Reviewing a myth
Sorry for the lack of updates here. I've been busy as shit with work, holidays and the loads of things going on (of which I'll update).
One of the things that happened since I posted last was Chinese Democracy finally came out after 17 years. It's weird to think. I remember hearing about GNR working on this album when I was in high school. I suppose what we have here is our generation's version of Smile.
Most of the tracks are ones I've heard a few times over the years in various forms. But I've spent about a week with this thing on the ipod and since it is impossible to listen/review this thing objectively, I only have my .02 on it.
First off, this isn't a GNR record whatsoever. Maybe 2 songs at most smack of any of the Izzy Stradlin/Slash/Duff sound, and even then, it is after layers and layers of production and ear candy have been layered over them. That's not really a bad thing in and of itself, but the fact remains, if you came here looking for Appetite For Destruction Pt 2 or a follow up to Use Your Illusion albums, you won't find it.
I think it's weird listening to these songs simply because it is entirely possible you could be hearing a guitar track recorded 10 years ago, drums recorded a year ago, and vocals from 15 years ago and then a bass laid down in July. It's really obvious Buckethead is still represented here and he hasn't been in the band for 2 years. So when various things were recorded is anybody's guess.
The songwriting itself brilliant. The vocal melodies are as good as you'd expect from a guy like Axl Rose who spent the last 17 years slaving away. Sorry in particular has a classic "axl" chorus melody with a very direct Line 6-ish guitar under it.
Having said that, all the eccentricies you'd expect from a rock album that has a veritable who's who of rock in the past 20 years as its credits and a 13 million dollar budget are fully in tact. Axl filled every possible space with things. In a way, that sounds kind of dated to me because that whole 'everything and the kitchen sink' is soooooo 1997. Even some of the drum loops here are presets from a Roland MC505 I was using 10 years ago. Weird eh? There are crazy fake string arrangements, TONS of little glitchy crackles and farts you know could very well have taken months to craft "just right". Axl seems to really be a fan of kill switches on guitars, since every song has at least one frenetic guitar solo where its deployed (buckethead uses these live a lot, but i'm given to understand his new guy does too). That's not to say the guitars are boring. Quite the contrary. There's plenty of over-the-top shredding, but it's weird and atonal enough that it doesnt' sound like a guitar wankfest. In some places, they really do break some new ground since they are layered against some relatively complex arrangements.
Speaking of the arrangements, they are, shall we say, massive? There are guitar leads in the back of the mix almost everywhere. I can imagine Axl and an army of engineers sitting around pondering what else they could cram into every space of this thing at least once a month for the past 10 or so years. Some of the samples are subtle enough that I didn't catch them until 4-5 listens in.
Now, that said...the production is fucking amazing. That is easily the highlight of the album. Thank god Axl didn't fall prey to the noise wars that have plagued some otherwise great albums. With as much as is going on here, it would be very easy for this thing to sound like a giant clusterfuck. You can actually HEAR everything going on even when it's all firing. That says a lot in parts where I can hear the rhythm guitars doubled, 2-3 leads going on, a synth pad, drum loops a live drummer and a bass. That's before you have 2-3 tracks of Axl hollering over the top. AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME! In short, I pity the fool who had to figure out how to make all this fit together without going off the rails.
The obvious question is also the dumbest one. Of course it doesn't live up to the fucking hype. How could it? This thing has been rumored to be everything from an Appetite wannabe to some reinvention of the whole damn thing. It's neither of those things. But it's still pretty damned good. Definitely better than anything else I've heard in the past year for what it is.
As it turns out, the album isn't the smashing success everyone hoped (derr..needed) it to be. It's going to sell less than 300k in the first week in the states. To be fair, most bands would give their left nut to sell those figures, but they also didn't spend 13 million making their record.
