Everything about Chinese Democracy - the track

[chriskon72]

Just got to the internet tks for all the links just finnished hearing it for the 3rd time.

It just fuckin' rocks! was never crazy about this track but it is fricken awsome! the work they did on it is fantastic, I'm BLOW AWAY!!!!!

Now, for that beer

Cheers!

[Thorned Rose]

Push this album, and push it hard.

Push it until it falls off the edge.

Listening to it on the official site.

Love it, still gets me

[CheapJon]

Push this album, and push it hard.

Push it until it falls off the edge.

Listening to it on the official site.

Love it, still gets me

totally agree, i want at least 6 singles from this fkn record 

[Continental Drift]

Incredible.

Did I read that right... Buckethead AND Bumblefoot on the SAME track? Each of those guys ALONE has more talent than any guitarist currently on the "airwaves".... BUT put them TOGETHER and ADD AXL!!?!? Get the hell out of the way!!!!!!!

[jarmo]

Did I read that right... Buckethead AND Bumblefoot on the SAME track?

Yes, that's the impression Ron's quote gave me as well.


And like Axl said, Buckethead will be on the album!

Along with Ron. 





/jarmo

[Annie]

Did I read that right... Buckethead AND Bumblefoot on the SAME track?

Yes, that's the impression Ron's quote gave me as well.


And like Axl said, Buckethead will be on the album along with Ron.





/jarmo

So totally awesome!

[makane]

Who plays the new verse riff? Really nice add from the leaks. Too bad that stream quality seems really low, though they really cant stream FLAC quality. I guess well get a proper quality on oct 27th?
Theres a clock added to gunsroses.com (which is not in time with jarmo's  )

[zombux]

Who plays the new verse riff? Really nice add from the leaks.

The wacky solos on this one are all Bucket kickin' ass

I played fretless rhythm stuff, all the low sliding in the rhythm guitars hard-panned right in the verses, left on the choruses and under the solo...

Ron

[ShotgunBlues1978]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2008/10/no-pop-star-has.html

"Chinese Democracy," the first single from the ridiculously long-awaited Guns N' Roses album of the same name, is out, and can be heard below.

Here are some thoughts the song inspired early this morning.

No pop star has built a fortress as maze-filled and iron-clad as one W. Axl Rose. Not Michael Jackson, whose retreat was forced by scandal as much as by artistic crisis, and who seems ever more weakened by his reputation's slide. Not Zack de la Rocha, who (like Rose) went down countless collaborative roads before revamping the Rage Against the Machine template with his new project, One Day As a Lion. Not Garth Brooks, who also turned hermit, but craved the crowds too much to stay inside.

Rose, the most ambitious hard rocker of the late 20th century -- shout-outs to your Trents and your Bonos, but Axl is the most vividly driven -- essentially quarantined the Guns N' Roses brand for 15 years -- unable, perhaps, to reconcile the sounds in his head with what is humanly possible. "Chinese Democracy," the title track from the album finally coming out in a month, hits like an offering pushed through a crack in a locked gate, hinting that those sounds, never completely apprehended, have now coalesced into something Rose can face.

The sound is murky, ugly and evocative of a dark cityscape; you could call it "Blade Runner rock," because like that 1982 film, it's a very dirty vision of the future. Siren-like effects kick off the track, and then a slicing guitar riff (courtesy of Robin Finck, perhaps, or Buckethead -- the credits should be clarified whenever Rose deigns to do so) punctuated by squiggling, pedal-heavy licks, sets up Rose's multiple-tracked vocal.

"It don't really matter," he sings. "You'll find out for yourself." As the cryptic verses unfold, it becomes clear that this is one of Rose's songs from inside the cage of fame, attacking external forces he despises but can't ignore or repel. Like "Get in the Ring" or "You Could Be Mine," this is Rose as the nastiest kind of punk.

On one level, it's a protest song about Chinese state oppression. More important, it's a spit back at the audience that's been waiting for what has to be a masterpiece, if Rose is to survive artistically.

The song builds like bile. It doesn't behave the way radio-friendly singles usually do. The chorus is just an extension of the verses, rising a little in pitch and compression. There isn't really a proper hook; the sweet release that Slash's solos always brought to the mix never comes. But the refrain sticks after several listens.

"It would take a lot more..." is the key phrase, the one that Rose sings in still-powerful mid-range. More hate, more time. (There's a weird reference to masturbation too, that will have critics and possibly 12-year-olds snickering for a while.) These are the points when the song sounds the most like Nine Inch Nails -- a shot of aggression that somehow contains its own alienated retreat.

"Chinese Democracy" also recalls "I'm Afraid of Americans," David Bowie's 1997 foray with NIN. Both songs have a suffocated quality, as if their makers are pushing through smoke to express these thoughts. It's the sound of florid, romantic rockers aiming for something cold and modern.

But Rose can never really be cold. He's a Heat Miser -- whatever he touches starts to melt in his clutch. That's why these paranoid rockers never quite satisfy the way his grandiose ballads can. As real as Rose's anger may be, in song it starts to feel overly put on, in need of a sweeping chorus (or Slash-like ringing solo) to relieve the tension of the pose.

