Here Today... Gone To Hell!

(IM SORRY IF THIS HAS BEEN ALREADY POSTED, but I tried the ''search'' and didn't find it)

CATCHER IN THE RYE, CHINESE DEMOCRACY LEAKS AND AXL ROSE

ah yes ...

"Catcher in the Rye" is a great track .. I was pretty surprised to find a mix of it in my inbox this week .... after all these years. I wonder who leaked this stuff. Yes, my guitar is there, nice and crisply recorded. It was a blast doing the sessions. I had flown out to LA specially to play on the record for Axl. I've sat on whatever I have or know about these songs ever since that moment .... out of respect for Axl .... confidentiality is part of respect for me. So I will watch with interest. I like the track a lot and always did ... and it still sounds very fresh ... the thing that hits you first is that incredible, incredible voice ... we've been missing it for far too long. Axl is magic.

Love
Bri

? brianmay.com
 
http://www.brianmay.com/whatsnew.html

Rock

Damn. Very nice and kind word for Axl for once. May is the man.

Interesting.. very very interesting..

Awesome, awesome, awesome! ?Wow, ?very nice words from Mr. May. ?Wonder what he thinks about the lyrics. ?Probably doesn't know that they are about MDC. ?I was worried that the things or thing May did would have been discarded by Axl, but he definitely found some use for May's talents. ? I wonder how much more there might be from him?  Anybody remember approximately how long he worked with Axl?

I hope May's guitars don't get rerecorded for the album, they're beautiful in this demo. :love:

I'm so happy with this confirmation. I did a topic in a Queen forum (www.queenzone.com) asking them if they think Brian is on the track. Replies were very different from the Queen fans. I think that lots of them are not very happy knowing that Brian is on an Axl Rose track, but that doesn't give a shit to me.

here's the topic with all the replies

http://www.queenzone.com/queenzone/forumnew/forum_topic_view.aspx?Q=730502

Im very, very, very happy for this confirmation, cause Queen is my 2nd favourite band after GNR.

indeed. :smoking: :beer: :yes:
cool to hear this from may! : ok:

Wow so it is Brian May on there and confirmed.   Cool...

Very nice words indeed.

Kewlniss............ 8)

Amazing  :yes: : ok:

Can anyone ask him what other tracks he play? Prostitute maybe?

Very glad to hear, but I find it a bit surprising that May would be on such an early demo...I imagined that guest collaborators usually recorded their part over an already mixed track..Or at least further along in the process

I think he made it clear that he won't reveal anything more until the album comes out unfortunately.

Very interesting, thanks for posting that.
Bri seems like a cool guy as well as a phenomenol guitarist  : ok:

Brian May = Class Act :smoking:

thanks for the info Mr. F!  :-*

What a terrific guy. I would be so honored if he joined GnR or even as a touring guest lead. He would bring stability to the whole circus. :)

Damn, my two favorite bands together on a studio track for the first time.  Seems like the best kind of serendipity.   :beer:

Who's Brian May?

And I swear I posted this like 10 minutes ago already...

You can't possibly be serious?  "who is Brian May ???

i didnt know either until i saw his picture, its the dude from Queen.

wow,it's good to hear that Brian May confirmed that he was on the track,I hope he's gonna be on the album :beer:

Well great ears on you my gnr friends : ok:. THat is really awesome of us to know this band so intimately to be able to know that styles of different guitar players.

I wonder if this song is in axl's top 13 since its obviously so old. I thought this demo sounded old due to the fact it was copied from a tape source....?? I mean cd-r's have been the standard for quite some time.

Brian May rules. 8)

Man I still can't get over you people in denail about these being the final songs NOT repeat FUCKING NOT demo;s.

To the dude who posted in this thread "wow I can't imagine brian may being in on such early demo's I thought he would only be in on a final cut with full arrangement bla bla bla"

UMMM Dudes (and dudetes) this is the final arrangement.  The song rocks.  But for your own sanity (and lack of disappointment in the end) start to accept that these are NOT repeat FUCKING NOT demo's!

