The only Catcher In The Rye thread you need!

[Mobenrad]

Not gonna lie, I like how the keyboards are more amped up and louder in the leak.

[Evolution]

Awesome track, one of the best on the album. Glad to see the synth breakdown survived!

[LunsJail]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorites on the album.  I love the lyrics and even the new solo has really grown on me.

[CheapJon]

better then the demo, not talking quality of sound but actual song, meaning guitars

i love especially one little lick in the solo i think.. i'll point it out later

[King Axl]

This is the weakest track on the record....I'm not going to lie, I heard the leaked version with Brian May's guitar work and think it's so much better. Very Slash-like (which is maybe why Axl didn't use it).

Also, the drums just don't sound very good in the final version. Needs more OOMPH.

It's still a decent tune, but in comparison to the rest of the CD, it's average.

[RTK]

The song as a whole is much better than the leak, but the solo is not as good as Brian May's. I love this song and I love all the others to  Maybe I will think the solo is better after I have listen to it more.

Yeah I definitely agree, I preferred Brian May's lead guitar work, especially on the outro, which is kind of messy in the final version. The vocals are great, and everything but the lead guitar sounds great, its just the guitar work that just sounds unnecessary, its too busy for its own good. Brian May in the leak had more in a higher octave and fewer notes overall, keeping the focus on Axl, with the guitar acting as the backing, but here, its as if both are fighting for the spotlight, and kinda reduces the Awesomeness of the conclusion. But still, its a great song, and I'm glad it was put on the album.

[GNR4L]

I like the piano part at the end a lot.

Yes !! I think that makes the song right there.  Funny how a tiny little piano part at the end makes the song a classic. Only Axl could do that, for those who say the leak version is better than the actual version.  Just think if it never leaked, you wouldn't of known it existed.  Final version is way way better than any old leak.

[SirTed]

I need a difinative answer here people...was it Robin who is responsible for the solo or Bumble?

[GNRreunioneventually]

i'm really glad this song made its way onto the album but i must say even though i like this song, i like the older version better

[-Jack-]

I really like Bumbles solo in the middle, but whoever put that solo over the last verse kkkkkkkkkkkkilllllllllls it. I hate that solo

[Mobenrad]

I really like Bumbles solo in the middle, but whoever put that solo over the last verse kkkkkkkkkkkkilllllllllls it. I hate that solo

For real? I think it adds beautifully. Robin's slides at the end over the slamming drums and Axl's clean vocals make for a perfect outro.

[damnthehaters]

Not gonna lie, I like how the keyboards are more amped up and louder in the leak.

Yes, this was my favorite part...and you can barely hear them now.  I loved that part!!!

[Grizzly]

A song about Mark Chapman? Good, melodic verses. Falls apart during the chorus.

[Continental Drift]

I had heard the leaks, but I wasn't disappointed when I heard the final product. This song is still one of my favorites on this album.

Same here. I actually view them as 2 entirely different songs (the leak and final version). Both really cool paths Axl could have chosen with the track and he chose one instead of the other. There was NO wrong choice IMHO. I LOVED the leak BUT I just can't bring myself to view this as some kind of major tragic catastrophe... not when the studio cut has me constantly hitting "repeat" on my cd player.

[Moonlight J]

Perhaps not the best song on the record, but for surely the style and subject matter perhaps are the coolest.

[estebanf]

This final version of Catcher In The Rye is my ONLY point of contention with this masterpiece of an album. It was originally my favorite song out of all of the leaks up until today, but they really overproduced this one. I think a lot of its impact and melody gets a bit murfed as a result, because there's so many other things going on at the same time (like all the added guitars). Where this is usually a strong point in most songs on the album, I felt that here it was a detriment. I really felt that this song would end up being one of the modern classics off of this album, but as it is now, not so much.

Then again it may grow on me more, but I think it ended up worse for the wear.

And the new solo makes me sad Brian's was absolutely perfect.

Its fantastic how can I think EXACTLY, WORD BY WORD, opposite to you.

The production in Catcher is unbelievably great. The leak was ''meh'' to me, an empty song, nothing great at all, and now I find Catcher as one of the highest points in the album,.

And Bumblefoot solo is way, way greater than Brian's. I love brian, but thank god Ron's solo is there.

[demo23nz]

This final version of Catcher In The Rye is my ONLY point of contention with this masterpiece of an album. It was originally my favorite song out of all of the leaks up until today, but they really overproduced this one. I think a lot of its impact and melody gets a bit murfed as a result, because there's so many other things going on at the same time (like all the added guitars). Where this is usually a strong point in most songs on the album, I felt that here it was a detriment. I really felt that this song would end up being one of the modern classics off of this album, but as it is now, not so much.

Then again it may grow on me more, but I think it ended up worse for the wear.

And the new solo makes me sad Brian's was absolutely perfect.

I agree with pretty much everything you said there. I thought it had great potential when I heard the leak (although I only listened to teh leak a couple of times), but it really is a weak link on the album. The production definitely doesn't really benefit the song IMO.

[SirTed]

I need a difinative answer here people...was it Robin who is responsible for the solo or Bumble?

Bumblefoot plays the solo

I thought it was bumblefoot. Just wanted to make sure because what I am about to say would sound really dumb if it wasn't.
Before the album came out and it was learned by some that Brian May's work was not going to be used I was more than bummed. I really wanted him to be a part of this record.

HOWEVER, listening to the final version, I think I'm glad he's not on the track. I have been secretly wondering about Bumble's place in the band for a while. I am sure people smarter than me never had a doubt, but his solo work at live shows never really did it for me. I mean the speed was there, and I could tell that he had skill, it just didn't make my ear happy you know?.
That was until I heard the solo on this track. I am turned completely. He's going to be awesome. Hell, he already is.

[Jim Bob]

Loving Bumblefoot's solo.      May's was nice, but I like what Ron is doing and he's in the band     

This song improved 10 times over from that leak that came out a few years ago.    Everything about it has gotten better.

[daviebuckethead]

^^^

i can't disagree more. Dont get me wrong i respect your opinion, and i like bbf's playing style, i just think that Brain May was awesome on that song and gave it a real cool 70's vibe that reflected the content of the song (John Lennon).