[Your Fan Reviews] CHINESE DEMOCRACY THE ALBUM

[CathcerInTheRye]

Damm...u made me  :'(

thnx

[Faridbak]

It's because of you that now I find myself in this situation again... you did this before too.
I keep listening to Chinese Democracy.. And it not only rocked the  first time I listened to it, but it keeps growing on me more each listen I have, like an avalanche its hitting all my senses, some of the melodies I can't get out of my head, and I find myself quoting at work from the lyrics.. but that's nothing compared to what you have done to my music expectations. Before a couple years ago I had given up hope in finding new songs that would make such a difference in my life as the UYI, A FD,LIES albums did back in the last century.
I had honestly gotten accustomed to mediocre albums that I would find one or 2 songs worth to hold on to. But I didn't expect anymore epic songs that related in such a way to my personal life that I would consider to call them my "soundtrack to my life" songs And you dare fill an album with them.. Setting again the bar way to high for other contenders to fill... (Good maybe now artist will make more of an effort to make this kind of music).
And then to top it all, you release an album, for me.. I mean I don't see you whoring yourself trying to promote the music. You are letting the music speak for itself, for those that do listen, for those that truly care about the art.. you didn't buy into the media whoring, see it 100 times a day to brainwash people into trying it out. You put it out there.. no explanation, But the art itself.
 If that is not Artistic integrity I don't know what is.
I see this albums has hit number 1 in a few countries, I'm glad for those who get to enjoy this album, and for those yet to listen to it I'm  exited for them they are in for a hell of a deal. As hard as I try I cannot remember the last time I gave an album as a present. This is an album im proud to give as a present
I see some "Fans" are always trying to tell you how you should have done things, who you should had played with, and when you should had release this record. They used to make me mad.. now they make me laugh yet I wonder if they know so much and we have so many experts.. then why don't they do it themselves? The answer I guess is simple.. they are forgetting the key element which is the creative part, the art.. And for that I thank you.
Please Mr. Rose if there is more melodies inside of you trying to find a way out to us; Let them, they are important in our lives they feed and enrich our life experience. They mean a lot to some of us, don't let the outspoken minority ruin it for the rest of us.
So I blame you for this new hunger in music I feel, it leaves me wanting for more.. and I blame you for the bar being up high again, I won't settle for cookie cutter music anymore. And above all thanks for breathing new life into Rock N' Roll
Farid Bak.

[5150]

@ ChristofurReal and halford: thanks for your reviews & thoughts - a great read, cheers. 

[Coma_Rose]

Chinese Democracy: 9
Shackler's Revenge: 9
Better: 10
Street Of Dreams : 10
If The World: 9
There Was A Time: 9
Catcher In The Rye: 9
Scraped: 9
Riad N' The Bedouins: 8
Sorry: 9
I.R.S.: 9
Madagascar: 7
This I Love: 10
Prostitute: 9

[Lies They Tell]

Grade: 18/20

fave song: Better and There Was A Time

Chinese democracy 9/10
This song is the reason why I've had so much faith in new GNR. Why I knew Chinese Democracy will be worth the wait. Because there's no other song in the world that captures the feeling of ambition like this song. This line is a great example of that: "Cause it would take a lot more time than you Have Got for masturbation Even with your iron fist More than you got to rule the nation When all I got is precious time" It shows that Axl won't be satisfied before the album is just the way he wants it to be.
This was by far my favorite new GNR song back in the days when we only had live versions of The Blues, Madagascar, Riad N' The Bedouins, Silkworms and this. (And of course Oh My God) This song was like a mixture of Guns N' Roses and Nirvana, which is cool cause Nirvana is my second favorite band. Over time this track only got better. I always knew this song would be a great opener. Though it's not as good as Welcome To The Jungle it's still awesome.

Shacklers Revenge:7/10
There was always one thing that concerned me about new GNR. I knew Axl is a great songwriter, but I also knew Izzy was the mastermind behind many of the most legendary old GNR choruses. Luckily this song proves that Axl is definitely capable of writing catchy choruses too. This track has the best chorus of the entire album. Unfortunately it doesn't have much else to offer than the chorus.