I think May's guitar and his admission it's him confirms that these ain't no demo's.

^ Dude.. your a retard. And I dont say that very often. But thats what you get when you come and be an asshole.

All the leaks are crazy ass demos. If you can't hear it in the drums or in Axl's voice.. or the mix.. well.. your like I said, retarded.

source please

People should be banned for asking such questions...

Go listen to some Queen...

Maybe, just maybe - and I know that this is going to be a profound stretch in this ferociously black and white world of GN'R fandom - but maybe some songs are demos, and others aren't? In the end, we don't know jack shit about nothing. Maybe Axl put completed songs on the same CD as demos for unfinished songs? Who knows? Not me. Not you.

Speculate all you want, but don't bite each others heads off just because you don't share the same opinion. And realize that we, the fans, are so far removed from the GN'R organization and the inner workings of Axl and everybody who deals with GN'R, that our perspective on things is not only going to be a delayed one, it's also gonna be an uninformed and, often, a very black and white one. Guns N' Roses is a business. Business is complicated. So let's have fun with the news, the new pictures, and if you will, the leaks etc., but shitting all over each other just because you disagree, that just takes the fun out of it and it ruins the thread. Keep it cool.

Anyway, great to hear Brian May comment on it. He's always such a positive guy. Man, I wish Axl could get him to at least tour with them (as the third guitarist) next time around. And I truly hope there's more of May and the album.

So essentially Chinese Democracy is an Axl solo album with guest musicians?

what a gentleman... Great player great guy great friend :beer:

Yes, essentially.

Why are you here?

what would make you think everyone would know who he was especially on a first name bassis??

great he confirmed! Brian May is a class act indeed,  : ok:

Because this is a Guns N' Roses forum, so I figured it would be a good place to post it.

Rock on Brian : ok:

no dude, you're wrong. This is not an Axl solo album. This is Guns N' Roses. A band, remember, a band.
Go to ask your silly and sacarcastic questions a la concha de tu madre, forro

 :peace:

Nah, I'm right.

Of course you are. There never was a band called Guns N' Roses. Remember Use your Illusion? West Arkeen and Alice Cooper! Shame! It was Axl Rose Solo Band ALL the time. Fo sho!

Christ. If you go back through the interview and news archives you'll find many comments from Axl, Tommy, Dizzy and Richard about how the album is very much a collaborative effort. Whether you choose to call the new band Guns N' Roses or not is up to you, but it is definitely not an Axl solo album according to everything we've been told. All the players would bring ideas to the studio, they'd jam around on them and then all take a tape home to listen to and pick ideas out from. If Axl is to believed, in each case, the music was written and recorded to the standard that was needed before he even wrote the lyrics or recorded vocals because he needed something perfect to compete against and raise his game.

To the guy repeating over and over that these are all demos, if you think I.R.S is completed, mixed and mastered you're bannanas. For one thing the I.R.S we have is at least 3 years old, as are probably 2 of the other 3 if they came from the same CD. You reckon they haven't been worked on since then? Even when work has been done up to the last months?

its good to hear brian may say that, as for an axl rose solo album comment, like stated above all the members claim it was a collaborated effort on the music, can't wait to hear it




rock n' roll

Most solo album are done as some sort of collaboration, and session players will write there own little riffs.

As for being demos, I.R.S sounds like one but Better definately sounds like a rough mix. I can't see Brian May flying in to record on a demo at all.

Wouldn't brian may basically lay down teh guitar parts then fly back home then later they will be added?

Here here, how can anybody talk about Rock and not even know who Brian May is,  :crying:

<sighs>

Brian May was called in by Axl to record parts for Chinese Democracy back when Robin Finck left the band for a brief period. This track must, therefore, date from back then... 1999-2000, I think. It's certainly pre-Buckethead, and it's definitely a demo. Whether May's guitar work will make it to the album is open to question; I hope it does, but I'm a huge Queen fan...

