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- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: WTF happened to…Catcher in the Rye
What was done to this song was criminal. The original track was a beautiful Queen/Elton John/Beatles type affair. The mess of a solo and outro dumped on top of it… ugh. At least we have the clean demo version now.
- Haters Gonna Hate
- Rep: 1
Re: WTF happened to…Catcher in the Rye
The Village session demo is very good IMO. The album version is awful. BBF should have never been allowed to play on the album. Like every released song on CD it has way too much going on.
Re: WTF happened to…Catcher in the Rye
There’s a logic to it.
The original is from the raw, alt-rock version of the album, the RTB version was likely erased out of spite. Axl’s reworking of the album was geared towards heavy electronic guitars so naturally all bass and drums were buried.
BBF did his job. Can’t blame him. He showed more concern for the fans than anyone. What he did could’ve been made to sound better in the mix and Axl wasn’t even in the studio when he recorded it. It’s garbage of course but I don’t blame the fall guy.
Blame Axl and Caram.
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: WTF happened to…Catcher in the Rye
There’s a logic to it.
The original is from the raw, alt-rock version of the album, the RTB version was likely erased out of spite. Axl’s reworking of the album was geared towards heavy electronic guitars so naturally all bass and drums were buried.
BBF did his job. Can’t blame him. He showed more concern for the fans than anyone. What he did could’ve been made to sound better in the mix and Axl wasn’t even in the studio when he recorded it. It’s garbage of course but I don’t blame the fall guy.
Blame Axl and Caram.
Yeah, I don't have anything against BBF. He's a good guy and he did the job that was asked of him. He was in the unfortunate position where he was being asked to add additional layers to tracks that, for the most part, didn't need them. Axl's perfectly laudable desire to both honour the contributions of those who'd gone before and ensure that members of the current line-up had a hand in the finished album, ultimately resulted in an overstuffed final product. In some cases I'd say Ron's work enhances the songs (particularly his fretless work in Chinese Democracy and his Shackler's solo/tapping bit).
- metallex78
- Rep: 194
Re: WTF happened to…Catcher in the Rye
Ron’s solo ruined the song for me. Just disjointed rubbish that doesn’t suit the song at all, regardless whether he’s to blame or not. The original demo with Brian May is magic.
Re: WTF happened to…Catcher in the Rye
Yep...it's up there with Civil War as a lyrical highlight of his career.
That lyrical content in the context of a Beatles style ballad is genius. Too bad the world at large will never really know how amazing it was thanks to the abortion that went on the album. The original had a retro yet timeless feel to it.
It amazes me that he would ruin his own material.... especially THIS song.
It reinforces my opinion that he no longer gave a shit at that point... about the album or his legacy.
The sessions needed more songs like these two.
Re: WTF happened to…Catcher in the Rye
I have something else to say in general...thanks to listening to Pink Floyd tonight.
Why couldn't this album be more like Wish You Were Here? It covers very similar territory...
The devastating loss of a crucial band member
Waters extremely cynical, jaded view of the industry... something Axl was dealing with himself.
It's also only 5 songs and gets the point across nicely.