Hmm.. I didn't get it. What the Richard's killswitch has to do with Better? 

I'm talking more about Bucket licks, tone and style. The killswitch is also a trademark, but not the only thing  of his sound that makes it unique.

Voodoochild wrote:

Jameslofton wrote:

Yeah, that was an intriguing comment. Considering that has always been one of my favorite songs(even before the leak), I'd sell my mother to hear it. It probably is more raw and has more balls than the leak. That intro is probably non existent, and likely little to no synth.

Little to no synth? Listen to 2001 live version of the song, there was way more synth than now. Just because it didn't have the intro doesn't mean it was more guitar driven - in fact, it sounded a lot less guitar driven back then. From the Boston Promo 2002, the synth was there in the studio mix too.

Neemo wrote:

or its not BH at all and we're looking at an 04-06 recording

It's Bucket for sure, his sound is unique enough to notice. There's no way in hell it's not Bucket unless it's someone trying to be exactly like him.

I don't think Better was written in several pieces put toghether because that was the only new song besides Silkworms that Axl told about who wrote - in this case, Robin Finck. There are several GNR songs who had several different parts, like Rocket Queen and Locomotive.

Also, I find hard to believe that Bucket's solo was from different sessions. It would need a lot of work to mix it good enough with the actual song, as it would most likely be in another key, tempo and pattern. The great work by Bucket fits nicely in the song and it's felt in every chorus and also in his own solo.

About the article, I think it gives Bucket a whole more important than it would be for real. In all songs we know, Bucket only put solo and some licks here and there, but the structure of the songs were all the same since the early years. IMO, he was more to put some touches, but not to write the main concept of the songs - that seems to be the work of Paul Tobias, Dizzy, Tommy and Robin, of course.

agree...I think Bucket was brought in to take existing tracks and add his mojo to them.

If it's true, it sounds to me like HTGTH is becoming the mouth piece of GNR. They took the Beta-confirms-album-finished story down, saying that we 'stooped to new levels' when in fact I spoke to Beta herself twice - and have since then.  And if that's the case, they're being petty. Obviously Tom hasn't heard anything since 2002 when he left the project.

Off the top of my head I can't remember exactly how he said the track listing was shaping up  - Atlas, Prostitute, Silkworms, Madagascar, Chinese were all songs he worked on with them. One song he didn't know anything about until it was leaked was Better - he wondered if it was the band's conscious attempt to write a hit...

Neemo those upgrades are impossible to do. If you could replace great with greater consistently, you'd never lose. Patriots need to get younger (and less bad of people) on their defense, but their OFfensive line is the best in the league and teams aren't quick to toss away great lineman. Moss is less valuable than a good to great tackle or guard, imo.