Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy

Since I started posting again 2-3 days ago, I have been asked the same question a few times now, "What happened to the "Chinese Democracy" review?" I guess I alluded to it so much, that my 3 readers have felt let down since I never actually posted one... So here you go, please realize this isn't actually finished... I found this rough manuscript in my files, and with as much as I'd love to finish it, I just don't care enough to... I haven't listened to "Chinese Democracy" since I started it, and really don't have any desire to finish the last four tracks... That being said, enjoy! -T 8/16/09


We'll I've been alluding to this review for a while, primarily because I have so many ethical issues with this even being considered an authentic GnR album. To me it comes across as an Axel Rose ego trip in which he is proclaiming to the world, "I am Guns N' Roses." I have recently been wondering if asked, if Axel would claim that he was in fact the mastermind behind all the amazing guitar work or true GnR albums, and that Izzy and Slash were a facade... The other option I have come up with is that this is in all actuality a demonstration of Axl's own insecurities... He has realized that without GnR, no one cares about him, and so he's still hiding behind something that died in the early 90's. I think he realized that if he released this as an Axel Rose solo album it's sales would have hit between 5 and 7 disc's it's first week and then never sold a disc again, but by using the nostalgia behind the name GnR he would actually sell a few discs... So here we are, it's obvious that I have wanted to hate this album for quite a while now, so please realize that I am totally biased in this review.

1 - Chinese Democracy - So ummm, I'm pretty sure my first band when I was 13 years old wrote this exact song... maybe I should be suing... Three chords, death metal distortion that sounds like it's coming from a no name $25 stop box... ummm yeah, calling this GnR is an insult to the great guitarists (Slash and Izzy) who are true GnR. The sad thing is it actually starts out pretty cool before the crappy numetal/deathmetal 13 year old guitarist stars playing... Oh well... Axel sounds like Axel, that's the only GnR thing about this track. Then near the end of the track, in order to over-compensate for the lack of guitar work early on, a pseudo-EVH solo comes in... Sorry, but thus far I'm convinced that GnR is dead... Not good, especially when I've just finished the opener.

2 - Shackler's Revenge - Ummm, did I accidentally put in NIN? Oh wait, no there's Axel... So now we have dark-90's-alt with a dance beat... The solo from this track is even more over-compensating than the first track. A truly great lead guitarist (Slash) knows when to play fast and when to play slow. Every guitarist on the album thus far is just trying to show off how fast his fingers can fly... If your EVH more power too you, everyone else... well yeah you get the idea.

3 - Better - I hope the song lives up to its title and the album is getting better... Honestly, the verses aren't bad, they sound like GnR, and the guitar this time around doesn't sound like a 13 year old with a death metal stop box, but the chorus "now I know better, now you know I know better, I know you better..." or something like that... anyway, it's horrible... for the 30+ million and 17 years spent on this album, you would have though someone would have had the heart to tell Axel that his chorus is horrible. Guitar work better (for the most part), verses are decent, but the chorus is horrible.

4 - Street of Dreams - This track starts out with some nice piano and acoustic guitar (say wanna be "November Rain"), the vocals are horrible, they sound to me like Axel doing a really bad Robert Plant impersonation... The vocals just do not fit with this track at all... On the flip side, this track does have the best and most GnR like guitar solo we've heard yet.

5 - If The World - Someone please stop the bad pseudo-GnR... The classical guitar and samba sound is something that should be backing, say Carlos Santana, not Axl Rose. The music is actually pretty cool for what it is, but come on, I'm supposed to believe this is a GnR track?

6 - There Was a Time -This track started out pretty good, but the chorus kills it "It was the wrong time for you, it was the wrong time for me, it was the wrong time for everyone," who writes this garbage? (oh yeah, ego centric Axl Rose) The guitar is kind of cool though, although I'm really missing the interplay between Izzy's rhythm and Slash's lead... Where's my Velvet Revolver CD? Other than missing the rhythm guitar (which has been replaced by violins) I do think the lead guitar is interesting, and pretty cool, particularly the solo, so props to which ever of the 7 guitarists featured on the album that this is...

7 - Catcher in the Rye - So far this is my favorite track, the piano is good, the guitar is good and sounds like GnR, and the vocals fit really well. This is the kind of stuff I expect to hear from GnR. So here goes my first true props to Axl. As much as I really don't want to like anything about this album, I do think this track is pretty cool... It may even go into my GnR mix.

8 - Scraped - I'm getting tired of going on on every song... so no, just no, that's all you get for this one.

9 - Riad n' the Bedouins

10 - Sorry - I kind of like the music, it has an almost Pink Floydesq feel. I hate Axl's voice on this song, but musically its good.

11 - I.R.S.

12 - Madagascar

13 - This I Love

14 - Prostitute


So there you have it, its not a GnR album, it's an Axl solo album, and if he had the least bit of common sense he would have labeled it as so. I know that many of us would have had much more respect for the album if it would have been presented as such. One major issue I ran into is the fact the majority of the tracks are over 4 minutes and just drag, some of them probably would have been better if they would have been shorted. I give it a D+, it's not horrible, but in comparison to what GnR is, this is a joke... I'm sure you'll see hundreds of copies in the used CD stores within a matter of a few months. If you're looking for GnR, this isn't where you should be looking, go pick up the Velvet Revolver albums, you have more of GnR in that band than Axl's GnR will ever have, and additionally you don't have the ego factor behind it.

If Axel gets his act together and the second stamping of this album (if there is one) comes out for what this is, Axel's solo album... I'll considering moving my grade up to a C+...

The best part of this album is definitely the free Dr. Pepper, I'm getting because it came out. Thanks DP

The Killers - Day And Age

After my first listen through the Killers 2006 record Sam's Town, I remember thinking to myself that the band was on their way out, and that they had put all of their great material on 2004's Hot Fuss. I figured that the ultimate fate of the Killers fell into the idea that you have a lifetime to write your debut album, and only two years to write your sophomore album.

Here I sit two years later, and honestly I probably haven't sat down and listened to Hot Fuss in it's entirety in probably 6 or more months, but my last listen to Sam's Town was maybe two weeks ago. When Sam's Town was about to hit the shelves, Brandon Flowers was quoted as saying it would be "one of the best rock albums in the past twenty years" (giant.blackplanet.com, 2006) Like many others, after my first listen through I though Brandon was off his rocker... I have now come to realize that Brandon Flowers knew something that the rest of us didn't... His albums come off as... well... a little bit off, but there is something intriguing and inciting about them that keeps us listening. Then sometime off in the distance future... say 6 months or so, we too suddenly get it and albums like Sam's Town are suddenly in our Top 10 favorite albums. After listening to Day and Age, I'm convinced that once again Brandon knows something and he's waiting for the rest of us to figure it out.

1 - Losing Touch - Very cool opener, it has a little bit too much saxaphone for me, but still a very good track. In someways I wish it had a little bit more of the rock edge that so many of the tracks on Sam's Town had. Iit almost gets there around 2;45 for the second chorus and through the end of the song... but once again the sax takes off the edge that I loved so much. Overall this really is great track, the chorus and guitar solo are the two crowning moments making this track something special.

2 - Human - Total 80's throw back with a modern touch. Like everyone else, I was confused my first few listens while trying to figure out if Brandon was saying "dancer" or "denser" although I was cheering for "denser," after the explanation of "dancer" I'm cool with the lyrics. Verse two has some backing "Nintendo" sounds, as I like to call them which are actually really cool, they totally add to the 80's sound. Although this is a little slower than my preference (as in there is no distortion), still it is one of the best tracks on the album, and a great single!

3 - Spaceman - Who doesn't love a track about being abducted by aliens? This is probably my favorite track on the album. It is very up beat, but it has enough of an edge on it to make a rocker like myself happy. Additionally, there is a lot of deeper meaning to this track for all of us spoiled rich kids who aren't happy with everything we have. Very cool, good job guys!

4 - Joy Ride - Ummm 70's disco... yeah.... not my favorite track. Could someone explain to me where this disco throw back tracks are coming from, I know Maroon 5 (who I don't like, just for the record) had a hit a year or so ago that also sounded like disco... Maybe I'm just out of touch with the "cool kids" who knows. Once again, the way the Killers work, this will probably be my favorite song 4 months from now...

5 - A Dustland Fairytale - This is another very cool track, the slow piano, and lyric style reminde me of "Enterlude" and it's partner "Exitlude" both from Sam's Town, which happened to be two of my favorite moments on that album. The dynamics of this song are great, they remind me in many ways of my current favorite song of '08, Weezer's "The Angel and the One." This was an automatic favorite from my first listen.

6 - This is Your Life - The opening of this track brings back images from the film The Power of One, and P.K. dancing in front of a choir of African inmates. This track is weird, it has African style chanting, a bass line worthy of a Johnny Cash song, 80's keyboard, a U2esq guitar riff, and well Brandon Flowers... but somehow it works, and it's awesome. This one took me a few listens to appreciate it, but it's really good once you get over the weirdness.

7 - I Can't Stay - And the album gets even more bizarre... bring in the harpsichord and steel drums! This really isn't a bad track, although it sounds to me like a cruise ship band covering a Killers track :) It has a very upbeat summery sound, and reminds me of laying by the pool drinking a pina colada in the Bahamas last summer. My only real issue is the blasted saxophone. The sax really is my biggest complaint towards this album.

8 - Neon Tiger - And back to another classic Killers track that sounds great, and has lyrics that make absolutely no sense. I read somewhere that the Killers are the only huge band on the planet that can write songs that make no sense to anyone, and yet are still awesome, this track is a prime example. Although I am sure that after several listens I'll figure out what it's about.

9 - The World We Live In - This track isn't really good or bad, it's just kind of there. It's kind of catchy, but nothing too exiting. It's just kind of there.

10 - Goodnight, Travel Well - This track starts very slow and very dark. The initial percussion is provided by a ticking clock, which is pretty cool. It kind of reminds me of Pink Floyd... actually it really reminds me of Pink Floyd. It's mysterious and kind of all over the place, and ultimately very cool and a great album closer.

Although I miss the gritty edge of Sam's Town, this album has more of it than Hot Fuss did, and delivers nicely as a cross between the 80's pop and 90's pseudo-alternative-grunge the Killers have delivered in the past. Initially I was hoping that this album would be a strong competitor to Coldplay for the best rock album of the year, and although I'm not sure it quite reaches those heights (although once I figure out what Brandon was thinking, it just may...) I give it an A-. It is a very good album, and will almost assuredly make my top 5 favorite musical moments of 2008... but (as of right now) it still seems to fall shy of being an instant classic...