Billboard - Chinese Democracy Review

[FunkyMonkey]

Chinese Democracy
Guns N' Roses

Grunge. Techno. Boy bands. Both President Bushes. These are just a few of the things Guns N' Roses has improbably outlasted in the 17 (!) years since its last album of original music. Almost ever since, lone original member Axl Rose has been working on "Chinese Democracy," which reached mythic status as the album many thought would never materialize. Lo and behold, here it is (as a Best Buy exclusive, no less).

Apparently to make up for lost time, the set is frontloaded with huge-sounding, heavily produced rockers coated in an ultra-modern sheen that contrasts starkly with the stripped-down, freewheeling material of GNR's glory days. Tracks like "Riad N' the Bedouins" have "Appetite for Destruction" bones but exoskeletons dipped in chrome. Rose eventually backs off and lets the songs breathe, with promising results. "Scraped" is a riffy monster in the vein of "Mr. Brownstone"; "Catcher in the Rye" is pure, major-key classic rock; and "This I Love" is a grandiose ballad you can picture Rose playing with a candelabra on the piano lid.

The artist is in fine, ever-changing voice throughout, and there's certainly a ton of musical food for thought here, requiring several listens before the nuances are revealed. Worth the wait? Maybe. Worth a few hours of your time? Definitely. -- Jonathan Cohen

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/album_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003892755

[JuicySwoos]

Nice!!  Billboard and Rollingstone gave it props!! 

[Ali]

Chinese Democracy
Guns N' Roses

Grunge. Techno. Boy bands. Both President Bushes. These are just a few of the things Guns N' Roses has improbably outlasted in the 17 (!) years since its last album of original music. Almost ever since, lone original member Axl Rose has been working on "Chinese Democracy," which reached mythic status as the album many thought would never materialize. Lo and behold, here it is (as a Best Buy exclusive, no less).

Apparently to make up for lost time, the set is frontloaded with huge-sounding, heavily produced rockers coated in an ultra-modern sheen that contrasts starkly with the stripped-down, freewheeling material of GNR's glory days. Tracks like "Riad N' the Bedouins" have "Appetite for Destruction" bones but exoskeletons dipped in chrome. Rose eventually backs off and lets the songs breathe, with promising results. "Scraped" is a riffy monster in the vein of "Mr. Brownstone"; "Catcher in the Rye" is pure, major-key classic rock; and "This I Love" is a grandiose ballad you can picture Rose playing with a candelabra on the piano lid.

The artist is in fine, ever-changing voice throughout, and there's certainly a ton of musical food for thought here, requiring several listens before the nuances are revealed. Worth the wait? Maybe. Worth a few hours of your time? Definitely. -- Jonathan Cohen

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/album_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003892755

Very fair review by Mr. Cohen.  Kudos to him for that.

Ali

[mrarkadin]

I've read a dozen or more of these positive to very positive reviews and it seems they are mostly high lighting different tracks. Rolling Stone didn't even mention This I Love or Catcher, for instance, but enjoyed Better and Prostitute, while others highlight Sorry or There Was a Time. An immense album, it seems, too immense for one reviewer to handle. I can't wait...

[Tyson]

Great, accurate review.  Though I wish it went in to way more detail, this is a great, positive contrast to the EW review.  What a breath of fresh air! 

[reed2009]

very fair and good review 3 and a half days gunners!

[Naltav]

Wonder if that is a real review, or just one of the many Sneak-preview-you-only-get-to-listen-to-it-once reviews??

Seems kinda short for such an important release....

[FunkyMonkey]

^^It's a real review...and a good one.

They have it up on their homepage under "Feature", nice. 

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/index.jsp

[Josh]

Great review -- honest and to-the-point.  Axl is 'The artist' in that last paragraph, don't know if I've ever heard a rock n' roll frontman referred to the same way you'd talk about a sculptor or oil painter but it's cool   

[slashsbaconpit]

" Tracks like "Riad N' the Bedouins" have "Appetite for Destruction" bones but exoskeletons dipped in chrome."

LMFAO! This is the best sentence I've ever read in a review of anything!

Just what I wanted for Christmas. I can't wait! CD is coming! My little bro is picking up my copy and bringing it to me on Thanksgiving ... so I have to wait just a few more days than the rest of you, but hot damn, it'll be worth it from everything I've heard!

[kyon]

" Tracks like "Riad N' the Bedouins" have "Appetite for Destruction" bones but exoskeletons dipped in chrome."

LMFAO! This is the best sentence I've ever read in a review of anything!

Funny. I'm not sure whether he's making a Terminator reference or not, but the production on the single tracks (I'm yet to hear the rest of the album) made me think about the movie trilogy for some reason.

[D]

man I hate reviews like this.

17 years for this CD and u write like 2 fucking paragraphs?

Whatever happened to reviewers going in depth with songs and talking about a little bit of each.

Sounds like the dude listened to about half of each song and just wanted to get his shit submitted before a deadline or something.

Im glad its positive, but how bout a little more for such a long awaited album?