If you hate this album, then you were going to hate it no matter what it sounded like and your mind was made up before even hearing it. If you know anything about music, songwriting, theory and technique, then it’s impossible to hate just based on text book music knowledge alone. Is it the greatest album of all time?…no, is it the greatest album in 17 years?…yes. There is so much depth and texture to this album it’s unreal. I’ve followed the studio leaks for years and in the past couple of years unfortunately there were 8 or 9 decent studio leaks that kind of took the element of surprise and mystery away from hearing it the first time. But, it was great to finally hear them all mixed and mastered.
I see a lot of chat on the internet saying “oh, I miss Slash…blah blah blah…” OK. Here’s the deal on that…Nothing has kept Slash from writing his amazing riffs and killer music. Slash has had solo albums and major record deals with Velvet Revolver. He’s had all the opportunity a musician would need to write his next ‘Sweet Child O Mine’ , ‘Mr.Brownstone’ or ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ riff. No offense, but I haven’t heard it yet. Slash and Axl both had the same amount of time to create music and Axl wins by 100 miles. Just because Axl didn’t plaster his face on every video game and Michael Jackson video, doesn’t mean he wasn’t doing anything important.
No one, not even Guns N’ Roses WITH Slash (Use Your Illusion) could recapture “Apetite for Destruction’ . That’s just one of those all time great albums. Chinese Democracy is not that far of a stretch from “Use Your Illusion”. So, if you were a fan of the “November Rain” era of GNR, and you haven’t picked up Chinese Democracy yet…Then you should do yourself a favor and get it.
You get all of the Axl voices, screams, tones, anger, humor and cockiness that you loved about him from the beginning. He sounds better than ever on this. Don’t let the live medley from the MTV movie awards (whatever year that was) sway you into thinking that this guy can’t sing anymore. He’s absolutely amazing and stronger than he’s ever been. The melodies are more creative and there’s a lot of amazing vocal layering.
As far as Slash’s replacements…here’s the thing. I’m an ex-shredder guitarist…and Buckethead and Bumblefoot are NOT newcomer “nobody’s” by any strectch of the imagination. The fact that Axl picked these 2 guys over all of the guitarists in the world makes me have all that more respect for him musically. Buckethead has been a name in the guitar community and has had instructional columns in guitar magazines for as far back as I can remember. He’s extremely talented, innovative and technical. Plus, anyone who claims to have been raised by chickens and wears a KFC bucket on his head has my vote. Now, onto Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal…well, I’m going got keep this brief and try not to sound like some screaming girl groupie…I’ve been listening to this guy play since ‘91 when my roommate at G.I.T. wrote to him asking for a cassette of songs because his review in the “hometown hero” section of Guitar World magazine was one of the most raving reviews an unknown could get. This guy takes the “Frank Zappa, Steve Vai” thing to a whole new level. PLUS his voice is UNBELIEVABLE. Do yourself a favor and check out his solo albums. He started as Ron Thal so make sure you pick up those albums too.
“Catcher in the Rye” and “Scraped” are not only 2 of the best GNR songs ever written they are 2 of the best Rock Songs ever written.
I do believe that Axl could have saved himself a lot of grief by just calling this an Axl Rose solo album. He would have had all the freedom in the world and no one could have compared it to anything previous. But, from what I see and hear about Axl, I think he’s just gonna do what he wants.
Jeff
