Chinese Democracy Review Thread

[badobsession_r21]

Great review :

Music Review: Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
Written by Anthony Tobis
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/11/21/105618.php

I'll admit it ? I wasn't a believer before tonight. Until my ears were physically christened with the opening notes to the title track of Chinese Democracy soaring through my thoroughly overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page, I did not believe that Axl Rose would wade through the insanity of his genius and bring us what has become the Holy Grail of rock music.

But what once seemed like an untouchable, unattainable vision in the head of a madman ? destined never to be realized -- has now thankfully become reality. And those fans who have yearned for years to once again gain access to the ingeniously conceptual and chaotically invigorating world of rock and roll that only Rose can create will not be disappointed.

Chinese Democracy is the ultimate rock and roll album. It announces GNR's reemergence in the world of metal with a sonic explosion that cuts through the status quo like a razor blade, beautifully sharp and piercingly deadly. Axl combines the raw ferocity of Appetite for Destruction with the soaring and dramatic compositional approach the band took on their Use Your Illusions albums, combining those formidable forces in a shell of layered, electronic sound that is thick and powerful. Electronic beats and melodies pour over Axl's ballads like the lofting "Streets of Dreams" and rage over rockers like the buzzsaw guitar-laced jam "Better," creating an affluence of sound that assaults and consumes its audience completely.

Every note and every vocal coursing through this record are placed perfectly into the overall mosaic that only an artist like Axl can create. Each track is strong in its own intrinsic way, drawing on the various influences that swirl through his consciousness, giving the listener a unique sensory experience as they journey through the landscape of the record as it unfolds.

Fans of GNR's earlier work will cite harder tracks like the distortion drenched rocker "Shackler's Revenge" or the pulse-pounding "Riad N' The Bedouins" as the strongest songs on the record.

Those who enjoy Axl's melodic tendencies will no doubt be drawn to the album's prime examples of his ever-present ability to write a sentimental hook, like "Catcher in the Rye" or the hauntingly melodic "Sorry."

For most, the glaring spectacle of this album is undoubtedly Axl's innovation: his introduction of hip hop and electronic beats and sounds, metallic industrial crunch in the vein of Ministry, and thunderously layered guitars, all crashing together in a violent and perfect harmony throughout the record show that, for all his eccentricities and insistence on perfectionism, Axl showed no restraint in fully realizing a thoroughly bombastic and beautiful musical concept. Those who criticized him must now give thanks for those very aspects of his mentality that drew their ire, for they are the integral ingredients that define and differentiate Chinese Democracy from anything that preceded it.

Over the time in which Axl was in his self-induced exile, it is now obvious that rather than an act of instability or social rejection this was an act of musical evolution. Gone are the days when he shared the GNR spotlight with any one musician. This new incarnation of the band is more reminiscent of a metal version of Arthur Lee's Love or Don Van Vilet's Beefheart. Axl is at the helm of this ship and it his personal journey into new realms of sonic madness, totally foriegn to rock and roll, that make Chinese Democracy nothing short of incredible. It is a record so conceptually powerful in its ideas, so innovative in its sounds, that it will single-handedly elevate the standard against which all rock music is subsequently measured.

[The Catcher]

Great review :

Music Review: Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
Written by Anthony Tobis
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/11/21/105618.php

I'll admit it ? I wasn't a believer before tonight. Until my ears were physically christened with the opening notes to the title track of Chinese Democracy soaring through my thoroughly overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page, I did not believe that Axl Rose would wade through the insanity of his genius and bring us what has become the Holy Grail of rock music.

But what once seemed like an untouchable, unattainable vision in the head of a madman ? destined never to be realized -- has now thankfully become reality. And those fans who have yearned for years to once again gain access to the ingeniously conceptual and chaotically invigorating world of rock and roll that only Rose can create will not be disappointed.

Chinese Democracy is the ultimate rock and roll album. It announces GNR's reemergence in the world of metal with a sonic explosion that cuts through the status quo like a razor blade, beautifully sharp and piercingly deadly. Axl combines the raw ferocity of Appetite for Destruction with the soaring and dramatic compositional approach the band took on their Use Your Illusions albums, combining those formidable forces in a shell of layered, electronic sound that is thick and powerful. Electronic beats and melodies pour over Axl's ballads like the lofting "Streets of Dreams" and rage over rockers like the buzzsaw guitar-laced jam "Better," creating an affluence of sound that assaults and consumes its audience completely.