Still, for all the pooh-poohing this song will inevitably earn because it's just been too long in coming to fulfill all hopes, "Chinese Democracy" brings back a passionate weirdness that the hard rock airwaves have lacked. However overwrought or undercooked the whole album may be, it's good to have this mad king venturing forth over his moat.

-- Ann Powers

[Rainfox]

That piece by Ann Powers deserves a thread by itself.

'Blade Runner Rock'.  Classic!

She just expressed my thoughts on the song point for point.

 

[jarmo]

Not all critics are clueless. 




/jarmo

[sky dog]

nice review from a well respected publication and critic.

[Scabbie]

Just played it on xfm. Feedback from the listeners is great, everyon'es pscyhed. Someone just compared Axl to a viking god!

[SLCPUNK]

Someone just compared Axl to a viking god!

Kay, that shit made me laugh. 

[evergreen_layne]

Did I read that right... Buckethead AND Bumblefoot on the SAME track?

Yes, that's the impression Ron's quote gave me as well.


And like Axl said, Buckethead will be on the album!

Along with Ron. 

I'm thinking he meant the shred/tapping/killswitch solos are all Buckethead.  The beginning half of the main solo is Robin's work.  At least that's the way they played it in concert and it still sounds like Robin on the record.  He has this way of pausing and stopping the note that is very trademark. 




/jarmo

I'm thinking he meant the shred/tapping/killswitch solos are all Buckethead.  The beginning half of the main solo is Robin's work.  At least that's the way they played it in concert and it still sounds like Robin on the record.  He has this way of pausing and stopping the note that is very trademark Robin.

[IKnowWhereIAM]

Not all critics are clueless. 




/jarmo

Don't sell them short...they are clueless beyond our wildest dreams!  The choices are A (like it) or B (hate it), with no 'all of the above'...50% might actually get it right!  

[The Illusionist]

Well it seems that the only people who actually "pooh pooh" Axl and his work are those who either were effected by his actions (no shows, riots, etc)....media djs or writers who have been either ignored or verbally assaulted personally by Rose or his cohorts...or just people who literally don't know anything about music...and just want to hate on stuff to be "different" and entertain themselves by waiting for a response....

The question I always ask after articles where there are a "Comments" section is...How can you dislike Axl and his work SO MUCH where you actually WASTE your valuable time to write about it after fully reading an article about somebody you knew you didn't like before you read it???  It just doesn't make sense to me...If I HATE or strongly dislike something...I don't trudge through message boards and surf articles in hopes that I can write long paragraphs on how much I dislike whatever it may be.  It just doesn't make sense.  These people are frauds...they are only on there to get a rise out of everybody and/or to entertain themselves.  Either that or they just really don't understand what "music" and "art" actually is...in their eyes if there isn't a catchy chorus in the middle they can grind the opposite sex to in a club...or if it's not "the norm" at that specific time....it's a terrible song.  

Let them be who they are...while at the same time being proud that you have an open mind...and a better sense of what "talent" actually is.  

Chinese Democracy isn't just an album...it represents a time (albeit a long period of time) in which it reunited a bunch of fans...friends...anybody together.  It represents a goal...in which will soon be reached.  While ignorant people may not understand a Marketing strategy and wonder why Axl Rose decided to stick with the name Guns n Roses as opposed to try a solo album like Billy Corgin and Chris Cornell (how'd those do? Exactly)....we're smart enough to understand the reasons behind everything.  

Just as Appetite for Destruction wasn't an immediate impact right off the bat...I see this album starting off slow (although not in sales)....but soon coming to a boil....

As a magazine once read years back "What the world needs now is Axl Rose".   Well he's back...and he's ready to take back his crown that has been kicked around for nearly 2 decades...

[cyllan]

Just played it on xfm. Feedback from the listeners is great, everyon'es pscyhed. Someone just compared Axl to a viking god!

Are they censoring "masturbation" too, 'cos I noticed that when it was played on Radio 1 they replaced it with, I think, "aggravation" or something that sounded similar - it was kind of muddied and hard to hear.  I've heard it twice on Radio 1 now (Zane Lowe and earlier on Sara Cox) and it's been like that on both occasions.  If they are, it's really gonna annoy me when I hear it on the radio.

Anyone know if they're doing this on US radio too and if it's an official radio edit or just Radio 1 protecting sensitive British ears?!   

Link below is to the BBCi player - Sara Cox show.  It's played at about 1 hr 18 mins in.  Got a fantastic reception from listeners and Sara's description:
"It sounds massive.  it starts off and you can just imagine storm clouds and lightning as rock reappears, and you can smell a leathery crotch in the distance..."   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00f0qbx

[IKnowWhereIAM]

I saw some posts back a ways about this...I wasn't able to hear CD until 11 am (eastern) on WAAF...I was incommunicado and forced to watch 6am, 7am, etc come and go...but when I finally heard it play I was shocked at the muffled sound and 'duet' sounding vocals.  Thankfully, it must have been the system we were listening on, because the version on band site rocks!  

[WeHeldTogether]

Just heard it on GNR's site.  It's so very awesome to hear this in this great quality.  I'm very stoked for this album.  I've already heard this song before a long time ago and I've listened to the fully mastered version three times.

Part of me thought this album would never be released when I joined the site in 2006.  But it's actually happening!!!