Three good songs on Chinese Democracy???

[gnrmadagascar]

? ? ?Being a Alice Cooper fan, I was recently looking through some current articles and one he was talking about Bob Ezrin and this quote struck me as odd.

? ? ?``I'm not the only one. To this day, really good songwriters that are ready to finish an album call me up and go, `Do you have Bob Ezrin's number?' He did it with Jane's Addiction. He did it with The Darkness. He did it with Guns 'n' Roses. I know Axl (Rose, the lead vocalist of G 'n' R) called him up and said, `I want you to listen to (the still-unfinished CD) ``Chinese Democracy'' and tell me what I've got (that's good).' Bob listened to it and said, `Three songs.' This is after seven years (of songwriting). Bob's not going to be a yes man. He's going to go in there and tell you how many (decent) songs you actually have... He's basically taught me everything about how to write a song.''

Three good songs huh? Well, let's hope they have written some more since then.

http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/175858

[Rocket_queen125]

well we already know of three that are great

[Dave_Rose]

of course they have written more than 3 good songs well I hope so if the album sees the light of day its gonna totally rock

[dave-gnfnr2k]

After 7? years of writing? Axl has not even been working on CD for that long. If he is talking about from 1993, then that brings us to 2000, and maybe that is why axl scrapped the NIN style album and he started from scratch when BH entered the band.  And this info is not coming from Bob its coming from a 3rd party.

[Tied-Up]

And we are going to take Bob Ezrin's word for this?     

   Lest we forget, he produced KISS's ~ Music from The Elder!

Yikes!

[Mikkamakka]

Bob Ezrin and Alice Cooper are well known liars. Alice Cooper even worked with Slash, the biggest lying Satan of the world.

[KeVoRkIaN]

Alice Cooper even worked with Slash, the biggest lying Satan of the world.

Who Slash or Alice?

[Gunner80]

Just because Bob Ezrin says there's only three good songs on CD, doesn't mean it's the truth.

[Fuckin' Gunner]

1. Chinese Democracy
2. Madagascar
3. The Blues

Well, if we trust more in Paul Buckmaster (he sure knows music), we can believe that Prostitute is great...

Yeah! Four good songs! 

I'm joking, but I just can't take it seriouly... obvious CD got some great songs. Just because Bob Erzin don't like, don't mean the GN'R fans won't like...

Ps.: does somebody knows WHEN did Bob visited the studio?

[ppbebe]

Weird, how come only three songs were good out of a couple of songs completed? 

[mikegiuliana]

well we already know of three that are great

Yeah from 87-93 because there  aren't "three" great songs from 99 till 2002..

[jabba2]

It wouldnt surprise me if the 3 songs Ezrin was talking about are The Blues, CD and Madagascar, since they are the 3 Axl would play on tour.

[estranged.1098]

Yeah from 87-93 because there? aren't "three" great songs from 99 till 2002..

 

[Cowboy Buddha]

well, Axl's Producing it now.   

[Sukie]

Well, what is considered a "good" song?  Is the dude talking about the songs that will be popular?  Get radio play?  You know, all this is subjective anyway.  I don't like ANY of the Darkness songs so I'm not too worried about this little tidbit.   

[sic.]

This might be true to some extent.
Bob Ezrin was brought in around 1999-2000 to help with Chinese Democracy.
So out of all the stuff he heard there might have only been three good songs (to him).

But that was 4-5 years ago now so a lot obviously has changed since then. I am not sure if Bob Ezrin is still involved with GN'R.

I think a lot of that early stuff , the so called industrial stuff has been scrapped anyway.

Agreed.

On April 29th, 2000, it was announced that GNR had had meetings with Roy Thomas Baker on CD's producing duties.  Almost exactly six months later, on October 27th, Ezrin officially signed on as their A&R man. I remember hearing some extremely vague rumors about a more "industrial" album (which, I'd assume, would've consisted of songs more akin to OMG than, say, The Blues) being nearly finished and to be released at the time, yet ending up being pulled back by Axl and his cohorts. Axl also got quite verbal all of a sudden during late '99/early '00, giving out interviews and hinting the release might be at hand.

So what might've happened is that Axl indeed decided to ditch the industrial album and focus on the more classic rock tracks with Baker and Ezrin. It's not too hard to believe that during their sessions (96-2000), GNR had developed these tunes the same time they would've been working on the more NIN-related material, even if they hadn't been worked on with the same intensity with Sean Beavan.

Anyway, I think you can put Ezrin's comment on the same pile as Slash's "Axl has only two songs completed" -remark.


edit: Funny thing about Ezrin; He went to the studio with Velvet Revolver to record Slither in the summer of 2003. VR was trying out with several producers at the time and Slash & Duff have later criticized Ezrin for being "too lush" and that his involvement would've had Contraband "overproduced". 

