It depends on the exact reasons bucket left. According to slash the reason slash left was the going on late, the control issues and the cancelled shows. These are not elements likey to change. If bucket's beef with axl was some kind of argument about a less entrenched behaviour or disagreement then it's possible he'd come back. Then again - Slash clearly always keeps open some potential reunion possibility by never totally trashing axl in the media even when prompted. And the public will push them to do so for the rest of their lives.

Myself i'd just like some kind of statement. As the silence following the release makes the fan base come up with these theories. Like the Slash theory or the Bucket theory. Or a new version of CD comming out. Or a second album drop. This is what we do with idle minds. If you give us nothing we invent stuff, and then if it doesnt happen people feel let down. It would be easier if the band just announced the line up and that a tour would take place late 09 or somthing.

I do wonder if anything is going on though. Like that pitman thing was wierd.

Anyway...I'd love to see bucket back - but - as insane as this sounds - more so for recording - I feel like he was capiable of doing greater things in GNR than we heard. I'm still dreaming of a soothsayer style song with Axl..and it's not there yet. And bucket and bumble in the same band would kick ass. But it's probably not happening huh!

I love the CD too. And i was happy it was the "leaks album" as I'd grown fond of the 'drafts' of those songs...and I would have been pissed to never have a finished version of them.

Imagine if CD has been 12 completely unheard tracks - unless everyone was absolute gold we'd be arguing for eternity about which of the leaks should have made the album to replace the weaker songs etc. lol.

Anyway i'm very happy with the album because it sounds great to me and I love the tunes. The only thing I find wierd is the way its being handled...no promo etc...as I feel that is costing sales...and I care about that for selfish reasons....i've been justifying my talk of GNR when the world said it was "dead" for years (to normal people...not us diehards)..you know like you meet people and they ask your favouirite music or band and you say GNR...that kind of thing. I've been anticipating real versions of these songs...i
ve played the leaks to death. Very few people in my personal life "got it" cos they'd all moved on to rap or whatever else....my girlfriend is only 21 and so doesn't remember the golden age like I do. Anyway...so I guess for a selfish reason - i wanted this album to go massive so that all these people would see I was right!! LMAO!
THis will sound crazy. But I feel that we as fans feel we are personally connceted to this album. That would probably shit axl - i mean like he put the dollars in, he put the time in in the studio. I sat here and masturbated, why should I clame it as mine? But just cos we all watched it so intently, I feel connected to it. When I saw it in the store...I felt a sence of pride...no longer is stuff like Maddy my secret obsession and indulgence, it's something anyone can hear...it was like I was looking at my own album on the shelf. That's how it felt to me...and while i've been obsessed with GNR since like 88 or whatever...i'm not even a 'nutswinger' type...(as I like both bands)...I can only imagine what it was like for those people.

Anyway....I think if the album had been #1, if the media had been temporarily saturated with GNR stories, if main stream people had come to our party - even if only for a few days - that would have filled us with a sence of achievement and pride.

I know it was never going to be 1991 again. But the way this has gone down has surely surprised people or we wouldn't get the articles now about it. My friend who had never understood why i didn't move on from the 80/90s came across the leak of "Better" around the time of Rockband 2. He finally believed me that this would be an album worth listening to. (I'd told him lots cos i was into it and he had liked GNR in the 90s). We exhange the occasional email waiting for the release. Chinese democracy was released...I expected him to email saying he'd picked it up. Instead he sends me a link to the Sun article and a "what's the go with this?" kinda letter.

But here we had a mixed bag - the joy of an offical release, but the orgasm is muted for us by the strange way it's been handled to minimise public responce to it. I think i will feel "wierd" about it until I get some idea of the mindset of the band. I just want to know 'why' there's been no Axl. Is it that he hates the album now? Is he just sick of it? Is it to let the music do the talking? Does he dislike the mix? is there a problem with best buy? Is he mad at something? Is he busy creating new works? is it just that he hates the media? Is it something in his personal life? is he retiring? Is it just an experiment to see what it can sell by itself? At the end of the day it's their problem not mine if it doesn't sell. But obviously as a fan i wanted success for the album - both for the artists and my own insane "i feel like part of this" reasons - and now I just feel like it would be nice to know the logic behind what is happening. It's their call obviously. But it would be nice to know the rationalle behind it all.

Maybe Axl is retiring. Maybe he released this just so we'd stop waiting and bugging him, and to end the bad press about it and now he just wants to live his life and is done with the music industry. 

hope not. But it's possible.

Reload those guns baby!!! I'd be into this. I just want to see VR kick some ass with a new singer who can rock. Scott had some cool vocals on some tracks but he's always been too mellow. I want to see them with someone who goes balls out...and this dude looks like he might have the goods.