Every note and every vocal coursing through this record are placed perfectly into the overall mosaic that only an artist like Axl can create. Each track is strong in its own intrinsic way, drawing on the various influences that swirl through his consciousness, giving the listener a unique sensory experience as they journey through the landscape of the record as it unfolds.

Fans of GNR's earlier work will cite harder tracks like the distortion drenched rocker "Shackler's Revenge" or the pulse-pounding "Riad N' The Bedouins" as the strongest songs on the record.

Those who enjoy Axl's melodic tendencies will no doubt be drawn to the album's prime examples of his ever-present ability to write a sentimental hook, like "Catcher in the Rye" or the hauntingly melodic "Sorry."

For most, the glaring spectacle of this album is undoubtedly Axl's innovation: his introduction of hip hop and electronic beats and sounds, metallic industrial crunch in the vein of Ministry, and thunderously layered guitars, all crashing together in a violent and perfect harmony throughout the record show that, for all his eccentricities and insistence on perfectionism, Axl showed no restraint in fully realizing a thoroughly bombastic and beautiful musical concept. Those who criticized him must now give thanks for those very aspects of his mentality that drew their ire, for they are the integral ingredients that define and differentiate Chinese Democracy from anything that preceded it.

Over the time in which Axl was in his self-induced exile, it is now obvious that rather than an act of instability or social rejection this was an act of musical evolution. Gone are the days when he shared the GNR spotlight with any one musician. This new incarnation of the band is more reminiscent of a metal version of Arthur Lee's Love or Don Van Vilet's Beefheart. Axl is at the helm of this ship and it his personal journey into new realms of sonic madness, totally foriegn to rock and roll, that make Chinese Democracy nothing short of incredible. It is a record so conceptually powerful in its ideas, so innovative in its sounds, that it will single-handedly elevate the standard against which all rock music is subsequently measured.

Now THAT's a review!
Great to see somebody do the album justice and give the music the credit it deserves, rather than focusing on personal bias towards Axl or past history with the band.

[makane]

Great review :

Music Review: Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
Written by Anthony Tobis
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/11/21/105618.php

I'll admit it ? I wasn't a believer before tonight. Until my ears were physically christened with the opening notes to the title track of Chinese Democracy soaring through my thoroughly overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page, I did not believe that Axl Rose would wade through the insanity of his genius and bring us what has become the Holy Grail of rock music.

But what once seemed like an untouchable, unattainable vision in the head of a madman ? destined never to be realized -- has now thankfully become reality. And those fans who have yearned for years to once again gain access to the ingeniously conceptual and chaotically invigorating world of rock and roll that only Rose can create will not be disappointed.

Chinese Democracy is the ultimate rock and roll album. It announces GNR's reemergence in the world of metal with a sonic explosion that cuts through the status quo like a razor blade, beautifully sharp and piercingly deadly. Axl combines the raw ferocity of Appetite for Destruction with the soaring and dramatic compositional approach the band took on their Use Your Illusions albums, combining those formidable forces in a shell of layered, electronic sound that is thick and powerful. Electronic beats and melodies pour over Axl's ballads like the lofting "Streets of Dreams" and rage over rockers like the buzzsaw guitar-laced jam "Better," creating an affluence of sound that assaults and consumes its audience completely.

Every note and every vocal coursing through this record are placed perfectly into the overall mosaic that only an artist like Axl can create. Each track is strong in its own intrinsic way, drawing on the various influences that swirl through his consciousness, giving the listener a unique sensory experience as they journey through the landscape of the record as it unfolds.

Fans of GNR's earlier work will cite harder tracks like the distortion drenched rocker "Shackler's Revenge" or the pulse-pounding "Riad N' The Bedouins" as the strongest songs on the record.

Those who enjoy Axl's melodic tendencies will no doubt be drawn to the album's prime examples of his ever-present ability to write a sentimental hook, like "Catcher in the Rye" or the hauntingly melodic "Sorry."

