I think some of these songs in earlier/demo mode could have been as hits--CITR, Better, The Blues.  CITR and The Blues sound like they could have been from UYI2 in that they aren't far removed from the classic gnr sound.  Better had a poppy techno sensibilty that screamed 1997-2001.  The main problem is that in the final versions (2008) the crappy production ruins the songs, at least for me personally.  CITR is butchered with the bad guitar parts which sound like they don't belong and the removal of Brian May's guitar solos.  Better has the annoying drums parts.  The Blues I can't quite put my figure on what went wrong there.  When I first heard The Blues in 2001, I thought it sounded pretty close to the "original gnr."  The elements were there: piano intro, catchy Axl lyrics and vocals, guitar driven with some Slash like solos.  As time went on, I not sure why or how that song deteroriated into what it is now. 

This next question is kinda OT:  Why wasn't this album released in 2000-2002?  With CD's release some questions have been answered; but can anyone give a reasonable answer as to why this thing wasn't released in one of those three years.  In late 1999-early 2000 there were several articles written in mainstream magazines regarding this project, Chinese Democracy.  I remember Rolling Stone had two articles--one in 1999 and one in 2000.  In 2001, GNR performed at HOB in Las Vegas and RIR 3(or 40.  Both those events garnered positive reviews.  In 2002, we had the VMA appearance.  Those events/pub got people talking about Gnr again and that would have been the best time to release this album.  I'm just trying to figure out what the last 6yrs have accomplished because the final versions of these songs don't sound that much different than the demos.