Chinese Democracy starts now!
Whoa, I’ve always wanted to say that… and mean it. It may not be an official release by any means (that day will surely burn in rock fans souls forever),
but we’ll take what we can get, especially when it comes to the mystery that is Guns N’ Roses‘ long, long awaited follow up to 1991’s Use Your Illusion 1 & 2. Yes folks, it’s been seventeen years now and we finally have Chinese Democracy (or most of it), thanks to the weak internet plumbing that spawn leaks galore. Now that you’re all caught up, the big question on your mind must be, “Was it worth the wait?”
Well, duh.
Axl Rose must have gone through at least a hundred Mead notebooks, which is probably the same number of guitarists he’s auditioned since Slash’s departure in the late 90’s, too. This is infinitely different than where we last saw the “band” (let’s face it, the only original members are Rose and Dizzy Reed), in the meek 1:26 minutes of “My World” that closed the powerhouse that is Use Your Illusion II. I’d love to digress on the new material, but I’ll quote a good summary…
9 new demo from Chinese Democracy leaked this afternoon.
They are:
“Better”
“Chinese Democracy”
“IRS”
“Madagascar”
“There Was a Time”
“The Blues”
“Rhiad and the Bedouins”
“If the World”And one more with an unknown title which may be “This I Love.”
Aside from the 3 new songs, the other 6 are newer, previously unheard versions of the demos from last Spring.
Everything sounds great. Cleaner, louder, better. New backing vocals. New guitar overdubs.
“Rhiad” is great.
So is “If the World” and the other new song.
There are some old ones here, namely “Better” (which was purported to be a single back in 2006), “There Was A Time”, “Chinese Democracy”, “I.R.S.”, “Madagascar”, and “The Blues.” Of the other three, “Rhiad and the Bedouins” is pretty rocking, “This I Love” (which could be “Message”) is epic, and “If the World” is far reaching in all the right ways. There’s still some stuff missing, namely “Catcher in the Rye” (featuring Brian May, actually), “Sorry” (Sebastian Bach’s alleged favorite tune) or “Prostitute” (which appeared on a set list throughout last year’s tour), but so far, it’s pretty much everything we didn’t expect: it’s actually great.
There will be detractors, of course. I expect this release to see the same criticism as the recent Indiana Jones flick did. Some will love it, some will hate it, but it’ll do more good than bad. And I sincerely doubt we’ll be seeing Axl swinging from any trees, either.
So, where’s our Dr. Pepper?
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“Catcher in the Rye” will be on the album for sure. That’s a great song! I hope this means that “Silkworms” got the hook. “Oh My God” needs to be thrown away as well. Besides it is already on a soundtrack.
I’ve also heard of songs called “The General,” “Broken,” and “Seven.” Know anything about these? There are others, but I’m fairly certain that they were either fake or replaced over the years.
You also forgot about “the Spaghetti Incident”!!! I know its tempting, but its got some good tunes (e.g. “Since I Don’t Have You,” “I Don’t Care About You,” “Attitude,” etc.). It is clearly the weakest (and a cover) album, but I’d take another one.
I don’t count the “Spaghetti Incident.” It was pretty much a last ditch effort to do something with the band.
Yeah the “Spaghetti Incident” was a joke of an album, kind of like the new offspring album “Shchhhhwing”
True and true - but, as I said, I’d certainly take another one! And those songs I mentioned are not bad. They’re not “Rocket Queen” or “Estranged” - granted.
Good one, Phil!
In the words of Axl Rose - “All we need is just a little patience.”
That’s probably been said a hundred times over, but even as nu-metal as these songs sound…this is one of those CDs that has even naysayers wanting that free Dr. Pepper.
Lucky for me that’s my brand of choice.
Better is still my favorite out of all the G&R catalogue. Its amazing.
Better is a great song. I have the “Whenever its done” bootleg..so these are all remixed? These were all out 2 years ago except for If The World and This is Love I believe.