Better:10/10
Probably the best new GNR moment in my life was hearing this song for the first time. For so many years I had been asking myself "What if I'm wrong? What if Chinese Democracy will suck and all the haters are right?" Then I heard the leak of this song and it was everything I had been hoping for. It sounded so fresh, like nothing I've heard before and it has one of the coolest riffs ever in the middle part of the song. In fact it sounded very much like what I had been imagining Prostitute to sound like based on the "like fire and ice"-description. Cause this song definitely has a great contrast between the "no one ever told me"-voice and the "I never wanted you to be so full of anger"-voice.
To me this song sounds like a mini Bohemian Rhapsody. It's like a trip that takes you to many whole different places, but somehow it all compounds together magically, just like Bohemian Rhapsody. The guitar slide in the final version was a perfect addition. The robot masturbation was the weakest part of the demo, but now I can't come up with anything negative about this song.

Street of dreams 6/10
When I first heard this track I thought that it's somewhere up there with Yesterdays. My mind hasn't changed much since then. It's a good song but nothing as remarkable as November Rain and co. I really like the name change of the song. It has given me a whole new view on the song.

If the world 4/10
I hated the demo. To me it sounded exactly like a filler song from Use Your Illusions. The "I never knew the way that you looked at me Would ever mean so much to me"-lyrics are incredibly cheesy. This song really made me worried again that I might end up dissapointed with Chinese Democracy. Thank God, the finished version is MUCH better. I still think it's the worst song on the album, but at least I can listen to it now. This is a very experimental piece of work. And it's cool that GNR is trying different things, but this song doesn't really work for me. Many professional critics seem to love it though, so I can't blame Axl for putting it on the album.

There was a time 10/10
I loved this song from the first listen. Every part of this song makes me go "this is a great part." But most of all it all works perfectly as a whole.
"Broken Glass and cigarettes Writin' on the wall" makes an exciting start to the song. The xylophone in the background is haunting. One of my favorite GNR moments ever is when Axl sings for the frist time "But there was a tiiiime" It's so full of emotion. Then comes the insane guitar solos. The long guitar solos are a nice contrast to the wordy verses. I can't believe I'm saying this but these guitar solos rival Slash's best works and I love the "Yeah there was a time Didn't want ta know it all" part. The only thing I'm not too keen about is Axl's constant "I would do anything for you"-interjections. But they don't hurt the song too much.
I guess one big reason why I love this song so much is cause I'm a nostalgic person, so the words "there was a time" really mean much to me. There are days when prefer this song over November Rain. That says a lot about the quality of this song.

Catcher in the rye 7/10
I didn't think much of this song when I heard it for the first time. I've never been a big fan of "na na na" parts. It's crazy how much this song has grown on me though. This light-weighted song sounds much better when you know it's about Mark Chapman. Now the "na na na" part takes me inside the mind of an empty headed murderer. Gotta love the "gave that boy a gun"-phrase. It has kind of a beatlesque sound to it which fits the subject perfectly. But It's not good enough that I would put it on a best of beatles album if it really was a beatles song.

Scraped 7/10
This was the first whole new song on the album for me when I heard the record for the first time. It sounded pretty weird on the first listen. But already on the second listen it sounded very cool. I'm not a fan of these "Believe in yourself" kind of  lyrics though.

Riad n' the bedouins 6/10
The live version of this song made me understand people who dislike Axl's voice, but I always knew this song had potential. It has a great riff and aggressive vocals by Axl which I love. It's kinda like Immigrant song, only not as good. That being said Chinese Democracy doesn't have enough REALLY good in-your-face rock tunes in my opinion.

Sorry 6/10
Someone described this song as: Pink Floyd meets "The Unforgiven" by Metallica. That's exactly what it is. Though I hoped it would be better than The Unforgiven which it isn't.  Anyway I love the lyrics in this track. Wonder what Slash thinks of this song? The parts were Axl sings in his raspy voice are awesome.

I.R.S 7/10
This song is best when played live. The studio version just doesn't have the same energy. I love the riff in this song, but the lyrics are a little weak. That's why I loved the one specific demo that had the very loud guitars. The finished version is not as raw as I hoped it to be. The best part of this song is for sure: "It's such a crime You know its trueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Madagascar 5/10
When I heard this song for the first time I thought it's a bad song made epic. What could be worse? Since then it's grown on me a little but I will never undertand why people love it so much. It starts out great with the: "I won't be told anymore" lyrics. But the part with the quotes feels pointless to me. (Though it worked well live with the pictures flashing in the background) Unlike many, I really love Axl's dying man vocals. The vocals made this song so much better. They give this song the kind of dignity that it needs.

