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Re: Chinese Democracy official reviews thread
the la times article is just as good as the new york times article but is just a little more positive. But, I am sure the board critics will flock to the NY TIMES article and claim that is the real "REALITY". I think both articles make strong points.
Re: Chinese Democracy official reviews thread
axlin08. i sent the picture that your avatar comes from to a friend here in the central services dept at the college i work at and she blew it up and printed it out on glossy paper.
it's amazing - i am gonna frame it and put it in my studio
Awesome. That's from the RS review. I was thinking just the other day, that if someone could paint it on canvas, that it look awesome in a game room or studio.
Re: Chinese Democracy official reviews thread
http://www.chartattack.com/reviews/6301 … y-worth-it
Let's cut through the bullshit right off the top: Chinese Democracy is the second-best album to have the Guns N' Roses moniker on it. Fourteen years, $13 million, Slash, Izzy and Duff were all lost in the making of Chinese Democracy, and you know what? It was totally worth it.
It's overproduced, over-the-top, even downright ridiculous at points, but it rocks like no album has attempted to in this decade.
Axl Rose may be the most divisive musician of our time, but you can't argue with his one-in-a-billion voice, which is in full effect throughout Democracy. The snarly "Welcome To The Jungle," the she-devil scream, the soulful "November Rain" voice? Yeah, they're all here, and then some.
The title track starts off with a minute of build-up, Chinese voices and industrial get-up. We've waited this long, mofo, get on with it. Then it tears into a perfectly acceptable industrial rocker. "All I've got is precious time," Rose says mockingly.
"Shackler's Revenge" starts off with some annoying sonic ache, as if Rose is testing us to continue listening, before breaking into a downright catchy (and danceable) disco-metal chorus.
"Better" is as good as any song ever recorded by GN'R, as it somehow manages to be the band's poppiest and heaviest song. Slash replacement Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails) delivers a soulful, bluesy solo half-way through, and the song switches into the melancholy tone of the "Where do we go now" moment in "Sweet Child O' Mine." Can you say radio hit?
"Better" is Chinese Democracy in a microcosm. There are about four distinct parts to it, as if Rose decided to jam every idea he's ever had into five minutes.
"If The World" is the first track that makes you say "WTF?" It sounds like a James Bond theme done as heavy metal blaxploitation with flamenco guitar, but somehow it works.
If anyone wants to rip into the album (and there will be a few), it will probably go along the lines of "it's not Guns N' Roses," while ignoring the actual music. Regardless of whether Rose intended this to be a glorified solo album or not, it's still a group affair. Ex-Replacement bassist Tommy Stinson contributed to virtually every track and co-wrote an Appetite For Destruction-on-steroids track called "Riad N' The Bedouins."
Buckethead, that KFC bucket-wearing freak, co-wrote three songs, and his amazing guitar work is all over this album. His solo in "There Was A Time," a song that seems to continue the end of "November Rain" for about four minutes, stands among the best GN'R solos ever played.
"T.W.A.T," as it's known to GN'R fans on the 'net, also features some of Rose's best lyrical work. "The devil hates a loser," he croons before breaking into a new high register that we didn't know the high-pitched ginger hyena could reach.
Guitarist Finck's work stands out, too. His addition of a soulful moan to the Beatles/Queen mash-up "Catcher In The Rye, "Street Of Dreams" and the Pink Floyd-meets-Metallica-sounding "Sorry" makes me forget all about that top-hat-wearing dude.
But let's be honest. Only Rose could have made this album.
At some point in the last 15 years, true rock stars died. Chad Kroeger, Brandon Flowers, Chris Martin, uhh... Fred Durst? Only Kanye West comes close. The myth of rock 'n' roll fandom is that we want our rebellion in perfectly commercial doses: an album every two years, three radio hits, one cellphone/lighter-to-the-sky ballad and a one-year tour with the band showing up at 9 p.m. sharp.
Expectations be damned. Has there been a bigger indie hero than Rose? He's an asshole, sure, but no one has ever told him what to do — especially not the fans. His vision of his music is remarkably singular and he refuses to be anything other than exactly what he wants.
Take "Scraped" — a vicious little rocker that has a high-pitched Rose rapping against a regular Rose. "Don't you try to stop us now/I just won't let you," he yawls. Note the pronoun use. Rose thinks this is a band, even if it's definitely his band.
It ends with "Prostitute," and it's a doozy. The lyrics, like most throughout Chinese Democracy, may be about the old band. They may be about Rose's lost love in model Stephanie Seymour, or they may be about Chinese democracy (not the album... or maybe the album). But who cares; Rose hits it.
"Ask yourself what I would do/To prostitute myself/To live with fortune and shame," Rose screams at his upper register.
It's a ridiculously overblown album and features a few duds. I really wanted to love "This I Love," but it's a bit too Andrew Lloyd Webber. "I.R.S." is a bit too plain, but still pretty good.
Chinese Democracy is too god-damn necessary. At some point, rockers stopped dreaming of making Led Zeppelin IV or The Replacements' Tim and settled for making generic critic-proof boredom that can be toured on.
Keep screaming for the heavens, Axl. I'll be there. Just give me the next album sooner, please.
- A Private Eye
- Rep: 77
Re: Chinese Democracy official reviews thread
^ I agree, so far the positive reviews in the media far outweigh the bad. Which if I'm honest I wasn't expecting but it's good to see nonetheless.
Re: Chinese Democracy official reviews thread
it's so ridiculously over done that it actually is a breath of fresh air in today's stale rock scene. One way or the other-positve/negative, there is no rock record out there like it. Axl has succeeded in doing the same thing the old band did in 1987/1988/1989, he has people talking and paying attention. As an artist and potential business, that is all you can ask for.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: Chinese Democracy official reviews thread
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/arts/ … =1&_r=1&hp
Sorry, already posted.... And I agree, this album is a lot of great things, a great guitar Album it is not. I don't thing GNR is even a guitar band anymore. That isn't a bad thing, unless you liked GNR more for Slash/Izzy than Axl, then you might not like this album that much.