SG

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what he did. Also, they can put whatever they want in a demo and then use it in the final mix. People need to know this is not '80s anymore, we have ProTools and even a demo can sound awesome.

wow, ok, apparently I stand corrected :peace:

Good job Mr Brian May on you contribution to CITR : ok:

Mr May is a stand up guy. Thanks for posting his reply. I like what he did on the song. sounds good.

Awsome, but it begs the question yet again,

WHAT THE FUCK HAS AXL BEEN DOING ALL THESE YEARS?

Wonder how old the other demos are?

it goes top show axl could have released a damn good album several years ago and toured already, still what I think was happening in 02 but fuck that's really old news

That alone seems like conclusive proof to me that the version of CITR we have heard is a demo. I can see the finished article being of a faster pace to the leaked version, and if that is the case it would mean that Brian May's work would need to be re-recorded.

It's great that Brian played on the song. I love it. The song is very beautiful. Axl's melodies and harmonies in it are great, and obviously Brian did a great job. It's also cool to see Brian having good things to say about Axl, and what he says about his voice is absolutely true. Its what we've all been missing.

wonder why Bri's fans are unhappy that he's been guesting/playing with Axl.  It's not like it would detract/distract from what Queen are up to at the moment.  a great guitarist and bloke like him - they should be pleased he's still reaching new audiences ( + those who don't know who brian may is)

Guess it goes back to the whole One In A Million thing and the idea that Axl is this big homophobe. Remember before the Mercury Tribute in 92 Queen fans were protesting about Guns N' Roses performing. There was even a sign held up when they were on stage which from memory Axl directed his 'shove it' to during Paradise City.

Unless some messages have been removed I didn't see anyone objecting in the thread to Brian May playing with GNR, only those who said the current GNR were poor at the VMAs and that the band reached its 'climax' in 1991, which I'd also argue against.

Why? I'm sure they have his work still intact and ready to a new mix anytime. Like I said before, we're in Protools era, it doesn't need to re-record something all the time.

I think they did in 91, 92 was the fucking overbloated gnr followed by tsi and the end in 93

Calm down people. Don't go overboard on someone just because they're not familiar with or don't know who Brian May is.

On the topic, it's cool to hear Brian is officially a part of the album. Although we suspected he had done some work for some time now anyways.

I refuse to calm down. He/she should be banned...  ;D

On a serious note, I honestly think that Queen is one of the first bands anyone needs to listen to, if they are really into rock music.

They were pioneers and Brian May was a big part of it, even though lots of people think that Queen was all about Freddie...

And I know that some will say that not all of their songs were THAT good, but when a band has written songs like Bohemian or Who Wants To Live Forever, they deserve R-E-S-P-E-C-T...

completely agree. You happen to have Innuendo? One of their best albums ever......they have made so so many great variable music. 

dont forget I want to ride my Bycycle

Queen are on the same level with Guns N' Roses for me so I have most of their stuff.

Unfortunately I've never seen them live so I wish that they would come to Greece someday with PR. I know he's not Freddie, but he's also great so...

Well this news makes CITR more special for me.  I wonder if he has played on any other songs for CD?

Well, not according to Merck...

So, let see...believe YOU or MERCK?

That's a toughie, but I'm gonna go with Merck.  Why, you might ask?  Because, given the fact the mixes are, without a doubt (go ask a sound engineer), not final, that most of the material is in "mono" rather than stereo, and the fact that there are some "bad notes" left in the mix...I think his statement is more credible.

Yours, on the other hand....not so much.

Also, something for the group to think about: Knowing this is May's guitar work, I think we can pretty safely date this demo now, too.

A demo can just be an early, unmixed, unpolished version of the song.  You can use, in the final version, all the same musical tracks you used in the demo, but either add production effects, change the mix, or about a hundred other things to those same tracks to make the song sound different than the demo.

