THE GENERAL - MONSTERS - Official Discussion Thread. NO LINKS OR ASKING FOR LINKS

[Arnuld]

10 hours ago, bumcheecksmcghee said:

Agree with you there. Question is though, changed the song for the better or worse though? 🤔 

It’s impossible to say. The clip is so short and muffled. 

[AxlSlashthebest]

14 hours ago, Illusion1987 said:

How bummed would we be if we only heard the General and didn't hear Monsters?

 

 

good question. I'm lost !!!!

 

[Sweersa]

2 hours ago, ZoSoRose said:

Once again, you are fascinated by bullshit because it was never The General. Only fans said that

I have heard of OnlyFans.

If we only heard The General, things would be even more confusing because then we would wonder more about the intro music and the 2010 party recording.

[WhazUp]

Is it possible a lot of people are using the barely audible cell phone clip like a Rorschach test and putting their own wants into it now that the actual track is out?

There are a couple of things somewhat discernable in the clip such as some lead guitar parts, and the bridge vocals now that we have the original and can laser-focus on Axl's vocal part, however the comments going "man the early version sounds way better" do make me wonder, because its still just a barely audible clip to my ears lol

Edited November 9, 2023 by WhazUp

[CAFC Nick]

1 hour ago, WhazUp said:

Is it possible a lot of people are using the barely audible cell phone clip like a Rorschach test and putting their own wants into it now that the actual track is out?

There are a couple of things somewhat discernable in the clip such as some lead guitar parts, and the bridge vocals now that we have the original and can laser-focus on Axl's vocal part, however the comments going "man the early version sounds way better" do make me wonder, because its still just a barely audible clip to my ears lol

It’s definitely much easier to make out now we know the structure of the song. I admit the first couple times I heard it when it originally leaked I thought it was mangled garbage with only a few discernible moments.

[shootingstar]

May have totally passed me by, but why have so few felt the ties between The General and Coma? 

 

Anyway, I would love a studio version of it just like they play it live. Maby because I haven't heard the studio version since it was down from YT, and the live version have totally replaced the memory of it. That version had way to much distortion, sounded like there was some layer of distortion all over the mix. Like it was mastered with it. Even the strings sound distorted. And love Axls natural voice way more, especially on the choruses.

[colonizedmind]

2 hours ago, WhazUp said:

Is it possible a lot of people are using the barely audible cell phone clip like a Rorschach test and putting their own wants into it now that the actual track is out?

There are a couple of things somewhat discernable in the clip such as some lead guitar parts, and the bridge vocals now that we have the original and can laser-focus on Axl's vocal part, however the comments going "man the early version sounds way better" do make me wonder, because its still just a barely audible clip to my ears lol

THIS

[weaponsnflowers]

I really hope that if they ever release these songs, Axl is content with having his old voice in them, even if it means he can't sing them (well) live. Because with his current voice, it's just too much like listening to cat whine at times. 

[Caedo]

7 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

Don't follow you. I think it sounds the same structure-wise to me? Could you point this part on the clip to me?

Using the time stamps from that YouTube video, at 2:09.25 the chorus ends, which in the new version just rolls straight into the solo. In the old clip it sounds like the guitars cut out for that breakdown bit then at 2:09.39 I can make out an Axl high note on “nowwwww” leading into the solo.

[Miden34]

2 hours ago, weaponsnflowers said:

I really hope that if they ever release these songs, Axl is content with having his old voice in them, even if it means he can't sing them (well) live. Because with his current voice, it's just too much like listening to cat whine at times. 

ANYONE who uses a cat as a reference in anything is good in my book

[colonizedmind]

2 hours ago, Caedo said:

Using the time stamps from that YouTube video, at 2:09.25 the chorus ends, which in the new version just rolls straight into the solo. In the old clip it sounds like the guitars cut out for that breakdown bit then at 2:09.39 I can make out an Axl high note on “nowwwww” leading into the solo.

Maybe they had to trim it to fit this 7" 😉😏🫣

[AxlRQ93]

had a dream that the general and monsters were released as a double A single with a really gnarly cover and a dark as shit video. Like estranged but on steroids, a genuine Slash inspired horror movie thing. sadly will never happen 😔

[vloors]

13 hours ago, WhazUp said:

Is it possible a lot of people are using the barely audible cell phone clip like a Rorschach test and putting their own wants into it now that the actual track is out?

There are a couple of things somewhat discernable in the clip such as some lead guitar parts, and the bridge vocals now that we have the original and can laser-focus on Axl's vocal part, however the comments going "man the early version sounds way better" do make me wonder, because its still just a barely audible clip to my ears lol

Alot of people are hating on whatever slash is doing on CD era tracks. They are too far up robin and buckets ass to give anything else a chance.

These guys have been out of the band 20+ odd years now move on.

[Amir]

56 minutes ago, vloors said:

Alot of people are hating on whatever slash is doing on CD era tracks. They are too far up robin and buckets ass to give anything else a chance.

These guys have been out of the band 20+ odd years now move on.

I thought Slash improved Absurd and I liked his and Duff’s parts on Hard Skool. I prefer Finck on Perhaps and what I can hear on Monsters. It’s not a case of automatically preferring one guitarist over another.

[General2112]

https://store.universal-music.co.jp/product/uicy5140/

[bumcheecksmcghee]

1 hour ago, Amir said:

I thought Slash improved Absurd and I liked his and Duff’s parts on Hard Skool. I prefer Finck on Perhaps and what I can hear on Monsters. It’s not a case of automatically preferring one guitarist over another.

Exactly this....

Of course slash an duff were OG members.. and most ppl like them, an that they're back now. That's a given an not up for debate tbh.

