You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
The obvious way for things to play out is:
Axl strips out the DJ/Bumble/Finck/Stinson/Buckethead material from the existing Chinese Democracy II vault tracks.
Slash, Duff and Melissa add their contributions.
Stick one or two tracks on a Best Of as bonus material, along with (possibly) re-recorded versions of TIL, TWAT, Better and CD.
Take the best of the remaining CDII material and the unreleased Velvet Revolver tracks (the Corey Taylor stuff, the "Best GN'R Album That Never Was material from the Contraband sessions) and whack some new Axl lyrics on them. Beg Izzy and Adler to participate on a couple of tracks as a sop to the fans.
Release the result as a new album (self-titled?).
Release some vault stuff (classic live albums and Blu-rays should keep them in clover over the next few holiday seasons).
Then they can start thinking about getting together and recording an album from the ground up. Why bother starting again from scratch when there's so much material that Axl considered worthy of releasing? We know he wanted to put an album out in, what, 2010 or so? Slash takes no time at all to record his stuff, they could put it together in a matter of weeks.
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
Gotta love the reference to that infamous VMA '02 soundbyte. 
@14:35
We are working on new stuff, but like I said a long time ago, I don't know if soon is the word.
I've got a lot of stuff together and I've played some stuff for Slash and Duff.
They like it, and they might be on it, we don't know (as of yet).
@32:55
I'm a big fan of our previous lineup before getting back with Slash and Duff. We did a lot of work with that and with our drummer, Frank, and Dizzy and Richard... To Slash's credit, what I've got to say is that, he and Duff... Duff had played with the last lineup for a few shows, and came in and played the way we did the songs. And then, getting ready for Vegas and Coachella, they all worked very hard and Duff and Slash came in and worked very hard with Frank on the rhythm. That's how they like to work with the drummer, and the drummer having a relationship with Richard worked really good, they liked Richard, they liked each other...
I didn't have to tell Slash anything about working on the Chinese Democracy songs or how to play them. He just embraced them and worked really hard on them. I had no idea how they were going to sound; I'd never heard him play [in] certain ways. In the last times we talked [in '96], he was saying, 'I don't wanna work that hard'. For him to take on Bucketheads or Bumbleheads parts... (catches himself) Bumblehead... Bucketfoot... Bucketheads or Bumblefoots parts, and to just step to it on his own and work on it and enjoy it, that helped a lot. So, they worked really well in rehearsals together.
@42:15
My bucket list... I haven't really thought of that. It would probably be doing soundtrack material, or something like that. And I just... I do want to put out more music with Guns N' Roses. I don't know if that has to do with Slash or not underneath the Guns N' Roses thing, but if he and I write something, or he wants to play on something that we have, that'd be great. But I've been working, kind of, to where things are. I mean, Guns N' Roses, to me, didn't happen by chance or whatever. It was always looked at as a possibility, but it never just seemed right or felt right.
The nervous guy next to him is David Tang, known for the Shanghai Tang clothing line he founded in the mid-90s. He and Axl go back. Tang came off as pretty patronizing in the course of the discussion, moreso towards the audience than Axl - if you look at Ax's reactions at times, you'll see he's less than pleased about how Tang tries to dictate the course of events, warning against "middle-class behaviour" like selfies. He emphasized the need for Axl to get a low-key exit and Ax was just like, I got some time, I'll sign stuff if you folks want it. Then Tang, quickly, pushes a notepad on him to get the first autograph.
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
The obvious way for things to play out is:
Axl strips out the DJ/Bumble/Finck/Stinson/Buckethead material from the existing Chinese Democracy II vault tracks.
Definitely remove Ron and I mean no offense to him. I like a small handful of his contributions to the album, loathe other sections, but every second of his contribution to the album is too high in the mix and wasn't pasted in properly. He sticks out like a sore thumb and the songs were already good to go before he ever went into the studio.
Removing him can only improve the material regardless of how good or bad the remaining songs are.
I'd prefer Brain but adding/keeping Frank is to be expected and as long as its mixed properly, I'm fine with it. Everyone in the current lineup should be on the album.
I'd love for Bucket to remain but if his contributions muddy the songs, get rid of him and let Slash work his magic. It pains me to say it as I love the 2001 lineup but he's been removed/lowered in the mix on songs(Shacklers/Riad for starters, maybe CITR/TIL) before so if they can do that to his work for other CD members who aren't improving the songs, give Slash carte blanche.
Slash, Duff and Melissa add their contributions.
What's interesting is Melissa may have already added her contributions long ago and the fans just didn't know. She worked on the CD remixes with Brain years ago.
I love Tommy but like with Bucket, don't have an issue with Duff stepping in and adding his sweet tone to the songs. Tommy sounded great on some of the leaked tracks but was buried on the album.....strip those layers out and let Duff handle it LAMF.....
Take the best of the remaining CDII material and the unreleased Velvet Revolver tracks (the Corey Taylor stuff, the "Best GN'R Album That Never Was material from the Contraband sessions) and whack some new Axl lyrics on them. Beg Izzy and Adler to participate on a couple of tracks as a sop to the fans.
I'd prefer Axl's vault be tackled before they dive into VR rejects or the infamous "GNR album that never was".
I love Izzy, always will, never the same without him, but I'd rather the current lineup release something. If he's coming back then yes let this man whip up some killer stuff. If not, don't go down that road. We do know of one Izzy song that is in play supposedly but I'd rather see what they can cook up. The trio has never released a song without Izzy's input......that is scary.....I'd like to see them try.
The CD years had a studio, live, and "shadow" lineup. I want the waters to stop being so muddy. What we see on stage needs to release an album and promote the hell out of it. If CD II is released in some form they will already be dealing with musicians on it who aren't in GNR. I think it can be promoted without anyone knowing or caring about those early 00s recording sessions but you add Izzy into that mix, people may start asking questions and by people I mean the media.