[killingvector]

Well without some type of baseline to judge Ezrin, it's impossible to know to what degree these songs were good, great, or legendary. If he said Blood Suger Sex and Magik had only three good songs on it, then we have some basis to compare. We also don't know how many songs he heard or to what degree he enjoyed AFD and UYI I and II.

[blues rocker]

This might be true to some extent.
Bob Ezrin was brought in around 1999-2000 to help with Chinese Democracy.
So out of all the stuff he heard there might have only been three good songs (to him).

But that was 4-5 years ago now so a lot obviously has changed since then. I am not sure if Bob Ezrin is still involved with GN'R.

I think a lot of that early stuff , the so called industrial stuff has been scrapped anyway.

Agreed.

On April 29th, 2000, it was announced that GNR had had meetings with Roy Thomas Baker on CD's producing duties.? Almost exactly six months later, on October 27th, Ezrin officially signed on as their A&R man. I remember hearing some extremely vague rumors about a more "industrial" album (which, I'd assume, would've consisted of songs more akin to OMG than, say, The Blues) being nearly finished and to be released at the time, yet ending up being pulled back by Axl and his cohorts. Axl also got quite verbal all of a sudden during late '99/early '00, giving out interviews and hinting the release might be at hand.

So what might've happened is that Axl indeed decided to ditch the industrial album and focus on the more classic rock tracks with Baker and Ezrin. It's not too hard to believe that during their sessions (96-2000), GNR had developed these tunes the same time they would've been working on the more NIN-related material, even if they hadn't been worked on with the same intensity with Sean Beavan.

Anyway, I think you can put Ezrin's comment on the same pile as Slash's "Axl has only two songs completed" -remark.


edit: Funny thing about Ezrin; He went to the studio with Velvet Revolver to record Slither in the summer of 2003. VR was trying out with several producers at the time and Slash & Duff have later criticized Ezrin for being "too lush" and that his involvement would've had Contraband "overproduced".?

exactly...i think that is precisely what happened.? I think that is what has delayed Chinese Democracy so much - I think originally, Axl wanted it to have a more modern/industrial sound.? I think Axl was selling out a bit, because he didn't think a classic rock sound would sell.? But I think eventually he realized (perhaps partly because of Ezrin) that the industrial sound sucks, and that he should stick to what he does best - traditional rock.? I think that around 2000, he decided to scrap the industrial sound and go back to a more traditional rock sound.? Thus, most of the album was thrown away and they had to almost start over.? I think that's why they brought in buckethead - they needed a more classic rock guitarist (like slash) who had a more blues-based, soulful style.? If that is what happened, then I can understand why the album has taken so long...they basically wrote a whole album of industrial rock (like the horrible "Oh My God"), and then had to scrap it and write a whole second album with a more old-school sound.? Suddenly the mystery of what happend is starting to become clear...I truly think this is what happend...but it's not all that bad....at least Axl realized that the industrial stuff sucked so that he could fix it before he made the mistake of releasing what would've been a horrible album.? I have faith in Axl...I believe he has become honest with himself and returned to making the music that he does best...and I think CD will prove that

[killingvector]

It could possibly be that the industrial sound had become passe. As one rock critic pointed out, modern music has changed so many times since axl began this process, he has had to stay two or three steps ahead just to be in sync with the times when the record finally drops.

[Voodoochild]

I think that around 2000, he decided to scrap the industrial sound and go back to a more traditional rock sound.? Thus, most of the album was thrown away and they had to almost start over.? I think that's why they brought in buckethead - they needed a more classic rock guitarist (like slash) who had a more blues-based, soulful style.? If that is what happened, then I can understand why the album has taken so long...they basically wrote a whole album of industrial rock (like the horrible "Oh My God"), and then had to scrap it and write a whole second album with a more old-school sound.

Buckethead, classic rock guitarrist, with soulful stule blues-based??? Did you really heard something he played? 

Anyways, the industrial sound was really dropped, as Axl said back in 2001 in Argentina:

R&P: We (...) wanted to know what the reasons are for taking so long before releasing the album?

Axl: We hadn't written songs or recorded for many years. There were band changes and there were many changes in the record company. People in the record company had many opinions and they wanted to make the best possible record. Every time that we thought that we had the correct songs, then somebody thought that we could make it better. We started over, we continued adding songs, continued recording and recording. I think that when we release the album, it's gonna be something that I'm gonna be proud of and confident in. Then, we will also have an extra heap of songs.(...)

R&P: Is your new material more industrial? We hear that it is not very similar to that of your old band.

Axl: It is not industrial, the closest thing to that was perhaps Oh My God, but there are some songs that won't be on the album that were this way. There will be all kinds of styles, many influences as blues, mixed in the songs. But not so much inspiration of Aerosmith or AC/DC that was used on Appetite.
 
Source: http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=38