Chinese Democracy Review Thread

[Ali]

Entertainment Weekly's review really pisses me the fuck off.  They gave it a B-!  That is a widely read, influential magazine and a B- is NOT a good review.  We should all go to this site: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20241280,00.html    and type in our own reviews. 

It's not that influential.  They gave Nickelback's latest a C+ and that won't stop it from selling millions of copies.

It's actually not the bad review you are making it out to be.  My problem with the review is the same as it usually is for their reviews:  no specifics. 

EW has never been a great music magazine, anyway.  It's more of a movie and TV focused magazine.  I've been a subscriber for many years, so I am familiar with it.  Rollingstone is the more influential US music magazine.

Ali

[pilferk]

Entertainment Weekly's review really pisses me the fuck off.  They gave it a B-!  That is a widely read, influential magazine and a B- is NOT a good review.  We should all go to this site: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20241280,00.html    and type in our own reviews. 

Eh, I'm not so miffed.

 While I'm not surprised they reviewed it (EVERYONE will, pretty much, based on it's mythos), I'm not surprised one of it's "critics" would find the music not to their tastes.  Look at his previous reviews.  He's their resident "artsy"/"semi-obscure" music critic.....He gave Jimmy Eats World's last album an A.  That pretty much says all I need to know about the critics tastes.  They're not even CLOSE to mine.

Plenty of other reviews in the mainstream press are giving it VERY positive reviews.  It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, nor is it going to get an objective look (read the opening LINE of the EW review) by everyone, because of it's history.  There are going to be plenty of "stalwart" reviewers who are not going to like how "big" the music is on this album.  There's a lot more November Rain than there is Welcome to the Jungle...and that's going to bend some noses because they are inevitably going to make comparisons to Appetite.

I heard it.  I liked it...no, I LOVED it.  That's enough for me.

[Tyson]

You make some really good points pilferk, but my anger stems from the ability of this one moron EW critic, Andy Greenwald, to influence opinions of the general public.  ALOT of people that aren't huge GNR fans will read this review without an open mind and generally believe that this album is decent at best. 

[adman2374]

Entertainment Weekly's review really pisses me the fuck off.  They gave it a B-!  That is a widely read, influential magazine and a B- is NOT a good review.  We should all go to this site: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20241280,00.html    and type in our own reviews. 

It's not that influential.  They gave Nickelback's latest a C+ and that won't stop it from selling millions of copies.

It's actually not the bad review you are making it out to be.  My problem with the review is the same as it usually is for their reviews:  no specifics. 

EW has never been a great music magazine, anyway.  It's more of a movie and TV focused magazine.  I've been a subscriber for many years, so I am familiar with it.  Rollingstone is the more influential US music magazine.

Ali

I agree, but did you see its the number one viewed article on their site? The review reads like it was written in 5 minutes. It's a piece of trash, but it does mention some good points. At least RS knows what they are talking about...

[prairie]

While it would be nice to see more nice reviews, who REALLY trusts a review.  Everyone likes something different.  We GNR fans can't even come close to agreeing which new songs should be singles.  Who makes buying decisions based on reviews?

prairieboy, 

[Continental Drift]

Relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax..... This one line from the EW review alone will get most casual rock fans excited about this album:

"The blistering ''Shackler's Revenge'' rides a sinister riff to headbanging heaven, while the piano-heavy ''Catcher in the Rye'' showcases GN'R at their '70s-aping stadium best.''

People need to realize that there's a contingent of casual rock fans out there who have come to believe that NOTHING good or redeeming will come from this album. You tell them that there are at least 2 great tracks on there and their interest will be piqued. The grade was a little low... but the review was NOT that bad.

[pilferk]

Relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax..... This one line from the EW review alone will get most casual rock fans excited about this album:

"The blistering ''Shackler's Revenge'' rides a sinister riff to headbanging heaven, while the piano-heavy ''Catcher in the Rye'' showcases GN'R at their '70s-aping stadium best.''

People need to realize that there's a contingent of casual rock fans out there who have come to believe that NOTHING good or redeeming will come from this album. You tell them that there are at least 2 great tracks on there and their interest will be piqued. The grade was a little low... but the review was NOT that bad.

Hell, 2 great songs is 1 more than is on a LOT of albums, now.  2 great songs (well, SINGLES) usually mean the album is considered a standout hit.

[variant]

Anyone read the Kerrang review?

Axl is on the cover (http://www2.kerrang.com/newissue/) but there is no indication of what they thought

[Ali]

Entertainment Weekly's review really pisses me the fuck off.  They gave it a B-!  That is a widely read, influential magazine and a B- is NOT a good review.  We should all go to this site: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20241280,00.html    and type in our own reviews. 

