T1 is quite fun, still. Lost respect in T2 after seeing a few years back and realizing it's essentially a video game with continuously rising difficulty curve; the T1000 gets more powerful on each round, climaxing on a Super Mario-like 'lava level'. T3 existed mainly to give Schwarzenegger a visibility boost prior to the gubernatorial elections. Salvation had a great many good scenes, it held itself together fairly well, and is mostly lessened by the unnecessary additions such as the heart transplant. Still not entirely a homerun, but vastly better than whatever else McG has ever done, IMO.

Ron wants to write and record new music for Guns. Why? For one, he'd be potentially earning from them beyond his tenure in Guns, depending what sort of royalty agreements would be drawn up. It'd be good money for him, if so. Also, there's the matter of actually behaving like a band by making music. He's worked his ass off since late 2009 on the road, while the focus has shifted from an early, earnest effort to showcase CD material and promote the album into a Greatest Hits package. It must be said at least a handful of CD songs per show are included, so it's decidedly Axl's GH instead of merely panhandling on the Slash legacy. But then we take into consideration that even the latest original songs are at least 10 years old by now... How by anyone's standards that can be seen as anything but a nostalgia act?

The CD songs feel more alive with the current band than on the record. There, I said it. When comparing the boots to the multitracks, the prolonged production time and personnel changes become apparent. Guitars are added on top of each other, takes are meshed to cobble up something out of nothing. Brian May didn't have an organic take on Catcher on the leak; he took several passes at the material, possibly without took much guidance, to see what would happen. He didn't nail it on the outset - Axl ordered his takes to be chopped up and meshed into something quite different. May didn't have a problem - it's the man's album - but that incessant combing looms over every song on the album. Too much potential killed CD, because it could've gone any which way, musically, and Axl seemed to have a hard time cherrypicking.

There's bound to be another album of CD songs out there, with temp mixes, orchestra and the usual trimmings. The leftovers, or the "more advanced" stuff. Axl has more than likely waxed poetic on it since 2008. How would he feel about it now? I wonder if he sees it as a clunky, overproduced mess of an album. Had CD launched different (read: years earlier), there would've likely been a popular demand for Album 2. Universal would've told Axl to buckle up and do the dog and pony show all over again just so because there's a reasonable revenue to be had. Right now, the label doesn't seem to have Album 2 anywhere near their priority listing. What is their priority?

CD was one of the very last releases to date on the Geffen imprint. Jimmy Iovine of Interscope resurrected the name (again) in 2011, relocating its operations to New York. Interscope (another part of the trinity which is Interscope Geffen A&M) is still active, only its ran by Jimmy Iovine. As we all know, Axl set his hounds on Iovine following the CD release. Granted, an unceremonious BestBuy dump was a slacker attempt on anyones part and to a degree, it makes sense for Axl to have felt so despodent as to not participate at all in the most lackluster promo campaign in recent memory. Only the audiences were alienated long before, and the comments given to the media by Axl and Tommy most certainly peeved their label head, Iovine.

While the bridges were set aflame, Axl had the elusive edge of Irving Azoff set to save his career. Azoff wanted the second album out, so he could sequester Axl from the new band and towards a reunion. Faced with an uncaring audience and a useless label, Axl's best bet would've surely been the Van Halen tour Azoff was dangling to begin his recovery as an artist. Only Azoff was another 'traitor', and was let go. Like his successors, Doc McGhee (KISS) and Peter Katsis (Ministry). These were all experienced managers, who likely caught up in an instant what a hair-trigger character their client was. Doc, for one, apparently had the dubious plan of re-releasing CD, no doubt at his clients behest. I can imagine the word of mouth. "Check the new album sleeve - now free of typos!"

With no levarage on an album, touring keeps the band alive and, for his part, Axl works hard to keep the band touring. Guys like Ron keep saddling up in a mere months notice, if needs be. Being on Guns now is being on a continuous watch for a new gig. It must pay better than whatever else these guys might be doing, but it's also quite restricting in considering your personal timetables and other opportunities. Brain more or less admitted that passing the drum stool to Frank freed him up to do commercials, remixes and session work to such a degree that going on the road with Guns would've been a step down, financially. Not to mention Frank likely being a more economical touring drummer on a night-by-night basis.

