I don't agree.

What's more a realistic scenario: a professional producer coming in and being an asshole and rage quitting or Axl at the height of his megalomania being an unprofessional dick when someone gracefully quits the project after two days?

You know who else didn't want to work nights? Duff. The list of people who got tired of Axl's antics is fairly exhaustive at this point.

Until the band dispenses with the Nixon administration approach to public relations and releases new music, that's not going to happen.

I would say that Catcher, IRS, SOD, and TWAT all had vocals by 2000 when David Wild heard the album for the Rolling Stone piece. After all, he made a special designation for Oklahoma, now Berlin, as being an instrumental only.

I can't find the Zakk Wylde quote about the album sounding like "fire and ice" but always thought that was about Prostitute. The vocal take quality and sound seems in line with those other tracks to support my theory. So there's roughly half of an album with vocals by 2000.

It is an interesting onion to peel, to be sure.

The irony is Axl probably should've done what people were telling him to do all along.

The jig was up the moment Robin left for Nine Inch Nails. At that point, it was a slow death march to the bottom.

Azoff was certainly unscrupulous in his methods but I think everyone in their right minds would've taken a reunited Guns N' Roses and Van Halen world tour in 2008 rather than 6 years of tedium, band infighting, and DJ Ashba. Imagine Slash and Duff touring in promotion of Chinese with a hungry, motivated Axl.

It's depressing to reflect on all of the wasted time and possibility.

AFD is a great record and deserving of it's reputation but it's never connected with me as much as the Illusions material.

The songwriting is occasionally lucid and other times completely on the nose. I think critics and those coming to it with fresher ears could say that it's outdated, cliche, and cheesy. It's the sort of record art rock fans and other progressos could easily point to when dismissing classic rock as a whole.

I enjoy it but also hope that this tour is essentially the AFD retirement tour and Axl gets to releasing more music as soon as possible.

As far as Nightrain, I've never been much of a fan, outside of the insanely perfect Rock Am Ring performance in 2006.