30-40 songs, 15 of which we've heard. Judging by the quality of those likely there are some gems among the leftovers too. And even if those 15 songs are all we ever get to hear it's still on par (I'd say it crushes it) with Slash' 6 major albums. Who cares if he puts out 40+ songs you never want to hear again.

Hey, nobody's denying Axl is a fucking train wreck when it comes to almost anything, but still his creative output manages to be more impressive.

Got nothing to do with justifying his problems, it's got to do with what you prefer. Amiable, on time and productive but with a shit output, or epic train wreck with the potential for a handful of memorable songs? I don't know about you but I'm in it for the music. Not live shows, not interviews, not an annual christmas record or a cash gig with LL Cool J on MTV.

A ton? Really? Let me see your playlist. Snakepit 1 and Contraband are far and above and they have maybe 3 good to very good songs each. Even that is cutting them some slack considering how laughable the singers are.

Rest is true, not denying that.

A pretty big if! That'd be like saying your meal would have been great had Gordon Ramsay cooked it. And let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Anastasia benefits from being one of only a few highlights in the desert of generity that is Apocalyptic Love (say cheese!). The intro is catchy enough but I'm certainly not getting my dick out. After that we have a few minutes of Mylesiocrity with nothing all too exciting going on in the background. And you act like I don't know what a good Slash solo sounds like. He's my favorite player in the genre, but definitely not because of anything he does on this song. Adding sweat to get a little extra length actually applies well here. Basically he's phoning it in. Like he came up with a decent riff, did some standard stuff on the verses and felt the need to plaster on a solo without having any real drive for what that should be.

And that's "his best work in years".

Better than nothing, better than anyone else from the old band.

The ability to play SCOM perfectly does not impress me. Besides, I couldn't care less for technical proficiency when the songwriting is almost non existent. High level? Not even close. Put on his latest solo albums and tell me what is so high level about his playing. Tell me what is so high level about the songs as a whole.

The 10.000 dollar question. We don't know, but most of us are waiting since we expect it to be pretty good.

He was involved on Contraband too no? Hmm, I might need to modify my stance further. Those two are capable of magic (especially when the wizard in the tower also gets a say ).

Man you should have been around the old 2000 Intentions forums. We used to make up stories that Dizzy Reed was in fact the hidden hand behind GN'R.

You may be remembering a discussion we had earlier too when I claimed Izzy was the most important songwriter in GN'R based on his credits. That was a good discussion and I've since changed my stance on that since although he's got the most credits, the best and most universally loved songs are due in Slash' favor. Izzy's more of a troubadour. A natural affinity for writing simple, catchy songs. Slash' peak level though is far, far higher.

My disposition towards Slash got nothing to do with his contributions in GN'R. It's that he seems to have rejected the spirit of the band at some point. Nothing wrong in quitting something you're not happy about doing, but when you try and spin the story like you're the one who wanted to stay "O.G." and Axl wanted to become pop or whatever, well it simply doesn't fly. CD proves this. Put Slash on there and it's a familiar GN'R album. You can't just slap together some tracks and release that as your album when you're the biggest band in the world. Even with Axl on it the Snakepit thing would have brought the hammer on the band in the mid 90s. It would be Load/Reload or the last Alice In Chains record. Sub par work that nobody cared about then and certainly don't remember today (the first Snakepit album is actually the only Slash release I couldn't find a torrent for). Axl was being perfectly sensible when he told him "hey, ok maybe, if you insist, but we gotta work on this. people expect a lot from us now". Well he didn't want that and ended up leaving the band. Fair enough. Just shup up about it and don't go around implying your stuff is "the proper gnr way" when it clearly isn't. GN'R was never half assed, settling for second best, doing it on the quick.

This thread prompted me to take the time and listen through his latest albums properly (yeah I know, here we go again) just to get the feel for what he's doing currently, something I haven't really done since Contraband (which was actually a decent rock n roll album).

Well, I wish I did it earlier. I count 4 riffs that could potentially have become good to great songs; Ghost (the best by far), By The Sword, You're A Lie and Anastasia. I was moved by exactly 1 solo; Bad Rain. Those saying he's currently doing the GN'R sound must be taking the piss. Snakepit and Contraband, yeah definitely, this however doesn't even compare. His work on the verses in most songs are non existent. There's almost nothing going on. Put on Rocket Queen and you know exactly what I mean. That can halfway work when you got a partner who brings something to the table. Fergie, Cornell and Stockdale do this in some degree, but mostly you're left with what can only be described as an uninspired Slash and tired old timers harping out some lyrics or Myles Kennedy (who doesn't have an original bone in his body) just kinda being there. Like it all you want but don't even attempt to call this gnr worthy. Soundwise, writing wise, solowise, anywise. An opening riff here and there and a solo once in a blue moon is not gn'r. If that's the result of Slash' 1 week philosophy he might consider upping his hours.

Being the amiable guy he is I'm not surprised there's not a lot of emotion in his current work though. What's he got to be pissed about right? I'm starting to suspect much of his greatest stuff in GN'R was inspired by the anger arising from Axl's incessant demands. On his own he doesn't seem to care nearly as much, and that transcribes to the music. This could actually explain Contraband too, the powerful need to "beat" Axl. Now he's just an old man looking for a quick buck and a comfort zone.

Commence flaming.