“Well, the challenges were the band didn’t like what I was doing,” Wilson admitted (via Blabbermouth). “That came through the record company, and I did it all, and then the band basically vetoed it all. So the only thing that ever came out was my remix of ‘November Rain’, with a real orchestra added.”

It wasn’t a case of poor craftsmanship, but more of a philosophical clash over the sound itself.

“And that was a shame, ’cause that’s a lot of music on those records — I think I worked on about 40 songs, including outtakes, B-sides, and God knows what else. And then the band basically turned around and decided they didn’t like it. They didn’t like [Dolby] Atmos, they didn’t like the idea of their music being in spatial audio. So that project is kind of just sitting on my hard drive, unreleased and unheard. It’s such a shame. Amazing, amazing records. Amazing records. But yes, a shame in a way that it got sort of bogged down in band politics and God knows what else.”

For fans hoping for a sneak listen through back channels, don’t count on it. Wilson says his circle isn’t exactly clamoring for those remixes.

“Well, to be honest, no, because … we didn’t grow up with Guns N’ Roses,” he explained when asked if friends ever ask to hear the unreleased mixes. “Guns N’ Roses was kind of the next generation. I grew up in the ’80s, so the bands all my sort of generation were listening to were The Smiths, The Cure. If it were metal, it would’ve been Metallica. It wouldn’t have been Guns N’ Roses. It would’ve been [Metallica‘s] Master Of Puppets from ’85 rather than [Guns N’ Roses‘] Appetite For Destruction from ’89. So I just missed that generation, yeah. I just missed that generation.”

Still, the studio occasionally turns into a time machine when friends visit.

“But yeah, sometimes people, friends come over and I bring them into the studio and I’ll blast them with some… I say, ‘What music did you grow up with?’ And I’ve usually got something, I’ve usually got something I’ve worked on, which they’ll remember from their childhood, I can blow their mind [with].”

The only piece of his Guns N’ Roses work that made it to fans was a newly orchestrated version of “November Rain,” released in 2022 as part of the Use Your Illusion box set. The lush arrangement featured a 50-piece orchestra under the direction of composer Christopher Lennertz.

As Wilson explained in a Facebook post at the time, “The new 2022 version is the same performance as the original, and mixed faithfully to the established version, but with newly recorded orchestration replacing the sampled sounds used at the time.”

Though the rest of the project remains locked away, it’s clear that Wilson approached it with care and respect. Whether or not those remixes ever surface may depend less on technology and more on the ever-complicated dynamics of legacy and artistic control.
https://www.sonicperspectives.com/news/ … ard-drive/

The Diamondhead Records Cassette Tape Archive
https://archive.org/details/diamondheadcassettes

An auction of tapes from a chain of stores in Texas has resulted in stuff being uploaded to Archive, It will be stuff you know, but in some cases better sounding quality, and in some cases worse. The link above will take you to the tapes submitted and contain other bands too but some interesting GN'R ones I have posted below

https://archive.org/details/Guns_N_Roses_UYI_Demos_1990 Last song is a version of Bad Apples I don't believe I have heard

https://archive.org/details/Bullet_Boys … _Demo_1985

https://archive.org/details/Guns_N_Rose … on_Promo_2

https://archive.org/details/GNR_Illusio … 1984-01-21

Those last 2 have interview clips with Duff, Sorum and Axl, some of which I believe are out there, some of which may not be

https://archive.org/details/Guns_N_Rose … Rain_Edits

There are  also an assortment of live bootlegs that don't interest me and I expect are out there in better quality

Was looking in to the archive to check something unrelated and stumbled on this so thought I'd mention it as I'm not sure it's common knowledge or not.

Bad Apples was intended to be on Live Era and a mixed version by Andy Wallace likely exists

Wallace's management company confirms that the studio veteran is booked for the sessions from July 12 through to the 29th.
https://web.archive.org/web/20010629194 … _news.html The following post suggests his work however was not complete by the 29th.

    August 8th 1999
The Guns N' Roses Live Album Info

Slash says the album will have to meet the approval of the GN'R members before it's ready for production. He is working on mixing it, and sometimes Duff will come in and help out. Every one of the band members is involved in some way. Slash says that 8 songs are done. The artwork is already in progress and will be done by the band. The album will be made up of songs from different concerts. There will be some GN'R standbys like "Welcome to the Jungle", but there will also be rare cuts like "Bad Apples". "November Rain" and "Estranged" are both included. Actually, Slash said there was way too much material for one CD, so they are constantly working to size down the tracks to be included. Still no date, but Slash says they are half done, and 24 songs are in mid-mix. So obviously, the band has got a ways to go to compressing this down to the cd-size 13-15. Slash will be going very briefly to New York to master this Guns album.
Source: GN'R mailinglist https://web.archive.org/web/20010702103 … news5.html

A rare live version of the song "Bad Apples," originally thought to be on record, did not make the final cut, but at least one other track, "Coma," is expected to surface as an overseas b-side in the future. https://web.archive.org/web/20010707161 … tory1.html

As you may recall Coma was eventually released as a bonus track in Japan, but also made available as a free download through KNACs site.
There are 22 songs on the album, 23 if you count Coma, the 24th has to be Bad Apples. So any of you have this?

The following is Duff basically admitting that there are overdubs, I stumbled on this a few years ago and its the closest I have seen any of them come to admitting it.

This was posted on Duff McKagan's Message Board:

Hey dudes! Yes, the live album is offically released on the 30th November here in the US. I did work quite a bit on it. It was great becasue I got to meet all the guys again. Slash was responsible for most of the work on the album. He and Axl worked the hardest. Stevie, Izzy and the others were all involved in one way or another. A lot of people who habe heard the Live Era sampler are complaining that it sound too overproduced with extra sound added. Hmm. It is true that we added extra sound to make the songs sound better on record. But I would not call it 'overproduced'. It has ended up with a very smooth, clean sound even to Axl's vocals but we were just trying to make the album as good as we could. That is why it doesn't actually say what shows the songs come from on the album. Loads of bands do it. Checkout Aerosmith's 'A Little South of Sanity', Cheap Trick's 'Live At Budokan' or any Kiss live album and they have all been tampered with. Otherwise, it would sound like a bootleg.

Se ya, November 30th, in your living room.

Source: Duff McKagan's Official Website
http://home5.swipnet.se/~w-52838/nov29_ … tory4.html