Homestretch

Axl relocated to Vegas soon after the Christmas holidays, appearing at the Playboy Club's New Year's Party.

"Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose is putting the final vocals down on a new album that he has been working on at the Palms recording studios." (Reviewjournal.com, 01/07/07)

"Audio engineer Mark Gray, 31, dropped by the studio at the Palms to say goodbye to his co-workers before departing for a vacation. His boss asked him if he would be willing to come back early to do some just-booked sessions. [...] And, on Dec. 27, 2006, Gray found himself one of the many engineers to be connected to the legendary Guns N' Roses disc 'Chinese Democracy'.

Axl Rose arrived at the Palms Studio inside the resort and worked for 13 days in 2006 on his vocals for the finally released disc. Gray recalls a list of 14 songs (the same number as on the released version) many with working titles. Among those Rose worked on at Palms Studio he is sure are on the disc are 'Chinese Democracy,' 'Madagascar' and 'Prostitute.'" (LA Times, 11/25/08)

At this point, Axl was supposed to have done in the few remaining days of studio work that had been hanging in the air ever since Inland Invasion in late September.

"It was all vocal overdubs or vocal leads. He would move from song to song, working on different parts. He was jumping about, but he knew exactly what he wanted. The producers set everything so the workflow is catered to the artist for anyone, and that is how it went down here.

From what I saw, it was first takes or at most two or three takes. Rose would say, 'I can get the part better' or 'I can tighten it up.' [...] He just went in and sang. He was living with the record a long time by then, and he really knew what he wanted to do.

He proved a good guy to be around. We would start about 5 or 6 in the evening, hitting tape by 7. We worked five or six hours. These were great sessions." (Mark Gray, LA Times, 11/25/08)

As the album release required eight weeks of preparation with the label, this was the time when he would've had to turn the finished product in to meet the March 6th release date.

However, Axl then moved the base of operations to New York, compromising the tentative release date in favor of additional recording.

"In January, I went to Electric Lady [studios in New York City], and I sang the chorus of this song 'Sorry', and it came out really, really amazing." (Baz, Total Guitar, 08/20/07)

"[Bach] reported that he's heard 'at least four albums' worth' of finished Guns n' Roses tracks, recalling a night in January 2007 when Rose rolled out new songs from midnight to 6 a.m. at New York's Electric Lady studios." (Rolling Stone, 06/25/08)

"One of my favorite songs is this song called 'The General', which is so... it's by far the heaviest metal tune I think ive ever heard Axl do, this slow, grinding riff with these high, piercing vocals, screaming vocals. [...] [Axl] goes, 'Well, this comes out on the third record. It relates to this song, it's a trilogy, this goes with this lyrically.'" (Baz, Metal Edge, 11/06/07)

"[Bach] says Rose told him that a slow, grinding track called 'The General' is 'the sequel to [Use Your Illusion II's] 'Estranged,' that goes to the parable that Del James wrote of the trilogy' (James penned the short story that inspired the 'November Rain' video)." (Rolling Stone, 06/25/08)

"Bubbles got caught in a snowstorm on the way back from New York. He was down there with Axl Rose, watching him record his new record." (Trailer Park Boys, The Tyee, 01/22/07)

"Bumblefoot did use my Les Paul in his final recording session for the next Guns N Roses album. The sessions took place last month here in New York City. All his gear was out in California and he specific needed a Les Paul for the album." (Mark Strigl, Talking Metal, 02/10/07)

"One week ago we recorded a bunch of the songs off of our record acoustically at Electric Lady Studios in NYC. This was an absolute honor. Axl Rose was going to be recording in the A room that night, and I got to play one of Jimi Hendrix pianos." (Dropping Daylight, MySpace, 02/07/07)

Arguably, more recording on the album was done within a space of a month than in the entire past year.

"If someone goes and steals something, it's theft."

Thank you, Slash. I would've expected such in-depth philosophy from Baz or Adler, but you have a point there.

monkey,

I was primarily referring to the use of digital networks as sound tools for distribution. The record companies bid their time to end and it tooks groups like Radiohead and NIN to introduce new methods of distribution. I understand and acknowledge the copyright of intellectual property, but the fact is, the labels are waging what could be characterized as 'war on terror', facing an unknown enemy that may lurk wherever in the crowd.

One of the main issues is that downloading an album from the Internet cannot be directly compared to stealing one from the local music store. If an album would be stored digitally in the stores laptop, and I'd go in, make a copy and then proceed to delete the original, I'd be stealing the digital album in the common sense of the word. I'd be taking something away from someone else. That's obviously wrong and most people can relate to it.

