Izzy seems like a good dude. I dig the attitude approach to life.

The only way the public accepts no Slash in Guns N' Roses is if he died. Beyond the Plant/Page, Jagger/Richards, Tyler/Perry comparisons, GN'R was Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift big. Music, image, time, and memory. They're all seared into your brain permanently and anything that isn't that is as gross as kissing your cousin.

The only band that has recovered is the Stones and Ronnie is no slouch. He's also the rhythm player, not Keith. AC/DC doesn't work for me because it was never Bon's band and the later stuff really pushed them mainstream stateside.

It could've gone all gone perfectly. Chinese could've been flawless. It still would've had an asterisk next to it.

The only way Axl was getting out of that box was to go solo or form an entirely separate band and continuing to do so with other genres/directions like Young and his ilk. I get why he didn't but that's how he should've done it.

And Post Fruscante Chili's is garbage and the band was running out of steam even when he was in it.

I like "This I Love" but I totally get why people hate it.

November Rain, et. al. are all melodic, layered, dynamic, and despite their length feel light and effortless.

This I Love is fairly plodding, emotionally one-note, and very heavy to listen to.

I'm going to continue with November Rain as my case study because I think it's Axl's best work and Guns overall best work bar Civil War. That song starts with a sustained bass note, then flips to a high pitch treble note and the change in dynamics doesn't stop there. You have background synth, overlaid background vocals, main piano, drums. It's a fucking epic. You have delicious lyrical irony "If you want to love me, darlin' don't refrain" before the fucking refrain! JESUS! I LOVE THIS GUYYYYY HOLYYY SHIIIIIIIIT. You have a couple of bridges with little guitar elements (fuck yeah, I'm not no pussy listening to girl music horns upppppp) and then that badass searing guitar solo by Slash. The outro is like the Rocket Queen outro on steroids, it becomes this completely other song but unlike Rocket, it actually comes back to the core thesis of the song. It's a flawless piece of music.

The other epics are similar. It's almost musical poetry. It takes it's time, let's Axl pour out his feelings, keeps things interesting, and the song is never weighed down by pointless bullshit. It's a musical wave and each one crashes around you and over you and you just have to ride the wave maaaaaan.

I think This I Love is beautiful, especially instrumentally. But Axl's lyrics and vocal style try to fit too much into the bars. And much like the Chinese Democracy material, it's stiff. The flute at 1:45 and strings at 2:20-2:30 needed to shine in those moments but instead Axl is crying over them. It's similar to my position on what Bumblefoot did to Catcher in the Rye's synth interlude. Just leave it be. Not every song needs a stadium sized guitar solo. For someone who likes Queen so much, he should've known better.

But I know better. He knows I know he knows I know better.

Yep. Because the guitar is allowed a say.

I pointed out before how prominent Tommy's bass is in the RAR mix. It's great. Gives the song a space to breathe.

Chinese's rhythm sections are half Axl trying to put a hook in where there isn't one and half him stepping over his guitarists.

Hoarders and sycophants
They don't make no sense to me
They like kissing ass?
Well, they can suck my D

I'm just an orange haired white boy
Just trying to hear some leaks
Don't need your reunion
Don't need your cash grab CD
Just listening to Bucket's babies
Well that'd be enough for me
Hey hey

I think it'd be divine justice if some new leaks happened.