A comparison of Bullet With Butterfly Wings which shows the differences among three different years, and between two different guitar players and two different drummers:

11 November 1995 Saturday Night Live, James Iha (http://www.stockton.edu/~stk32335/bwbw-1995-11-11.mp3)

28 June 1997, James Iha (http://www.stockton.edu/~stk32335/bwbw-1997-06-28.mp3)

22 May 2007, Jeff Schroeder (http://www.stockton.edu/~stk32335/bwbw-2007-05-22.mp3)

**NOTE: The 2007 recording is an audience recording and therefore has much less impact and clarity than the TV and FM broadcasts from '95 and '97, so please consider this when comparing.

Does anyone have any opinions?
I figured this was a good way to critically approach the differences of a particular section of one song played in different years and by some different musicians. Comparing multiple songs loses focus. I am seriously wondering what other people think about just the end of BWBW from a technical guitar-playing perspective, not the attitudes and personalities of the musicians.

why you mad tho?

It's difficult to tell based on those three recordings, because of how some of the guitar and drum gets lost in different ends of the sound spectrum. The first one sounds the least "tight" of all (like James is hitting at his chords in very "punked out" fashion), the second one has a better drum sound (though possibly because of the recording itself) and the guitar seems slightly more defined, and the third one...definitely sounds the best, most notably because all the instrumentation sounds very tight and the noodly wah-pedal solo outtro is not only not lost in the mix but also technically more "correct" to the song.

stumpy - clip 1 and 2 have james on noodly guitar, not chords.

You should ******* the Machina tour Bullet outro...where he repeats part of the "I still believe/what is lost" parts of the song, ends with a scream, and heads into the "Once in a Lifetime" guitar noise. Not saying they should play OIAL, but the live Machina era versions of most of these songs seem the most fleshed out and full to me. The 2007 version of Bullet feels like they've taken 2 steps back (the 2 steps being JI and MADM, if you will). Here's hoping the new guys take the songs to the next level once they get comfortable playing them.

but the live Machina era versions of most of these songs seem the most fleshed out and full to me. The 2007 version of Bullet feels like they've taken 2 steps back (the 2 steps being JI and MADM, if you will). Here's hoping the new guys take the songs to the next level once they get comfortable playing them.

I agree! :)