You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Re: GNR Evo members' Chinese Democracy reviews thread
I actually thought Bono's review was positive (for him), but to claim CD has SIX tracks that are filler. That's pushing it. I'll accept that you don't like 6 songs, or hate 6 songs, but to say almost half the album is filler. That's just insane!
This album exceeds all expectations for me. I don't have a physical copy yet, but that will change tomorrow. I seem to be in the minority, I'm digging "Scraped". My favorite of the 3 previously unheard tracks. The other 2 may take time to grow.
I'm really digging Scraped too. I think It has a very good performance of Axl and Bucket doin what they do best.
Re: GNR Evo members' Chinese Democracy reviews thread
I think I shut Bono down.
Thus the attitude.
:haha::haha::haha: Wow! Possibly the dumbest post in the history of the internet. I pretty much laid it out there how ridiculous it is for people to get upset over what I feel is filler and you've somehow shut me down? Drugs are a wonderful thing aren't they?
Re: GNR Evo members' Chinese Democracy reviews thread
After listening to the album quite a lot more, I am still overall happy with it and feel it's a pretty strong album, particularly when compared to other albums on offer currently and in more recent times.
It's certainly no Dark Side of the Moon but I will admit that I felt I had pretty realistic expectations of the album. I never thought it would be a masterpiece that would change the music scene, cure world hunger and everything else some people were expecting.
I simply look at it as if it was an album released say 2 or 3 years after their last one. In that context its pretty decent. As for the filler discussion I will be skipping Scraped and Riad most times I listen to it and possibly IRS (although I don't have the same hatred for that as I used to). Other than that, I'm pretty much happy to let it play right through.
I can't think of too many other albums in recent times that I feel that way about. Most have one, two or maybe three songs and the rest I don't even bother listening to.
Sure there are plenty of issues we could mention about being overproduced, the quality of the mixes, too many sounds and noises at times burying things etc etc. But even despite those points, for what it is (if you can ignore the time taken, the people playing on it and the revolving lineups and jokes etc) it's a reasonably solid album for me. No more, no less.
I'm happy to have it, a little disappointed maybe but not too much. I'm even happier to hopefully have this damn saga behind us now. It's also a bit of a shame for Axl that it doesn't appear to have been wrapped up and launched exactly how I presume he may have wanted it. But I believe he only has himself to blame on that front - there were plenty of opportunities over the years to have this thing out 100% his way. Oh well, such is life. I still expect the album to get lots of airtime at my house.
Re: GNR Evo members' Chinese Democracy reviews thread
Axlin08 wrote:I think I shut Bono down.
Thus the attitude.
Yeah usually, but this one baggie I smoked had bugs in the fuckin' thing. 
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: GNR Evo members' Chinese Democracy reviews thread
Well I've stayed silent recently, mostly because I avoided the leak and the myspace version. I've only heard the album start to finish, no breaks twice, so my opinion my change.
Chinese Democracy - I love the intro, the way it sets the tone and builds tension, but I can see how after all the stops and starts of the project a lot of people may not even have the patience for it. They want it to start. And it does. Loud. Powerful. The song where all the additions over the years actually made it better.
A solid 
out of 5.
Shackler's Revenge - It's out-of-place, but I like the song. Feels like a bonus track, but the pre-chorus is some of the album's best industrial rock recalling White Zombie and NIN, and the chorus itself is one of those surreal moments on the album where it feels epic. Would've been a highlight and a single of an all-industrial album (2000 Intentions). Ron's work is great, but again, it just doesn't feel right here.
out of 5.
Better - Cut-n-paste hell swallowed this up, and it begins to show the weaknesses of the album - poor production and boring drumming. Never did I think Matt Sorum could be missed from GNR, but the beat here is a simple 2 and 4, and yet the pocket isn't even that firm. Core of the song is brilliant, Robin's solo is one of my favorites and recalls Slash's ability to contribute to the message of a song without words, but production and drumming drag it down a bit.
Street of Dreams - It's a ballad. Very good ballad. Nothing unexpected but everything is performed well and Axl shines lyrically and vocally. Not much left to say about this tune, I don't think it's single-material but I would'nt call it filler either.
