Scotland now has Chinese Democracy!!

Comin Thro' The Rye - By Robert Burns 1796

O Jenny's a' weet, poor body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!

Comin thro' the rye, poor body,
Comin thro' the rye,
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!

Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?

Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the warld ken?

Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the grain,
Gin a body kiss a body,
The thing's a body's ain.

The "pre Brian May 99 demo" original!

What a night, a little birdy told me of a independent record shop selling CD in the city of Glasgow. Thats about 40 minutes from by car on a good day, with no congestion. I only found out at 5.00 tonight and I knew the store closed at 7pm so I thought fuck it, and I left home at 5.15. I actually got most of the way there with no hold ups, but I hit really bad congestion coming into the city centre and was stuck in a jam for about 30 minutes. At 6.45 I started to panic, I was so close to the store but the traffic was a nightmare.
I seen a dodgy looking side street and shot up it and parked up, I would never park anywhere like that normally, especially in my dads car. But this is Chinese Democracy and patience is a long forgotten virtue.
I had about 10 minutes to get there and I ran as fast as I could about a mile through the city centre to get there before closing. 6.58 I arrived, the store was empty and the guy was just chilling behind the counter, they had quite a good selection of rock and metal and I gravitated to the GNR section and sure enough, there it was.
£12.99 I paid for it, I was going to ask if there had been many people in to buy it, but I was too knackered.
I walked out with a huge grin on my face and sauntered back through all the hustle and bustle to the, thankfully, fully intact car.

I slotted it in and set off for home. There is something about the accoustics in cars and vans, when you turn up the volume and get intuned to driving, the music sounds fantastic.
This was suprisingly good, even though I have listened to all the leaks to death and been listening to the latest batch all week - this still sounded fresh.
Its the first time since Oh My God I have heard new GNR material off an official cd. It sounded great! I mean really great! I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed that journey home, and drove around for a while longer than I needed just for the disc to end.

It was really odd, I bought that cd for a mere £12 and halfway home I realised; I didnt give a damn how much money it cost to make, how long it took, how many people came and went from the project, no other original members etc - all the stuff bogging down reviews and influencing opinion.
I had bought this cd for a few pounds and the pleasure I got from listening to it was immense. The music for the most part is outstanding, its a wonderful collection of songs and thats all that should matter. Its cost me very little and gave me a lot. After the long frustrating quagmire thats been the whole Chinese Democracy build up, I think I, and everyone else , has lost perspective in what it actually means just go out and buy a new album and see if its any good.
This album is extremely good, much better than what the bitter politics of the creation process and the familiarity of the leaks would like to have us believe.

I'm getting over my disapointment about Madagascar not being much different to the leak. I always loved the way he sang the outro in the really gravelly voice anyway, it was more the opening lines I found weak.

Its really quite epic when you read along with all the quotes.

That fucking booklet is an abomination, I'm trying to read along with the songs and theres fucking mistakes everywhere.

2 singles released and now already streaming the entire album? Strange.

I wonder if it might be less than a few years for a follow up album.

Is that Tool drummer? Sounds pretty cool.

That famous Bucket N' Brain clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61k041I4aEo

How hard does Brain hit those drums when he does his drum rolls???   Is that his famous "feel"?

That picture in the booklet cracks me up, he is fucking pounding them!!