferior to some earlier version. As I believe he said in the chats, people get attached to a particular version of something, but that doesn’t mean it fits his vision of what the final song should sound like. 

I don't think anyone said that Axl chose to release a product he thought was inferior though, if I understand it correctly it was just Sweersa expressing his own opinion

Edited March 2 by Rovim

[Arnuld]

6 hours ago, rumandraisin said:

What I find interesting is we never realised there were two separate orchestral pieces being used as the intro from 2006 to 2011. Monsters was used in some 2010 shows, we were hearing parts of Soul Monster all that time and never knew. 

Although the strings out of context do sound quite similar from both songs. 

I can barely hear any strings at all on Monsters 

[Illusion1987]

Why do they even need to release an album IF they are releasing download able songs.

 

We already have 4 of the tracks. The only way an album makes sense is if 50% of it is new.

 

If the just bundle the singles...we already have them!

I HATE their strategy.

Just add 8 more songs + the 4 for a 12 song NEW album!

[Tom2112]

7 hours ago, alfa75 said:

“Largely connected” is kind of subjective. Perhaps has around 6 million views on YT, and some of the newer stuff has more Spotify streams than TWAT, PTU, Locomotive, CITR, Breakdown, Perfect crime, The Garden, etc. I mean HS is #38, which is not at all bad considering that between AFD and CD, they’ve released 78 songs. 

That comes with putting the songs in a permanent place in the set. Let's say PTU was in the set from 2016-present those numbers would look different.

I'm not saying these songs are universally disliked, I am saying they failed to capture people's attention. Hardskool and Perhaps were both the closest things to traditional gnr so people latched on to them... Does that make them great songs? I would say so but that is subjective. The numbers on the other hand are not anything to celebrate... Although I agree it's a little challenging to get specifics

[Tom2112]

17 hours ago, Uncle Bob said:

it's not part of a bunch, it leaked. God knows how many songs were reworked, maybe it's part of a bunch with many great unheard songs. All of these probably were ready to go years ago but Axl just wouldn't do shit

I know, I meant rom the entirety of what we've heard, released and unreleased 

[Sweersa]

10 hours ago, alfa75 said:

Why would you imagine it to be better? Sounds like personal bias. Why would anyone intentionally choose to release a ‘worse’ version of any song?

Even back in the CD-era, I preferred Bucket's playing to Bumblefoot. I feel the Bucket and Robin mixes of songs we have NITL lineup versions of are better overall because their playing and parts fit the songs better because they wrote the songs and were part of the initial creative process of them, and that makes sense because Slash is adding guitars to 20 year old songs. It's probably not even possible to get them to sound right. And the poor production doesn't make it any better. So far, I think Slash's best work is on Absurd. His solos seem to elevate that song from the leak with Bumblefoot and likely Bucket as well. 

[alfa75]

16 hours ago, Sweersa said:

Even back in the CD-era, I preferred Bucket's playing to Bumblefoot. I feel the Bucket and Robin mixes of songs we have NITL lineup versions of are better overall because their playing and parts fit the songs better because they wrote the songs and were part of the initial creative process of them, and that makes sense because Slash is adding guitars to 20 year old songs. It's probably not even possible to get them to sound right. And the poor production doesn't make it any better. So far, I think Slash's best work is on Absurd. His solos seem to elevate that song from the leak with Bumblefoot and likely Bucket as well. 

Personally, Slash’s work on Monsters is flawless for me and his guitar work on TG salvages the song IMO. I know many here will disagree, but having Slash on the latest material adds the organic vibe that makes it seem more GNR to me. I imagine any BH version of TG to be much more digital sounding, and thus even further from their signature sound.

[colonizedmind]

When's the last time we had a "hot topic"....sign o the 2024 times....🧐

18 hours ago, Sweersa said:

Even back in the CD-era, I preferred Bucket's playing to Bumblefoot. I feel the Bucket and Robin mixes of songs we have NITL lineup versions of are better overall because their playing and parts fit the songs better because they wrote the songs and were part of the initial creative process of them, and that makes sense because Slash is adding guitars to 20 year old songs. It's probably not even possible to get them to sound right. And the poor production doesn't make it any better. So far, I think Slash's best work is on Absurd. His solos seem to elevate that song from the leak with Bumblefoot and likely Bucket as well. 

Is that a rare Slash promote, I hear? 😏

[2020_Intensions]

2 hours ago, alfa75 said:

Personally, Slash’s work on Monsters is flawless for me and his guitar work on TG salvages the song IMO. I know many here will disagree, but having Slash on the latest material adds the organic vibe that makes it seem more GNR to me. I imagine any BH version of TG to be much more digital sounding, and thus even further from their signature sound.

