Interesting to read quotes about the album over the last decade

[heinous]

?I met Axl last week to hear their new demos.? They?re writing with a lot of loops, and believe it or not, they?re doing it better than anybody I?ve heard lately.? ? Moby (March, 1997)

Before the Illusion albums, Axl had been talking about doing a solo album that was all electronic and techno beats.? It doesn?t sound that different from the sound you know, but it is definitely electronically influenced.? ? unnamed (March, 1997)

?The sessions are leaning towards a Soundgarden style of rock and on some tracks NIN influences are evident.? ? Matt Sorum (May, 1997)

?They have recorded more than 300 hours worth of material and they each take a CD home, listen for cool parts, pick them out, and that?s how they build songs.? The music they?re working on is really wonderful.? ? Doug Goldstein (February, 1998)

?They?re working on an electronic-influenced progression of Guns N? Roses.? ? band spokesperson Bryn Bridenthal (September, 1998)

?Axl is trying to define his direction and trying out a lot of different collaborators.? I?ve heard some of the material Axl has written and it?s phenomenal, but he?s a perfectionist and he needs everything to be just perfect.? He need the music to move him. ? Mike Clink (November, 1998)

?The head guys at Interscope have heard what he?s doing and everybody is pretty excited.? The tracks have been recorded for a long time, but Axl?s just starting to lay down the vocals.? ? unnamed source (June, 1999)

?I have a feeling it?s gonna be more like Appetite than people are expecting.? ? Chris Vrenna (June, 1999)

?The new material is cleaner and fatter, but completely Guns N? Roses.? Despite the rumors, there?s no hint of any techno or industrial influences.? ? unnamed source (August, 1999)

?I think they actually have a lot of creative freedom with what they?re doing with Axl.? They?re getting to write parts and stuff.? ? Chris Cornell (September, 1999)

? ?Oh My God? is not entirely indicative of what the album?s going to be.? It?s a song that seemed to fit the movie.? You know how diverse Axl?s always been.? ? Doug Goldstein (November, 1999)

? ?Oh My God,? the industrial-flavored track that surfaced on the End of Days soundtrack, is only one hint of what?s to come.? Imagine Led Zeppelin?s Physical Graffiti remixed by Beck and Trent Reznor, and you?ll have some sense of Axl?s new sound.? Song after song combines the edgy hard-rock force and pop smarts of vintage Guns N? Roses with surprisingly modern and ambitious musical textures.? The rebuilding, and ongoing reinvention, of Guns N? Roses has been difficult and, quite obviously, a slow and expensive process.? Rose does point out that the expense will be less glaring if, as he expects, he gets another record out of the hours and hours of material he?s committed to tape; possibly one that?s even more industrial and electronica-influenced than Chinese Democracy.? ? ?I?d like to take some of the old Guns fans along with me gradually into the twenty-first century,? he adds.? ? David Wild (January, 2000)

?They made many, many, many tracks.? And now they have chosen just a few they want to be on the first new record.? And I think it?s very good stuff.? I was very impressed, Axl sings fantastically.? I mean, it?s actually such a unique sound and style.? ? Brian May (March, 2000)

?Oh yeah, there?s a whole album of vocal parts.? In fact, there?s two albums worth that they?ve got there, at least.? They played me everything.? Axl actually sat down and made me listen to everything and there?s some wonderful stuff there.? Axl?s a very emotionally, kind of, connected person.? I mean, to the point where he?s so intense about every single not that?s on there and the solos that I played, he was totally into it.? I?d forgotten what Axl is like and I thought I would just go in there and he?d like it.? He did like it but he wanted to get into every single take of every single note.? And, you know, from one day to another, Axl would?ve been in there like from 5 o?clock in the morning till 7 o?clock in the morning comping little bits of my solos and saying, ?ban you get Brian to try this.?? You know, he?s utterly meticulous.? ? Brian May (May, 2000)

?I helped write and arrange and recorded enough songs for several records.? Honestly, we recorded so many different song ideas and completed so many different types of songs; from quiet, very simple traditional piano songs to 16 stereo tracks of keyboard blur, and everything in between.? But most of the stronger songs that ended up on A-lists, when I was there, were huge rock songs built for the masses.? Really guitar-driven.? When he finishes the lyrics, I assume they are going to be released.? I hope they turn out great.? There?s a lot of potential there.? ? Robin Finck (May, 2000)