For most, the glaring spectacle of this album is undoubtedly Axl's innovation: his introduction of hip hop and electronic beats and sounds, metallic industrial crunch in the vein of Ministry, and thunderously layered guitars, all crashing together in a violent and perfect harmony throughout the record show that, for all his eccentricities and insistence on perfectionism, Axl showed no restraint in fully realizing a thoroughly bombastic and beautiful musical concept. Those who criticized him must now give thanks for those very aspects of his mentality that drew their ire, for they are the integral ingredients that define and differentiate Chinese Democracy from anything that preceded it.

Over the time in which Axl was in his self-induced exile, it is now obvious that rather than an act of instability or social rejection this was an act of musical evolution. Gone are the days when he shared the GNR spotlight with any one musician. This new incarnation of the band is more reminiscent of a metal version of Arthur Lee's Love or Don Van Vilet's Beefheart. Axl is at the helm of this ship and it his personal journey into new realms of sonic madness, totally foriegn to rock and roll, that make Chinese Democracy nothing short of incredible. It is a record so conceptually powerful in its ideas, so innovative in its sounds, that it will single-handedly elevate the standard against which all rock music is subsequently measured.

Now THAT's a review!
Great to see somebody do the album justice and give the music the credit it deserves, rather than focusing on personal bias towards Axl or past history with the band.

"overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page" <- Take notes, this is the right way to review a CD.

Seriously, Thats not even a review.
He doesn't have the objectivity to be neutral about this. You're not meant to sell the product.

Whatever, I noticed hes some sort of "blog critic", that really explains a lot 

[loretian]

"overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page" <- Take notes, this is the right way to review a CD.

Seriously, Thats not even a review.
He doesn't have the objectivity to be neutral about this. You're not meant to sell the product.

Whatever, I noticed hes some sort of "blog critic", that really explains a lot 

So, you're critical of him cause he gave an entirely positive review?

How do you know what objectivity he has?  You're basis for saying he has none is that he gave it a positive review.  Blah! 

[makane]

"overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page" <- Take notes, this is the right way to review a CD.

Seriously, Thats not even a review.
He doesn't have the objectivity to be neutral about this. You're not meant to sell the product.

Whatever, I noticed hes some sort of "blog critic", that really explains a lot 

So, you're critical of him cause he gave an entirely positive review?

How do you know what objectivity he has?  You're basis for saying he has none is that he gave it a positive review.  Blah! 

Yes.

Hes selling it, not reviewing.

It's like putting Jim Bob or Shackler to write a "review" for RS, it just wouldn't pass.

[daviebuckethead]

^^^^

he's critical because there is no objectivity.

Critics cant win i suppose....Some salivate over the album and people say they are up axls ass. others bach the album and everyone in the GnR community sends them hate mail  

[faldor]

"overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page" <- Take notes, this is the right way to review a CD.

Seriously, Thats not even a review.
He doesn't have the objectivity to be neutral about this. You're not meant to sell the product.

Whatever, I noticed hes some sort of "blog critic", that really explains a lot 

So, you're critical of him cause he gave an entirely positive review?

How do you know what objectivity he has?  You're basis for saying he has none is that he gave it a positive review.  Blah! 

Yes.

Hes selling it, not reviewing.

It's like putting Jim Bob or Shackler to write a "review" for RS, it just wouldn't pass.

Any review that is positive is "selling" the album in a way.  If it's a negative review, it's telling the reader, "it's not worth the time."  I've read plenty of those, I guess we'll just do away with all positive and negative reviews.  Only reviews that contain both positive and negative comments can be looked at legitimately.  Is that what you're looking for?

[SLCPUNK]

So, you're critical of him cause he gave an entirely positive review?

How do you know what objectivity he has?  You're basis for saying he has none is that he gave it a positive review.  Blah! 

The same can be asked for "negative" reviews.

[makane]

"overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page" <- Take notes, this is the right way to review a CD.

Seriously, Thats not even a review.
He doesn't have the objectivity to be neutral about this. You're not meant to sell the product.

Whatever, I noticed hes some sort of "blog critic", that really explains a lot 

So, you're critical of him cause he gave an entirely positive review?

How do you know what objectivity he has?  You're basis for saying he has none is that he gave it a positive review.  Blah! 

