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Have to say that "Catcher in the Rye" is the only song I like off of this album. It doesnt even sound like a GNR song....it sounds more like a Yes song, or one of Uriah Heep's acoustic numbers. Great song, but its not a GNR song....its an Axl Rose song. Other than that, this album is complete garbage and is a disgrace to the legacy of GNR. Axl is out of his mind.

I've only heard the title track, still. Bland is the right word for it...

Even with Buckethead doin' his thang, this is seriously poor stuff.

They played the album on the Howard Stern show a little while back, and it sounded horrible. It was like Axl wanted to sound as much like Rob Zombie as he possibly could. It was pure garbage. I was going to download or maybe even buy this album but after hearing track by track review on the radio and now this review, I shall steer rather clear from this shite.

I can't even get through the damn thing in one sitting. The review is dead on, it's a disjointed mess that has worse song to song flow than a modern Venom album. There are a lot of points that are truly strokes of genius, but then that stuff will get followed up by really bad ideas or piss poor attempts at sounding modern. And the vocal layering is annoying. Axl Rose has a unique and distinctive voice, one that many people enjoy. But when you have what sounds like 6000 Axl's singing in unison, you realize just how nasally and sometimes grating his voice can be. But mainly the faults really lie with the revolving door of musicians. With as many people with wildy different styles having contributed, I'm surprised anything at all coherent came out of this, but it's not cohesive at all. It runs the gamut from acceptable songs to generic Industrial Rock, to shitty one riff Modern Rock, to soppy ballads, and back again. It's as shcizophrenic as Axl himself. Interesting to look at from the perspective of it being one man's massive ego trip put to plastic, but certainly not interesting enough to listen to it more than once.

I'm still waiting for my free Dr Pepper

Hehe, so's Axl. Good luck with that!

Better and Sorry are my favorites.

Definitely, you need a few listens to enjoy it (if you can).

Is not a really bad album, if it where released a few years before gnr last album.

And yes, the touch of Slash is missed in this album.

But you must admit, Slash sounded better in Gn'rs than in Velvet Revolver (and I like that band)

I think Slash is intensely overrated.

I think most of us, at least, would agree. He isn't bad but is nowhere near as good as anyone in non-mainstream bands (Azagthoth, Nergal, Chuck Schuldiner, Mustaine, on and on the list could continue.)

Slash is unique in his own way and have some great leads... Definitely overrated though he's a good player.

I agree 100%
For me, the thing that is really missing in the album is Izzy songwriting.

Hey guys,

Don't let this review scare you off. I thought this album was just "eh" at first too, but after 4 listens, I absolutely loved it.

There are million things going on in the album, maybe more than they needed, but sit back and take pleasure in the excess. Think of it as a Double Stuft Oreo. There's way more cream filling than you need, but doesn't that make it tasty in it's own way?

This is not a simple album, and it cannot be conveniently fit into one genre. Reviewing Chinese Democracy like a hard rock/metal album woudl be like reviewing one of Prince's classics like a typical R&B album. It just doesn't fit.

The songs truly do grow on you. "Streets of Dreams" and "Catcher in the Rye" will just make you smile. "Prostitute" is a wonderful, wonderful album closer.

And how did this review not mention "This I Love," the best song on the album? "This I Love" is the most heartbreaking ballad I've heard in a very, very long time. Tons of emotion in Axl's vocals, and an woefully passionate guitar solo.

Give Chinese Democracy a chance. It's seriously the best Guns N Roses album since Appetite for Destruction. Just don't try to fit it into what you've seen from Axl before. This is a special recording experience. Take it for what it is.

--Dan

Sigh....

From personal experience I can tell you if you listen to an album just enough to not get tired of it, you'll end up loving it. It doesn't matter how bad it is, once you get over the hump of memorizing the parts of the songs, you'll probably like it. Sometimes, like with Dream Theater the impact lasts quite a while once felt. Others like Skid Row's "Subhuman Race" are only good once you know the songs intimately and if you go too long without listening to it, you'll magically forget why you thought it was good at all.

Sorry, don't mean to scare you away, welcome to the forums!

I can assure you I've listened to this album more than enough times for it to have a chance to grow on me, but the positive effect of repeated listens was minimal at best.

I'm not one for off the wall genre descriptions, so don't let that throw you off. I reviewed this as a GNR album, because that's what it is. Obviously this review is only my opinion, but I found Chinese Democracy to be a directionless mess, better listened to a song here and a song there than in its entirety. I'm glad you enjoy it, but even standing alongside the Use Your Illusion albums, this is a major disappointment in my eyes.

And I didn't mention This I Love because it didn't have nearly the effect on me as it apparently had on you. I found it be a poor and contrived attempt at a token love song that missed the mark, not worth writing about. I've seen a few reviews that feel the same way as you though, so I don't consider my opinion to be the universal one. That said, I would suspect that the vast majority of GNR fans will be put off by this album.

Does anybody know if Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy" will be released on iTunes? Besides being on released at Best Buy.


http://www.findpianolessons.com

seriously are you even allowed to still call yourself by the orig name if ONE is left? i would think theyd want to change the name so they dont have to pay the estates/contracts of past members...just like the living dead are just the dead now.


http://www.champlegals.co.uk/showthread.php?piano lessons

I'm not sure. I think it was ALRIGHT but I don't think one bit that it's going to be the biggest album of the year.
All I know is that I want my free Dr. Pepper. (Please tell me you guys heard about that!!)

http://www.metalreviews.com piano lessons

Dude, enough of the piano lessons already.