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Re: The story of the 3 good songs
In hindsight I wish Ezrin had never been called in. People like to discard his statement but it looks like it might have been the main domino to fall that helped put the album in purgatory.
Maybe, maybe not. Fortus recent comments suggest the hold up had less to do with the music. Ezrin had his opinion, but Axl still wanted him on, ready to go. That's the same thing Axl has been saying for years. The record company, managers, legal shit etc. was the problem, not whether or not CD was good enough. Going as far as to boycott his own comeback album when it finally was released.
The label definitely holds a big portion of the blame for the unnecessary wait. Stinson's comments in 2009 were an eye opener.
The label should have just thrown the album out there to see if anything could stick. This should have happened when they kept telling him to tinker with it and every time its the exact same songs. Once it reaches the point of nothing new and its bells and dog whistles being added, either throw it out there or scrap it.
All involved are responsible for the saga but the label had their chance for it to be released in 2001-02 and they blew it. He was willing to let it go in that time frame. Its what makes the second half of the wait so frustrating in hindsight. Instead of the perception of the reclusive perfectionist hard at work on his masterpiece living in a studio being the reality, it was a band who finished the damn thing 13 years ago and just waited it out with off and on touring, throwing some layers of bells and whistles on it until the label deemed it worthy of release.
I think without Azoff and the Best Buy deal we'd still be waiting. Proof? 2009-2015.
- Mama's Good Boy
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Re: The story of the 3 good songs
Ezrin is 100% correct with this statement....
I agreed to go there immediately and listen to a bunch of stuff. What I heard was – I don’t know how to say this without be insulting, I don’t want to be insulting because he worked very hard on it – but what I heard was something that he had painted over too many times. So, by the time I heard it, the original content was lost and it was just a highly produced piece of something…
That's CD in a nutshell.
Yea I was listening to the title track the other day, and i think its is a fantastic song. But if you listen to the versions from Rio 2001 or the 2002 tour, its much more stripped down and doesn't have all that noodling from BBF n shit.
A lot of that stuff was just overly fucked with and had layers on top of layers that were not really needed.
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
Yea I was listening to the title track the other day, and i think its is a fantastic song. But if you listen to the versions from Rio 2001 or the 2002 tour, its much more stripped down and doesn't have all that noodling from BBF n shit.
A lot of that stuff was just overly fucked with and had layers on top of layers that were not really needed.
Title track from Boston 2002(best 02 show IMO)
The song was never the same after that tour imploded. I do like the intro that was added to it and Ron's additions to this song is probably his best work on the album but like you said, not needed at all.
Album needed to be in stores while they're doing these shows. I also wish the 2007 leaks of the songs performed then had happened in 2002. Audioslave leaked which caused them to speed up the release of their debut. Might have been a similar outcome here.
Just like CD.......never the same song again. When they resurfaced four years later, they tried turning this song into an REO Speedwagon ballad and it just doesn't work.
I wish Iovine or someone else high up the ladder in the process would do an interview explaining their stance on this project back then. I'd like more detail from their POV than the standard "its not a hit", "not good enough for GNR",etc. drivel.
I wish Axl had taken the "to hell with the pressure I'm not caving in" stance on this album.
I also wish Ezrin had actually named the 2-3 good songs. What scale was he using? GNR in general? Musical climate at the time? If the latter I could easily see Shacklers being one of them although with Axl mentioning the VT massacre as inspiration, the song may not have been finished at the time, at least vocally speaking.
edit: Listening to Street of Dreams on the album right now. Ugh. I'd have preferred its removal from the album and had a HQ version of the song live from Boston or Osaka 02, maybe even Rio as a bonus track.
2nd edit: Finck needed to go in and do another take on that solo.