Yes.

Hes selling it, not reviewing.

It's like putting Jim Bob or Shackler to write a "review" for RS, it just wouldn't pass.

Any review that is positive is "selling" the album in a way.  If it's a negative review, it's telling the reader, "it's not worth the time."  I've read plenty of those, I guess we'll just do away with all positive and negative reviews.  Only reviews that contain both positive and negative comments can be looked at legitimately.  Is that what you're looking for?

That is it.

Even the most critical reviews usually have some positive remark, if not then it is just as useless as the review above.
 
There is a fine line between blind praise and hate, so it really gets my blood boiling when people say the most positive reviews are the only good ones, and everything else is just (they see me rolling, they) hating.

(I know this is a FANBOARD and I was never expecting anyone to applaud my view, but I thought id just tell my view of things)

[dungbeetle]

The guy that posted blog critic guy is not a real critic.  The fanboy that posted this probably wrote it too.   Its a glowing piece on GNR for sure.  This guy is not employed as a critic thats for sure. 

[ShacklerSlash]

Some belated Irish reviews

From Irish Times (one of Ireland's two main broadsheets)
Smell of Roses

BRIAN BOYD

Fri, Nov 21, 2008

CD CHOICE:This weeks CD of the week is Chinese Democracyby Guns n' Roses Polydor ***

Not as good as any album which takes 15 years to complete should be, but not nearly as bad as many feared this farcically delayed album would be.

The background to the release is already well-known, and while the Guns N' Roses fan boards are busy treating this as something bigger than the Second Coming, the media may have to put away their sharpened knives and rehearsed sneers - in parts this is very good.

The first indication that Axl (the only original member left in the band) has got his mojo back comes from the thundering Shacklers Revenge, with its grunge colour field of guitars and mini-blitzkrieg stylings. The similarities to Nine Inch Nails here are startling - although not legally so. There is an industrial feel and a slight flattening out of the rhythm section's sound, but Rose (and whatever number of musicians worked on the track) excels himself here.

The influence of NIN pervades a fair few tracks (younger readers: this is quite a good thing) but elsewhere the tempo is dropped dramatically as soft pianos tinkle and sweeping strings swoop over the tracks.

Street of Dreamsmay reek too much of a big hair ballad for hardcore fans, but on If The World(which many are comparing to a James Bond theme song for some reason) will surely give the band their lighter-in-the-air moment when they bring this album to an enormodome near you next year.

Some songs will divide opinion: Madagascarhas a slight dancefloor undertow to it, and a swing horn section that arrives unannounced. There are also (how very Obamatastic) samples of a Martin Luther King speech.

If they had got Chinese Democracyout two years after Use Your Illusionit would be viewed as a really good Guns N' Roses album.

Download:Shackler's Revenge, Madagascar
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2008/1121/1227137498313.html

Taste of a review from music mag State
http://www.state.ie/blog/new-guns-n-roses-album-streaming-on-myspace-now/

That?s right folks. Chinese Democracy is actually coming out. HMV and Tower in Dublin are playing the album into the ground today before its release tomorrow on Saturday (moved).

On behalf of State, Dave McLaughlin has had a listen and this is a sample taken from his forthcoming review in the next issue of State due in early December.

    The audacity of Chinese Democracy alone is staggering. There?s Elton-inspired piano [the title track, ?Catcher In The Rye?], industrial clamouring [?There Was A Time?] killer melodies [?Better?] and subtle hip-hop aesthetics sprinkled throughout. Thankfully, it never feels like the dated, laughing stock many were expecting. If anything, the fluidity of styles and mongrel spirit root it firmly in the present, which is an impressive feat given the breadth of time it took.

[variant]

Loaded magazine (UK) gave it 3.5/5

[Chuzeville]

Philippe Manoeuvre, France's most important rock critic, has given it 4 stars out 5, which means he found the album 'excellent' 

[ShacklerSlash]

More Irish reviews

Evening Herald. Most popular national evening paper.

