Axl made his own bed. He promised the label the new album by...1997? Or something in the late 90s. Yet he delivered a decade later, with an ever-changing line-up of musicians, and what's even worse, with ever-changing producers. He didn't give a damn about the guys the label recommended. He had been spending that millions for years and years with no sign of ever completing the album, just broken promises years by years. Even the 'minor' additions took a year, instead of 3 weeks in 2007, after the aborted NA tour.
It's no wonder that Uni didn't spend other millions for the albums after 2004. They were obviously fed up with the Axl camp, and decided not to wait another weeks (or months or years) for Axl's artistic vision's desired booklet. They did ads though, it was only Axl, who sabotated his own release. What a spoiled child. He made his own bed, and now those people need to renegotiate the deal with the label, who only made things worse with the 'you are Axl Rose, you do what you want' bullshit. Not a promising position.

SLASH's Bassist TODD KERNS Checks In From The Studio - Dec. 22, 2011 

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbe … mID=167566

Legendary guitarist Slash (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER) recently re-entered Barefoot Recording in Hollywood, California with producer Eric Valentine (QUEENS OF STONE AGE, THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS) to resume recording Slash's upcoming solo album for a tentative April 2012 release. Joining Slash in the studio are the members of his touring band: vocalist Myles Kennedy (ALTER BRIDGE), rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck, bassist Todd Kerns (SIN CITY SINNERS, formerly of AGE OF ELECTRIC), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of THEORY OF A DEADMAN).

In a brand new post on his official blog, Kerns writes about the latest recording sessions, "We are somewhere in the area of five songs in. I've lost track.

"We play the songs together live off the floor, capturing guitars, bass and drums all in one pass. If there's any glaring mistakes, they are repaired and we move on to the next.

"The pace has been about one song a day, though we've managed to fall off that pace here and there.

"The riffs are fat and huge and heavy.

"Slash plays solos live off the floor that are epic and as impressive as anything in his catalogue. And that's a formidable one.

"It's been fascinating working with Eric Valentine. Every day I come in and the drums are in a different part of the studio. He's big on different sounds for different songs. The kick drum sizes change, Myles and I change guitars and amps all the time dependent on the track. The only constant is Slash.

"Les Paul and Marshall. All you need is an American guitar and a British amplifier and you can take over the world.

"Slash has a very specific, distinctive sound and it would be a mistake to have him playing a Strat or a Tele. Slash needs to sound like Slash. The funny thing is I have a feeling that even if he did have a completely different set up going, it would still sound very much like him."

In a recent interview, Slash stated about the musicians in his band, "I was really fortunate. When I'd done the [first solo] record, I thought, 'I've gotta tour on this.' And I had to figure how I was gonna actually pull that off. And I set about auditioning musicians in L.A. and I just happened to meet Brent Fitz, who I'd never played before and who is not from Los Angeles; he was one of the guys I auditioned and he was great. And then he introduced me to Todd Kerns, who fit in perfectly. And it turned out to be a great band from the start — definitely worth going in and making a record with."

Valentine previously worked with Slash on the guitarist's self-titled solo album. But "the big difference," according to Slash, will be that Eric is "also gonna be mastering this one" in addition to recording and mixing the CD. "So it's like one-stop shopping, which is pretty cool," the axeman said.

Regarding the musical direction of his new material and how it compares to last year's self-titled effort, Slash said, "This one's definitely a very focused… Very hard. Some of it's very heavy. It's got sort of a more unified sound to it, especially with one vocal all throughout."

They'd need a few weeks of rehearsing to get that GN'R feel again. Add that Axl doesn't like to rehearse and hates Slash, it'd be very risky to see him first on the ceremony when they go to the stage for the performance.
A 2-song 'reunion show' would be risky even with intensive rehearsing. Axl can have a bad day, Steven can overdose himself in the excitment, Izzy can drive his truck 2 states away, Slash can be nervous and fuck up some notes... Too much risk with what income? They wouldn't gain much, except another 15 minutes of fame, that would be there even with a single reunion photo.

My concern is that why he mentions the new GN'R record last. This doesn't make sense, except it's scheduled to late 2012 and he thinks in a timeline. Call me pessimist, but it reminds me of those old interviews where Richard and Tommy felt the need to mention that 'and we're working on the new GN'R album, too', just to encourage fans.
I'd be happier if you were right though.

I think they both (all) did GN'R worthy songs, and had GN'R worthy ideas that weren't explored enough (or went in a wrong way). I could list a ton of Slash song, a lot from CD, and also a lot from Duff N' Izzy, which could have been GN'R classic or at least a strong GN'R track with the others.
As long as GN'R functioned as a band, or at least it had Axl to be Slash's supervivior and Slash to be Axl's, the shittiest ideas got nixed, and the musical perversions got limited (Axl with the synth stuff, Slash with the Aerosmith rock and roll stuff etc.). They had each other to complement them, be it adding more, or taking away unneeded things.
Now they're all captains (except VR, but that wasn't a good collaboration), and nobody's there to tell them that something's not good enough. This is why their solo stuff isn't GN'R - Slash said it right in 1995: Izzy did his part of GN'R, and so did Duff and Slash on their solo albums. If we shaked together their stuff, it would be Guns N' Roses, believe me.

(On the other hand, even as a classic band fan, I think some of their work is mystified. I personally think that as overproduced as it is, Street of Dreams is better than Yesterdays, and although nobody knows, Saint Is A Sinner is better than Don't Cry. I don't wanna start a comparasion war, just sayin' that even the old albums had songs that can be topped. Not in GN'R style, cause you can't get it without all the guys, but in quality.)