"The tracks reminded me of the best moments of Seventies Pink Floyd or later Led Zeppelin.? There's nothing out there right now that has that kind of scope. Axl hasn't spent the last several years struggling to write Use Your Illusion over again."? Jim Barber, a former Geffen A&R executive (May, 2000)

?It sounded like Guns on steroids. ? Zakk Wylde (May, 2000)

Q: ?What?s the album like?? Just quickly.? Better than the old stuff??
A.   ?It?s Guns N? Roses.? ? Josh Freese (August, 2000)

?We?re in the studio doing this album and I can promise that we?re gonna deliver and it?s gonna be out of the ballpark.? We?ve been working on this album and I can tell you we?re doing our best and that?s all I can promise.? ? Axl Rose (January, 2002)

?I went to the studio three weeks ago and heard 41 songs from the 60 or 70 he?s working on.? You?re gonna be blown away when you hear them.? All this stuff in the papers is rubbish.? Axl?s got himself together and he?s making an incredible, important record.? Axl is completely immersed in this record.? This album will have a big impact on people.? People think they have all the answers, but the music will do the talking.? ? spokesman for the band?s management (March, 2002)

?It was fantastic.? I was shocked that they didn?t put it out straight away.? Maybe it?s perfection on Axl?s part ? the desire to make THE album of all time.? I played on three tracks but I don?t know if they?ll be used.? It has to be the best in Axl?s mind, and an expression of his personal feelings.? He?s very passionate about it ? every single word and note is very personal.? ? Brian May (March, 2002)

?There are a lot of new songs that were just done in the last year that we feel that ?Okay, well that bumps a lot of stuff of the previous list,? but it?s time to stop that now and wrap up the baby.? It feels right, the timing, and a lot of things.? We?ve sorted it down to what songs are on the record.? What the sequence of the songs is.? The album cover art is ready.? ? Axl Rose (August, 2002)

?But at the end of the day, it?s also really gonna stand on the new songs when we put out a new record, and if that?s considered relevant or not; and if that?s considered not selling out just to be relevant.? So it?ll really all hinge on that, and we feel really confident about the music that we?re working on.? There?s a lot of things that we come up with, new ideas that we?re working on as we go, and it is a really slow process because it?s kind of left more to ourselves in trying to figure it out.? Where?? So in putting this thing together, in a lot of ways, I?ve had to do way more jobs in it than I?m supposed to.? I?ve had to be manager, A&R man, producer, sole lyric writer, and a lot of other things; where Guns N? Roses, to me, what I worked really hard at, was making it a collaborative effort, and it was a lot of people involved.? This is a collaborative effort with the players, but the players aren?t exactly sure what it should be to try to win over the world Guns N? Roses-style.? So that?s kind of my responsibility.? It took a long time but now it?s working, and I think we?ll have the right record.? We do about 4 to 5 songs that we?ve done at the various shows, but we?re still holding our big guns back.? ? Axl Rose (November, 2002)

?I think the fans will be pleased when they finally get to hear the results.? It?s a pretty intense musical journey, really.? Everyone that is in the band, or was in the band at some point ? ?cause there, you know, there?s been a few guys who have come and gone even since the old band ? has contributed, and because of that I think it really takes you to some interesting musical places.? When you add Axl and guitars, of course though, it kinda glues it all together.? There?s something for everybody but I think if you?re a Guns fan, if you?re an Axl fan, you?ll like it.? You?ll love it all.? ? Dizzy Reed (December 4, 2002)

?It includes elements both familiar and new to the GN?R sound, kind of a wide spectrum of things.? It touches on a lot of different elements of, you know, old GN?R in some ways, and in other ways it touches with more current sounding music.? There?s rockers, there?s ballads, there?s mid-tempos.? I mean, there?s, like, a lot of stuff.? And I think in some ways, where it differs from the old GN?R is lyrically ? it?s a lot deeper.? ? Tommy Stinson (December, 2002)

?It?s a whole new thing.? I never saw the old band.? I never owned a Guns record till I got the gig.? I think this is a completely different animal.? Don?t know how to explain it, but I don?t think there is a better guitar-band out there at the moment.? ? Richard Fortus (April, 2003)

[heinous]

?That was sort of just work for hire.? I guess they?d heard some orchestral music of mine.? I met with Axl and he played me these songs, asked me my ideas about them, and I told him what I thought they needed.? They gave me four songs to orchestrate.? A couple of them I did more than orchestrating, I actually wrote some melodies and stuff.? It was a fun project.? I really enjoyed it.? The music was eclectic and at the same time I was doing it, there were no lyrics on the songs that I was working on.? They had finished tracks.? On one song I actually wrote a guitar part, but they pretty much had the band tracks down and then I added orchestral stuff on top of it.? ? Marco Beltrami (June, 2003)