However, nowadays I can copy without permission, which, as an action, is more akin towards copying a class mates homework. He'll have them still, but I'm getting the identical copies of works I shouldn't be privileged to. The biggest worry is if/when I have to present them in front of class. That's when I could get 'skwerl'd', which would lead to me getting detention. However, the chances of that relatively slim, much less than the clerk catching up on my act in stealing the album at the store.

I argue this distinction in conception creates the moral gray area in between physical album copies and digital downloads. While legislation applies in both cases, obviously the latter are easier to go with. The music industry has spent years trying to maintain status quo of the times before mp3, p2p, et al, on the pretext of the intellectual property copyright. While this is all fine and good, but they're fighting the war with all too wrong ways.

When the cat's out of the bag, it'll spread like wildfire depending on popular interest. The best form of damage control is to create the official alternative, which's the most reliable and visible option. It'll overshadow the rest as the common surfer tends to go to the band's own website to check out the latest on them. That's where they nowadays expect to find new music.

I appreciate the fact that in GNR's case, there may be various legal entanglements involved that prevent them from putting new music on, say, their MySpace music player. Even so, the music industry in general is waking up a bit too slowly to realize their former safeguards have been irreversibly breached. Physical copies of illegally obtained material are, to a degree, possible to track down and pull back, but once something gets thrown into the datastream, it'll pounce into the other side of the globe in a second.

The record companies created their own monster, and I have no doubt that when bundled up with the ongoing CD saga, the entire incident will make Skwerl look like a martyr for the cause, as he's taking on two major jokes at once - the never-released album and an entity behind the decaying business model. Whether Axl had a hand in the matter or not, it's not a good place for him to be at.

'In the end, it's just an album'

On 12/15/06, Axl posted an open letter to the official GNR website, in which he openly accused Merck for various issues.

"An overall sense of a lack of respect by management for the band and crew and each individual's particular expertise [...] has resulted, unfortunately, in the end of both Guns' and my managerial involvement with Merck Mercuriadis." (Axl, 12/15/06)

"I read 'An Open Letter To The Fans From Axl' this evening with much interest. About half way through it occurred to me that [...] I had written the blueprint for it in an email for Axl's attention two days ago." (Merck, 15/12/06)

"[The band and I, along with our record company] feel that this record deserves the proper setup and promotion. [...] There were, in our opinion, unnecessary and avoidable complications on our tour having to do with the tour routing, scheduling and album and video plans that wreaked havoc on all involved." (Axl, 12/15/06)

"[The record company] refused to prepare a marketing campaign or commission video treatments until they had [the finished album] in their hands." (Merck, 12/15/06)

"It takes approximately eight weeks for an album to hit the shelves once it has been turned in to the record company. For whatever reasons, it appears that it may have been mistakenly inferred by management that this time period could be condensed to three weeks." (Axl, 12/15/06)

"I have thought about the album release date taking into account the issues between Axl and myself and my view is that the album should be set for release on the 20th of March rather than the 6th of February." (Merck, 12/15/06)

"We do wish to announce a tentative release date of March 6." (Axl, 12/15/06)

"[The March 20th release] allows for three months to set it up properly around the world without unmanageable pressure and for it to be well imbedded in the market place before the summer lull sets in. It also allows for the deal to be done with the label and any change in Management etc which may be made." (Merck, 12/15/06)

"In regard to a release date for the album itself, certain minor [...] additions, as well as contract negotiations, need to be completed." (Axl, 12/15/06)

"We've done about 80 shows with Guns N' Roses all over the world. At Christmas we did three nights [Dec. 17th-20th] at Universal Ampitheater in Hollywood... Axl had a Christmas party, we were playing pool." (Baz, 93.3 WMMR, 11/02/07)

"[Axl] was playing me the new "Chinese Democracy" album '” actually, there's more than one; there's, like, four '” but he was playing a song called "Sorry", which is a very heavy, grinding kind of riff and we were partying and stuff and I started singing a high harmony on the chorus of this song and he flipped out, and he goes, 'That sounds great.' He goes, 'I want you to sing that on the record.'" (Baz, Blabbermouth, 08/17/07)

"So we booked a studio session at Electric Lady in New York the very next week. I was like 'Dude can I have some time off for Christmas, man?' He's like 'January 1st, be there!' You don't mess with the artistic process of Axl." (Baz, Ultimate Guitar, 10/30/07)

Don't mess with Axl's artistic process. Truer words have never been spoken.

The Set List

Meanwhile, the band took a point to address the stale setlists.

"A few songs that fans haven't heard in a while have been worked up and when the time is right, may be added to the set." (Del James, 10/31/06)

Setlist for the show in Estero, Florida on 10/27/06. Options include Rhiad and the Bedouins, Perfect Crime, If the World, Prostitute, Nice Boys and Down on the Farm.

Axl's setlist rant in Puerto Rico on 10/29/06

Aside from Down on the Farm, none of the options were ever taken up and put to good use during the tour.