It's not that influential.  They gave Nickelback's latest a C+ and that won't stop it from selling millions of copies.

It's actually not the bad review you are making it out to be.  My problem with the review is the same as it usually is for their reviews:  no specifics. 

EW has never been a great music magazine, anyway.  It's more of a movie and TV focused magazine.  I've been a subscriber for many years, so I am familiar with it.  Rollingstone is the more influential US music magazine.

Ali

I agree, but did you see its the number one viewed article on their site? The review reads like it was written in 5 minutes. It's a piece of trash, but it does mention some good points. At least RS knows what they are talking about...

Yes, I did notice that. 

Ultimately, I think that EW is really more of a movie and music magazine.  I'm saying this as someone who has ready the magazine and been a subscriber for many years.  I read it for the articles on The Dark Knight, The Watchmen, etc. not for the music coverage, which in reality does pale in comparison.  Their movie reviews are FAR better than their music reviews.  They have two quality movie critics that write good reviews.  I can't say the same about their music reviews and that extends way beyond GN'R.  I hated their most recent Nickelback review because the criticisms and discussions seemed to be limited to smart-ass remarks and mentions of lyrics.

Ali

[Reinaldo]

Best read of a CD review so far..

"Sometimes it seems like Axl believes every single Guns N' Roses song needs to employ every single thing that Guns N' Roses has the capacity to do?there needs to be a soft part, a hard part, a falsetto stretch, some piano plinking, some R&B bullshit, a little Judas Priest, subhuman sound effects, a few Robert Plant yowls, dolphin squeaks, wind, overt sentimentality, and a caustic modernization of the blues." 

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/chuck_klosterman_reviews

[Bucketofguns]

Best read of a CD review so far..

"Sometimes it seems like Axl believes every single Guns N' Roses song needs to employ every single thing that Guns N' Roses has the capacity to do?there needs to be a soft part, a hard part, a falsetto stretch, some piano plinking, some R&B bullshit, a little Judas Priest, subhuman sound effects, a few Robert Plant yowls, dolphin squeaks, wind, overt sentimentality, and a caustic modernization of the blues." 

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/chuck_klosterman_reviews

His review is amazing.  Would be great to hear what Axl was thinking when he made the changes.

[clau68]

After reading all the reviews, I feel exited for listening CD. There are really good reviews. I have to wait until Friday at midnight. I have waited for all those years and now I feel like an eternity wait until Friday.

[Continental Drift]

Relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax..... This one line from the EW review alone will get most casual rock fans excited about this album:

"The blistering ''Shackler's Revenge'' rides a sinister riff to headbanging heaven, while the piano-heavy ''Catcher in the Rye'' showcases GN'R at their '70s-aping stadium best.''

People need to realize that there's a contingent of casual rock fans out there who have come to believe that NOTHING good or redeeming will come from this album. You tell them that there are at least 2 great tracks on there and their interest will be piqued. The grade was a little low... but the review was NOT that bad.

Hell, 2 great songs is 1 more than is on a LOT of albums, now.  2 great songs (well, SINGLES) usually mean the album is considered a standout hit.

Completely agreed. Standards have completely changed since GN'R was last at this 17 years ago. 1-2 great songs these days and you've got a Darkside of the Moon for the 2000's.

The good news is that Chinese Democracy has at least 6 truly epic tracks IMHO ("Better", "Catcher In The Rye", "Sorry", "Madagascar", "This I Love", "Prostitute")- and the rest of it is rock solid too. It's a true "throw back" album in that sense.

[pilferk]

[

Completely agreed. Standards have completely changed since GN'R was last at this 17 years ago. 1-2 great songs these days and you've got a Darkside of the Moon for the 2000's.

The good news is that Chinese Democracy has at least 6 truly epic tracks IMHO ("Better", "Catcher In The Rye", "Sorry", "Madagascar", "This I Love", "Prostitute")- and the rest of it is rock solid too. It's a true "throw back" album in that sense.

Yup, and I think that is what ultimately will help it in the sales charts.  It's one of the only albums I can think of since Greenday's "American Idiot" that has enough standout material to stand on it's own as an ALBUM, in the "old school" sense of the word.  It's not just a (or a couple of) commercial single(s) thrown together with a bunch of "filler" to try to convince the consumer there's enough material to plunk down $10 for.   CD, IMHO, might actually have some staying power based on the strength of it's material.

[Spirit]

Finally hearing 'Chinese Democracy' for the first time, under heavy guard at GN'R's UK record company, is a surreal experience. How can it ever live up to the legend, or justify its ludicrous gestation period?