Axl Rose Saves The World

By Eamon Carr
Thursday November 27 2008

Here at last! Here at last! Great God Almighty, it?s here at last! As America works itself into a lather of hyperbole and blessed relief that Axl Rose has, after some 14 years, released a new album, the expectation clearly is that, along with some bloke called Barack Obama, this is the key to solving the international banking crisis, world recession and creating a global egalitarian society, while providing the perfect soundtrack for a rootin?, tootin?, shootin?-up Saturday night party-hearty.

Those expecting musical innovation on the scale of The Beatles' Revolver, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds or even Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon are likely to be disappointed. But Chinese Democracy is not a dog -- and Axl wasn't the first cat to get hip to the Chinese tip.

That would have been the guy who recorded Chinese Blues. No. Not Johnny Thunders. His was Chinese Rocks. And China Girl was written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, also in the 70s.

So popular did Chinese Blues become when it was released in the early 1930s that ukulele dude George Formby revamped it as Chinese Laundry Blues and never looked back. A string of similar-themed hits followed including Mr Wu's A Window Cleaner Now.

Okay, I digress. But if Axl Rose can take 14 years to let us hear his 14 new songs, he can wait a few pars to hear what I make of them.

Mr Rose's management are keen to talk up this collection. Its release, they claim is a "historic moment in rock'n'roll history". They refer to the album's "groundbreaking sound". All hard-sell nonsense, of course.

Street of Dreams, for example, is old-skool metal sludge with added orchestral strings and a vocal that sounds like someone's grabbed Podge or Rodge by the testicles. The instantly forgettable If he World clunks along on a mid-tempo groove that is credited to two live drummers and five drum arrangers. There are, however, enough highlights to make this an interesting album. For starters, there are two tracks that seem destined to send American students with messianic fixations into the shopping malls of the mid-west armed to the teeth.

The shadow of Mark Chapman, John Lennon's executioner, hangs over Catcher In The Rye... "that's what the old folks say/but everytime I see them/makes me wish I had a gun/if I thought that I was crazy/well I guess I'd have more fun..." It's a rum do, I tell you. Shackler's Revenge, a robust combination of techno burbling and squealing guitars, has 46-year-old Axl screeching: "I got an itchy finger and they'll be hell to play/I'm gonna pull the trigger and blow them all away..."

Hard rock fans don't welcome change. They require reassurance that ears can bleed when the amps are turned up to the max and that cigarette lighters (or mobile phones) are for waving during the big ballad.

Overall, Chinese Democracy is entertaining easy- listening bombast, heavy rock's attempt at a Hotel California, the cunning interface between metal and MOR.

It's got enough twists and turns (14 years worth) to keep DJs and fans occupied for another decade. HHH
- Eamon Carr
http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/hq/axl-rose-saves-the-world-1555107.html

[Mobenrad]

More Irish reviews

Evening Herald. Most popular national evening paper.

Axl Rose Saves The World

By Eamon Carr
Thursday November 27 2008

Here at last! Here at last! Great God Almighty, it?s here at last! As America works itself into a lather of hyperbole and blessed relief that Axl Rose has, after some 14 years, released a new album, the expectation clearly is that, along with some bloke called Barack Obama, this is the key to solving the international banking crisis, world recession and creating a global egalitarian society, while providing the perfect soundtrack for a rootin?, tootin?, shootin?-up Saturday night party-hearty.

Those expecting musical innovation on the scale of The Beatles' Revolver, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds or even Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon are likely to be disappointed. But Chinese Democracy is not a dog -- and Axl wasn't the first cat to get hip to the Chinese tip.

That would have been the guy who recorded Chinese Blues. No. Not Johnny Thunders. His was Chinese Rocks. And China Girl was written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, also in the 70s.

So popular did Chinese Blues become when it was released in the early 1930s that ukulele dude George Formby revamped it as Chinese Laundry Blues and never looked back. A string of similar-themed hits followed including Mr Wu's A Window Cleaner Now.

Okay, I digress. But if Axl Rose can take 14 years to let us hear his 14 new songs, he can wait a few pars to hear what I make of them.

Mr Rose's management are keen to talk up this collection. Its release, they claim is a "historic moment in rock'n'roll history". They refer to the album's "groundbreaking sound". All hard-sell nonsense, of course.

