Listen to Chinese Democracy in full..

[Tangalang1]

http://www.myspace.com/gunsnroses

[cvansickle]

Having heard a few tracks already, a quote from Jack Nicholson comes to mind:

"I would rather stick needles in my eyes!"

[Rock Johnson]

Hired Guns & Posers?

No thanks. What I've heard already is enough to tell me it's a letdown.

[andyland6]

GR = Appetite and Lies.

Everything else is crap.

BTW-My new fav band is "Snakes and Barrels" .

Water Horsie Blues kills.

[gtrfinder]

I wonder if I'll get my free Dr. Pepper?

On a side note:
Are they actually going to tour behind this?

[Cuthbert]

Is Richard Fortus playing on this? He's a bad axe motherflasher, very underated guitarist.

[rollyfoster]

i couldn't get past 60 seconds (at the most) into any of the songs.

[clothwiring]

Buddy sent me this URL while I was checking out the GnR clips...this was much better...

http://www.kimmitchell.ca/home.php

[mikenixon316]

Well, I thought it was quite good. I've listened to most of it and I was expecting alot worse

[nnick]

It was not as bad as I thought it would be but what happened to the raw rock n'roll? I Do not like it!!

[Tangalang1]

its good stuff.. I dont care that people dont give it a chance, because the other guys are not in it, or whatever stupid reason they have... \
yeah richard fortus is playing on it, and touring with them.. he is awesome.

[reddgeetarzan]

10 years for this??? :bkw

[puckhead]

Only one song got my attention - "This I Love".

On the whole, it was very underwhelning, as indicated by the 80% attrition rate in song plays through the playlist. (From 250,000 on song 1 down to to 50,000 on the last few songs). We get it Axl - you can scream.

[brian b]

Have listened to most off it not bad if you take it for what it is. Sounds like GNR Pink Floyd and NIN had a kid together. Really curious what people would think of it if was Slash, Duff, Izzy and Matt playing, meaning if the all the originals came out with this CD would everyone dish it.

[pickslide]

Just finished listening to this and I really wanted to like it, but I did not. In fact I was quite dissapointed. I did not think that this album would be great, but I certainly thought it would have been better than this.

[Bryan T]

I'm on the thrid or fourth track. There are some really interesting guitar tones. Buckethead is a bad-ass.

[Prodigy]

No thanks! Don't piss on my shoes and tell me it's raining.:nono

[wideawake]

Worse than I thought it would be, well yeah, worse. Listened to about 7 of the songs, then clicked over to Welcome to the Jungle, not even the same league. Not even close.

axl's attempted screaming on Madagascar is priceless, some of the most out of tune screaming I have ever heard on an official release.

[tiktokman]

I expected to be let down but am loving it.

I had to get over the fact that there will never be an "Appetite for Destruction: Part II". Some well constructed and unexpected melodies. Axl has always been a love/hate singer. I've always dug his singing.

So two thumbs up from me for "Axl Rose and the Hired Guns".

[dead mike]

i really wanted to like this but man it sounds 10 years old, very industrial some songs, kind of like NIN way back when. Way to over produced. I dont get it.


on a side note wouldnt it be great if stinson and westerburg got basck together and toured.

[desceneisvals]

ugh. that was gross.

couldn't get too far into any song.

[RanaldoNecro]

Guys, like everyone else I gave up a long time ago but i am going to give this a chance..

[Brian D]

I think there is some good songwriting there, but the production ruins it for me personally.

[PUCKBOY99]

Good musicians toil away nightly & Axl F&@#^$( ing Rose is still getting a record made ????!!!!


NO THANKS !

[8Painting]

Just in time for the Xmas season....coincedence?

Not bad, but not great, for 10 years on the shelf.

[KeithC]

It's not my thing these days but the two tunes that MySpace allows don't sound that bad to me for what it is. That is other than the goofy beginnings. Just start the music and I would've liked it better.

[statesm]

I like the song I.R.S. and I like some of the things in Madagascar. I haven't listened to them all yet, but I am not into This I Love at all...

[agentcooper2001]

i'll be another odd man out; i love it! i've listened to the album at least 5 or 6 times all the way through. the only track i don't like is shaklers revenge.

[daddyo]

This may end being the Heaven's Gate of the record industry.

[Brian D]

I wonder if I'll get my free Dr. Pepper?Dr Pepper to deliver on its free-soda promise (http://apnews.myway.com//article/20081121/D94J1EH00.html)

[VoodooBlues]

i'll be another odd man out; i love it! i've listened to the album at least 5 or 6 times all the way through. the only track i don't like is shaklers revenge.

