Guns n Roses Chinese Democracy

MoonChild wrote:

They say this is the most awaited album in the history of music? Much awaited by whom? Perhaps by Axl himself!

50 million+ MySpace listens can't be wrong.

YES very good album. very like it. included in top 10 of 2008 !

I am not sure if it is the most awaited but it certainly it is the most hyped. I have been hearing about this album, release dates, possible song titles, producers and possible line ups for this album for 13 plus years.

Maybe it was the most awaited by the record label considering how many millions of dollars they poured into it.

Nice review Metal Misfit, it made up my mind to go out and pick it up.

I forgot this was coming out today.

Well the album started out very strong, I love the single! The next 3
songs are pretty average, they may grow on me tho, but they diden't wow
me on the first list. If The World blows, horrible song. There Was A
Time is again pretty average, as is Catcher In The Rye. Scraped is
decent, but not mind blowing, I enjoyed Riad N' The Bedouins. Sorry has
a pretty cool slow groove, as does I.R.S.

I didn't think I was gonna like Madagascar when it started playing, but
it redeemed itself. Same with This I Love, started out slow and didn't
think I would like it, but thats a pretty orgasmic solo!

Well the Guns N Roses of old are dead indeed as this doesn't even
measure to the albums with Slash and Co, at least not at the time of my
writing here, it may take me a few listens to sink in, but I think this
album tries too hard to sound pretty, which is completely opposite of
say Appetite. I mean hell, the beats on some of the songs sound like
they were generated by the people that make them from pop singers. The
beats just don't sound very rock n roll to me.

My review is generated from the first listen, it may certainly change,
but this is my first impression, but as it stands now, a pretty average
album.

Chinese Democracy - 10/10
Shacklers Revenge - 6/10
Better - 5/10
Street Of Dreams - 6/10
If The World - 2/10 (wtf is this a Cher song?)
There Was A Time - 5/10
Catcher In The Rye - 5/10
Scraped - 7/10
Riad N' The Bedouins - 7/10
Sorry - 8/10
I.R.S. - 8/10
Madagascar - 7/10
This I Love - 6/10
Prostitute - 7/10

Overall 6.5/10

Buckethead's style is very prevalent on this album.

Picked this up today and I of course knew the 9 songs that were posted a while ago so I knew what I was in store for. When I heard those 9 songs I thought meh its ok its not guns n roses but i'll take it, I hope the other 5 songs are better though.......Well they arent, and now that I know those other 5 songs are crap so is the rest of the album. I'll be listening to this every once in a while and i'll just have to get used to it I guess. Axl still sings good but the songs just arent there. The slow songs are the worst. I hate all those electronic rappish type sounds going on through the album. Its just not GUNS. It is what it is but it really should have been axl roses solo album.

Even the album cover is stupid....ugh.....im done!

Quote :

Axl still sings good

lol he does. ok atleast you can tell its him.

Axl Still sings WELL...

Metal Misfit wrote:

52 million+ plays for the new songs alone... since YESTERDAY

Wow!

manny wrote:

I love the Spaghetti Incident album, where they cover great hard rock/punks bands like The Dead Boys, T.Rex, The UK Subs, Iggy and the Stooges, great stuff.

The only thing is they have song " Black Leather" listed as a Sex Pistols song, but I have n't found any comp or album that it has been on. I do know the Runaways recorded a version of this song that is on " Neon Angels' which I have also seen listed as "and Now the Runaways"

Back when The Spaghetti Incident first came out, a friend of mine who was a big Sex Pistols fan told me that the song Black Leather was written by Steve Jones for the Sex Pistols to record, but Johnny Rotten turned it down becasue it wasn't political or punk enough for them. Since this info was passed along to me in those dark days before the magic of the inter-webs and Wikipedia, it certainly seemed plausable.

Here's some news on lack of promotion or hype Best Buy is investing on ' Chinese Democracy' according to Rolling Stone:

Guns n’ Roses fans expecting to be met with pyro, a giant inflatable Axl Rose — or at least Chinese Democracy blaring from the sound system — were in for a surprise when the anxiously awaited album hit Best Buy stores yesterday. At all the Manhattan outlets Rock Daily visited Sunday, you’d be hard-pressed to know it was one of the most hyped release days of the century.
Best Buy has released its share of exclusive music (notably live DVDs from the Rolling Stones and the Police), but serving as the sole distributor of Guns n’ Roses Chinese Democracy, which the retailer dubbed “the most anticipated album of all time” in its promotional materials, was a coup. Yet there were no midnight sales, and therefore no opportunities to nab video like the 1991 footage of fans lining up to buy both of the Use Your Illusion long boxes. When the doors of one downtown New York City store opened at 9 a.m., there were two customers waiting outside. Once in, it took a few minutes of searching to actually find the discs, and the promised vinyl was nowhere to be found — and neither was a cashier, for that matter.
The Chelsea location fared better with a full stand-up display, but the kids in the store were more interested in playing “Santeria” on Guitar Hero. That is, except for the one longhair who stared at the disc in his hands on his way out the door, as if it would disappear if he neglected it. As he left the store, he held it up to a passerby, laughed and said, “Crazy.”
The Midtown Manhattan store had the most purchases during Rock Daily’s visit of any of the locations, including one uniformed police officer who must have gotten over Axl’s diss on “One in a Million.” One customer flipped through every copy on the rack, either on an OCD quest for the most pristine packaging or finally coming to the conclusion of his 14-year internal struggle over whether he should buy it. He did.
With what must have been a precisely negotiated deal, it’s curious how minimally Chinese Democracy was emphasized in the Best Buy stores. In none of the four locations visited Sunday was the record playing on the house music system, and only one had any sort of stand-alone display. This isn’t to say that Chinese Democracy won’t do big numbers, especially with customers descending on the retailer en masse this week for Black Friday sales, but after a decade and a half of anticipation, Best Buy’s release of Chinese Democracy began in New York with a shrug.

manny wrote:

Here's some news on lack of promotion or hype Best Buy is investing on ' Chinese Democracy' according to Rolling Stone:

Guns n’ Roses fans expecting to be met with pyro, a giant inflatable Axl Rose — or at least Chinese Democracy blaring from the sound system — were in for a surprise when the anxiously awaited album hit Best Buy stores yesterday. At all the Manhattan outlets Rock Daily visited Sunday, you’d be hard-pressed to know it was one of the most hyped release days of the century.
Best Buy has released its share of exclusive music (notably live DVDs from the Rolling Stones and the Police), but serving as the sole distributor of Guns n’ Roses Chinese Democracy, which the retailer dubbed “the most anticipated album of all time” in its promotional materials, was a coup. Yet there were no midnight sales, and therefore no opportunities to nab video like the 1991 footage of fans lining up to buy both of the Use Your Illusion long boxes. When the doors of one downtown New York City store opened at 9 a.m., there were two customers waiting outside. Once in, it took a few minutes of searching to actually find the discs, and the promised vinyl was nowhere to be found — and neither was a cashier, for that matter.
The Chelsea location fared better with a full stand-up display, but the kids in the store were more interested in playing “Santeria” on Guitar Hero. That is, except for the one longhair who stared at the disc in his hands on his way out the door, as if it would disappear if he neglected it. As he left the store, he held it up to a passerby, laughed and said, “Crazy.”
The Midtown Manhattan store had the most purchases during Rock Daily’s visit of any of the locations, including one uniformed police officer who must have gotten over Axl’s diss on “One in a Million.” One customer flipped through every copy on the rack, either on an OCD quest for the most pristine packaging or finally coming to the conclusion of his 14-year internal struggle over whether he should buy it. He did.
With what must have been a precisely negotiated deal, it’s curious how minimally Chinese Democracy was emphasized in the Best Buy stores. In none of the four locations visited Sunday was the record playing on the house music system, and only one had any sort of stand-alone display. This isn’t to say that Chinese Democracy won’t do big numbers, especially with customers descending on the retailer en masse this week for Black Friday sales, but after a decade and a half of anticipation, Best Buy’s release of Chinese Democracy began in New York with a shrug.