Street of Dreams, for example, is old-skool metal sludge with added orchestral strings and a vocal that sounds like someone's grabbed Podge or Rodge by the testicles. The instantly forgettable If he World clunks along on a mid-tempo groove that is credited to two live drummers and five drum arrangers. There are, however, enough highlights to make this an interesting album. For starters, there are two tracks that seem destined to send American students with messianic fixations into the shopping malls of the mid-west armed to the teeth.

The shadow of Mark Chapman, John Lennon's executioner, hangs over Catcher In The Rye... "that's what the old folks say/but everytime I see them/makes me wish I had a gun/if I thought that I was crazy/well I guess I'd have more fun..." It's a rum do, I tell you. Shackler's Revenge, a robust combination of techno burbling and squealing guitars, has 46-year-old Axl screeching: "I got an itchy finger and they'll be hell to play/I'm gonna pull the trigger and blow them all away..."

Hard rock fans don't welcome change. They require reassurance that ears can bleed when the amps are turned up to the max and that cigarette lighters (or mobile phones) are for waving during the big ballad.

Overall, Chinese Democracy is entertaining easy- listening bombast, heavy rock's attempt at a Hotel California, the cunning interface between metal and MOR.

It's got enough twists and turns (14 years worth) to keep DJs and fans occupied for another decade. HHH
- Eamon Carr
http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/hq/axl-rose-saves-the-world-1555107.html

In absolutely no way does The Blues sound like old sludgy metal.

[Rainfox]

Hey everyone,

Robert Parker is the greatest and most read wine critic in the world. And maybe the most respected critic of any trade .. in the world. He doesn't take advertisement and is not for sale.

His tastings and ratings - ALONE - set the price for global Bordeaux wine.

He's Ralph Nader meets Roger Ebert and as famous as he is notorious. A while back, he hired famous English wine writer Neil Martin - just as fiercely independent as Parker himself and on the "up" in the wine world - and his whole site and futuere writings were incorporated in to Parker's Wine Advocate site.

See more here: www.erobertparker.com

Martin is a music nut. Most of what he mentions and reviews is below radar and what was called "indie" in the old days. Parker himself is a Neil Young fanatic. That is, however, not one of Martin's favorites.

Anyhow... lo and behold, what is the album of the month by Martin? And up on the most respected wine site in the world?

Woo-har!






Axl Pulled It Off

Now, this is one album of the month that I would have never have predicted at the beginning of 2008.

Theoretically, I should have sided with the NME who awarded this a miserable album 4/10, which is 0.23 points for each of the 17 years it took to record. I was still at university when Guns 'n Roses last deigned us with music; marriage and kids lay distant beyond the horizon and wine held not one atom of interest for me. Since then, Guns n' Roses fell apart, member by disillusioned member, Axl Rose became a megalomaniac who shied away from sunlight, grew dreadlocks and looked irrelevant. Music moved on, or rather became more adept at reinventing and repackaging itself.

Any album that takes such an interminable time to create should in theory be a pile of toss. It suggests that matters are going awry in the studio and that what shall be committed to disc will represent a waste of plastic. In November 2008, do we really need a new Guns 'n Roses album, or the caterwauling diva that is Axl Rose, self-absorption made corporeal? Should we not just remember the impact of one of the greatest debuts of all time, the incendiary Appetite For Destruction?

I must confess, whilst I was playing the cool dude attending illegal warehouse raves around Essex and the M25, I secretly cherished Guns 'n Roses. I still treasure my original vinyl copy of "It's So Easy", released early 1987 before they really hit the big time. I am looking at the front cover now: the original five members looking wasted on hookers and coke. I listen to Appetite about once every two months and it still sends a shiver down my spine: it has never and probably will never be surpassed. I vividly recall corrupting my younger brother with my cassette of Appetite when he was about eight years old where he listened to it on his Sony Walkman in the back garden.

Dad whipped the headphones off his head, apoplectic over the four-letter expletives and insanely blanked out the four-letter expletives, I guess his own "Axl" moment that we occasionally rib him about.