The label doesn't see an incentive to push for a release, the management continues to be an ineffective joke (that's you, Beta), the band members are there for the gig. Gloomy? The one thing that can turn the boat around is a push for new material. If Axl had serious faith in the stuff he has in the vault, he would've premiered a new song or two live by now. Just to piss off the label, to create buzz and so forth. All we've gotten is a Tommy tune, continuous remarks from muppets like DJ that work on the next album is imminent, and Ron's public push to do new material.

It appears Ron doesn't see Album 2 (the CD tracks) in the cards, because nothing's happened with it in aeons. The band can either focus on writing new material with what they've got or slowly disband like the preceding lineups, getting replaced by the next generation of session musicians.

Mick Wall has made a career of the one time Axl surrounded him with his goons about something Wall wrote about Guns, not to mention the Get in the Ring namedrop. Not that it'd matter much, but Wall's actual writing is, I found, heavily steeped in his personal grudge against Axl (still going strong as that's what brings him attention). More alarmingly, a lot of it is mere embroidery - he pulls up bits and pieces of material from other sources (articles, interviews, the internet) and puts them in a blender, turning out an account with admitted bias and loose factuality.

Same goes for Stephen Davies and Watch You Bleed. Too bad, really.

I found it curious that (presumably) Robin and Richard would give Ron a hard time as the odd man in. The last time Guns had two guitarists, it was Bucket and Paul Huge at the advent of RIR3; Robin had been gone for a year and the NIN tour wrapped up, he felt like coming back to Guns and that's when the three guitarist lineup became a norm.

Four years later, Bucket leaves. Axl gives out line, "Can't tour without Bucket", which had to be pretty stumping - wrap it up with Geffen cutting funding and you get a band which is pretty demoralized and aloof. The album's unfinished and there's no tour to be had, either. No wonder Tommy remarked B could "shit in his bucket".   

I recall Fortus commenting the post-Bucket Guns in the vein of "Robin and I switch between rhythm and lead"; so it was effectively a two-guitar show for two years. The two RFs had rearranged the entire '06 setlist to be divided amongst themselves. That's a good deal of work and I bet particularly Robin had to step up to the plate and improve on his playing (which in '06 was more elaborate than in '02).

Little did they know, Axl still wanted Bucket back (even luring him with back payments). Apparently, he spoke more about it to Merck and Del James than any of the people actually playing on stage. Some months after Bucket left, Ron is courted by the management as a potential replacement, but his loose tongue sets up too many red flags - Axl freaks out as telling the world about his plans is a no-no. They keep going with the RF-duo game plan, and the band is content with this solution. While the band is happy, the upper echelon is not - they keep putting out feelers towards Bucket.

Spring '06, the tour is about to begin. Guns start auditioning for a third guitarist; panic. The RFs are disenchanted, now everything goes back to what it was with Bucket - if only they're not again nested with Bucket, but some guy they've never met. Even with a revolving lineup, the CD lineup had been a friends of friends' band (Tommy knew Josh Freese and Fortus; Robin knew Sean Beavan, etc). It was all about hooking up a mate to come up on this lucrative gig, to delve in vast resources and experiment.

Ron was the boy who'd cried wolf during his initial talks without knowing any better. He got the gig anyway after Merck & Axl came to terms with Bucket not coming back and finding the RFs inadequate for both the tour and completing CD. If you look at it that way, it's pretty demoralizing for the band - they work their asses off to get by without Bucket and at the 11th hour, they are still found lacking.

The whole Ron thing seems to me like Axl observing the band from the outset, instead of actually rehearsing with them and asking them about the pros and cons of replacing / rehiring Bucket. The way Ron was presented to the band was pretty much Paul Huge walking into the room with Slash and Duff all over again.