Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Normally, we wouldn't do this. And by "this," of course, we mean "voluntarily listen to Guns N' Roses."

Kidding. Kidding. We like GN'R as much as the next dude. At least, we used to. Or we think we did. It's kind of hard to remember at this point. After all, it's been a while since we've heard from our old pal Axl Rose.

Since the band ground to a halt following 1993's covers EP The Spaghetti Incident?, the Gunners -- which now seems to consist of Axl and random musicians drawn by some sort of lottery scheme -- have put out a total of two songs: A pointless cover of Sympathy for the Devil on the Interview With a Vampire soundtrack in 1994, and the industrial-flavoured Oh My God on the End of Days soundtrack in 1999. Speaking of End of Days, that's about when we expected to hear Chinese Democracy, the album Rose has supposedly been making, and remaking, and re-remaking, for about a decade.

But that all changed last week. Because last week, three -- count 'em, three -- new GN'R tracks surfaced on the Internet. Which brings us to the thing we wouldn't normally do. Normally, we wouldn't review unauthorized tracks from the Net. It doesn't seem fair to the artists to critique work that might be half-finished or never intended for release. It doesn't seem fair to readers to write about music they can't buy. And it doesn't seem kosher to encourage illegal file-sharing by publicizing illegal tracks.

But three new GN'R songs in one week? That's hardly normal. That's the musical equivalent of Howard Hughes, Greta Garbo and J.D. Salinger throwing a surprise party for Bigfoot. We figure we can make an exception in this case. So we tracked down the songs -- actually, we got somebody way more net-savvy than us to track them down -- and gave them a spin. Here's what we heard. And remember, kids, don't try this at home.

IRS | 4:16

Like all three tunes, this number is a far cry from the Sunset Strip sleaze of Guns' glory days. In fact, the jangly guitar chords and weepy slide notes that usher us into IRS sound more like Zep's Rain Song -- and Axl quietly moaning like somebody squeezed his lemon does nothing to dispel that notion. Soon, though, a squiggly electronic drum loop does. And once the live drums and a chunky, phased power chord riff kick in, we're on more familiar turf. The bulk of the song alternates between the two parts, with Rose -- whose voice hasn't changed much over the years -- alternately whining and shrieking about how some woman done him wrong. The mix is rough, but the pyrotechnic solo and oddball, jazzy guitar chords sound like Buckethead to our ears.

Decipherable Lyrics: "Gonna call the president, gonna call a private eye, gonna need the IRS, gonna get the FBI." Why? Is he finally wondering where his career went?

There Was a Time | 6:43

A funky hip-hop loop sets the groove, while a plunky piano melody and ominous strings create a horror-soundtrack vibe. Axl's voice comes in distorted -- though that could be the mix -- kvetching about drugs and betrayal and, yes, how some woman done him wrong (which would explain the song's misogynist acronym). Anyway, as Axl works himself into a lather, twin guitars gnash away as the cut ebbs, flows and gradually builds to a grand crescendo a la November Rain. Then it ends with a nice solid wallop. The most fully realized song of the trio.

Decipherable Lyrics: "I was the one who gave you everything -- the one who took the fall. You were the one who would do anything."

Better | 2:06

We found two incomplete versions of this number -- but both were long enough to get the idea. What sounds like a heavily treated guitar chimes away in the right channel. A scratchy lick sets up shop in the left channel. Rose comes up the middle, crooning a sing-songy lyric that's almost a lullaby. The wakeup call comes 30 seconds in, when the grinding guitar chords and midtempo beat arrive. The verses -- with Axl bitching about (all together now) a woman who done him wrong -- rock solidly, and the wah-wah-laced chorus works, but the offbeat bridge kills the momentum. Still, it's the rockiest of these tunes.

Decipherable Lyrics: "Replay the part, you stole my heart, I should have known you're crazy."

Final Verdict: Not bad -- but not worth waiting a decade for. If it were anyone else, we might suggest heading back to the drawing board. But with Rose, who knows if we'd ever hear from him again?

