http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news … titialskip

Guns N' Roses / Chinese Democracy (Nov. 25, tentatively)

The transition: Axl Rose, the only founding GNR member still in the band, has been toiling 13 years on this opus, which evolved into an industry punch line (democracy will come to China before Chinese Democracy comes to the marketplace). Repeated delays, the singer's reclusiveness and a revolving roster of bandmates have raised doubts for a successful comeback by one of rock's former giants.

The mission: To prove that the wait was worthwhile and to restore Rose to critical and commercial prominence, a tall order considering Chinese is unlikely to meet impossibly high expectations or recoup recording costs. It may be the most expensive album ever recorded, with some estimates placing the tab at $13 million.

The ammunition: No music or complete track listing has been officially unveiled. While such early hints as Oh My God on the End of Days soundtrack suggested an industrial bent, Rose has promised a complex, stylistically diverse collection. Songs have surfaced live and online over the past few years, including nine recently leaked at antiquiet.com, where frenzied fan feedback ranged from "outstanding" to "horrible" before blogger Kevin "Skwerl" Cogill agreed to remove the tracks. One Chinese-destined song, Shackler's Revenge, will appear on the Rock Band 2 video game this month.

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AND....

http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=6277

by Paul Cashmere - September 13 2008
photo by Ros O'Gorman

The Chinese Democracy roll-out will begin on Sunday (September 14). As of tomorrow, the first taste of the album will be released as part of Rock Band 2.

'˜Shackler's Revenge' will be the first officially released Guns '˜N Roses song since '˜Oh My God' from 1999's '˜End of Days' soundtrack.

'˜Shackler's Revenge' is one of 84 tracks to feature on the game Rock Band 2. While most of the songs featured in the game are previously released, Guns '˜N Roses are using the gamers audience to introduce themselves back into the world with their new music.

It is the beginning of what is expected to be a series of announcements about Guns '˜N Roses, the main point being that the album will be finally released and before Christmas.

Axl Rose has delayed the release of this album for more than a decade. However, in recent months, a leak of demos from the album was circulated on the Internet, which lead to the arrest of the poster.

While the leak was 100% illegal and infringed the rights of the band, it did create a new interest in the title.

By getting the album out in November, Guns '˜N Roses will have a chance to claw back some of the control of the distribution and finally put this long overdue release in the hands of the fans.

Credit to bonhamfan at Mygnr

Paul Cashmere is also a credible source (he published this article). For those of you who remember he set up the Australian/New Zealand shows in 2007.

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We could always hope. :mosh: