PDA

View Full Version : Guns N Roses Chinese Democracy



FormulaMarauder
11-29-2008, 01:41 AM
I haven't bought an album in probably three years. Being as that I'm a huge G N' F'n R's fan, I thought the CD needed to be added to the G n' R library. How big a fan you ask, let's see....

Lies, Appetite, Illusions I and II on CD's, gold CD's and vinyl. About 200+ hrs of live footage from across the globe, and 26 live, demo, and bootleg disks. Seen them four times, two of which is with his current lineup.

Here's the review. Play the CD once and you will want to hurl it over the first highway overpass you come across. Litterally four of the tracks fall into "Adult Contemporary" category more than they do rock. I've gone throught the CD about 10 or so times, and it really does get quite better every time. You can definitely tell there was some serious production value on the album. As far as the G n' R theme goes, it's not-deal with it. It appears as though three different bands of completely diverse musical categories came together and mixed fourteen tracks in ine disk. Velvet Revolver was 60% of G n' R. This "New" G n' R is 40% due to the fact that Dizzy Reed is the only guy that stuck through Axl's antics-and he wasn't even a founding member, he came aboard during the midst of recording for Use Your Illusion I and II.

As far as the new crew goes.....

Robin Fink is a good guitarist that has played with the linkliness of Cirque Du Soleil and NIN. He must have some kind of rapore with Axl, because he really is nothing too special.

Ron Thal is a guitarist for the new G n' R, also a producer and songwriter.

Richard Fortus is a straightup innovative guitarist-period.

Paul Tobias, another guitarist, but doesn't tour, only assists in recording of guitar over-dubbing. He actually wrote "Back off *****" off of Use Your Illusion I and even co-wrote "It's So Easy" from Appetite.

Frank Ferrer is nothing special on the drums, I would prefer Matt Sorums beats over this guy.

Tommy Stinson is on bass guitar. This guy has more talent in his fingernail than the rest of the band combined. Stinson is a legend in the music world recording, mixing,performing, editing, tracking, etc. I find it strange he would associate himself with this album which is destined to fail, (but sell a couple million copies).

Chris Pittman is a backup vocalist and percussionist next to Dizzy Reed whom I have always thought of as sloppy.

Buckethead. Do I really need to get into it? For those of you counting, YES, that's FIVE guitarists, not including Stinson on Bass. Axl DEFINITELY toned him down, you would never of known he was in the CD by just listening to it. There is NO typical Buckethead solos going on. Every now and then you'll catch a faint quadruple double time fingertap that is balls accurate Buckethead.

Axl. Someone must have written a review saying that his voice is no longer what it used to be, and that must have put a fire under the poor bastards ass. He goes from the lowest of Alto to the highest of Soprano, and he extends every note until he could no longer breathe. Its painfully obvious that this album is all about him and his singing capabilities. He even puts it in his album notes...."All Axl's vocals produced by Axl" (sic)

One engineer, and twenty-five (25) assistant engineers. This albm must have cost millions to make.

That being said, there are four songs that I think are fantastic, the rest are "eh."
Here's my order.
Track 2. Shackler's Revenge. Fastest, hardest track on the disk, great chorus, love it.
Track 10. Sorry. Slow tempo great vocals, great chorus, great lyrics, awesome guitars.
Track 14. Madagascar. A jewell, i'm sure it's gonna make the tube. I find it ironic how he pays respect to Martin Luther King on the song (Speech incorporated in the song) yet on Lies, One in a Million professes his hatred towards blacks, immigrants and gays.
Track 3. Better. On the radio now, trust me it gets better the more you hear it.
Track 1. Chinese Democracy. Good guitar and musical work, but I prefer Madagascar.



There you go folks. The album is good. Not worth 16 years of production, but I'm sure it will do well. Hopefully don't have to wait another 16 years for the follow up.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

justbob
11-29-2008, 07:45 AM
You know whats funny? I'm huge into many types of music, most of wich is 80's hair bands and i never heard of this album untill i saw it in the black friday sail adds on thanks giving day. That there says alot about their popularity any more.

CBT
11-29-2008, 08:05 AM
Should have let Buckethead play more.

Embassy
11-29-2008, 09:28 AM
As someone who grew up when GnR was on top of the world, it's great to get a review from someone who really knows the band.

I was afraid that the new album could not live up to the hype. Then again, is that even possible?

Bands and people change/mature. Look at Metallica. There new album is decent but there will never be another Master of Puppets.

Thanks for the excellent and insightful review.

Motorhead350
11-29-2008, 12:02 PM
Great review!

I know it was bad when only one original member was left when creating new music.

I'm going to see Suicidal Tendencies next month and they only have one original memeber..... we'll see how this goes.

ImpalaSlayer
11-29-2008, 12:15 PM
ive herd the song on the radio and do not care for it

a_d_a_m
11-29-2008, 01:59 PM
according to what i read, buckethead isn't even the guitarist anymore - it's some dude named "BUMBLEFOOT"...?

i wrote a review on CVN but it is posted in a forum that you have to be registered to read...so here's my take on it.

