China seems to often engage in provocative actions then get offended when someone responds. But each time they get away with a little more than they did the time before.

I think the tracks are fine.

The issue is the production with so many layers and multiple guitarists some of whom play in styles that don't really suit the underlying genre.

It's kinda an art piece designed to push the audience and stretch their tastes I would speculate......but fundamentally...

The reason Slash/Duff hardschool and absurd are better is because it's a simpler rock version of the songs.

Take any of the CD songs are redo them with the UYI band and the even same vocal tracks and it would come out like the classic records...it's not really the songs...it's the style.

In a way the toning down of expectations is probably a good thing, UYI was such an amazing follow up to AFD which of course is itself an amazing record that it blew expectations Chinese Democracy to almost absurdist levels.

I don't have to tell you guys we've all lived it for the past few decades, but I think that level of public excitement and pressure didn't sit well with the band.

If we turn every album into an event then at a certain point it takes decades to try and come up with something with the same impact, and the cruel truth is that even if you surpass yourself somehow and create your best stuff ever it's unlikely to catch on the same way because public taste is fickle, time moves on, and there's some kind of lightening in a bottle element to all this.

Know what I mean - like Axl could write a song called "Fred" and it might be the best song he's ever written. Better than SCOM, better than NR, better than Estranged....but even if it is....at this point even if Fred was a huge crossover hit and charted with the Taylor Swifts of this generation...he will still be known for NR and the 80s/90s in another 10 years anyway.

But I see this as a positive. It gives Axl room to experiment and play around. He doesn't need to write the best song ever written now - he's already done some of that lol - so they can just come up with whatever suits the mood - whatever will be fun for a few shows - and the casuals will keep paying the bills listening to NR and SCOM at shows....and the band can get it's rocks off with the little interludes where they do a Hardschool or an Absurd.

Bring on State of Grace I say...even the demo leak was cool...redone with Slash/Duff it will be very fun for us hardcores I recon.

I would like to see Axl become enthused about new music, but I can't support that comment from pitman....to me it helps if people in GNR you know...actually like GNR music...it seems like a lot of the problem with the early 2000s band was that they basically don't want to be the band they are.

Merry Christmas Folks! Hopefully some more songs in 2023!!!