Count me in as well. I like the new artistic direction of their music in an age where bands like AC/DC and Metallica try to do the same old stuff. Granted, those bands still have most of the same core members. It's silly to expect anything resembling Appetite Part II. Not even the old band was able to pull that off towards the end of their time together.

Love Buckethead's solo on "There Was A Time".

[Frethog]

Buddy sent me this URL while I was checking out the GnR clips...this was much better...

http://www.kimmitchell.ca/home.php

Thanks for the heads up! I recognized the name immediately. I saw Max Webster open for Rush (Farewell to Kings tour) and I have their compilation CD (Greatest Hits?:D)

Not everyone will dig the vox but the song was good and the guitar was great!

My wife ordered the new G&R CD so I'll check it out soon.

[Elmer]

I'm still on the fence here. It's not as bad as I thought it'd be, but it's more derivative than I was hoping for. Sounds like Axl spent too much time listening to his old Nine Inch Nails albums. It sounds... well, dated. There is some pretty cool guitar stuff happening amidst the forced-sounding "poor man's NIN" parts though.

Gotta give it another listen or two before passing judgement.

[Figher53]

I don't think it's that bad, but it sure ain't G'nR. Can't be without the creamy Les Paul... It won't be the first or the last album to sell a bunch of records based on the artist's name and not on the quality of the music.

[jowe]

I'm on the thrid or fourth track. There are some really interesting guitar tones. Buckethead is a bad-ass.

Buckethead left the band back in 2002. What you are hearing is probably Bumblefoot and his line 6 amp.

[Darkburst]

Axl's solo album has some interesting moments, but does sound like it was released in 1998. All the electronica type tones sound really dated.

[Jeeves]

I love it. I didn't want to, but I can't help it. Axl's voice sounds 100x better than Appetite. He does way more than just scream. Listen to 'This I Love' - the cat has some pipes.

I'm buying it

[Yngtchie]

It's got Buckethead and Ron Thal on it, so it's worth a listen. Never been a Guns 'n' Roses fan, though, the main reason being Axl Rose.

[Bassomatic]

Sounds pretty damned good (for high bux commercial rock), which I wasn't expecting. I think if folks could lose some of their nostalgia and free up their ears a bit they might find a few things to dig on it. Is Axl the antichrist because the original lineup isn't intact?

[nibus]

I listened to the first song last night...

The distortion at the beginning of the track sounds like a DS-1 straight to the mixer... horrible.

But it sounds better when the whole band comes in.

[Millo 3.1]

LOL! Silly. What's up w/ the shredding over the vocals? Instead of fills, gets in the way. The guitar-soloing work might be the only reason to listen to this band, LOL!

[BPSUL]

Axl's voice sounds 100x better than Appetite.




Im still waiting for the punchline.... or maybe a guy with a microphone and hidden camera to jump out and tell me im on candid camera.

[BPSUL]

Really curious what people would think of it if was Slash, Duff, Izzy and Matt playing, meaning if the all the originals came out with this CD

That is simply not plausible. they would have never made this CD.

[atquinn]

Never was a huge GNR fan, but I'm listening to this right now and so far, while the songs are a bit bland and generic, they're not offensively bad and the shredding is nice :AOK (it would be nice to get a breakdown of who's playing what)Won't be buying it of course, but I wouldn't have been anyway.

-Austin

[guitarplayaman]

i think it blows goats......

[Grenville]

Mediocre-ist lyrics I've read all week!

[MattB]

I am a fan of GNR and Bumblefoot, but I just don't get this album. Not my cup of tea.

[Alpedra]

I like it.... I think it´s a very good cd.

But then.. I am not listening to it and expecting to hear "Guns´n Roses".

[hunkowood]

Axl..."Would you like fries with that".

Hunk

[Wagster]

Wow what happened to the bluesy style of writing/playing?What a disappointment.The guitar tones sounded small and not as in your face as the past.The playing was great but I wasn't very moved from what I heard.

[HurricaneJesus]

Some pretty cool guitar stuff going on. Not sure if I'll buy it, though...

[BigJamesyBoy]

From a GnR fan, it lacks everything I like about GnR aka there's absolutely nothing raw about the songs.

From a casual listener, nothing too interesting going on. Extremely generic sounding industrial pop-rock.

PASS!

[Electric I]

I like it.... I think it´s a very good cd.

But then.. I am not listening to it and expecting to hear "Guns´n Roses".

Exact.

Didn't think I'd like it at all, but it won me over.