?I don?t think anybody is in a position to question the way Axl writes and records.? It might be a longer process, but it works.? It very much involves the rest of the band.? Axl has a way of pulling out the best from each guy in the band, and that takes time.? ? Tommy Stinson (August, 2003)

?It?s like, all the stuff I heard was phenomenal.? I didn?t get a chance to listen to all of it because I was pressed for time.? But also I wanted to hear the things I hadn?t heard yet.? Some of the stuff had been done a while ago and hadn?t changed much.? I didn?t really bother with that.? But I wanted to hear all the new stuff and I heard about six things that I hadn?t heard finished yet.? They were mind-blowing.? A few of the songs are pretty epic in length, but that?s always been GN?R thing, hasn?t it?? I don?t think it?s a particularly long album, but I think the six I heard are pretty epic.? I mean they are just?.fucking huge, you know.? I think pretty much all of us in the band have some songwriting credits on just about everything.? The undertaking was pretty much a large collaboration between eight people.? Even a couple others who aren?t around anymore but maybe started with pieces of the old band or whatever.? But yeah, there is probably a lot to go around with that one.? ? Tommy Sinson (September, 2004)

?I heard stuff before I left the States, some of the final mixes, or close to final mixes of a bunch of the stuff we?ve been working on for the record.? They sounded epic to me, they sounded fantastic and I?m waiting as patiently as everyone else to make it happen.? Honestly, it?s gotta be right and when it comes out, it?s gonna be at least right as it is in our eyes.? Originally we had a fucking whole lot of songs we were working on.? We kinda rolled around them and just kinda kept molding them as we went along.? The process of making the GN?R record is a long process to begin with.? Because basically, Axl as a producer is trying to get the best of eight guys and get them all in a song, like trying to pull everyone in.? You know, mush it together like a fucking piece of clay or something.? Trying to form a piece of art work out of it.? It takes time.? You?re working on 35 or so pieces of music that you?re trying to finish.? Trying to?.basically the cream of the crop to make a record of.? It?s really hard to decide.? Because out of 35 things, we might all like parts and bits of 30 songs.? So then you gotta further narrow that down and, you know, it just takes a while.? There?s some really beautiful pieces, some really hard pieces, there?s some real fucking, you know, somewhat self-indulgent pieces that people are either gonna love or hate.? ? Tommy Stinson (September, 2004)

?I am sure that Ax?s new Guns N? Roses will impact popular culture with the same vigor and vitality that made Appetite for Destruction a part of musical history.? ? Tom Zutaut (March, 2005)

?I heard most of the tracks back in 1999 at a dinner at Axl?s house with Brian May of Queen.? He as adding some guitar tracks.? The songs were phenomenal.? I do not know the exact reasons the album has not been released yet, but I do now that Axl will only release what he is extremely happy with.? He will never settle for less.? ? unnamed source (April, 2005)

"People will hear music this year.? It's a very complex record.? I'm trying to do something different. Some of the arrangements are kind of like Queen. Some people are going to say, 'It doesn't sound like Axl Rose, it doesn't sound like Guns n' Roses. But you'll like at least a few songs on there. We're working on thirty-two songs, and twenty-six are nearly done.? Of those, thirteen are slated for the final album.? ? Axl Rose (January, 2006)

?Apparently it sounds great.? ? Slash (February, 20

[slashisvr]

cool post.i must admit though, everyone is building the record up, what if it turns to be just an ok album.they are expecting it to be massive to all people who likes all music, but what if its ok??just ok??

[Neemo]

nice job compiling all that heinous!!! nice to get all the quotes in one place and read the qoutes in chronological order


again thanks for that

[estrangedpaul]

Yeah, its great to hear so many people like it, particularly those who have no vested interest in the album anymore, eg Tom Zutaut.

[You Gonna Eat That?]

I mean, there?s, like, a lot of stuff.

Hahaha, that's going straight into my signature

[Tomorrows]

Fantastic thread!

It gets me really amped for CD. Fingers crossed this is the year and all these people arent shitting us. Not all of them are from Axl ass-kissers are they?

[Athena]

Hey thanks Heinous. Cool post. It is nice to read those quotes from 2002. God, I DO hope they will release the fucking thing this year Will be nice to re-read that post with CD blasting through our stereo systems, wouldn't it?