In a perfect world he joins them and whips up some killer tunes in a few weeks. The world aint perfect though.
Then they can start thinking about getting together and recording an album from the ground up. Why bother starting again from scratch when there's so much material that Axl considered worthy of releasing?
Agreed. Get Chinese out of the way completely and when that's run its course, start thinking about brand new material.
The next time this lineup has a break they need to go back in the studio and stay there for a couple weeks Soundgarden style and then let Axl listen to what they've come up with.
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
The label will want to maximize their profits on the CD II material however they can.
I'd wager that means having Slash play on it and some producer they like producing it. They've been wanting to do that since the early 2000s. Of course, Axl will never do that. But even if Slash re-records Buckethead's or Finck's parts, it won't negate the issues that CD had when it went to market. It will likely still be over-produced, lacking in spontaneity, and feel a bit stale as a result. I suppose they could take it back to formula and have the whole band re-record it but I doubt that.
I do think that those criticisms will matter less, I know plenty of open-minded casual fans who love CD and accept it as GNR canon with no qualms largely because they didn't follow the 2002 band or listen to the leaks. Axl will be the man behind the curtain assuming nothing leaks ahead of time this time around and the good will with most fans and the media will help ensure whatever is released next gets good reviews.
That said, I think the root problem is: "What does Guns N' Roses sound like"? It's been a problem since the Illusions records so much so that it broke up the band. On Chinese it was just as much of an issue. You had the late 1990s Robin Finck songs and you had the early 00s Buckethead songs. Same issue, different band.
I also think that the only way we hear the early new GNR sessions is if Axl dies and even then, probably without vocals, which is a damn shame.
The whole thing is a catch 22 and as I mentioned before, the fans lose again.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
To me the way to appease the label would be to purposely write a quick rock-anthem single. Then the actual album could be full of deep cuts, and epic ballads or entirely like Chinese Democracy or even diverse sounding. But the label could lock onto that single and use it in all promo stuff and on radio and generally as the flag ship "they're back" type sound.
A song like "Rock or Bust" from Ac/Dc - where there doesn't have to be a lot to it - make sure it has a few raspy screams from Axl in the chorus - such as he does on Rock or Bust or even something like the LALD stuff....mix in a slash shreedy blues solo....
I mean I know songwriting is a complex artistic process for Axl with emptional levels and all that...but in terms of the tools of the trade...they could smash something out in an hour that would shut us all the hell up for a tour cycle or more.
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
...they could smash something out in an hour that would shut us all the hell up for a tour cycle or more.
Wishful thinking there. You know I'd find something to complain about 
Plus like you've alluded to, you're relying on Axls mindset having shifted considerably. Appeasement is not something he's been particularly good at..
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
[I'd prefer Axl's vault be tackled before they dive into VR rejects or the infamous "GNR album that never was".
See, this:
To me the way to appease the label would be to purposely write a quick rock-anthem single.
is why they should dig into the old VR tracks. Slash and Duff must have a few radio friendly hard rock tracks in there; Axl's idea of "radio friendly" is releasing Chinese Democracy to stations with a minute's worth of ambient intro fluff. Also it'd be good PR for the album to include a mix of tracks that originated with Axl, and tracks that originated with Slash and Duff (and Izzy? Be interesting to see if he actually has a say in whether his GN'R/VR material is used – can he block its release?).
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
The label will want to maximize their profits on the CD II material however they can.
I'd wager that means having Slash play on it and some producer they like producing it. They've been wanting to do that since the early 2000s. Of course, Axl will never do that. But even if Slash re-records Buckethead's or Finck's parts, it won't negate the issues that CD had when it went to market. It will likely still be over-produced, lacking in spontaneity, and feel a bit stale as a result. I suppose they could take it back to formula and have the whole band re-record it but I doubt that.
Strip out everything bar Fortus' guitar, Dizzy's piano and Frank's drums, and re-record the other parts from the ground up. It wouldn't take long. Slash and Duff can lay down their parts in no time, given that they already know the song structure and riffs, Melissa can layer in some synths, bish bash bosh: done. It's hardly going to sound over-produced if the song consists of:
Axl vocals
Slash guitar
Richard guitar
Frank drums
Duff bass
Dizzy piano
Melissa synth
and some backing vocals from Duff, Richard and Melissa.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Axl at the Chinese Exchange
Wishful thinking there. You know I'd find something to complain about
Plus like you've alluded to, you're relying on Axls mindset having shifted considerably. Appeasement is not something he's been particularly good at..
Yeah absolutely...to be honest I can't imagine Axl doing anything like what I suggested!
I just feel like in theory if they wanted to it would be easy to write a "straight ahead rock track" to go with whatever experimental stuff is lying around that would lube up the ass of the station...wait this metaphor is going wrong.....
I remember how UYI was a bit WTF fans at first - like these days epics like NR and Estranged seem normal but they were a bit odd to the hardrock accustomed fans of AFD. But the waters were eased with stuff like YCBM that delivered the old GNR in spades.
I feel it could be the same, I assume there's more stuff like catcher and TIL type stuff that with Slash would easily be like UYI style numbers, and there's probably a few more things that are a bit outside that mold too - more like Scrapped and Shackler type stuff. Slash on all that stuff would make it rocky as hell...but I figure if they write a "Rock or Bust" style song to showcase Axl's rasp scream and slash's powerhouseness they could get away with so much else I recon.....
Sort of like how those last couple of Ac/Dc albums people don't question too much...they're not pushing out glory era stuff like "thunderstruck" or "back in black" and so on...but it's close enough sounding to what u want that people eat up the single and take it.