The new Kim Mitchell cd, 'Ain't Life Amazing' is one of the best records I've heard in ages. Playing, production, songwriting - it's all there. Plus a healthy dose of Max Webster sprinkled throughout.

[Bassomatic]

Wow what happened to the bluesy style of writing/playing?

Been done to death, perhaps?

There are still plenty mining that turf, so what's the loss?

[Wagster]

Been done to death, perhaps?

There are still plenty mining that turf, so what's the loss?I didn't like it and I prefer G&R with a bluesy sound.JMHO, nothing more nothing less.

[bbes347]

I love it!! Some of those guitar sounds are sick. Really strong performances too.

[lhallam]

As I said earlier, no way was it going to be able to live up to the hype.

That's what I'm getting from people's responses.

[Da5Id]

If Axl is still screeching lead vocals, then I can't listen just as I could never listen before.

[frankencat]

It's not terrible but it's not great. It could be anybody really, and what is up with the guitar tones?

[semi-hollowbody]

we waited this long for that??? Axle is gonna have a grand mal hissy fit when he hears the reviews.

[mikem]

Exact.

Didn't think I'd like it at all, but it won me over.

The new Kim Mitchell cd, 'Ain't Life Amazing' is one of the best records I've heard in ages. Playing, production, songwriting - it's all there. Plus a healthy dose of Max Webster sprinkled throughout.

I saw Kim Mitchell in August- great show, great band and he can still play that superstrat! He made a joke about people cheering for the new stuff, saying that the people cheering were responsible for the fifty copies of it that he sold. I am a huge KM fan going back to the Max days. The new record is pretty damned good.

As for the new GNR- I've listened to it- I'm not real thrilled with it, but there is some interesting things going on on it. It almost sounds like he was trying to come up with a hybrid form of music including modern rock, hip-hop, pop and even jazz in places. I give him props for the creativity, but the modern production kind of kills it for me- Axl with autotune? Yuck!

Mike

[Dickie Fredericks]

Worth a looooooooog wait? Not really but Im gonna throw my thoughts on it.

This rocks! I like it. Second half of the first tune has to be BH. Killer.
Whats wrong with the tones? Nothing IMO.

Ill buy it.

Ill add that this is gonna sell a bunch and put GNR back on top shortly. Just a prediction. If the frontman can keep it together I bet they will again be the largest act in the country. Totally digging this. Love the tune "Better".

I think Axl has some Geoff Tate going on in spots. "If The World" is my favorite track.

[Bassomatic]

Axl..."Would you like fries with that".

Hunk

ever hear of residuals?

[dougg]

I've been a Gn'R fan since first hearing them, but I see this more as an Axl solo album than anything else. I like what I've heard, though - it's different, and I'm not sure how it will hold up down the road, but I like that Axl did what he wanted to do. It's funny; it's been about 16-17 years since Use Your Illusion(s), but this kind of makes sense as a next step from that. Looking back, it seems that the last track on Illusion 2, "My World," was kind of prophetic of the path Axl took.

I agree with everyone who says the classic lineup (Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff & Adler) is the best version of Gn'R, but as much as I'd like to see them play together again, I'm afraid that version of the band would only be retreading their old hits at this point. Like it or not, at least Axl has tried to break new ground.

[RanaldoNecro]

Like it or not, at least Axl has tried to break new ground.

agreed

[VoodooBlues]

Like it or not, at least Axl has tried to break new ground.

agreed

I also agree. It would be much more pathetic if Axl tried to pretend it was still 1987 and he was still an angry young street urchin singing about drugs, booze and the usual nonsense.

For those hungry for that sort of Eighties hair band nostalgia, Motley Crue are currently on tour.

[jammybastard]

As for ChiDem...
I've listened to the this album a few times, as well as all the demos and mixes that have been released over the past few tears.

To my ear it sounds like metal illness, gloriously articulated in a musical form.
Nothing wrong with that.
Like a friend of mine said, "It's the buttrock SMiLE"

[kovachian]

Gun 'n' Roses PLEASE. This crap is just an Axl Rose solo album, and not a very good one at that.

[jhumber]

I'll paste in some of what I said on the Dr Z forum:

For what it's worth, I really like Chinese Democracy. However, DO NOT listen to it as a GnR album, because it clearly isn't. He shouldn't have put it out under the same name, but he has - so we gotta get over it. I've read too many "it needs Slash" reviews....listen to it as a record in it's own right, and judge it on it's own merit.