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2006/03/02/1468954.html

Fun reading  ;D

I enjoy reading anyone's opinions outside of the new gnr rcommunity..  Too bad they didn't have the entire version of better, it's so different then the 206

We should send him the full clip.

Just kidding!

posted in the media section this morning  :hihi:

shame they didnt get hold of Catcher in the Rye

I think that's the conclusion wich most of the non gnr fan/journalists will come to :-\

honestly these people review albums or singles, they are busy people, they don't plop their asses down and give these songs six billion listens to have them warm up to them or grow on them like the new gnr fans do.. I'm sure a few songs I have said were crap or not worth any wait might have been songs I liked if I gave them the time, then listened with headphones

Well, let's be sincere. Nothing's "mid blowing" or "earth shattering" here. Sometimes it sounds good, sometimes it sounds great, and sometimes it sounds bad. It will be a good Rock record, but I don't think it will be as great as AFD or the UYI. I can't see it happening, for many reasons. The 1st one is the musical quality wich is not as great as I expected. Maybe it's much more difficult today to make great music than 15 or 20 years ago because of the Internet.

After listening to these demos, I don't think CD will sell 20 or 25 million copies...but anyway, it's going to be a good Rock record though.

I wounder what they would of said if they heard the Full Better or Catcher in the Rye  :hihi:





 :rofl:

That's what I think too. If T.W.A.T and Catcher in The Rye are "The Big Guns" it will be average rock record. Something like "The Spaghetti Incident"

Hearing those ten (OMG + 5 live + 4 demo) new songs I think CD will be at least as good as the worst half of the songs on UYI1&2. That means a very good record.

:rofl: :rofl: Thats hella funny. Add to that Greta frying Elvis a peanut butter and banana sandwich and it would be even closer to the truth. You're absolutely correct. The media will give something one or two listens. Thats the main reason these demos shouldnt have been sent all over the galaxy to be scrutinized. I'm actually surprised the songs got as good of a review from these people as it did. We might love them, but that doesnt mean they are ready for public consumption.

Agree, but CITR isn't a big gun, all of the 'new' songs are much better (except Silkworms). As far as we know, Better, IRS, TWAT, CITR, Madagascar, The Blues and Chinese Democracy will make the album. If the other half is on the same level, then it'll be a good album, although not mind-blowing or earth-shattering. So it'll be better than TSI, but not better than an album Axl (or Slash) should drop in every 2 years with 6 months of writing and recording.

I agree with that assessment completely

I think once the album is released we will see much more articles such as this.  It's people comparing the old GNR to the new GNR thats going to be the downfall of this album, unless Axls got another SCOM up his sleeve.

I just did ;D

i think he was a bit harsh, i think the songs a great as do a many number of people, im only worried that if people keep on leaking these tracks axl will delay the album once more and change the tracks, axl already didn't trust the internet and with his temprement i wouldn't put it past him to crap the album and start again removing all the leaked trakcs

well considering he kept the name Guns N Roses, that's to be expected don't you think :hihi:

It's pretty naive to think the general listening public wou;dn't compare AFD to UTI to CD and vice versa

Of course, I find it hysterical and awfully hypocritical of fans to get all bent and bothered when someone compares the new material unfavorably to the old.  yet, scream and shout in agreement if it's a favorable comparison.

You know if somethink it's great, fine, bets musioc ever written.  If it's unfavorable, how can you say that when it's only a demo or how dare you campare the new band to the old.

Can't have it both ways people : ok:

Were they really?  ::)
You should've known they're crazy.

The thing is, no piece of music, by anyone, in all of history can live up to that kind of judgement standard. Beethoven's 5th symphony didn't take ten years to compose. Will Axl impact music history to the same degree that Beethoven did? Of course not. If Chinese Democracy turns out to be a great rock album, then that's all that matters. Makes no difference if it took him 10 years or 10 minutes.