Thats just great news Queen is my fave band and Brian Working with GNR my other fave band is just great news! The song hears awsome  : ok:

There's no "mono" demos. At least the ones out there. They are all stereo, even CITR. Wonder about the "bad notes" too...

But I agree with you. As I said before twice in this thread, there's evidences to prove it's just a demo. Also, the fact that May's guitar work is on this demo doesn't say anything, since it can be used on the final version aswell.

wow,i grew up with queen as my dad is their biggest fan and is often refered to as freddie.i was a big QUEEN fan when i was younger but i then went on to GNR.im still a big queen fan and albums like the miracle,innuendo,a kind of magic,the game and news of the world make it hard to not be.to hear MAY on a GNR song is great,lets hope hes on the final mix. :beer:

There's no doubt that all of these tracks are demos.  You can he the abrupt stops of pre-choruses going to choruses, Axls voice in the background (especially with CITR), the smoothness of transitions are not there.  The only song I might would consider a "final track" would be Better.

Yeah these are pre-production and production demos at best, ever "Better". No A&R guy in his right mind would let a band spend over 10 million dollars for the songs we've heard.

Pilferk, you can date this to early 2000 to be exact because that is when he recorded. He was only there a week so you can get even more specific if you go back to the old articles/news. :D

so there it is, somewhere between November 8, 1999 and May 11, 2000 : ok:

Good to hear from Brian..Ive yet to hear this track but would like to

Well now we know about the "Queen"-style arrangements...

all these old tracks, such a shame these couldn't have been released so much sooner.. To think we could have had the cd tour well done, axl would have had less pressure since everything has no been so long that it'll be tough to justify any wait of this magnitude.. Second album would be here..

They are encoded in stereo. ?The material itself, however, is not actually in stereo. ?By that, I mean there are no stereo effects whatsoever.

Open the demos up in soundforge.

I'm going from memory, but I think the only one with stereo effects seperated out is Better (and only at the very begining, if memory serves..I'll double check). ? The others, while "in stereo" have the same sounds coming from both speakers....thus, they're "mono".

As for "bad notes", there are a couple of sharps in both Better and IRS. ?TWAT has one. ?I haven't noticed any in CITR.

Better has stereo effects most notably at the begining and end...but seems to be througout (but not pronounced).  IRS and TWAT (at least my copies) are pretty much mirror image wave forms in soundforge.  Catcher also seems to have some stereo effects in the waveforms but it's hard to tell because one version is so "hissy" and the other has previously been "worked on" to clean it up (so I'm  not sure how much of the waveforms were modified in that process.

Look, everyone. There seems to be one thing you're all forgetting about this.

Why does a band who, at that time had 3 guitarists, need to get in Brian May?!?

What does this say about these 3 turkeys then? And what does it tell us that Axl thinks of them and their work?!?

Um...they didn't have 3 guitarists at the time CITR was made.

Bucket had not yet joined, and Robin had left to join NIN.

Because Axl is a fan and probably though 'hey this would sound great with a Brian May style solo on it...hey I know him let me give him a call he'd be a great guest to have!'

By your silly logic why would a band that has Axl Rose in it need to get Alice Cooper or Shannon Hoon or Izzy Stradlin' to sing on a GnR tune? It's because it's fun and because they can.

Pretty cool  : ok:

Me too!

I think its really great to hear the nice words from Brian May. He is one
of the greatest rock n roll men in the history, and he is a so down to earth
kind of guy! He have alot of peoples respect, and he really respect others.
Its great to see him so excited about Axl and GNR! Brian is one of us...

PS: Brian dares to say what he means about people. There is to much of the "i bash Axl coz everyone else does it"
No doubt Axl will have the last word, and i guess alot of people will change theyr opinion on min.. soon..