------------------------------------------------------------

i haven't started an "official" thread lately, so please let me do it now to review this piss-poor excuse of a GNR album.

you can listen along @ http://www.myspace.com/gunsnroses

i hope you won't be surprised when i say this, but THIS ALBUM FVKCING SUCKS.

sorry guys, i've been a GNR fan since the '80s. i know i'm probably losing some credibility (if i had any) saying that, but appetite for destruction, GNR lies, most of use your illusion I and II, and the spaghetti incident? are all still in regular rotation for me.

first thing i noticed was the vocals on the title track, duh, "chinese democracy". it sounds like someone is singing OVER axl. maybe that actually IS axl; if it is, his higher (and more awesome) voice is being overshadowed by corny rob zombie-esque vocals that may have been hip when the idea for chinese democracy first came to him. at any rate, they're not cutting it now.

"shackler's revenge" is just so pathetic - bass wah-wah pedal, lame-ass palm muted garbage that sounds like a cross between the worst metallica, alice in chains, and more ******* white zombie.

when i saw "better" in the track listing, i figured maybe it would be a "better" song. i was sorely disappointed. more generic rock sound. at least axl's voice is front and center, and yes - if you were into GNR to begin with, it's still up to par. unfortunately, the song itself is hardly up to triple-bogey, toeing the line between over-effected seemingly sampled crap, to sensitive bull****, to more of the same unimaginative riffs. by the time i got to the solo, i was about to turn this song off, but i figured i would give the new guy (bumblefoot? wtf?) a chance to show off his chops...

he is terrible at emulating slash. you can tell he's trying on alot of these songs. plus, he doesn't even look like he belongs in GNR (http://a508.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/17/l_38f65aedd3f50b5018b61eacbdad fdcb.jpg). no doubt, he's better than me at guitar, but i'm not fronting a world-famous rock 'n' roll band.

unfortunately, this is no longer a band of 'world-famous' proportions.

"street of dreams" sounds like axl and jim steinman (the meatloaf guy, folks) explored each other in the back seat of a 1986 chevy celebrity and then decided to write a song.

track 5, "if the world", is terrible and a waste of time.

for "there was a time", there was a time when it may have sounded relevant, but we're toeing the line between oasis and whoever was releasing hard-but-still-safe-'alternative' music during oasis' reign at the top of the pops.

(yes, i'm going basically track by track for this - i wanted to see if MAYBE they came through with a winner of a song)

i can't believe there's another weak faux-sensitive rocker on this album, but "catcher in the rye" is piano laden and whiny but, wait, what's that axl? axl wants to say something.

"WAIT, ADAM, HERE COMES THE ROCKING PART!"

uh, okay?

"just kidding, we're really not rocking that hard."

yeah, axl, i know. thanks for the disappointing revelation. go back to your piano.

can someone please tell me what the hell is going on in the beginning of "sc*****" (track 8), and then tell me how many times they've used this same riff or one just like it on this album?

at least we get an apology for this awful album with track 9, "sorry". unfortunately, this song requires an apology of its own. maybe they should have called it "sorry x2".

if i have to give one song on this album any sort of props, it might be "riad n' the bedouins". the riffs still blow pretty fiercely, but this one at least feels like it could have been a really bad golden-era GNR song. axl's hitting high notes that could peel paint off the walls.

"I.R.S." isn't even good enough to write more than two sentences on. i think it stands for "IT REALLY SUCKS".

seems like we got the use your illusion orchestra back together, and brought self-righteousness along for "madagascar" (the song, not the movie) and "this i love", which i actually hate. the latter sounds like a song celine dion rejected that was later picked up by a formerly-great rock band. their version is destined for a movie about a tragic hero that only chicks will be interested in...coming to a theater near you!

"prostitute" sounds like...well, let's do a multiple choice:
A. boring
B. pretentious
C. pointless
D. all of the above

if you guessed "D", you win! your prize is a set of LED's, redeemable from your favorite whacker. they just upgraded to brighter ones anyway.

so there you have it, chinese democracy sucks.

wanna listen to some good GNR? go to the left of their music player and listen to the following songs...

appetite for destruction
everything's pretty good, but "it's so easy", "nightrain", and "anything goes" are my favorites.

GNR lies
listen to the first 4 songs - the "G" side of the album (GNR used to label their cassettes and albums "side G" and "side R"). skip "patience" because you've heard it before. then listen to the rest of the album, most especially "used to love her".

use your illusion I
"right next door to hell", "back off [censored]"

use your illusion II
"get in the ring", "pretty tied up", "you could be mine"

the spaghetti incident? (yes, there's really a question mark there)
most people think this album sucks, but i like it for no other reason than the novelty factor of them covering some of my favorite songs. i give 'em bonus points for being relatively faithful to the new york dolls classic "human being" (especially the ending), dead boys' "ain't it fun" (they're from cleveland http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/default/laugh.gif ), and the sex pistols/runaways' "black leather".

FormulaMarauder
11-29-2008, 02:14 PM
according to what i read, buckethead isn't even the guitarist anymore - it's some dude named "BUMBLEFOOT"...?



Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. It's his nickname due to a dilapitating disease he got when he was younger. And yes, Buckethead is still on the tour lineup.

Aren Jay
11-29-2008, 05:19 PM
.............................. ........

Hack Goby
11-29-2008, 07:02 PM
Just my opinion..<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0X69rIzFQDY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0X69rIzFQDY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Motorhead350
11-30-2008, 01:15 AM
Geeze Adam no mercey!

I just found a new hard rock/punk band I really like a lot.

Get something by D.R.I.

Fun stuff!

P.S. they are new to me, but they have been out since 1982.

a_d_a_m
11-30-2008, 02:24 PM
yeah, D.R.I. is okay, nothing real special as far as i'm concerned.

D.O.A. is better!