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Re: Chinese Democracy II? - The Truth
If CD is 4 albums, i wonder how the story ends.....
If we're all very, very lucky, it'll end (or go on, depending on how you look at it) by having a more solid band entry for the second (or third) go-around. Am reading Joel McIver's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and the quote from Bill Ward actually caught my eye. What he said, in a nutshell, is that bands generally make their first album with various members bringing all their individual influences from wherever, hoping that the material is strong enough to meld together into a cohesive piece. In the best case scenario, around the second or third album, their mutual sound starts growing stronger, all the separate pieces blending into a more unique voice of different players finding harmony amongst themselves.
CD is mostly the combined forces of Axl, Tommy, Robin, Paul Huge, Dizzy, Pitman and Josh Freese. Some songs carry the additional emblem of Bucket and Brain. The other guys simply weren't there to compose the songs and learn to work with each other as a solidified unit. That's the main problem with CD; it's around the work of four albums in one. Axl just couldn't say, 'Fuck it, I'm not going to release this yet, but I won't bother working on these same songs all over again either.' Smart money would've had Brain and Bucket come in for a completely new album, write a bunch of new songs, see them through and then return to the '99 album with the previous lineup. Axl would've had a solid debut from the 2001 lineup, and if the chemistry would've been there, they could've rearranged the '99 album to meet more current standards, without sounding overtly tacked on.
Instead, what we got was Axl tinkering with the same pieces of music for a decade, with people coming and going - augmenting the umpteenth guitar track on a said song with Pro-Tools may sound seamless in a technical sense, but it sure as hell sticks out if recorded eight years later from the bulk of the piece. It just doesn't feel like a band effort, which the '99 and '01 versions might've very well been. Obviously, Axl's not hearing this, and he's always brought up the 'melting pot' aspect of the production. Fair enough, if you want to start over time and again with new people, a melting pot is what you're getting. But if you'd like the sound and music of your band to reach completely different heights, you'd keel over the melting pot already and start working on something fresh with one single lineup again.
Then again, that would mean you should regard GNR as a band again, instead of some dubious family unit, with everyone starting from your gardener and second-cousin playing 'sub bass'. By doing so, you might actually face the fact that they'd gain a certain level of control over GNR simply by the necessity of presence, as they'd be an integral part of the sound. Giving up the 'divide et impera' tactics would probably make you a bit more dependent over certain key players, just like you once depended on Slash.
"I don't want to be in a situation again where I have to depend on other people and have [to] start all over." - Axl, '99
In that case, you're Guns N' Roses by yourself, buddy.
Re: Chinese Democracy II? - The Truth
Smart move would be to beg Bucket to come in and put his stuff on ALL the remaining songs. That way we can at least have continuety in what the stuff sounds like.
Buy him Neverland and make it into a 24/7 Chicken coop with all the doog poo he wants. He's that important for the sound. At least to me.
When I think of Chinese Democracy...I think of his TWAT solo. It's the first thing that springs to mind.
