Chinese Democracy Reviews: 9 months later

[D]

That isn't at all Ali, u guys are just not seeing or hearing what is right there

How many Pro Tool type intros are there in the place of where use to u would have a kick ass guitar intro? CD,SOD are really the only song that have an intro

 

With CD, its lets get to the vocal as quick as possible on most of the songs

If the World is the only song I can think of off the top of my head that has an awesome intro guitar riff and it is still classical/flamenco style and not heavy

Smoking Guns hit it on the head. Great guitar solos but there aren't any riffs like Iron Man,Crazy Train,Paranoid or AC/DC, Metallica, Old school GNR etc that u are kick ass and u can hum and are iconic sounding stuff.



This doesn't take away from the album but good, but one can't call it a guitar riff album.


Catcher with just piano,Axl and minimal guitar is an amazing piece of work. his piano fills toward the end that now get badly muffled under the guitar are some of the best shit he has ever done.

Lyrics tell a very good story IMO.

[D]

There aren't any bonecrushing, headbanging guitar riffs at all on this album. CD is close but its more grungy than GNR and maybe they intentionally went for that, I don't know.

The amount of guitars on that album makes it one of the most guitar oriented albums that has been released in quite some time.

And yet you can't find any "headbanging guitar riffs" on it?

Maybe you need to really listen....




/jarmo

I would say what puzzles me is how someone who loves "Scraped" can say there are NO headbanging guitar riffs.  Granted this isn't on the whole a riff-driven record, but I would say that song is an exception.  That is the heaviest GN'R song ever.

Ali

P.S.  That Iommi-esque guitar riff during the chorus of "Sorry" also is heavy as hell in an old-school-Sabbath way.

Scraped is the heaviest GNR song ever?

Do u own like one GNR album? possibly the most ludicrous thing I've read ever.

[D]

I like to think of myself as one of the few authorities on grunge on this board, and I have never gotten a grungy feel on Chinese Democracy.

Some idiot reviewed the song CD after they played it at RIR 3 and slapped the grunge label on it because of Robin's tone. 

The main guitar riff is grunge just like Shackler's is nu metal

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

I like to think of myself as one of the few authorities on grunge on this board, and I have never gotten a grungy feel on Chinese Democracy.

Some idiot reviewed the song CD after they played it at RIR 3 and slapped the grunge label on it because of Robin's tone. 

The main guitar riff is grunge

Nnnnnnnnnn-ah!

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

There aren't any bonecrushing, headbanging guitar riffs at all on this album. CD is close but its more grungy than GNR and maybe they intentionally went for that, I don't know.

The amount of guitars on that album makes it one of the most guitar oriented albums that has been released in quite some time.

And yet you can't find any "headbanging guitar riffs" on it?

Maybe you need to really listen....




/jarmo

I would say what puzzles me is how someone who loves "Scraped" can say there are NO headbanging guitar riffs.  Granted this isn't on the whole a riff-driven record, but I would say that song is an exception.  That is the heaviest GN'R song ever.

Ali

P.S.  That Iommi-esque guitar riff during the chorus of "Sorry" also is heavy as hell in an old-school-Sabbath way.

Scraped is the heaviest GNR song ever?

Do u own like one GNR album? possibly the most ludicrous thing I've read ever.

It's one of the heaviest sounding songs, for sure.

[Ali]

There aren't any bonecrushing, headbanging guitar riffs at all on this album. CD is close but its more grungy than GNR and maybe they intentionally went for that, I don't know.

The amount of guitars on that album makes it one of the most guitar oriented albums that has been released in quite some time.

And yet you can't find any "headbanging guitar riffs" on it?

Maybe you need to really listen....




/jarmo

I would say what puzzles me is how someone who loves "Scraped" can say there are NO headbanging guitar riffs.  Granted this isn't on the whole a riff-driven record, but I would say that song is an exception.  That is the heaviest GN'R song ever.

Ali

P.S.  That Iommi-esque guitar riff during the chorus of "Sorry" also is heavy as hell in an old-school-Sabbath way.

