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#71 Re: Dust N' Bones & Cyborg Slunks » Buckethead - Crime Slunk Scene ($3 Sale!!) » 96 weeks ago
This pike is pretty great. Probably lots of amazing stuff undiscovered in there.
Bucket is basically going the Zappa route of low cost drum machine band members.
Wish the guy would take a final stab at a big rock album
#72 Re: Guns N' Roses » Perhaps (2023) to Drop » 96 weeks ago
Good to see you back, Wags.
Thanks pal.
My opinion on Ezrin is now a complete 180. I used to think he was crazy for his harsh feelings on the material and/or trying to sabotage the project...now I realize he was on point.
I've reached a point of equilibrium on the whole saga. I think everyone was half-right and half-wrong. Everyone had the best of intentions with what they did. Axl. Slash. Ezrin. Azoff. And so on down the line. And this is why I think the only album we got was "2000 Intentions".
"If my intentions were misunderstood, please be kind, I've done all I could..."
In the end, Chinese Democracy got cluster fucked by a couple things...
In my book, "Chinese Democracy" is basically a meme that Axl fell in love with that eventually got stale.
It was the 1990s version of "Not In This Lifetime" or "Stay of Execution" or "Slash is in my ass".
I don't think an album called "Chinese Democracy" ever actually existed. In my view, we got an album called 2000 Intentions and some B-Sides or concepts for an aborted trilogy. "I'm sad at my girlfriend. I'm mad at my old band" - this is what nearly every song boils down to and why songs like "IRS" and "If The World" are such palate cleansers.
When I first heard the title "Chinese Democracy", I thought we were gonna get a dark Rage Against the Machine meets Nine Inch Nails meets KMFDM album. It's why I've always championed stuff like "Oh My God" and "Silkworms" because exploring in that direction is absolutely up my alley. But really, this album doesn't exist. We got the title track which went from a raw, hard sounding rocker to a bloated, tired mess and even in it's best iteration wasn't enough to carry the weight of that title. And we got "Shackler's" which is a pretty badass dance rock track and "Sorry" which, I'm Sorry For Axl, he completely shit the bed on living up to the instrumental with his petty lyrics. The only good line in that song besides his Count Chocula voice is "it's hard to live with the truth about you instead of the lies about me". Pure venom and I tip my hat to him but again, this is where the likes of Ezrin were right. You work and rework this song until it's an absolute monster.
Turning it into a leaks + 3 bonus tracks to fill out the album
It's an interesting topic.
"Appetite" is the young party rock album, "Lies" is growing up, "Illusions" is grappling with love, loss, and fame and "Chinese" is essentially disillusionment and an attempt at redemption. This is my greatest criticism of Chinese Democracy, as I noted in the previous paragraph above, it's basically all about the same topics. The only song that really has a different style, lyrically and vocally is "Better" and that's should've been the transition point to CD2 being about "redemption and acceptance". This would've been a whole arc and kind of tie everything together.
But we just don't have that. Our only hope is that Axl laid down some killer vocals 2004-2010.
And even if we did, the majority of the stuff we have left is still ruminating on the past and 1990s nostalgia, in other words, byproducts of a depressed mind.
#73 Re: The Sunset Strip » Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds album » 96 weeks ago
I like A Bigger Bang and yeah Doom and Gloom was awesome.
Killer cover. Hope the songs are attractive as its jacket.
#74 Re: Dust N' Bones & Cyborg Slunks » Buckethead - Crime Slunk Scene ($3 Sale!!) » 96 weeks ago
This is still $3 years later along with some other great albums like The Elephant Mans Alarm Clock
#75 Re: Guns N' Roses » Perhaps (2023) to Drop » 96 weeks ago
It's been 2 years, friends.
I'm glad that stuff is getting released although I can't help but be bummed for Finck, Bucket, and Bumblefoot. Whatever you think of them, they all put in significant time and energy into this band and their efforts are more or less relegated to ghostwriter status. I'm also bummed out about all the live performances and different performances that we'll never have. Axl spent the last of his voice in 2009 shows no one will ever see and a couple of gigs for AC/DC in 2016 for another band.
I like "Perhaps" but I cannot help but think the likes of Ezrin who thought that the material needed a more work. Another verse and chorus here, a tightened up bridge there, and so on. I think most of Chinese Democracy is pretty good, flawed mix and overstuffed sections notwithstanding, but there's a problem of not just too many coats of paint but repainting the same exact place in the same exact way. To that point and I know I'll be in the minority but "Absurd" is their best collective work since the reunion. They took a messy techno-rock song and turned it from a wannabe 2000 version of "It's So Easy" into a 2020 version of "It's So Easy". It's on brand, it's messy, and it's a fun high energy song. The bridge is still terrible though but they shined up a piece of shit and cut it down to its bare essentials. Exactly what you want.
Anyway, onto "Perhaps". Axls vocal dubs really mess with the flow of the song, like the 'long time' section on "There Was A Time" where he constantly tried to force a hook that wasn't there. Slash's solo is just standard blues posturing, there's nothing to it whatsoever. No form or meaning, just basically a slightly more elaborate noisescape like the background riffing throughout the main song. The piano tickles are cliche. This is a "B" song that with a little work could've been made into a "B+" or "A-" song. It's unfortunate that wasn't done but it is what it is.
There are those who feel the best work was put onto CD and they may be right but I'm not sure I agree. I think Curly Shuffle, Zodiac, Soul Monster, Oklahoma, and D-Tune all have a lot of potential. The question is how much work was put into these songs, whether or not Axl grew out of his depression and issues as time went on and wrote some more interesting lyrics, but they have the makings of a comeback record. It would be Use Your Illusion III with a good deal of 90s rock vibes and the underside of more experimental CD session stuff. If they can find a punch-through song or two, I think it's a pretty big success.
On a final note, I've always been struck by the quote from Axl that said that CD was "the album that got through the red tape" which suggests a good chunk of the material had it's origins with the 1996ish version of the band. I think these songs, whatever they are, are going to be your next couple of singles.
#76 Re: Guns N' Roses » GN'R 2021 Tour Thread » 197 weeks ago
I’m tapping out guys.
I’ve spent enough of my life on this joke of a band. The cockteasing, empty promises, no follow through has finally reached critical mass after a decade plus. I can’t do it anymore. Life is too short. There’s more music and joy elsewhere.
If you need me, I’m a google and an email away.
#78 Re: Guns N' Roses » When’s Hard Skool? » 197 weeks ago
I'm already getting in the spirit.
#79 Guns N' Roses » Chinese Democracy revisited » 197 weeks ago
- exoterica
- Replies: 3
I listened to the album for the first time in ages.
In short: "If The World", "There Was A Time", and "Prostitute" are the best songs.
I think there are 5 great songs, 3 songs that could've been good, and some interesting filler material.
And some horrible decisions (The entirety of Catcher, Shackler's intro, making Axl sound like a robot, killing the drums) that strangle the life out of the undercard.
I listened on a relatively hi-fi setup, I'm sure I'd feel differently listening on $10 earpods.
5: Better, If The World, TWAT, Madagascar, Prostitute
3: The Blues, Catcher, Sorry
F: Chinese, Riad
#80 Re: Guns N' Roses » GN'R 2021 Tour Thread » 197 weeks ago
Are you guys ready to hear Hard School tonight?
