And when he mentioned a trilogy, when did he ever say they'd be released simulataneously?  Excuse me if I missed that, but I don't ever recall hearing or reading that.  In that radio interview he mentioned the 3 albums that would be released one by one followed by touring.

On 08/26/02, during the last European show in Docklands Arena, London, the album issue was brought up again.

"There's been some concern. That if we play five or six new songs, then there can't that many more on the album. Au contraire, mon frére. We're just playing the songs we're not considering putting out as singles or anything. So, you'll get 18 songs, and about 10 extra tracks. And when that, when the record company feels that has run its course, then you'll get it all over again. By that time, I should be done with the third album. So we'll see if all goes well boys and girls." (Axl, Docklands, 08/26/02)

A total number of around 60-70 songs was said to have been in the works at the time, with 41 of them A-listed. Axl's numbers implied that after CD would be out along with the extra tracks, there'd be around 13 tracks left on the A-list, with another 20-30 on the B-list. Another album (without another EP) with the same amount of material would've left 15-25 songs in reserve, which would've been sufficient for three separate albums.