war wrote:

if cd was released in 87 and appetite this year a lot of you would have differing opinions

It's absolutely absurd. CD just isn't good enough and AFD is a masterpiece. I like a lot of artists and sometimes I like their later albums more. Sometimes I think they lost it on the way nad prefer the early works. Sometimes I like some early, some middle and some later stuff, with some terrible albums between the greats.
To tell the truth, I think Axl lost it - not his own talent, although now he makes very bad musical and lyrical moves, the old band wouldn't let happen. Axl lost the guys who wrote that amazing music, and now we're left with others, who aren't as talented as a band as the classic line-up was.
It's not about liking the old band more. I confess that I prefer the AFD and Illusion line-ups. But I totally accepted his industrial change back in 1998-1999. As the time went by and the material surfaced, I was left quite disappointed. Will CD be a bad album? No. Will it be great? No. There's some good stuff and some bad stuff, but not something that would worth more than 2 years of wait. And it took much much more time. CD is not an album to listen years later.

Of course, my opinion is based on the demos we've heard.

I agree with Mikkamakka that war's statement is absolutely absurd. It's just as likely that if CD was released in 87 GNR would have never had the impact they did and we wouldn't be sitting here today.

AFD is a timeless classic. It's considered one of *the* essential rock albums to own. CD doesn't hold a candle to it. That's not a knock on CD because it is a good album, but they caught lightning in a bottle with AFD. It wasn't big just because it was released in 87. It was a combination of everything. The perfect record with the perfect attitude at the right time.  CD doesn't have the larger than life songs that AFD contains. I don't think these tunes will make an impact the way the songs from AFD made. I don't think they will be staples on the radio 20 year from now. CD is not going to be considered an essential rock album the way AFD is.

There are too many Axl fans that convinced themselves that this album was a masterpiece and would be just as good as if not better than AFD before they ever heard one note. If people took off the Axl goggles they'd realize this is a good but unspectacular album. It's a nice followup to the Illusions, but it's nothing earth shattering.