Exactly.
Even if it had taken Beethoven's 20yrs to complete 9th symphony, it wouldn't blunt the impact of the music itself.
it's all the same, the 9th would be the 9th as we know.

the race is not to the swift.

And thank you for posting! I thought it was a nice read. Too bad they didn't get the full version of Better. Would be nice to read what they had to say about that!

I think it was a pretty fair review.

As far as his beef with better, it was that it was all over the place.... If he heard the full version I don't think he would have liked it any better, actually he probably would have been harsher.

This is the sort of review we should all prep ourselves for. 90% of all music critics will use the phrase "This is what we waited a decade for?" (that should be the name of this album). After all this time I think most people are expecting something out of Bill and Ted's Excelent Adventure where George Carlin tells Bill and Ted that the Wyld Stallyons Album brought peace and harmony to the universe..... After all this time thats what CD should do.

George W Bush should be able to travel the world with an IPod playing CD for World leaders, making the world a better place.....

Thats what ten years of over inflated expectations gets you..

Its what ten years of procrastination gets you.

Exactly.... If he would have put this out 6-7 years ago then the CD myth wouldn't have balooned to the point were people are expecting "The Greatest Album Ever Recorded".

It isn't going to be..... No matter how good or what we think, people are still going to say "This could have been done in 1 year"
They aren't going to give him a pass due to lineup changes (they think were his fault to begin with) or whatever Axl's reason for taking this long are going to be.

Turns out it's just a guy taking his sweet time making the record he wants to make.

I dunno I am not really of big fan of reviews.    I care more about what us the die hards fans think then any newspaper's entertainment section or even rock mags for that matter.   

I say as long as I like them that's all that matters

He was reviewing DEMOS people! I think CD will get a lot of good reviews, except for that dickhead Stephan Thomas Erpawine at the AMG music guide (who only got the gig beacause his uncle is the editor).

I don't really care what die hard fans think because they tend to always see the bright side and can never give an honest review, it's the people with no ties that interest me because they are your average joe on the street thinks..  it all boils down to what I think or you think..

there are many who think that the delay of the album is due to Axl's drug problems  :o
I can't understand how the general opinion of non-gnr fans is that Axl is actually having drug problems...many people that don't know too much about gnr and their history always associate Axl's reclusive behaviour with drug addiction >:(

Even if CD does get mixed reviews, it matters not. It's always the fans that countt in the end. Zeppelin, Queen, Rush and Sabbath got shitty reviews when they were around, and Sinead O Conner and the Strokes were darlings of the critics.

In 20 years, people will still rock out to Zoso, but not Elvis Costello!

Understood, but there are a lot of people on this board who take GnR Critisism as some sort of personal attack. They should be ready for a landslide of negative reviews of this album (if that doesn't happen.... fantastic) because they can't seem to understand that not everyone shares their views.

I couldn't give a rats ass what anyone publicly says about the album. I'll be cranking it in my car looking like an asshole singing to the people in the car next to me while in Boston's famous traffic. Rolling Stone isn't going to change my mind about the material, but I also don't take it as an attack on a family member if the media questions why it took so long (an they will). I'm also not expecting CD to change the landscape of music (again.. if it does, great).

I hear ya but the people with no ties I feel are too harsh.   and you're right...it does matter what we ourselves think and no one else. :peace:

I knew i shoulda stopped reading right there  ::)

Rolling Stone and MTV are the reviews that are going to matter in my IMHO. If Kurt Loder handles the MTV side of things... Axl's in great shape there... which leaves Rolling Stone which has been highly unpredictable when it comes to Axl and GN'R... but I have a feeling they want/need him back now... there's been nothing interesting or legendary to write about for years... one of the greats of music history re-emerges from his 13 year slumber and RS is going to tear him a new one so he can fall on his face... and they can get back to covering the oh so controversial Chris Martin? I don't think so. I think Axl already has enough quality tracks (The Blues, Madagascar, CITR, Better, etc.) that RS will get on the band wagon in the hopes that if nothing else an Axl Rose return will sell some magazines over the next 2-3 years.