But that CD period, was intriguing and the songs that came from it ( and still to come) sounded great with the other guys, and should be kept with that chapter... 

[DTJ80]

2 minutes ago, General2112 said:

https://store.universal-music.co.jp/product/uicy5140/

Wow - good find. So with no real issue with space there still isn’t a place for ‘Monsters’ so that to me says it’s gonna be on a future release.

[Caedo]

4 minutes ago, DTJ80 said:

Wow - good find. So with no real issue with space there still isn’t a place for ‘Monsters’ so that to me says it’s gonna be on a future release.

Surely this doesn't change anything if the working theory was that Monsters was going to be a hidden track and therefore wouldn't be listed on the tracklist regardless?

I do tend to agree that they'll put it on a future release though - feels like way to strong of a song to relegate to a hidden track. Strong guitars, some beast mode vocals and the catchiest hook of any of the new songs

[rumandraisin]

1 hour ago, Amir said:

I thought Slash improved Absurd and I liked his and Duff’s parts on Hard Skool. I prefer Finck on Perhaps and what I can hear on Monsters. It’s not a case of automatically preferring one guitarist over another.

Isn't that basically the whole point of our discussions here, putting each guitarist against eachother. Especially while talking about the CD tracks and reunion reworkings, we love to discuss which version we prefer, who plays what, who did it better ... I think they're really fun discussions. 

[alfa75]

2 hours ago, Amir said:

I thought Slash improved Absurd and I liked his and Duff’s parts on Hard Skool. I prefer Finck on Perhaps and what I can hear on Monsters. It’s not a case of automatically preferring one guitarist over another.

You prefer Robin on Monsters based on what? The cellphone clip? With all due respect to your preferences, that seems like a stretch.

[Amir]

1 minute ago, alfa75 said:

You prefer Robin on Monsters based on what? The cellphone clip? With all due respect to your preferences, that seems like a stretch.

I can hear the guitar on the cellphone clip pretty well with a good set of headphones  As for how the song sounds as a whole, I can't say. I know that with Hard Skool there are elements I prefer in the demo (mostly the drumming, not being brickwalled) and elements I prefer in the final version (Slash and Duff's parts, truncated intro) so I can't say definitively one way or another.

[Amir]

35 minutes ago, rumandraisin said:

Isn't that basically the whole point of our discussions here, putting each guitarist against eachother. Especially while talking about the CD tracks and reunion reworkings, we love to discuss which version we prefer, who plays what, who did it better ... I think they're really fun discussions. 

Yup, and I like a lot of what every guitarist who recorded to GNR brings. I even like Bumble's solos on Catcher despite being a big Brian May fan. I think in general with the ChiDem material, it was written at a specific time with guitar parts added by guitarists with certain sensibilities, so even with something like Perhaps where I think Slash's guitar parts are perfectly good, it just doesn't sound "right" to my ears. Too "jaunty" or upbeat for a track which in its lyrical content is more downbeat and almost "emo".

It's like Buckethead's Nightrain solo: it technically sounds great, but at the end of the day I'll always go back to Slash as he wrote that song and his solo fits more with the whole vibe. That's why I've never been too interested in the '99 AFD. I think I've listened to the Village leak WTTJ only a handful of times? I don't even know where I have it saved it now, it's not something that possessed much value to my ears.

I'd have loved for all this ChiDem material to be released with Finck and Bucket on them, not only because I think they generally would have sounded better (with the exceptions of ABSURD and maybe Hard Skool), but also because I would have liked Slash and Duff to have the chance to record new music with Axl. I really dug those soundcheck jams we heard, was hoping we would hear a completed song like that one day, who knows. It is what it is at this stage, I just hope a boxset releases one day with the older demos, and that after the release of The General and Monsters that Axl finally takes up Slash and Duff on their offer to record new music.

[kanecrescente]

Any viable gossip / developments since the 2nd Hollywood bowl show??

[General2112]

I’m hoping some of the Perhaps CDs make it to eBay because the Japanese site isn’t taking my info. I really want one of them

[rumandraisin]

1 hour ago, Amir said:

Yup, and I like a lot of what every guitarist who recorded to GNR brings. I even like Bumble's solos on Catcher despite being a big Brian May fan. I think in general with the ChiDem material, it was written at a specific time with guitar parts added by guitarists with certain sensibilities, so even with something like Perhaps where I think Slash's guitar parts are perfectly good, it just doesn't sound "right" to my ears. Too "jaunty" or upbeat for a track which in its lyrical content is more downbeat and almost "emo".

It's like Buckethead's Nightrain solo: it technically sounds great, but at the end of the day I'll always go back to Slash as he wrote that song and his solo fits more with the whole vibe. That's why I've never been too interested in the '99 AFD. I think I've listened to the Village leak WTTJ only a handful of times? I don't even know where I have it saved it now, it's not something that possessed much value to my ears.

I'd have loved for all this ChiDem material to be released with Finck and Bucket on them, not only because I think they generally would have sounded better (with the exceptions of ABSURD and maybe Hard Skool), but also because I would have liked Slash and Duff to have the chance to record new music with Axl. I really dug those soundcheck jams we heard, was hoping we would hear a completed song like that one day, who knows. It is what it is at this stage, I just hope a boxset releases one day with the older demos, and that after the release of The General and Monsters that Axl finally takes up Slash and Duff on their offer to record new music.

The Village disc of Jungle and Knocking was just a rehearsal to be fair, it's nice to have a soundboard recording of Jungle from that era however. But still something to only listen to once in a while. 

On the subject of that rehearsal disc, it'd be interesting to see the dates of the rehearsal compared to the cancelled dates because of Buckets illness for the planned tour.