Chinese Democracy - Comments?

iainf72

The new Guns n' Roses

I know I'm not the only person who's heard it.

I'd heard the demo tracks a few year ago and heard the leaks a few months ago but the actual release is a lot more polished.

I think it's a good collection of tracks. It's hard to think of it as an album as there doesn't seem to be any flow and the styles vary too much for it to feel like a single piece of work. Too many ballads and it sounds too much like it's come out of Pro Tools at times however, Axl does write a great tune at his best. It's all pretty epic but hearing the voice again is cool.

Here's hoping he can get some focus and knock another album out in a reasonable period of time without constantly rejigging songs to make them "modern"

synchronicity

I started liking GNR in 1998 after the original and true band had broken up... I know the lyrics to probably 90% of their songs.

I've been waiting for this for probably 8 (or 9?) years or so and remember speculating on the new lyrics way back then.

I think it might appeal more to the newer generation as the tracks are all mixed up. A decade is a long time for fans to have to wait to load new material onto the ol' mp3 player... so I think they, like me, will have evolved beyond this point.

Funny hearing it now [I'm listenening to it right now and already know the words ]. It does sound less raw... looking forward to hearing the other tracks.

OK I've just done a bit of a search and listedened to the 30 sec samples of each track...

I've previously heard

Chinese Democracy
Riad N' The Bedouins
Madagascar
"Street Of Dreams" went by the name of "The Blues"
Oh My God

... the 1st 4 don't seem to have changed much in the 8 years from the demo versions.
and from what I've heard, I actually prefer the demo version of the Blues to street of dreams... :roll:

Am I led to believe from the track listing that Oh My God is not present?

Most appropriate GNR quotes at this point:

But it's been
14 years of silence
It's been
14 years of pain
It's been
14 years that are gone forever
And I'll never have again

&

"Oh the taste is never so sweet as what you'd believe it is
Well I guess it never is"

nicklouse

I am glad i did not spend any money on it.

mrushton

but it isn't GnR! It's Axl Rose and some others.

CHRISNOIR

mrushton wrote:

but it isn't GnR! It's Axl Rose and some others.

Yeah, I think a few reviews have said it's essentially an Axl Rose solo album. Still, after fourteen years in the making could it ever ever live up to the expectation?

iainf72

CHRISNOIR wrote:

mrushton wrote:

but it isn't GnR! It's Axl Rose and some others.

Yeah, I think a few reviews have said it's essentially an Axl Rose solo album. Still, after fourteen years in the making could it ever ever live up to the expectation?

Chinese Democracy's good parts are better than the good parts of Velvet Revolver's 2 albums. Therefore I'd suggest the bulk of the talent is in Mr Rose.

Axl clearly heard "The Downward Spiral" in 94 and thought "I want to do that"

Johnny G

Makes the 5-year wait for "Second Coming" seem like nothing!

Surely it's actually 17 years (since Use Your Illusion I & II) not 14? I wouldn't count the Spaghetti Incident covers album.

davidmiller

Come on guys. Forget them, Axl is the past.

Get yourself a copy of Velvet Revolvers Contraband and you'll never look back (except to play sweet child of mine and november rain occasionally).

Seriouly though, Contraband is THE most amazing rock album ever produced

David

mathi

I have my copy ordered but not sure when it will arrive :roll:

campagone

Ive just had a listen on myspace, pretty good I think. It was more enjoyable than the new Metallica and AC/DC albums, which I thought were ok but over rated. I'll probably buy it.

mrushton

Seriouly though, Contraband is THE most amazing rock album ever produced

David[/quote]

You have listened to the Zep/Who/Stones/Band/Dylan/Metallica/AC-DC etc? I think there are a lot better contenders for that title.

giant_man

It isn't G n R. You haven't got the three most talented members for a start.

I was there when Appetite came out, I was working for a British rock magazine at the time and the hype was incredible, and rightly so. The whole package.

I'm afraid this time it's Axl Rose thinking the world revolves around his songs. It'll do nothing.

davidmiller

mrushton wrote:

Seriouly though, Contraband is THE most amazing rock album ever produced

David

You have listened to the Zep/Who/Stones/Band/Dylan/Metallica/AC-DC etc? I think there are a lot better contenders for that title.[/quote]


Grew up on metallica. The black album, in particular is awesome. ACDC bore me quite quickly. Zep/Who/Stones and dylan in particular have never really excited.

Who are "Band"?

I'll say it again, Contraband is the greatest rock album ever produced.

If you don't own a copy then get one, your life ain't complete. Then buy a guitar, but that's a different story.

David

Jez mon

DavidMiller wrote:

mrushton wrote:

Seriouly though, Contraband is THE most amazing rock album ever produced

David

You have listened to the Zep/Who/Stones/Band/Dylan/Metallica/AC-DC etc? I think there are a lot better contenders for that title.

Grew up on metallica. The black album, in particular is awesome. ACDC bore me quite quickly. Zep/Who/Stones and dylan in particular have never really excited.

Who are "Band"?

I'll say it again, Contraband is the greatest rock album ever produced.

If you don't own a copy then get one, your life ain't complete. Then buy a guitar, but that's a different story.

David[/quote]

The Black album is a very good album, but it really does mark the start of Metallica's long and arduous journey towards being a bit rubbish

Contraband isn't the greatest rock album ever produced, it's an album made by a brilliant backing band in need of a brilliant frontman (which Axl was).

iainf72

Jez mon wrote:

Contraband isn't the greatest rock album ever produced, it's an album made by a brilliant backing band in need of a brilliant frontman (which Axl was).