This i love 9/10
I'm so glad this song never leaked. It's most effective when heard on this exact place on the album. It's like the whole album was building up to this song. There's so much going on in the other songs, then suddenly comes this very stripped down song. The effect is incredible! It's by far the most emotional GNR song ever. It has some of the best melodies in the GNR history. I must say I was a little worried this song might suck when people were describing it sounding like a disney tune. It's a great song.

Prostitute 9/10
I admit I had huge expectations for this song, and it doesn't come even close to fullfilling them. But it's still one of the best tracks on this album. It's just that this song was once descibed as a fusion of November Rain and Nightrain. I was expecting it to be an epic version of Nightrain. Wouldn't that be something? Instead it was closer to a ballad. So when Song2 was rumoured to be prostitute I didn't want to believe it. Though I never claimed it would be out of the question like some others. Again this is one of those songs that grows on you. Especially the last few minutes of this song are incredible. And the Mobyish ending is a nice outro to the whole album.

To sum it all up, I love the album. I think it's the second best GNR album ever. (Appetite being the best) I was hoping for more in-your-face rock songs, something like the Checkmate leak. But of course Axl has the right to do a more ballady album for a change. I would be a little dissapointed with this album if I didn't know that GNR has at least 2 more albums pretty much ready to be released. Maybe they will be more focused on raw rock n' roll again. I can undertand that many people are dissapointed with the album when they listen to it for the first time. There's so many songs that require a couple of listens before their excellence can be fully appreciated. Anyway, I'm so happy someone is still making good music these days.

[badfaulkner]

I love the album.  Period.  I'm too big of a fan to be objective.  Are there parts I wish were longer? Yeah.  I wish Street of Dreams had one more verse near the beginning but wtf! It's his song.  I'm just glad to be able to hear him again.  Kudos, Axl, and to the myriad of musicians and producers who performed as well!

[markmw]

Hey. I'm new here. I just started listening to the Chinese Democracy album on the Internet. It got released on imeem.com a few days after it was released. Anyway, here are my thoughts:

1. Chinese Democracy: Awesome! Buckethead does a nice solo on this one. It's also a great way to start off the album.
2. Shackler's Revenge: Best... chorus... EVER!!
3. Better: Nice one. I like the solos. I like the bridge that goes "No one ever told me when I was alone/They just thought I'd know better, better."
4. Street of Dreams: Such a beautiful song. I love the piano riff.
5. If the World: Kinda experimental funk. Really cool. Has a nice little catchy groove to it.
6. There Was a Time: I will repeat what I said on my website (www.hairmetalfans.webs.com): "Does the phrase 'totally epic' come to mind?"
7. Catcher in the Rye: Intense power ballad
8. Scraped: This freakin' rocks!!
9. Riad n' the Bedouins: Hard rock that stabs you in the soul. And that's a good thing.
10. Sorry: Nice heartfelt song.
11. I.R.S.: Haven't listened to the whole thing yet.
12. Madagascar: Awesome! Cool chorus and Axl Rose does a mind-blowing vocal performance.
13. This I Love: This one I do love.
14. Prostitute: An epic arrangement and a nice way to end the album. It leaves you wanting more.

In conclusion: Does this sound like the GNR we knew 20 years ago? No. Does it rock hard? Hell yeah!

11/10 stars

[madshadows]

This is the review I've posted on a few sites.

John 

======================================================


"It was a long time for you, It was a long time for me" but was it worth the wait for after all these years?? - All I can say "Oh My God" yes !!

Chinese Democracy is an electric and eclectic collection of awesome songs with stunning lyrics and brilliant performances by all the musicians involved, great playing, fantastic singing (Some of Axl Roses best ever IMHO), excellent production, great CD booklet with  lyrics and band pics.

The 14 songs on the CD range from Heavy Rock to Ballads and everything in-between that you can imagine or want and the song lyrics convey an endless amount of emotion, Love, Hate, Despair, Hope, Anger and more and Axl sings them as though his life depends on them and at times in the last 14 years it probably did.

