Brian May confirms his presence on Catcher In The Rye guitars

[Mustapha]

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.

[Butch Français]

May, excellent fella!

[Gunner80]

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.

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

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..

[Voodoochild]

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.

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.

[Poof!]

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.

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.?

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.

[Crashdiet]

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

[Neemo]

Just narrowing down the recording time a bit more
 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Guns N' Roses confirmed to MTV News that Queen guitarist Brain May did indeed spend some time recording with Axl Rose late last year. "Brian spent a week with the singer," the spokesperson said. "They recorded several songs worth of material, but we have no idea what's going to end up on the end product." Rose had told MTV's Kurt Loder last November that he planned to work with May. 

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

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.

I found this too
 

Brian May: So, he's (Axl) sort of feeling a kind of divided loyalty and he said, 'Brian can you come and do stuff which I will like and I won't feel too bad about ditching this other stuff?'. So I did. I went over there and I think I played on three tracks and messed around on various other things. But it worked out pretty well, as far as I can tell.

Brian May: Oh I'm fine, I don't care because I'm there to deliver, you know, and in this context I'm a session player and people can take what they want, it doesn't bother me. I'll give my best and if someone will make a comment, generally it will be? You know, if someone makes a comment to you about your playing, and it's someone who cares, then it's probably going to do you some good, whether you like it or not. So, I'm always open to that stuff, always. There's always room for improvements.

 
 

[Neemo]

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

BM: ....Axl was feeling he that was in a difficult place because the guitarist he'd been working with on this new album (Neemo edit: so is that Robin??) .... that'd done most of the tracks had departed and Axl had a real emotional attachment to what he'd done, and yet he didn't want him on the album .... because he'd disappeared, you know. So, he's sort of feeling a kind of divided loyalty and he said, 'Brian can you come and do stuff which I will like and I won't feel too bad about ditching this other stuff?'. So I did. I went over there and I think I played on three tracks and messed around on various other things. But it worked out pretty well, as far as I can tell.

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

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?

[estranged.1098]

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.

[Neemo]

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?

[McDuff]

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.

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.

 :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

[WARose]

Just narrowing down the recording time a bit more
 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Guns N' Roses confirmed to MTV News that Queen guitarist Brain May did indeed spend some time recording with Axl Rose late last year. "Brian spent a week with the singer," the spokesperson said. "They recorded several songs worth of material, but we have no idea what's going to end up on the end product." Rose had told MTV's Kurt Loder last November that he planned to work with May. 

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

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

[misterbrownstone]

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...

[Wando]

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

[Grouse]

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

[Steel_Angel]

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

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

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.

[misterbrownstone]

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

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

More than likely