Nothing about The General is the least bit organic my dude ....

[Tom2112]

20 hours ago, Sweersa said:

Even back in the CD-era, I preferred Bucket's playing to Bumblefoot. I feel the Bucket and Robin mixes of songs we have NITL lineup versions of are better overall because their playing and parts fit the songs better because they wrote the songs and were part of the initial creative process of them, and that makes sense because Slash is adding guitars to 20 year old songs. It's probably not even possible to get them to sound right. And the poor production doesn't make it any better. So far, I think Slash's best work is on Absurd. His solos seem to elevate that song from the leak with Bumblefoot and likely Bucket as well. 

Absurd is the best only track that Slash seemed to get with, the other ones that seemed obvious for him have been a bit shit. Just unfortunate Absurd is ruined with that vocal 

[alfa75]

1 hour ago, 2020_Intensions said:

Nothing about The General is the least bit organic my dude ....

All a matter of opinion my dude.

[alfa75]

39 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Absurd is the best only track that Slash seemed to get with, the other ones that seemed obvious for him have been a bit shit. Just unfortunate Absurd is ruined with that vocal 

 

40 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Absurd is the best only track that Slash seemed to get with, the other ones that seemed obvious for him have been a bit shit. Just unfortunate Absurd is ruined with that vocal 

All of Slash’s work has been great, IMO and I say that as someone who thought his best days were far behind him.

[Draguns]

9 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

Absurd is the best only track that Slash seemed to get with, the other ones that seemed obvious for him have been a bit shit. Just unfortunate Absurd is ruined with that vocal 

I have to respectfully disagree.  The guitar  on Hard Skool for the Village leaks were a mess. The song  was clearly not ready to be released. Slash and Duff cleaned up that mess. Slash also did well with Perhaps. 

[ShadowOfTheWave]

2 hours ago, Draguns said:

I have to respectfully disagree.  The guitar  on Hard Skool for the Village leaks were a mess. The song  was clearly not ready to be released. Slash and Duff cleaned up that mess.

And then they put an echo filter on Axl's voice which ass fucked the song.

[Blackstar]

On 3/2/2024 at 5:54 PM, Arnuld said:

I can barely hear any strings at all on Monsters 

I hear more than on the General.

[Free Bird]

12 hours ago, alfa75 said:

 

All of Slash’s work has been great, IMO and I say that as someone who thought his best days were far behind him.

Every single song he worked on sounds more like classic Guns now than before. That’s a fact. Whether you prefer one style over the other is another question. For me, as someone who prefers the classic era over the CD era, it’s an easy choice. I think Slash improved every single song with his playing.

[Sweersa]

8 hours ago, Free Bird said:

Every single song he worked on sounds more like classic Guns now than before. That’s a fact. Whether you prefer one style over the other is another question. For me, as someone who prefers the classic era over the CD era, it’s an easy choice. I think Slash improved every single song with his playing.

Slash's Perhaps solo, except for the end, seemed to be in the wrong tone for the song. Maybe it just sounds that way because I'm used to Robin's solo, at least they kept two seconds of it.  

[Tom2112]

21 hours ago, alfa75 said:

 

All of Slash’s work has been great, IMO and I say that as someone who thought his best days were far behind him.

I don't know if anyone can listen to his solo on perhaps and honestly call it great... Acceptable? That's even a stretch. 

He hasn't been playing awfully he just hasn't been playing memorably. 

[Rovim]

51 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

I don't know if anyone can listen to his solo on perhaps and honestly call it great... Acceptable? That's even a stretch. 

He hasn't been playing awfully he just hasn't been playing memorably. 

the quality standard that Slash has set for what I personally consider a great Slash solo is high, I don't think he's as good as he was and I prefer Robin's Perhaps solo but I can honestly say I really like Slash's solo on the officially released version and for me it's memorable. those weird triple bends in it is my favorite part of the solo. really brought a nice flavor to it imho.

[Free Bird]

1 hour ago, Tom2112 said:

I don't know if anyone can listen to his solo on perhaps and honestly call it great... Acceptable? That's even a stretch. 

He hasn't been playing awfully he just hasn't been playing memorably. 

It’s not your task to judge anybody’s opinion. He answered your question before you could actually ask for. Also, Slash‘s work contains more than just the solo. 

Having said that, I thought the solo on Perhaps was a bit underwhelming, too, mostly because of the way they release those left overs. Had they released them as a bunch it would be more acceptable to me if there had been one short, unspectacular solo out of five or six tracks. Releasing them song for song you have nothing else to focus on and you expect the best for each release.