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Re: The story of the 3 good songs
3 good songs.
As Lofton brought this one out, I figured it's about time to summarize the myth of the 3 good songs.
Lesser known (and talked about) than the album trilogy fable Axl himself infamously started on stage in London, '02 ("By that time, I should be done with the 3rd album!"), the 3 song label has been bandied out in curious contexts over the years. While it's impossible to say whether any of the 9 possible songs appear on all instances, it's food for thought.
To start afresh, Fortus fails to mention the amount, but confirms one or more Slash songs on the CD2 plate.
"Some of the stuff Slash did, you know, that was like the beginning, the seed of the song, that's been around for a while." - Fortus, 2014
Axl also flunks on the exact number of Slash songs he liked, but confirms he felt they rocked.
"I think that some of the riffs that were coming out of [Slash in the '96 sessions] were the meanest, most contemporary, bluesiest, rocking thing since Aerosmith’s Rocks... I wanted to put that record together... by [1996], we would have put it out." - Axl, 2002
Marc Canter ties both Axl's and Fortus' comments to the 3 song rumor.
"The day after Rock In Rio [01/16/01,] Axl and I were at the pool... [Axl] saying to me "If Slash apologizes publicly for the things he said about me in the press I have 3 songs that he could play on the new album". They were 3 songs that Slash had written on and Axl wanted to do something with them and include them on Chinese Democracy." - Marc Canter, 2012
Things get interesting, as Axl apparently had his mind on those songs in 2000, the Bob Ezrin era.
"[Bob Ezrin]'s going to go in there and tell you how many [decent] songs you actually have. [...] He did it with Guns N' Roses... Bob listened to [CD] and said, '3 songs.'"" (Alice Cooper, King County Journal, 10/15/04)
Were the Slash songs the only good Guns songs for an oblivious Bob Ezrin?
It would've been a massive shock to Axl, who apparently felt he had CD done.
The alternative is that the 3 Slash songs were included in the aftermath, during which TIL was reintroduced, as well.
The 2001 edition of CD would've been something else, with 3 Slash songs and one song by Izzy and Duff.
"A couple of months ago I have a message on my answering machine: 'Yo! It's Axl, I need a copy of the songs that you did.' There was one called 'Down by the Ocean' or 'Down by the Sea', they may have used it, I haven't come back to know nothing." (Izzy, Popular Magazine, 2001)
Of course, a pressing question is, will the songs ever be heard?
- A Private Eye
- Rep: 77
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
Whilst I would love to have been a fly on the wall after Bob Ezrin had told Axl his 3 only good songs were Slash tracks, I see only the number 3 as the linking factor. How many tracks did Ezrin listen to, was it all of what was then CD ie 12-13 songs or the whole vault? We'll never know but statistically the odds seem stacked against a Slash clean sweep.
It would be interesting to know what became of the Slash tracks though. Maybe the skeleton of the track went on to become a VR or Slash solo song. Would it be possible they got so tinkered with that they turned up on CD minus any Slash writing credits?
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
I do NOT think any of the songs were Fall To Pieces or Anastasia. I add Anastasia because in 1992 and 1993 Slash was messing with that riff. Axl would have said if Fall To Pieces was one of those songs. He did say it came from the GNR era, but did not say it was one he wanted to use on CD.
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
Fall to Pieces is really shit. Not even Axl could save that.
Saying that, not even Paul Huge could make it worse. Not even Bumble could make it worse.
The Ezrin thing might not be totally accurate and/or not that instructive being just a dismissive remark.
Tbh I think we put too much stock in that Ezrin quote/unquote.
Who knows tho.
Certainly you can count the amount of hits on CD on three fingers.. Or two.. Or one. Your middle one preferably.
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
I'm leaning towards no. The first version of the album seem to have been the most edgy. This is where OMG and Silkworms originated, and Axl played them both in Rio for a reason. That was the direction he wanted to go in, so he was testing the waters. Debuting more accessible songs would have been safer, but he chose not to.
So I don't see many Slash songs on those early plans for CD. The reason he left the band was because him and Axl couldn't agree on musical direction. Would Axl then put a handful of Slash songs on the debut album of his revamped version of Guns? That would be admitting defeat.
The likeliest explanation for me is that those songs started coming back on the table after OMG bombed, the reaction to the industrial sound was lukewarm and producers were telling him his album was shit.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
OMG really sucked. Nothing really good about except one cool verse where Axl almost sounds like old Axl.
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
In an Ezrin interview he actually narrowed the quality down to two. 
"I said “there are two great songs on it and I know that you’re capable of more, that’s the reason why I’m here. You’re such a great talent and I would do you a disservice if I didn’t tell you the truth, which is that most of the songs aren’t great. But I‘m very happy to help you get there and I believe that it’s possible, if you would like to continue to work on the record, to make it better”.
He said “I don’t agree with that. We are ready to mix”. And I told him “you have my number, if you change your mind let me know, but I have a dinner party at home now and I had to go”.
I left and I haven’t heard from him since. It was years later when it came out."
http://www.hit-channel.com/bob-ezrin-pi … 5Tpvy.dpuf
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In hindsight I wish Ezrin had never been called in. People like to discard his statement but it looks like it might have been the main domino to fall that helped put the album in purgatory.
Its certainly interesting that the Slash songs appear on the surface to be what is being referred to but I always took Ezrin's comment as his opinion on everything he heard and the Slash songs in play a coincidence. How fleshed out could any Slash, Duff, and Izzy songs be at that stage? Did the 00-01 lineup take a crack at them?
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
Ezrin is 100% correct with this statement....
I agreed to go there immediately and listen to a bunch of stuff. What I heard was – I don’t know how to say this without be insulting, I don’t want to be insulting because he worked very hard on it – but what I heard was something that he had painted over too many times. So, by the time I heard it, the original content was lost and it was just a highly produced piece of something…
That's CD in a nutshell.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
Ezrin is 100% correct with this statement....
I agreed to go there immediately and listen to a bunch of stuff. What I heard was – I don’t know how to say this without be insulting, I don’t want to be insulting because he worked very hard on it – but what I heard was something that he had painted over too many times. So, by the time I heard it, the original content was lost and it was just a highly produced piece of something…
That's CD in a nutshell.
A rational thought for sure. Pretty much how we all feel.
Re: The story of the 3 good songs
In hindsight I wish Ezrin had never been called in. People like to discard his statement but it looks like it might have been the main domino to fall that helped put the album in purgatory.
Maybe, maybe not. Fortus recent comments suggest the hold up had less to do with the music. Ezrin had his opinion, but Axl still wanted him on, ready to go. That's the same thing Axl has been saying for years. The record company, managers, legal shit etc. was the problem, not whether or not CD was good enough. Going as far as to boycott his own comeback album when it finally was released.