Scraped is the heaviest GNR song ever?

Do u own like one GNR album? possibly the most ludicrous thing I've read ever.

Out of the interest to respect the rules of this board, I'll refrain from using adjectives I feel properly describe your comment.

"Scraped" is one of the heaviest, as in most metal, as in no hint of blues-based rock and purely aggressive and metallic rock, GN'R songs ever.  Yes.  Listen to Priest and Maiden to see how their heavy sound is different from old school Guns.

Ali

[Ali]

That isn't at all Ali, u guys are just not seeing or hearing what is right there

How many Pro Tool type intros are there in the place of where use to u would have a kick ass guitar intro? CD,SOD are really the only song that have an intro

 

With CD, its lets get to the vocal as quick as possible on most of the songs

If the World is the only song I can think of off the top of my head that has an awesome intro guitar riff and it is still classical/flamenco style and not heavy

Smoking Guns hit it on the head. Great guitar solos but there aren't any riffs like Iron Man,Crazy Train,Paranoid or AC/DC, Metallica, Old school GNR etc that u are kick ass and u can hum and are iconic sounding stuff.



This doesn't take away from the album but good, but one can't call it a guitar riff album.


Catcher with just piano,Axl and minimal guitar is an amazing piece of work. his piano fills toward the end that now get badly muffled under the guitar are some of the best shit he has ever done.

Lyrics tell a very good story IMO.

No, it is it exactly and you just reinforced my point. You and Smoking Guns seem to have this narrow-minded conception that if the songs don't have a riff to start off the songs, or riffs that serve as the basis of the songs, that somehow there is something missing, there's something wrong or off.  This is based on the fact that the old Guns fell into the AC/DC and Metallica category of being riff-based rock/metal.  This is not the old school Guns, obviously.  So, that conception is not applicable.  My point was that there is nothing missing that was filled up with layers of instrumentation or anything like that.  These songs weren't meant to be riff-driven or riff-based or else there would have been riffs that the songs were based on.  These songs are based on melodies, beats and chord progressions (e.g. "Madagascar").

Judging a work based on what it isn't, rather on what it is, is a sure indicator of someone who went into the evaluation with pre-conceived notions.

Ali

[suicide]

Chinese what? Haven't listened to the album in a while now 'though sometimes a song pops up on my mp3-player. And I agree, there are some good songs on it. My favorites are This I Love, There Was A Time and Madagascar (though I prefer the live RIR3-version to the one on the record).

I still prefer the UYI-albums which are to me the best albums ever made. Many of you don't share my opion but that's just what it is, my opinion. If you think CD is the best record ever then I'm glad you like it. I don't think it will ever be as successful or popular as the previous GN'R albums (and I'm not talking about record sales here 'cause I know times have changed).

[jacdaniel]

i agree that there are no real guitar riffs and disappointed me a lot.  Some of the solo's were quite cool though!

[Jim Bob]

I like to think of myself as one of the few authorities on grunge on this board, and I have never gotten a grungy feel on Chinese Democracy.

Some idiot reviewed the song CD after they played it at RIR 3 and slapped the grunge label on it because of Robin's tone. 

The main guitar riff is grunge just like Shackler's is nu metal

can i have some of what you're smoking?

[Voodoochild]

What a bunch of bullshit. People are just ignoring awesome guitar riffs in Better intro, Riad, Scraped and Shacklers verses, IRS intro... All of them pretty much guitar, but not with THAT classic tone of the old stuff.

Seems like people are trying too hard to dismiss the album. As if the song can't be good unless its written in the same old formula.

And what's with this "oh, its a power chord progression, it's not really a riff". I wonder if people said that about Queen's "One Vision" (and that begins with a weird intro, just like CHinese):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJvNvBYTsGw

Or maybe Hammer to Fall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjyka1gkodo

Also, its not surprising to see who is complaining here. Always the same ones.

[jacdaniel]

no one is dismissing the album.  just pointing out that the album is not really guitar oriented, which to me is pretty obvious.