It is strange then, that Chinese Democracy against all expectations; is (whisper it) rather excellent. You have to put aside the fact that Axl Rose seems a fairly repugnant character, one hell of a screwed up one at that, a bully that pissed of everyone from the fellow hoodlums that founded the band to members of his audience. Lo and behold, finally slipping Chinese Democracy into the CD drawer, we find the title track sounding not dissimilar to a full-throttle Metallica track with taut shredded guitar riff that almost makes you forgive the excommunication of the Slash (but not quite.)
Thereafter follows one epic song after another, histrionic guitar solos piled like a car-crash on top of another, the odd choir, references to Catcher in the Rye in the appropriately titled "Catcher In the Rye", snatches of orchestral interludes, choirs, Martin Luther King and perhaps most importantly, some great melodies welded to Axl's unique, bellicose voice. Even though he is now 46-years of age, that voice is untrammelled by the passing years and sends tingles down the spine like it did back in the 80's. "Scraped" is strapped to one hell of guitar rift that never lets up, one of those songs that will make you drive over the speed limit if you listen in the car. "There Was A Time" could not possibly be a more bombastic 6 minutes and 41 seconds?but works brilliantly; "Raid 'n the Bedouins" throttles along at Mach II even though I don't know what the hell Axl is going on about (and frankly, don't particularly care) and "I.R.S." could have been a highlight of either Use Your Illusion 1 or 2.

The most remarkable thing about Chinese Democracy is that it does not sound over-laboured.

Over-baked in some parts, but not over-laboured. It just sounds like a bloody good rock album and most crucially, Axl has retained the edginess the distinguished G 'n R from his poodle-haired contemporaries. Just like a wine needs nervosit?, so rock needs a sense of tension, which for me separates the great (Hendrix, Led Zep, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, Metallica, Slayer and AC/DC) from the flabby dross.

Was it worth the wait? Well, no, it is not the masterpiece that it might have been, it is not the perfection that is Appetite for Destruction and yeah?I do miss Slash even if the battalion of producers and the fretwork of Robin Finck and the unfortunately named "Buckethead" compensate much more that could ever be expected. But is it worth spending ten quid on? Definitely. It rocks hard; it takes chances; it has songs that many artists would kill for and as soon as it is finished, you want to play it again. In essence, Axl Rose has pulled it off. Now please, will the original line-up please reform just for one night and play the London Marquee again?just once.

Wine Recommendation: Hmm?I nipped in buy Chinese Democracy just before a tasting of wines where Olivier Douga acts as consultant. I would therefore opt for the Damnation de Ch?teau Roques Mauriac 2005, an interesting Cabernet Franc dominated Bordeaux, perhaps a bit linear for my liking, but certainly boding well for the future.

But lets hope we do not have to wait 17 years for their next vintage.

Guns N' Roses
Chinese Democracy


Cheers everyone.. in left bank, red Medoc wine 


 

[estebanf]

Malbec and Chinese Democracy. KILLER combination.

God bless Guns N' Roses and argentine wineries 

[Rainfox]

Malbec 

It was banished from France, but found a new life in Argentina. Respect!

Give the band a round if they tour there, Esteban.

Cheers.

 

[ShacklerSlash]

Review from British celebrity gossip mailout Holy Moly 8/10
http://www.holymoly.com/page/Music/0,,12643~1470673,00.html
13 Years, ginger braids, no slash - worth it?

Well - kind of.

 There are moments when you're thrown straight back to 'Appetite for Destruction' in all it's middle finger glory, but a couple of songs in and it's all white hot pants, guitar solos on a cliff, bad acting in videos and all that crap.

 But to be fair, compare this to the recent Metalicca comeback (come on - how many of you have listened to it more than once?) and you find an album that for all it's faults, for all the excitement and rumour actually pretty much manages to live up to it's own promises. 'Prostitutes' is absolutely fucking dreadful though.

The best thing about big albums is reading the thankyous. Axl for some reason thanks his bank, Donatella Versace, Soho House and.. wait for it... Towers of London. WTF?

It's clear Axl is still an angry man (after 13 years,14 different studios band members with less job security than a shelf stacker at Woolworths i'd be pretty fucking angry too) who feels as though he has some lead in his pencil,  but he's also 46 and I don't know about you, but want my rock stars to be able to sleep through the night without needing a piss thanks.
Listen to it over at Myspace.
8 ginger braids out of 10

[Zartan]

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/music/69316/guns-n-roses-chinese-democracy-review