Have you read Slash's autobiography? One of the reasons G n' R were so great was down to Axl's songwriting ability, not just his front man skills. If I remember correctly, Sweet Child o Mine was Slash playing his version of scales, Izzy did some stuff and Axl heard it from another room and wrote the song.

The guys on Chinese Democracy (Buckethead and Robin Finck especially) are amazing guitarists in their own right.

fto-si

DavidMiller wrote:

Come on guys. Forget them, Axl is the past.

Get yourself a copy of Velvet Revolvers Contraband and you'll never look back (except to play sweet child of mine and november rain occasionally).

Seriouly though, Contraband is THE most amazing rock album ever produced

David

Having just downloaded a few tracks from Velvet Revolvers Contraband I can only say that it's far from the most amazing rock album ever!
As the subject of this post is Guns'N'Roses you only have to listen to Appettite For Destruction to find a better album.

Jez mon

iainf72 wrote:

Jez mon wrote:

Contraband isn't the greatest rock album ever produced, it's an album made by a brilliant backing band in need of a brilliant frontman (which Axl was).

Have you read Slash's autobiography? One of the reasons G n' R were so great was down to Axl's songwriting ability, not just his front man skills. If I remember correctly, Sweet Child o Mine was Slash playing his version of scales, Izzy did some stuff and Axl heard it from another room and wrote the song.

The guys on Chinese Democracy (Buckethead and Robin Finck especially) are amazing guitarists in their own right.

Fair enough, I didn't explain my point that well. I guess I mean, as a band, GnR were greater than the sum of their parts.

IIRC, Slash was just joking around when playing the intro to Sweet Child, and he really didn't like the song that much.

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Jez mon

phips wrote:

Jez mon wrote:

The Black album is a very good album, but it really does mark the start of Metallica's long and arduous journey towards being a bit rubbish

St Anger was a bit too much for me - The Black Album was the start of my Metallica enjoyment. Really enjoyed Load, but Reload was tat.

Death Magnetic is utterly fantastic, I can't stop listening to it at the moment ! "Broken, Beat and Scarred" must be one of the best tracks to Turbo Train to :twisted:

Metallica's best work is easily Master of Puppets, then Ride and Justice. Then Kill em All (only if you like thrash metal). Then the black album (which is a good album, just not a patch on early stuff imo), then Death Magnetic, which is a good album that's been mixed poorly. Also some of the songs go on for too long without doing much IMO, it's like they decided to write long songs, rather than writing songs which then turned into long songs (if that makes any sense).

Slow Downcp

I must admit to preferring Velver Revolver to GnR at the moment, although I'll still listen to GnR - whether VR lasts the test of time that GnR has is debatable.

When all things are considered though, I think I prefer Avenged Sevenfold.

uk_mr_brownstone

giant mancp wrote:

It isn't G n R. You haven't got the three most talented members for a start.

I was there when Appetite came out, I was working for a British rock magazine at the time and the hype was incredible, and rightly so. The whole package.

I'm afraid this time it's Axl Rose thinking the world revolves around his songs. It'll do nothing.

Does that include Steven Adler?


I really rate Chinese Democracy- It'll be reviewed very well in a few years time (i.e. based on it's own value rater than all te other stuff because of the band name). It was never going to sell well based on:

1- no Slash
2- 15+ years- WAY too high expectation
3- almost no promotion and it's been released at pretty much teh worst time in the last 10 years to release an album.

The only down side is a lot of people have heard half these songs 6 or 7 years ago- madagascar and street of dreams were played at LEEDS 2001 (and rock in rio in 1999!).
When first heard these I had expectations that CD would be Appetite for Destruction meets Absolution (Muse). Not really the case.

There's some awesome guitar solo's on this album, but not in the melodius way that Salsh rips them out.

'scraped' has' the most 'old gnr' feel imo.

Overall it's a decent album imo- way better than a lot of crap that out there. Don't buy it if you want another appetite for destruction though

synchronicity

If it was released in 2002, I would have rushed out and bought a copy. But it's true what people say. Half the songs are OLD already. I had the mp3s to the main tracks even before mp3 players became mainstream!

whyamihere

Jez mon wrote:

Metallica's best work is easily Master of Puppets, then Ride and Justice. Then Kill em All (only if you like thrash metal). Then the black album (which is a good album, just not a patch on early stuff imo), then Death Magnetic, which is a good album that's been mixed poorly.

I pretty much agree with your order (might put Kill 'Em All higher, but then I do like my thrash), but for one exception: I would put S&M above all of them. It's just brilliant.

volvine

I loved guns n roses because they where a proper rock n roll band attitude talent the works but now the new album although i think it is ok sounds exactly what it is Axl and a bunch of studio musicians (not that they arn't good) they do not sound like a band that have gone through the mill playing the shi# holes to make a name for themselves and growing a bond as 1 unit.
look at all the very best bands in the world AC/DC Rolling Stones Led Zeplin The Beatles U2 Metalica ect ect not all my personal choice i'm going off album sales like them or loath them they all work together they may not be the most talented individuals but they spark together the new look GnR do not have this i'm afraid.

as for the greatest produced rock album being contraband hello ever heard of Back in Black album sales mate proof.

synchronicity

Metallica doesn't get on all that well though. They were going through group therapy weren't they?

volvine

yeh i heard about that but they obviously put this behind them on stage where it really matters and that's what i meant to say that even if they hate each other when playing they just sound right.

volvine

By the way synchronicity tenerife and sydney bet your not used to the cold lol