[gilld1]

I agree, it is not a guitar album, it's an Axl album.  None of the guitar players have a strong personality and thus do not have a strong influence on the sound like a certain former guitarist that shall remain nameless.

[jarmo]

I guess because one guy, that you recognize from the past, doesn't play all the audible guitar parts, it can't be a guitar album....

 


D, does Estranged have any riffs? That song was written on a piano. It must be a piano oriented song with no riffs or "headbanging guitars"!

Does that sound familiar? Exactly....




/jarmo

[jacdaniel]

D, does Estranged have any riffs? That song was written on a piano. It must be a piano oriented song with no riffs or "headbanging guitars"!

Correct, Estranged doesnt have one of the riffs being referred to.

[Uber-Tech]

... and if you hadn't heard the leaks, it would be amazing.





/jarmo

I didn't, it was and it is.

While I have been a guns fan since the early 90's, because of various factors in my life at the times they took place, I have never attended a guns concert (my only live experience of the band is the tokyo videos).  Although I heard about the leaks, I did not listen to or download them.

So when the album was released, I had no prior experience of the songs in any version.  The album blew me away with the depth of songwriting and the talent of the musicians that accompanied it on my first listen and continues to do so today.

Each song on the album, far from becoming boring as they become more familiar, stands out as a great song in its' own right, while retaining a sense of solidity when all songs are taken as a whole.

[D]

this thread is proof my posts get skimmed over.

I said, this takes nothing away from the quality of the album, just my observation that they don't go for the bluesy old school or Metallica type riffs.

the guitar isn't the main instrument on most songs outside of the solos and that is fine. I've said it a hundred times it is fine.

my favorite song on the album has very little guitar in it at all "madagascar"

The Estranged melodies after the verses could be constituted as a "Riff" though but my point is, I never said the songs HAD to have said riff to be great. Just saying, there aren't any songs really on CD that have that old school big time riff.

Better does during the breakdown part before the intense vocal part, and I've given that riff high praise since day one.
but I am not a fan of the Better intro.


I also think Riad is heavier than Scraped.

IRS doesn't have a guitar RIFF either. It has the acoustical thing if that counts, but then Axl like on most of the other songs comes in with a vocal over a chord progression. Chord progressions aren't the riffs I am talking about.

I don't think anybody on all GNR boards combined has praised Shackler's Revenge more than I have. so lets cut it with the "D doesn't like the album" or "Doesn't get it" bullshit.

Before hearing the album, I was hoping for at least one old school type riff rocker. It wasn't on there, and that is fine. But if we are throwing out reviews, I am going to tell u what I love and what I don't love hence the title of review.


When I say I listen to TIL up till the solo, that isn't cause I am trying to be negative or a hater. I am just being honest. I have listened to TIL 120 times *check my Last FM and the solo still hasn't grown on me.

Before I am called a new band hater, I agree, Slash's guitar work on Libertad was subpar and I guess I am now no longer a Slash fan cause I said that.

I feel the guitar is closer to Korn than old school GNR or Metallica,Ac/DC etc.  once again, nothing wrong with that at all.

[jacdaniel]

Chord progressions aren't the riffs I am talking about.

I think maybe the problem here is that its hard to explain what a musician considers a riff.  anyone who plays the guitar will know exactly what you're talking about but others probably don't and its too hard to explain in words lol!

[gilld1]

I guess because one guy, that you recognize from the past, doesn't play all the audible guitar parts, it can't be a guitar album....

 


D, does Estranged have any riffs? That song was written on a piano. It must be a piano oriented song with no riffs or "headbanging guitars"!

Does that sound familiar? Exactly....




/jarmo

I was talking about Izzy

But seriously, you can say what you want about the top hatted one but his playing on the early stuff combined with Izzy's made a signature sound along with Axl's voice.  Now it is just Axl's voice.

[AxlsMainMan]

I hear all kinds of Slash/Izzy style licks throughout CD.

I also think Riad is heavier than Scraped.

Agreed, Gn'R have way heavier songs than Scraped.

Out Ta Get Me, My Michelle, You're Crazy, and Perfect Crime all come to mind.