New Guns and Roses after the FIRST listen....

After giving it a few spins over the last few days, here's my two cents:

I really wanted to hate this album. I really did. I thought it was ridiculous that he was still calling it Guns N' Roses, when it was clearly nothing more than an Axl Rose solo album. And I never liked the fact that his crazy douchebag behavior had essentially destroyed one of the last great rock bands we'll ever see. The guy has been the butt of so many of my jokes over the years, I was actually worried I might be running out of material if the album never came out. Then I heard Chinese Democracy was finally being released and I was more than ready to rip the album to shreds with a whole new slate of Axl jokes, as were the majority of music critics around the world I presume. But then the reviews started trickling in: Rolling Stone, The Onion, Allmusic.com, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Billboard...all of them weighing in with rave reviews of the record. Even holier-than-thou indie hipsters were reviewing the album on music blogs and giving it a somewhat reluctant thumbs up. That and I had a couple of friends who were saying it was actually decent and convinced me to give it a fair listen. So I bought it on Sunday and took it home to absorb it....and I liked it. I didn't want to, but I liked it.

Yea, it's bloated and way overproduced and the musician/production credits read more like a big budget Hollywood movie production, which is beyond ridiculous. But the guy has been re-recording and slaving over this thing for 15 years, so I didn't really expect it to sound like 5 guys in a room playing gritty live-off-the-floor no frills rock a-la Appetite For Destruction. Forget for a moment that he's a bat shit crazy egomaniacal control freak, and forget about comparing this to Guns N' Roses, because let's face it. It's NOT Guns N' Roses, and without Izzy, Slash, and Duff it'll never be Guns N' Roses again. But if you're judging it solely on the songs, then as an Axl Rose vanity project it's quite good. Some of the songs don't work at all. Shackler's Revenge is one of the worst things I've ever heard, Street of Dreams and This I Love are both cringe-inducing cheese fests, and Scraped is just as predictable and boring as anything on mainstream radio. But the rest of the album is decent with a small handfull of tracks that I would call outstanding. Chinese Deomcracy, Better, If the World, There Was a Time, and I.R.S. are all excellent songs and in my opinion are the definite highlights. And I think his voice sounds fantastic on the entire record.

To sum up: is this the greatest album ever made, as all the Axl Rose fanboys are proclaiming? That would be a big fat resounding NO. I could name at least 20 albums released in the last 15 years that easily wipe the floor with Chinese Democracy in terms of songwriting, musicianship, lyrics, production, and excecution. Is it worth the 15 year wait? Not by a longshot. Simply put, it's a solid rock album. Nothing more, nothing less. The fact that it took him this long to finish it is incredibly bizarre and more than a little silly.

chiefojibwa wrote:

what an ax-hole:

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/11/26/guns-n-roses-demand-apology-from-dr-pepper-over-soda-fiasco/#more-8342

as far as chinese democracy goes...well, i illegally downloaded it and i want my money back. i think this is the last we'll be hearing from William Bruce Rose, Jr.

Hilarious. I'm betting they're all in on this thing together just to try and sell more records and Dr. Peppers.

12345AGNST1 wrote:

I see.... that would explain the not so nirvana sound. The drummer on this record is Brain, Primus' second drummer. He is sucha cool ass drummer, but I was pretty dissapointed with the playing. I bet Axl didn't want him to play his own way.

No kidding axl doesnt want any of these musicians to have any say in the musical direction. He wants them to act like dogs and follow his every word and when they get out of line, hell find someone else. Hes the Al Davis of rock music.

This record is NOT GNR, no matter what the cover says. Where is the attitude? Where is the bluesy influence? Where is the bass? Where is the in your face, no holds barred approach to music?

Its one thing to change musically and its a whole different thing to completely abandon who you are. Cmon Axl! 14 yrs for this . . . . i guess ill try again in 2022

Cropduster84 wrote:

That's some funny shit....


Use Your Illusion piss all over this.....


There's nothing on Chinese Democracy that matches November Rain, You Could Be Mine, Estranged, Civil War, Right Next Door To Hell, Coma, Don't Cry, The Garden, Pretty Tied Up etc.

No, there isn't. But there's also nothing as bad as the 35 other shitty songs on that bloated double album. That's why it's a better ALBUM.

DOSW wrote:

I like the way you think! If I had to name the best songs on the album I would choose the exact same ones you did.

Really? I think IRS is the weakest song on the album. I've noticed this album is kinda like the Illusions, ask 5 people what their favorite songs are and you will get 5 different responses.

I feel exactly like I did 9 years ao when The Phantom Menace was released. I like the album, but I think a lot of it is because I really want to like the album and it truly does not hold a candle to what my image of GNR really is.

Sure, there are some good moments. I.R.S. is like the pod race. Better is like Darth Maul.

And Shackler's Revenge is definitely Jar Jar.

After listening to this album a few times to & from work, I like it. Just wished though Axel didn't use the Guns & Roses name. If it was called something else, Axl Solo or something .. great. But if you're an old school GNR fan, and you expecting this album to sound like Use Your Illusion jam's .. you're in for a suprise!

holtz wrote:

Really? I think IRS is the weakest song on the album. I've noticed this album is kinda like the Illusions, ask 5 people what their favorite songs are and you will get 5 different responses.

I like IRS a lot, yeah. The riffs are great and it has a great soft/loud dynamic, especially toward the end... you think when it slows down the song's going to end soon, but then it roars back to life. It's pretty badass when turned up loud.