Back in 1976,  Brian May's guitar playing was the reason I started listening to Queen
and the Vocals of Fredy were huge. I'm so glad Axl and Brian collaborated. Brian is a true
musican and I'd keep every note he played on CITR. : ok: 
 

 ;D nice !
Great Solo

CITR w/May's solo better be on CD! :rant: :peace:

nope sorry (after afew more listens) Catcher isn't my cup of tea. It's interesting, but all said and done, not want i want to hear. I've always liked Guns n'Roses for their heavier songs, i like fast sounds with crazy guitars. While Gn'R have been in hinding, i've gotten into NIN, Buckethead (non GnR) Enter the Chicken has some crazy crazy stuff on that album, its great. Still, i will pick CD up on release, if only to have a studio version of the Blues. The Blues is the best song to come out of the new GnR, even now i listen to the bootlegs of that track and love it to bits, TWAT and BETTER are cool too, the guitar work on TWAT is fucking great, i want more of where that came from  :peace:

I wish to God Brian May would join Guns N' Roses.... if Axl's really going after the whole Queen thing.... is there anyone better in the world to have on lead guitar?!? I think not. Plus, he's a legend in his own right... the press would have to shove it with the whole "Axl's merry band of freaks and guys not named Slash" routine...

I think Brian has too much respect for Slash to actually tour as Guns N' Roses lead guitarist though.... everything I've always read is that the guys of Queen have respect for ALL the members of the original GN'R... not just Axl.

I hope his stuff stays on the album though... really suits Axl's style well.

hehehehehehehhehe mine queen is the 1st one  ;D thanx for this one... now time to span there and get pissed off some freddies there

If Catcher in the Rye is played live, I guess atleast one of the other band members has learnt Brians parts. It also mean Brain May can jump on stage and join in if he happens to be around (possibly at some up and coming gigs)

The song is catchy...that's for certain. Definitely reminds me of "Yesterday" meets "Hey, Jude" with a little, dare I say, Santana flare to it (which is not a bad thing). My one critique would be that the part that starts "You decide..." is SO FN' KILLER that I wish it would pop up again near the end of the song. Best part IMO.

EDIT: Sorry...thought I was posting in the CITR thread (not the Brian May one).

That's cool.  I really like Brian and Queen.  Saw Brian when he opened for GN'R in 93.  He was good then and still is.  Hopefully, Axl listens to his comments and puts out the album.

How addictive is this freakin song...!?

Man. All these leaks are amazing.

I could see Brian May doing a couple of shows as a guest for a couple of songs, especially the high profile ones. Anyone know where he will be during RnR?

It is important for his parts to stay on the album b/c if axl gets any grief for Catcher's content, it would be great to have an all time great standing up for him.

Maybe we should post this on a queen/brian may message board.....  :nervous:
But I went to the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour, It was fantastic, the "old" dudes really rocked, It's great to hear GNR and Brian together.

didn't someone garentee that brian may was on guitar.. on citr.. i wonder if he has anyother inside info

good for Brian May, like a give a fuck if he played on it

Actually, he poses a legit question. Robin Finck had left GN'R at the time and Axl was bummed about that, so he asked Brian May to fly in and replace som of his parts. Brian May explained it in a radio interview a few years back.

I wonder if Brian May knows about the subject matter of the song he offered guitar sounds for. I am sure i read some place that the lyrics came after the songs were created.

But Brian May was never considered for a permanent spot in GnR, which makes him a guest on the record.

Either way, I love the idea of this being a hit single. The thought of all these no taste in music having Korn/Linkin Park/Blink 182 kiddies will get to hear a real guitarist do what he does best.  : ok:

Brian May is a fuckin guitar a god, a reference, a legend...
Someone said here that he could be the new guitar player... well I'd love to, but I think not, the man is from this band called Queen and they're HUGE as you know, so he should stick with it. (think about Jimmy Page joining the Stones... it wouldn't fit)
Anyway, I'm just glad his guitar work will be heard on this album and I just wish there are more songs featuring his guitar harmonies. :yes:

May, excellent fella!

God forbid a band evolve into something more than just guitars and drums. People with low I.Q's generally didn't like the horn section because it was to much for their tiny synapses..::)

No, it's not mono and it's not encoded to sound like a fake stereo.

