Print Page - November Rain on live era Question

Many of the songs are rerecorded...

Found this from Indianarose:

I posted this a while back. I think it can pretty much answer your question:

For Live Era-vocally-I can tell you a lot of info. For example when you're a person that collects over a hundred audio and video bootlegs you start to see the changes and different sounds that the band had through years. Axl's voice to me, can be easily defined by eras or certain live shows. His voice is very dynamic, which means that it sounds different in almost every bootleg, but stll having a basic sound for a specific era. I can give you a list, pretty close to the actual list of re-recorded vocal tracks:

Disc 1:

-Nightrain: This is pretty obvious. Axl could just not do these type of screams from 1988-1994. His voice is very high, but has the tone of Axl's current voice. This Nightrain is close to being flawless. If you want a good representation of what Axl's Nightrain truly sounded duing that time period you can liste to the 6-17-93 Buenos Aires, Argentina show. Or you can listen to the Tokyo DVDs which have more access.

-Welcome to the Jungle: certain sections of Welcome to the Jungle were re-recorded, for example the best example I can give you on this song is Axl's final scream at the end where he says "you're gonna die", not many people notice it but his voice is very clean in that scream and in various certain sectors of songs, but at the same time he can give out a growl which only pertains to the late 90s/early 00s. RIR3's Welcome to the Jungle can be comapred the best when speaking of 'the new rasp'. If you're not a fan that's familiar with live shows then it will be very hard to distinguish this track.

-My Michelle: This song is just as easily distinguishable as Nightrain. Axl's 'new rasp' is very punk-ish and high, while Axl's 'old rasp' persay was very angry and deep. A good representation of Axl's 'old rasp' is the easily accesible Freddy Mercury Concert performances. His voice in this track sounds very refreshed, and again, flawless. There's a ceratin tone to his voice, again, that can be associated with Axl of the late 90s/early 00s vocals.

-Used To Love Her: Now, much of this tracks was left untouched, vocally. This was a 1988 performace, which is easy to tell since Axl's voice 'deteriorated' as this year went on. (Axl's voice in Donnington '88 was almsost non-existing, it was pretty horrible) The only vocal section that was re-recorded in this song was the last verse were Axl sings:

"I used to love her
But I had to kill her
I used to love her, Mm, yeah
But I had to kill her
I had to put her, Oo, six feet under
And I can still hear her complain"

If you listen to the album right now, you will be able to see this right off the bat and you'll go "Ha, how did I miss that?"

-November Rain: Axl's voice is very clean on this track. It is the exact opposite of what Axl's method of singing November Rain used to be. If you listen to any 2001-2002 bootleg then you'll hear that Axl's voice sounds almost exactly the same on this record compared to those performances. This is horrendously easy to tell.

Disc 2:

-Pretty Tied Up: Axl's voice in this tracks is just exactly how I described it on My Michelle. It is almost flawless. His pitch and tone is exactly how I described it for My Michelle, so you can pretty much get the general idea.

-Move to the City: The vocal track was obviously re-recorded here. Axl's voice is just very stable and strong. In the orginal show, where this track was derived from, which is the 2/22/92 Tokyo show, his voice had more of a gargled glass quality. It sounded like he was gargling glass, originally. Axl uses a much more mature 'raspy' voice here. The tone is just as deep as it was during 1993 but without 'all the jangled mess'. His voice is cleaner and stronger in this track, you can make out the words more easily.

You Could Be Mine: About 1/2 of this song was re-recorded vocally. Axl's new voice can be easily distinguishable right at the start were he says:

"I'm a cold heartbreaker
Fit ta burn and I'll rip
your heart in two
An I'll leave you lyin' on the bed
I'll be out the door before ya wake
It's nuthin' new ta you
'Cause I think we've seen that movie too
With your ass in the air!"

This sounds like almost nothing the Axl of the early 90s would do. His voice is very punk-ish, high, and clearly shows his 'new rasp'. Now some growls and screams were left alone. The 'rapping' part was clearly left alone. His voice is very tired and angry in that section. Now there is a part that you can clearly tell was re-recorded. I'm speaking of the scream in the middle of the song. I'm speaking of the scream right before "You've gone sketchin' too many times". His vioce is extremely clean, something the early 90s Axl would never possess.

-Rocket Queen: This track is the most obvious re-recorded track out of the whole record. This track sounds amazing. The entire piece was re-recorded. Again Axl's 'new rasp' which is very punk-ish and high pitched is used here. Even though it's re-recorded, this is one of my favorite vocal 'performaces' of Rocket Queen, period. Axl's voice is so close to perfection. The outro is just 'so' the Axl of the late 90s/early 00s. If you compare the outro of Rocket Queen here to the outro of Rocket Queen to any 2001/2002 performance then you will almost get the exact same sound, it is uncanny.

-Sweet Child O' Mine: All I can say is that Axl's voice in this track is very raw and deep. It was indeed re-recorded. You can hear this especially whenever he does any type of screams, they are just too clean. There was also a re-recording error here that I caught. Right at the end where Axl makes those dozens of screams he ends singing (the re-recorded Axl), but about 1.5 seconds later, very faintly, you will hear the original vocal track ending, after the song had already supposedley ended. You have to pay real close attention to notice this. I encourage everyone else to listen to this as this clearly shows this tune was re-recorded.

-Estranged: This is the last track of Disc 2 that was re-recorded.Axl's 'normal' speaking voice for the first few minutes was left alone, but right after the piano solo there comes the re-recorded vocals. Now, another error can be found here that will clearly give the re-recording enigma away. The music to this track originates from the 2/22/92 Tokyo show. Now I may not be the only one that has caught this. In Tokyo's vocals Axl sings the words:

"And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
ny more, and what for"

In the original vocal track right after the words "and what for" Axl says "Nooo" with the same type of voice. Just watch the Tokyo DVD and you will notice the "Nooo" I'm speaking of. But listen to this, in Live Era right after the words "and what for" (which were re-recorded) then you will very faintly hear the "Nooo" being muffled out. You have to pay real close attention, but after the words "and what for"" on Live Era you will hear a very silent "Nooo" that was muffled out to give way to the re-recorded vocals.

Trust me, Live Era was a very complex process.

If you can't tell, then your ears have not been exposed enough to the live and studio sound of Guns N' Roses through out the years to make a solid opinion.

I hope this helped.

Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Guns N' Roses => Dead Horse => Topic started by: dizzystradlin on January 23, 2007, 09:43:14 PM