Needless to say, it can't, but it is a remarkable and often exhilarating album. Across the 71 minutes, there are only the vaguest hints of the Nine Inch Nails-style industrial sound, with which Rose was reputedly toying. Instead, the music is densely layered, obviously using the computer programme ProTools. A vast armoury of instrumentation - strings, brass, programmed drums, synthesizers, samples, lots of piano (Rose's instrument), as well as traditional rock guitar/bass/drums - is crammed in there, often on the same track. The most immediately satisfying ones are punchier, punky numbers like 'Scraped', or the hi-tech, poppy confection, 'If The World'. 'There Was A Time', on the other hand, feels like a Bond theme, full of melodrama, but it doesn't half go on.

Generally, the songs are epic, long-winded, cleverly stitched together, and subject to constant mood swings - much like Axl himself. Rose sings in many voices - sneering, raging, crowing, opening his battered heart.

Yet his presence, beyond question, is phenomenal, unrivalled in contemporary rock.

On that strength alone, 'Chinese Democracy' deserves to sell a good few million, if not the 28 million accrued by GN'R's debut. For that, it would need a 'Sweet Child O' Mine' or a 'Paradise City' - a box which remains unticked. Worse, Rose writes like a man who hasn't glimpsed reality for many moons. His songs are no longer about universal experiences like going out on the lash, or simply falling for a babe. Most, such as the mewling 'This I Love', are transparently and vindictively addressed to Stephanie Seymour. One can only hope that the album's completion, coupled with a fresh blast of stadium adulation, will finally help him get over her.



This was the 'review-part' of the article from telegraph.co.uk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/20/bmgnr120.xml

[JuicySwoos]

Not a bad review.


CD review: Guns n? Roses, ?Chinese Democracy?
By Joe Gross | Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 04:59 PM

Guns N? Roses
?Chinese Democracy? (Geffen)
 


So, let?s review: The United States elected an African-American president. The Phillies won a World Series. And ?Chinese Democracy? is in stores.

Let?s not kid ourselves: The first two were going to happen sooner or later. The latter ? well, this is an album that has been discussed, debated, anticipated and consigned to the realm of myth for 15 years.

Bill Clinton was in the middle of his first term the last time G n?R put out a studio album (the 1993 covers album ?The Spaghetti Incident?).

George H.W. Bush was president the last time the last time the band released a studio album of original material (1991?s ?Use Your Illusion? I and II).

Tens of millions of dollars have been spent in the past decade and a half. Eleven musicians are credited. Fourteen studios were used. The album?s been promised and delayed more than, well, the Second Coming.

So how is it?

Um ? not bad.

Seriously, how good could it possibly be? It is the most anticipated album of all time. Unless it does your taxes, comes with stock options and cures cancer, folks are going to be a little disappointed.

As for the music (which does seem weirdly secondary at this late date), you can?t say ol? Axl has been sitting on his hands the past 15 years.

Every song here seems to have about 900 tracks of sound on it. Jumbles of guitars, weird voices, drums, mechanical rhythms, piano fills and ballad butter run all over the place. Every song feels worked over and refined and added to and subtracted from. Riffs and parts collide like a freeway pile up. More often than not, the song is the victim, any sense of true forward motion is stuck in the stacks o? tracks.

Remember the opening moments of ?Welcome to the Jungle,? the wrecking ball swing that turned that song from solid hard rock to a freight train that changed the world?

There?s nothing like that here. Even the fairly solid rockers (?Shackler?s Revenge,? ?I.R.S.,? the title track) can?t approach that astonishing groove.

Axl Rose seems to have spent even more time on the ballads, virtually all of which can be tagged with the prefix ?power? or ?epic? or ?overblown.? ?Street of Dreams? is Axl at his most power ballad emo (?All the love in the world couldn?t save yoooooooo?), ?This I Love? is his most straightforward, ?Catcher in the Rye? is, well, called ?Catcher in the Rye.? And the man still seems to be able to sing just fine.

Speaking of crazy, there?s also plenty that?s just plain weird (other than Axl?s cornrows, it-must-be-Botox looks and, well, taking 15 years to finish this thing). ?Madagascar? samples Martin Luther King?s ?Free at last?.!? and the world may never quite know why. ?Sorry? sounds beamed in from Pluto. The opening 28 seconds of ?Better? sound for all the world like the avant-pop of underground faves Deerhoof.

Every song has at least three or four parts fighting for attention. And Axl probably lavished his love and time on all of them, saying what he must have said to countless hot tub companions: ?Girls, you?re all pretty.?

Even being sold exclusively at Best Buy, ?Chinese Democracy? is going to sell through the roof; curiosity alone will drive plenty of purchases.

