I respect your difference in opinion and actually hope you are correct but I feel there is too much assumption in your statements to know for sure.  For example: "the majority of non cd material is not throwaways", there is no way to know this.  I would argue the opposite based on stuff like Oh My God.  Axl ended up calling it a "demo".  I think a poor reception became "demo" magically.  As far as Axl's vision it has been a very unclear one.  Originally he was doing industrial flavored tracks for Chinese Democracy, look at what we have heard since.  His vision has been altered as times changed (and musical tastes as well) while he played around with a over-a-decade-in-the-making album (or trilogy if you wish).  A true "vision" is unaltered, it doesn't wane with trends. 

As far as understanding him as an artist, I do and don't.  I am a writer, have had a band, written songs (etc) and I am very much an obsessive compulsive but don't relate to what he has done.  It seems more to me like he has a period when he is interested in the project and then a period when he just says fuck it.  If this was truly his "vision" I would have expected a little more effort and a lot more results.  As far as the quallity, well that has been extremely varied as well.  Riyadh is "eh" at best, Madagascar is very hit and miss, Oh My God is...well, mediocre would be a compliment. 

With these things said I want to state again I appreciate your opinion and the way you chose to state them, very non-confrontational and with class.  That's what we need more of on the forums, people being able to state their opinions without being flamed.  In the end even though I may disagree with some your ideas I really hope I end up being the one wrong!  Three solid albums from W Axl Rose could certainly help me forget the long long road we took to finally get there.