If the World - When this leaked, I loved it. The changes on the album version aren't quite sitting with me yet - I don't know if I prefer them or not. It sounds more finished, and Bucket rocks the solo. If the song was written by somebody else it would just be a Faith No More rip-off, but with Axl's unique voice and Bucket's virtuoso performance it feels like something all it's own.
Under the assumption that I'll grow to like the changes just a little more,
There Was a Time - More overlayered, overproduced, muddled production of what should be a great song. The outtro is still fantastic but the album is almost headache-inducing at this point and I'm left begging for a song that knows what it is, does it's job, and ends. Shackler's was almost that but it's too out of place. TWAT is another solid Axl + Bucket song, and Robin plays well too.
Catcher in the Rye - I actually like the updated version. Sure, I prefer the way it was, but this is about as good as it could be without sticking out like a sore thumb on the album. I think the new solo works well, only problem is it's one of Axl's highlights but his voice and his lyrics, which are beautiful, aren't prominent enough in the mix. Still, a worthy choice for EW's 'Download this' track.
Scraped - It feels like the album is two EPs, pasted together, and this is the opener to part two. It's short, concise, well performed, and has no illusions of granduer. The voice intro is pretty awesome even if cheesy, and it delivers right when you start to worry that the rock is gone from the album. Only downside is that it seems like it could've been done in a couple hours, not a couple decades.
Riad N' the Bedouins - I loved the leak, and love the album version. The band plays like a band, like they were in the studio together and the same time and wrote it together. Axl could've done more lyrically, but it's passable, and while Bucket's solo may be better than Ron's, Ron still does a nice enough job on it. The band sounds tight, which they very rarely do on the album.
Sorry - Doom metal it isn't. But it is a very good song. It's not victim to overproduction, Axl isn't screeching but still sounds good (unlike Maddy) and to have a song that probably is about Slash is nice. I find it very funny that Baz is buried in the mix too. No one wanted his touch on this album. Gonna need to give this some more listens before I call it a 4 or a 5.
I.R.S. - I try not to do the '14 years for this?' thing, but IRS is so thoroughly mediocre that I find it hard to believe they couldn't write 14 songs better than it. The lyrics are eh, the vocals are eh, the drums and bass are eh, the guitar work is eh, there is no part of this song that really clicks. Swing and a miss.
Madagascar - I've always hated this song, and the album version is no different. It's just as forced as it's always been, and it's no more of an epic than it ever was. Axl probably had a cold sometime in 2001, and forgot to go back and re-do the vocals for 7 years. The quotes and orchestration are laughable, and I begin to fear that this album should've ended with Sorry.
This I Love - I didn't read many reactions to this when it leaked, and I'm surprised. I love it. It may be cheesy with all the rhyming but it feels honest, it isn't overproduced or muddled, Axl sounds great and the piano combines well with the slightly odd verse style. Robin's solo is very good, and this becomes the defining ballad of the album and one of the best in Axl's career. I like it more than Estranged.
Prostitute - Having gotten over the immense disappointment when it leaked, seeing all the hype and getting... well, this, I can say it isn't the worst song ever written. The lyrics aren't very good, the performance's are pretty wooden, the drumming is bad, but it's passable. On par with the worst of GNR's discography.
Some overall album grades:
Songs: 9/10
Vocals: 9/10
Lyrics: 9/10
Guitar Solos: 8/10
Guitar riffs and rhythm: 7/10
Bass: 6/10
Drums: 4/10
Production: 3/10
It averages out to about a 7, but with the focus of the album being Axl, and his ability to write good songs, I want to give it an 8/10. Producers and cut-n-paste jobs severely hurt the album, but I still really like it.
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: GNR Evo members' Chinese Democracy reviews thread
It averages out to about a 7, but with the focus of the album being Axl, and his ability to write good songs, I want to give it an 8/10. Producers and cut-n-paste jobs severely hurt the album, but I still really like it.
Ahem, Axl was one of the producers.
- Mikkamakka
- Rep: 217
Re: GNR Evo members' Chinese Democracy reviews thread
Communist China wrote:It averages out to about a 7, but with the focus of the album being Axl, and his ability to write good songs, I want to give it an 8/10. Producers and cut-n-paste jobs severely hurt the album, but I still really like it.
Ahem, Axl was one of the producers.
He was the producer of the producers. I guess someone else with more producing experience would have been aware of these problems on the final product. In fact, I'm quite surprised that if we hear it, how Axl didn't hear it.