Which isn?t all that surprising. Rose and company have delivered a monster ? misshapen, strange and sometimes very, very powerful.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment


http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2008/11/19/cd_review_guns_n_roses_chinese_1.html

[Olorin]

Finally hearing 'Chinese Democracy' for the first time, under heavy guard at GN'R's UK record company, is a surreal experience. How can it ever live up to the legend, or justify its ludicrous gestation period?

Needless to say, it can't, but it is a remarkable and often exhilarating album. Across the 71 minutes, there are only the vaguest hints of the Nine Inch Nails-style industrial sound, with which Rose was reputedly toying. Instead, the music is densely layered, obviously using the computer programme ProTools. A vast armoury of instrumentation - strings, brass, programmed drums, synthesizers, samples, lots of piano (Rose's instrument), as well as traditional rock guitar/bass/drums - is crammed in there, often on the same track. The most immediately satisfying ones are punchier, punky numbers like 'Scraped', or the hi-tech, poppy confection, 'If The World'. 'There Was A Time', on the other hand, feels like a Bond theme, full of melodrama, but it doesn't half go on.

Generally, the songs are epic, long-winded, cleverly stitched together, and subject to constant mood swings - much like Axl himself. Rose sings in many voices - sneering, raging, crowing, opening his battered heart.

Yet his presence, beyond question, is phenomenal, unrivalled in contemporary rock.

On that strength alone, 'Chinese Democracy' deserves to sell a good few million, if not the 28 million accrued by GN'R's debut. For that, it would need a 'Sweet Child O' Mine' or a 'Paradise City' - a box which remains unticked. Worse, Rose writes like a man who hasn't glimpsed reality for many moons. His songs are no longer about universal experiences like going out on the lash, or simply falling for a babe. Most, such as the mewling 'This I Love', are transparently and vindictively addressed to Stephanie Seymour. One can only hope that the album's completion, coupled with a fresh blast of stadium adulation, will finally help him get over her.



This was the 'review-part' of the article from telegraph.co.uk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/20/bmgnr120.xml

What a fucking dick. 3 quarters of that article was just bashing for no reason, then a few paragraphs at the bottom saying, "oh by the way, the albums great"

Fucking twat.

[cybercurves]

Author Chuck Klosterman reviews Chinese Democracy and gives it an A-

Anyone heard of this guy?  He gave the album pretty good review:

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/chuck_klosterman_reviews

Sorry I couldn't post the review here, it was too long, lol.

[martyngnr]

Well the readers of NME.COM have spoken.

http://www.nme.com/news/guns-n-roses/41162

As far as i am concerned the fact that the scenester twats who read the NME don't like Chinese Democracy means that the album will be fantastic! 

[TWT]

Finally hearing 'Chinese Democracy' for the first time, under heavy guard at GN'R's UK record company, is a surreal experience. How can it ever live up to the legend, or justify its ludicrous gestation period?

Needless to say, it can't, but it is a remarkable and often exhilarating album. Across the 71 minutes, there are only the vaguest hints of the Nine Inch Nails-style industrial sound, with which Rose was reputedly toying. Instead, the music is densely layered, obviously using the computer programme ProTools. A vast armoury of instrumentation - strings, brass, programmed drums, synthesizers, samples, lots of piano (Rose's instrument), as well as traditional rock guitar/bass/drums - is crammed in there, often on the same track. The most immediately satisfying ones are punchier, punky numbers like 'Scraped', or the hi-tech, poppy confection, 'If The World'. 'There Was A Time', on the other hand, feels like a Bond theme, full of melodrama, but it doesn't half go on.

Generally, the songs are epic, long-winded, cleverly stitched together, and subject to constant mood swings - much like Axl himself. Rose sings in many voices - sneering, raging, crowing, opening his battered heart.

Yet his presence, beyond question, is phenomenal, unrivalled in contemporary rock.

On that strength alone, 'Chinese Democracy' deserves to sell a good few million, if not the 28 million accrued by GN'R's debut. For that, it would need a 'Sweet Child O' Mine' or a 'Paradise City' - a box which remains unticked. Worse, Rose writes like a man who hasn't glimpsed reality for many moons. His songs are no longer about universal experiences like going out on the lash, or simply falling for a babe. Most, such as the mewling 'This I Love', are transparently and vindictively addressed to Stephanie Seymour. One can only hope that the album's completion, coupled with a fresh blast of stadium adulation, will finally help him get over her.



This was the 'review-part' of the article from telegraph.co.uk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/20/bmgnr120.xml

What a fucking dick. 3 quarters of that article was just bashing for no reason, then a few paragraphs at the bottom saying, "oh by the way, the albums great"

Fucking twat.

That's what I thought, too. When I was over halfway through the review and had only read about stuff like Axl 'firing all the original members' and nothing whatsoever about the album, I thought this was only going one way. It just goes to show, we can agree that positive reviews can be just a shit as the negative ones!