Axl Rose is undoubtedly a complicated person but aren't we all?? (That's the human condition!!) and I don't care how long it took - I'm just glad it's finally here and that's it's as good as I hoped and dared for - I f&@king love it !!
 
So to sum up is it worth getting, I'd say a resounding "Yes", buy it, listen to it and prepare to be blown away and awed.

[martyrprojekt]

THIS I LOVE...and a RANT ON CHINESE DEMOCRACY FROM THE EYES (and EARS) OF A MUSICIAN!

I must say...I first listened to this album on MySpace...I bought the album because of Chinese Democracy and Shaklar's Revenge. They just rocked my nuts off. So I had to buy it and support Axl's work because well...at first listen at least two of the songs seemed pretty damn good.

When I bought the album (3 days early) thanks Rasputin records in Concord, Ca...I was blown away by every song. The artistry, the magic, the moving lyrical prose. All I could do was listen again...and again...and again. But, the song that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it is #13...This I Love. This is the song of my generation. This is my generations white album. My hat is tipped to you Axl Rose...Thank you!

About AXL's recent expose' on his former bandmates:

I myself am a musician.  I spend countless hours setting up shows, writing, composing, keeping the band together, etc. I myself have been through exactly what Axl speaks of with Slash and the other members. When people seem to have to work hard at something...they give up. These guys had it easy up to that point. What was left for GNR to do? Write another sleezy rock album? They knew they would rather go out on top than fade in oblivion. I believe the rest of the band lacked the foresight (and skill) to actually grow as musicians and write the kind of music we are hearing on CHINESE DEMOCRACY. Look at Velvet Revolver...not even a pimple on Axl's ass...Trust me...I saw them live. Scott Weiland tried so damn hard to be Axl it was disgusting.

When I saw what Axl had written on this message board...I knew it was true. I had been through the same exact things myself. Can you imagine working for over 10 years on an album (you didn't know was going to sell, had to go through countless members to find the right guys, watched the world and technology change around you...and to top it all off...you are being chastised by the people you grew up with and the MEDIA outlets you made powerful throw you under the bus?

Axl did not leave us, he did not bow out, He worked his ass of for 10 years. You have to respect that kind of work ethic.

Axl knew that the music is what mattered...So he worked relentlessly for the growth of GNR. The membership is inconsequential. He proved that with the quality of the tracks he released. My hat is tipped to the NEW GNR...as they are the true masters of their crafts. And, Axl...you are an inspiration to us all. I can not wait to hear more.

Please god do not take another 16 years to release another album like this...all though it is well worth the wait. I know you have music you did not release...just waiting for us to hear.

Please tour, please promote...and knock these R&B idiots off the charts. It is the time for real music and true musicianship. And, we are enthralled with your triumphant return.


Matt Thomas
An American Martyr

[JLR]

cool story, bro.

[oneAXLinamillion]

I really agree with your point of view.

 

[The_Establishment]

Great Post man!!!!!! I agree with you

[martyrprojekt]

Thanks for the responses. I honestly did not know if people would be agreeing with me or not.

I wanted to add something to this also...In 1986 when Appetite for Destruction was released. I wanted it badly. My parents would not buy it for me...because it features the guys in the band as skulls on a cross. My parents, being the ultra conservative Christians that they were...kept me from purchasing it. At least, they thought they did.

I purchased the album anyways...and all the other GNR albums I could collect. Over time I broke them of these narrow minded ways.

Now, my Dad brought me up Listening to the Doors, John Lennon, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, and Zepplin. He also had a fondness for Surf music also. I was force fed great music my entire life. From Brain Wilson to  Jim Morrisson/Ray Manzerik.

I played him This I Love, #13 the other day...his response was tantalizing, " This is Axl Rose? This is Guns N Roses? Oh my god, I have goosebumps."

He then paused for the duration of the song and briefly asked, " Will you buy me a copy for Christmas? I want to listen to this when I carve wood in my studio."

That is when I knew...It was not just me who thought this album was amazing.

So, Please tell your friends. Buy someone the album as a gift...and if they like it...tell them to buy a friend a copy. This is how this album will become a legend. It is up to the people who know how good it is to get the word of mouth out. Play it for your Friends and Family.

Matt Thomas
An American Martyr

[Arose]

YEAH!! Right on man, Chinese Democracy is nothing short of a masterpiece.  Nice post.