As far as this review in particular goes... no great problem with it. A lot of stuff we're going to see many times over: "10 years for this?" and "line-up picked by lottery?" etc..... but you know.... even that is a minor victory for Axl in my eyes... anyone remember the late 90s? Then the criticism was along the lines of: "Axl Rose is no different from Jani Lane, Vince Neil and Brett Michaels and will never record a single shred of listenable music again in his life now that Kurt Cobain came and purified music." Interesting that no one says that any more... kind of interesting that the new criticims center on the duration of recording and varied line-up... I deduce from that the critics acknowledge at a minimum that the music is "decent".

seems like too many people are trying too hard to compare chinese democracy to the original GnR, rather than taking it for what it is - it is a modern album, and is not inteded to be a continuation of the old guns, but rather a new sound. ?Just because it's not what people want or expect, that doesn't mean it's bad...it's just different. ?It's like saying ac/dc is bad because they don't sound like led zeppelin...both bands are good, but they sound very different and should be treated as bands with different styles who are good at making music in their own unique style.

i, personally think that this album will take the world by storm and completely blow peoples' minds...it has been over a decade since people have heard what a rock band can do when they push themselves as far as Axl and GnR has.? People have been hearing mediocre, half-assed rock for so long, they have no idea what truly great music sounds like anymore.? after this album is released, all of the shitty bands from the last 10 years will instantly be exposed as what they truly are - lazy and mediocre.? bands don't want put any effort into their music anymore,? because they know that they can turn in a shitty effort and people will still worship them and buy their albums....because they know that their record label will just pay the radio companies to play their music constantly until people are brainwashed into thinking it's good.

hopefully gnr will help to at least reduce this trend somewhat.

And even some gnr fans.

As if those non gnr fans and journalists had waited for a decade.  :hihi:

ouch...that was the harshest part - criticizing his lyrical ability as being self-centered. 

The thing is, I never interpret his lyrics as being about some woman, it means more to me than that.  But it's all in the ears of the beholder, I guess. 

I havent heard CITR but  I hope the lyrics lend themselves to a more serious interpretation than some woman done him wrong.

I think the story of Axl's isolation from the rest of the world for the past decade is well known between die hards and non gnr fans alike...we prob know a bit more of the story and whats been going on, but the basics are shared between both groups.

I think a good comparison for CD is the new star wars movies.  There are casual SW fans and then the super geeks.  After what, 20 years+?? people finally get new star wars movies, only to find that they sucked ass.  Are they compared to the old stuff? yup.  Were expectations REALLY high?  you bet.  Were die hards and casual fans alike both saying, we waited 20 years for Jar Jar Binks?!?!?!?  yes.  AND, just like with the die hard GNR fans, there are/were plenty of SW fans who think no matter what the movies are amazing, simply b/c its SW.

Reading press' reviews, please remember a simple thing:

It's an individual's opinion.

That opinion is supposed to shape and influecne the opinion of the masses.

However, just because someone earns his money as a JOURNALIST, it does not mean he knows more about music than anyone else. In fact, I think only MUSICIANS can really afford to praise or bash or criticise someone else's music at all, if ever.

Most 'music journalists' have yet to verify their qualification to me because I can't find it in 99% of the crap that pops out of their keyboards. Most of them focus on jerking off to look smart and make it an entertaining read, rather than providing a real REVIEW for the reader.

Today, there are about as many GOOD music journalists out there as there is GOOD rock music out there.

Remember that when the reviews for CD begin.

It's not worth arguing, not worth writing letters to the authors, not worth nothing.

Listen to the music and if you like it recommend it to your friends. That helps more than one stupid letter to an even more stupid editor.

CITR seems to have absolutely nothing to do with women...

And anyone who doesn't dig a "women have done me wrong" theme might as well throw all their Sinatra cd's out the window....

PS The new Star Wars movies were weak EXCEPT for Revenge of the Sith.... I actually prefer it to Return of the Jedi. : ok:

IRS isn't about a woman either. It is very definately about Slash.