I did wonder why it seemed like a pretty low-key affair, especially after the bombardment of Walmart and AC/DC. I stopped into Best Buy on the way into work, so I didn't have time to browse around. I walked in the door, saw a cardboard display by the registers, grabbed my copy and split. I couldn't tell you what was playing on the pa system or how many copies were for sale. I did see the vinyl version in the same cardboard display where I got my cd though. Wasn't there supposed to be different cover versions available? The only one I've seen is the bike with basket.

I get the impression there was never meant to be two covers, and instead the online media thought the cover for the 'Chinese Democracy' single was an alternate cover. But that is just pure speculation on my part.

So Metalguy and Smindas opinions on " Chinese Democracy" please, are you guys disappointed, pleased?

I'm liking it. I had no pre-conceived notions. I know it's not really GnR, not worth 17 years, blah, blah, blah. While I've heard some songs that leaked, I tried to avoid them for the most part. And I'm a GnR fan-boy, so my opinion will be a bit biased. Yea, I think Axl is off his nut most of the time, but I truly believed that when the day would come and this album would be finally released, it wouldn't be a total turd. He's too much of a perfectionist and there was too much pressure, so I knew that it would have some kind of artistic merrit.

I don't mind the epic/piano/artsy stuff. This is an Axl solo album and he's got a different vision of the music he wants to make. That's fine. My only complaint so far would be too much electronic blips & beeps and the sound of programmed drums. I'm not a NIN/industrial fan, so that stuff can go right in the garbage can as far as I'm concerned.

Right now, I'm excitied to finally own the dang thing. We'll see if it has legs and I'll still be spinning it in a month. I'm curious to see how well it holds up after the hype and new-ness wears off. And the song Sorry is awesome.

I am looking forward to it myself, but I have to wait til after the holidays to pick it up, I think my wife may have picked it up for me.

Axl's a very talented guy so I am sure I am going to like it. I just hope that if he does record a follow up, we won't have to wait another 17 years, thanks for your opinion Metal Guy.

manny wrote:

So Metalguy and Smindas opinions on " Chinese Democracy" please, are you guys disappointed, pleased?

Pretty sure I said something about it when I got it on Friday, but anyway. I think it's great - it's a really enjoyable album. There are some fantastic tracks on there, ranging from good, fairly heavy rock songs like 'Shackler's Revenge' and 'Scraped' to slower tracks like 'There Was a Time' and 'Street of Dreams'. Really, the only song I'm not all that keen on is 'If The World', and maybe 'Prostitute' to an extent. It really is a very good modern rock album. Is it worth 15 years waiting though? No, but no album ever will be. As it stands though, Axl & The Roses did a great job. Like Metalguy though, I am a GN'R fanboy and probably a tad biased but if it was absolute bollocks like I've seen a few people tout it as, I wouldn't defend it.

Quote :

Like Metalguy though, I am a GN'R fanboy and probably a tad biased but if it was absolute bollocks like I've seen a few people tout it as, I wouldn't defend it.

Yea, if it was horrible, I'd admit it. It pained me to do so, but if you read my "review" of the new live Nevermore disc, I really don't like it and those guys are one of my top 5 favorite bands.
https://heartofmetal.niceboard.com/heart-of-metal-f1/nevermore-year-of-the-voyager-live-dvd-cd-t7733.htm

I'm all about calling a spade a spade. If it's a clunker, I'll say so.

I just noticed that the official release is missing the song "Silkworms". The live version has been floating around on the web for some time now. I'm sure there's other leaked songs out there that didn't make the cut, but dang, I liked Silkworms. It was a bitchin' tune. Hope it shows up on an official release at some point.

There should tons of left over tracks considering how many long it took Axl and his hired Gunners to record this album.

If Chinese Democracy is indeed a trilogy Im willin to bet those other tracks are potential tracks for future releases

Ive listened to it from their myspace and I love this album

Addy wrote:

If Chinese Democracy is indeed a trilogy Im willin to bet those other tracks are potential tracks for future releases

Ive listened to it from their myspace and I love this album

Go out and pick up a copy. It's on sale at Best Buy this week for $11.99. You won't be disappointed.