IRS: two different rhythm guitars. Listen to the clean guitar (with some kind of chorus) in the left channel (it's not in the whole song, but it's there).

TWAT: same as IRS. Listen to the ending of Robin's first solo. The rhythm guitar in the left (Paul or Richard) makes some crunchy high notes while Robin uses the sustain/feedback. Also, the drum beat has stereo effects too.

Better: the guitars may sound the same, but there's little different tone. Also, listen to the left channel on 3:10 - there's some effects going on with the riff. Also, the intro has stereo all over it - the drum beat is the left channel, the guitar is on the right. The keyboards all over the song are also in the left channel.

Catcher In The Rye: all the track has two guitars. The left one seems like May. The chorus has distinct licks.

Not only I opened the demos with Adobe Audition but I also took off the center channel. I'm sure they are real stereo, even CITR. There's some stereo effects on the drums too (save for IRS, when the drums are pretty much in the center channel). I dunno about the mp3 you have or if you have problems with your cp, but this is def real stereo.

Also, there's no way you can put a mono recording in a stereo form with two distinct channels. But I guess you know that.

There was no dispute whether Brian May was ever considered as a permanent member. H wasn't. The question he asked was simply why they needed another guitar player to play on the song(s), guest or no guest.

But yeah, it will be nice to finally get som quality guitar playing on the radio again. There are far too few new guitarists out there who will have a major impact on future generations. Thankfully, many of the old ones are still around.

i can't believe that people around hear actually think that these leaks are not demo's.

The closest one to being finished is probably CITR because it has full instrumentation and full backing vocals but still as we've heard the album has been scrapped and re-recorded at least twice.

Better IRS and TWAT do not have the extended backup vocal parts axl characterized himself with on the illusion albums.

These are all demo's and far from finished. With CITR maybe they kept brian's track... but I wouldn't be surprised if the song has been completely re-recorded since 2000.... thats like 6 years ago

Just narrowing down the recording time a bit more : ok:
 


So it looks like sometime between Nov 8, 1999 and Dec 31st 1998 :beer:


I found this too : ok:
 

 
 

I actually wanna elaborate a bit more on this quote cuz it may be of some import.

Note: I chopped it a bit to get to the important parts



here's the orig article so everyone can read it fully, I hope i didn't take things too far out of context :nervous:

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/news/shownews.php?newsid=250

So did Brian work on the Blues too? I still swear that CITR and the Blues sound very, very similar, and what's the 3rd track he worked on? This I Love?

It sounds to me that Brian May replaced some parts after Finck left. If that's the case it's quite possible that Robin's work will be on the album instead of May's; I'm sure Axl will pick what he likes best.

Also, the solo on The Blues was written by Finck. I think someone got confirmation on that from his webmaster, but I don't know how reliable that information is.

yeah i understand that, but was The Blues redone by May? I mean it would still be Fincks original melody right? But is the version we heard in 2002 a combination of Finck/May? or was it reverted back to Finks orig stuff? Or did May even touch it in the first place? :confused:

 :rant:We're not stupid,we know what we hear when we listen to the songs.I think you must have downloaded some mono copies of the songs.I know what I hear and the songs are in fuckin' stereo.The songs are demos,I do know that and most people know that.I just hate it when someone tries to tell everyone what they are hearing :peace:

i think they played together sometime between november '99 and march 2000...

what are everyone's thoughts about Brian May's guitar work remaining on the final version of CITR?

i hope he stays, but i think it's more likely that his work will have been replaced with Robin's...:crying:

I think it will stay.. Axl has too much respect for that man to re-place it ;)

I hope to god he's not been replaced, he's the only reason why I like the song

errr..its a great tune i dont know why axl would want to remove his guitar work...

And after all the praise May gave Axl this week, it would be asinine to replace it.  That would be a backhand slap in May's direction.  But I don't think Axl would do that, Queen is like one of his favorite bands.

will Brian May be on the FINAL version of CITR you think?

More than likely : ok: