You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Re: Tim Palmer's two days on CD
Tim Palmer briefly reminisced the time he spent on CD. The band had already relocated into The Village Studios, so this would've been late 2000, after Bob Ezrin's 'three good songs' comment, and prior to Tom Zutaut.
I did two days on that record [CD], actually... I was I was the producer who worked the shortest amount of time... Yeah, [Buckethead] was there, all that was going on.
It was right after I'd worked with U2 [mixing All That You Can't Leave Behind, rel. 2000] So, the record company thought, 'OK, you can go in, work with Axl, do the vocals, mix it.' Which, of course, y'know, is not that simple.
So, we went down there and I got on with Axl, and I said, 'Let's start tomorrow.' And he said, 'Can we start at midnight?' And, I thought, 'Oh, here we go.'
So we get down there at midnight. 2 o'clock comes, and some assistant's saying, 'Oh, Axl's just getting out of the shower, he'll be getting there down there soon...' I'm tired, and I'm thinking, 'Wow.'
So, Axl arrives and they all start rushing around, making sure everything's right... We tried to a record a song. He didn't have any ideas for that aside of a few syllables, he said. So we stayed up all night recording a few syllables...
I thought, 'You know what?' At the time, my wife was pregnant, and he was working in The Village in Santa Monica and I lived in Studio City, and I thought, I'm driving back along the 405, 6-7 in the morning. I was thinking, do I really wanna do this, is this going to make me a happy person? I know it's Guns N' Roses, but am I gonna be happy doing this?
And I thought, 'Oh no, I'm not, and I'm gonna cut this off right now.' We weren't allowed to call, there was no phone calls, so everyone was given a BlackBerry. So I texted him and I said, 'Dear Axl, I'm so sorry, but I really feel that I'm not the right guy for this job. I wish you every success and the tracks sound great and, y'know, I'm sorry to do this.'
He just wrote back and said, 'Fuck you! Lose my pager number!'
at that story
at that attitude
Re: Tim Palmer's two days on CD
Wow. Another peak behind the Chinese curtain. Recording syllables in 2000? Between that and Fortus saying 90% of the vocals were done in a week in 2001, I don't think it was even feasible for any release in 99-00.
I need to read Ezrin's comments again. He was either listening to instrumentals or songs with scratch vocals.
This guy experienced something similar to Moby. Moby wanted to work on the project....until it came time to work on the project. No vocals had been recorded and when he asked Axl about it, Axl wasn't too fond of the question so Moby just immediately bailed.
Re: Tim Palmer's two days on CD
I would say that Catcher, IRS, SOD, and TWAT all had vocals by 2000 when David Wild heard the album for the Rolling Stone piece. After all, he made a special designation for Oklahoma, now Berlin, as being an instrumental only.
I can't find the Zakk Wylde quote about the album sounding like "fire and ice" but always thought that was about Prostitute. The vocal take quality and sound seems in line with those other tracks to support my theory. So there's roughly half of an album with vocals by 2000.
It is an interesting onion to peel, to be sure.
Re: Tim Palmer's two days on CD
Wow. Another peak behind the Chinese curtain. Recording syllables in 2000? Between that and Fortus saying 90% of the vocals were done in a week in 2001, I don't think it was even feasible for any release in 99-00.
Axl did a lot of vocals with Sean Beavan in autumn '99, in the space of a week or so. I think around 11-12 songs. They were the A-listed songs of the era and formed the bulk of the Beavan album (many of those songs were released, on CD mk 3, and while most instrumentals were re-done, the vocals stayed).
A year later, Axl was getting anxious to mix the album. Ezrin told him off. Axl was on a bind, and started looking for new songs. TIL, Shackler and Sorry came into the frame for this era, CD mk 2. Axl was apparently having a writers block right about then, and small wonder. He was being asked a hit.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Tim Palmer's two days on CD
I can be critical of Axl but this straight up sounds like this producer just wasn't willing to work nights.
I mean with proper planning he could have changed to night shift mode so that start times of midnight-3am were not a case of being up past your functional hours.
It seems kinda like the guy was cut that he had to work nights, then when Axl didn't have the songs done and ready to go he just bailed.
I think Axl's hiding behind handlers and so on is fundamental to the break up of the old band, but at the same time if he wants to work nights I think he's important enough to the project that he be allowed to.
Re: Tim Palmer's two days on CD
I can be critical of Axl but this straight up sounds like this producer just wasn't willing to work nights.
Oh please.
At no point is "fuck you, lose my pager number" a reasonable response.
And the "I work when I want and only when I want" philosophy worked wonders for Axl. 
Re: Tim Palmer's two days on CD
Eh, he had some valid points. To be up all night listening to some ego maniac record syllables, while the wife was home pregnant, and the lovely drive home on the 405....can't blame the guy.
I wish a book would come out about this debacle one day, that would be a great read. That interview with Brain alone was awesome.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: Tim Palmer's two days on CD
Who fucking cares.
Seriously I am so ready for this CD era to be behind us. I am ready for the new era to start with Slash and Duff involved.