Poor Axl, after all the leaks, he's now going to have to give serious consideration to leaving Chinese Democracy's centerpiece, the 20-minute epic Woman Done Me Wrong, off the album.

HannaHat, I think the Star Wars parallel is a perfect example : ok: : ok:

it truly truly is...i think its an analogy that everyone can relate to and have an opinion on.  Too add to it, my nieces and nephews LOVED the new movies and my brother who is a teacher said the kids in his class think the movies are insanely good.

SO people who never heard GNR before might not have high expectations, but those of us who have been waiting forever are going to, and we're also going to compare......

both trilogies had different effects, different actors, different story lines
both GNR's have different sounds, different members

true...but I think everyone would agree that the new star wars movies blow huge asscrack....hopefully gnr won't be like star wars in that sense

is irs about a girl?  it didnt seem like it to me but i guess i could be wrong.

Polly you're right If you're talking about only North America.
In the outside world great many of non GNR fans don't even know about GNR.

Anyways My point was that
when they haven't waited for it but just get it when it's readily available, what does it matter to them whether it's worth waiting for a decade or a week? None of their bloody concern.
Whether it's worth listening or not is all that matters.

See the Beethoven comparison at the bottom of the first page. His No3, No5 No9 have waited for you for like 20 decades.

I'm a casual SW fan and I haven't even known the length of the intervals. that's not important as whether they're worth seeing.

BTW to appreciate a new album,  I think, you don't have to know the previous works of the band beforehand unlike with SW.

Great review.  I liked the "how some woman done him wrong" part.  :P

On this "women done him wrong" crap... i don't get this, Axl should be writing about what's most important to his life and psyche, that's what art is used for, to express what affects you, and if this has affected him that much to have to write a bunch of songs about it, let it be - i would rather him write about a redundant subject with full cotent than write about something that may be more appealing to what gnr used to be about. i wanna hear what's been going on in Axl's life thru this album, and the very real pain of heart break and love is compelling enough for me ... more compelling to Axl than politics, fame, sunset strip drugs parties, that all seems pretty shallow, that's been done with AFD, that was his life then, now i wanna be let in on his life now. and it's the hurt of love - i don't think that should be criticized, oh because he didn't write what some pompous journalist wanted to hear, oh well, fuckoff.

I guess this reviewer would rather hear a 40 year old man sing about getting high, drunk and laid. *sarcasm*

how can he conclude "not worth waiting for" and risk alienating potential buyers when he hasn't even heard the record? pathetic.

Good post. Dave's point too. I think there are a few people here at this board who should really read the post above. Also, people were bitching about the same thing when the Illusion albums came out that their bitching about the new songs.

Well he is in Canada right?  :P

Right Axl is not 20 anymore he is not going to sing about the same things, he is now singing about the old band, Steph, Champman and other things.  When 40 year olds sing about drugs, getting drunk and high they sound like idiots and get bashed for it. Now if Axl had a song over overcoming H addiction when he was younger that is different, but IRS is about slash, I agree with that. TWAT could be about his mother for all we know because it was said to be about his childhood abuse before we heard it.

There is nothing more sad than seeing a rockstar trying to be who they once were. He'd be a terrible joke.

Chris Cornell is a perfect example of a rockstar maturing and becoming an even better singer/song writer with age. Chris is my favorite singer and songwriter ever. And I love Bad Motor Finger, but if he was still trying to make those kind of albums it would be boring and lame. Audioslave is lightyears beyond what Soundgarden did. Even the depth of the songwriting, though its based on two main themes: God and how a woman did him wrong :hihi:

I cant care less about this cunts review....and Sympathy for the DEVIL is the shhit!!!! rocks more than the original.

You raised some good points here.  My fav mag is RS bc they cover GNR (esp in thier heyday)--I can only hope that they stand behind him.  But either way...as long as the mags are writing about GNR I'm happy (for my scrapbook collection...hehe)....
there's no such thing as bad publicity...

I'm hoping Loder will review CD for RS.