According to an interview with Richie Sambora at MusicRadar, the guitar solo in the album version of ‘We Weren’t Born to Follow’ has been replaced. Sounds like somebody was listening to the online reaction to the song. I certainly wasn’t the only one to notice the conspicuous absence of the solo.
The debate at the time of the release centered mostly on the fact that the radio edit made it painfully obvious that a solo was missing. Whether it was never there or had been brutally hacked out for the radio edit was the question. Now it appears that Jon’s yell of “Guitar!” was indeed meant to lead into a solo in the actual song.
What I find interesting is that the band has replaced the solo that no fans have even heard yet. The critiques that were out there up to this point, mine included, were critiques of the radio edit, because that was all that the fans had to go on.
I have to wonder what the original solo sounded like. Richie’s description in the interview made it sound like it didn’t live up to the “real rock album” sound that Jon promised for the record and that was why he went back and re-recorded it.
At least it sounds like they’re trying to deliver on that promise. If it means some last-minute edits, so be it. And if the band needs to push back the release date to deliver, then push back the release date. I’d rather wait a couple of months for a superior product than get an inferior album now.
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I got the impression that the “solo” that is being replaced is the one we have heard on the single/radio edit. They are adding a solo where there effectively wasn’t one.
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