I think it's telling that he hired Buckethead and Bumblefoot to play lead on this album - whether you like their playing or not, you have to agree that there's no way in hell Slash could have played the majority of the lead parts on this record. For that, I give Axl respect for going against the grain and clearly not trying to replace like for like (ie. get in a Slash-wannabee).

It's not the greatest album of all time, but I think once people get over the "where's Slash and Izzy" thoughts they might see it as a record worth digging into - I genuinely believe there's some great moments on there (Better, Madagascar, Catcher in the Rye, etc).

Just my 2 pence
Jordan

[mcp]

Who cares if it is called G-N-R or Axl Rose solo, does that really influence if you like the album or not? It shouldn't. Who cares how long it took to come out. He doesn't owe anybody anything and never personally promised anyone an album every 2 years or whatever. It is entertainment and that is all. If you don't like the record, why waste energy over it?

[shredtrash]

I thought it was about a 7 on a 10 scale. There were some really good moments. Some of the guitar solos were killer! I thought the first half of the album was excellent and the song "Chinese Democracy" is really good. There were other parts of the album that left me totally cold.

[Fixxxer]

I'll paste in some of what I said on the Dr Z forum:

For what it's worth, I really like Chinese Democracy. However, DO NOT listen to it as a GnR album, because it clearly isn't. He shouldn't have put it out under the same name, but he has - so we gotta get over it. I've read too many "it needs Slash" reviews....listen to it as a record in it's own right, and judge it on it's own merit.

I think it's telling that he hired Buckethead and Bumblefoot to play lead on this album - whether you like their playing or not, you have to agree that there's no way in hell Slash could have played the majority of the lead parts on this record. For that, I give Axl respect for going against the grain and clearly not trying to replace like for like (ie. get in a Slash-wannabee).

It's not the greatest album of all time, but I think once people get over the "where's Slash and Izzy" thoughts they might see it as a record worth digging into - I genuinely believe there's some great moments on there (Better, Madagascar, Catcher in the Rye, etc).

Just my 2 pence
Jordan

Well I heard it, and thought exactly what you typed above, "it needs Slash".

Axl can go scratch man. You put out a G n R record and put that up, saddle up and get ready for the comments.

I don't care about bucket biatch or the bublefoot, I want hard pumping, ass kicking grooves. Not some drum machine over produced pile of stuff.

FWIW, I am a huge Joe Perry / Aerosmith fan. You replace Joe Perry and Whitford, you have nothing. You have them together you get magic.

You need the band back together, or its just not guns n roses. At least Izzy, Slash and Axl.

And yes this alblum suxs.

[skhan007]

I really think the reviews would be different if Axl did the right and not called this GnR. If it were his solo album or some new band, there would be much less of a backlash. It's an OK to pretty good record, IMHO..but GnR it ain't.

It would be like one of the Stones going in some solo direction and recording an album that resembles nothing from the Stones sound and calling it the Rolling Stones. Just f-ing wrong to call this GnR.

[Josh O]

ugggh, not for me. Tried going in with an open mind, didn't expect it to sound like Appetite or even Use Your Illusion I & II, I'm just not into it. I will say, I did like the title track, Buckethead's soloing was unmistakeable with the momentary kill switch trick.

Overall, thumbs down for me. I think even if it was Duff, Slash, Izzy/Gilby, Adler/Sorum on this album vice the all-stars Axl lined up, I'd still have the same opinion, it ain't for me. Time to dig through my iPod and put on It's So Easy.

It ill be interesting to see if they tour behind this album and if Axl pulls the same BS that he did back in the day with coming out late, pulling the band off stage mid show or just flat out canceling. He could get away with it then, G 'n R was on top of the world back in the late '80s early '90s. He starts that BS again with the leary fan base he has right now, he's DONE.

[Huckleberry]

I love it. I know it isn't guns N' Roses as we all have come to understand Guns N' Roses, but there is a lot of ambition, and some good songs here.

[whitehall]

I went to BB yesterday and got it, after listening to the preview here. Not bad at all. A few of the songs sound like they were ready to go 17 years ago. Overall , it's pretty okay.

[Hackubus]

I think it's a crap GnR album, but a pretty decent solo Axl record.

[OldSchool]

I think its really good at this point and it will grow on me further.
Had this album came out in a timely fashion it wouldn't be getting such critical attention. People are expecting the 2 coming of SGT. Pepper becuase of all the studio time invested. This was never what GnR was about and why everyone left the band. Slash was about making music and moving on. Look at how many Great albums he's made since then.

I don't really dig the Velvet revovler stuff , But Snake Pit was Fantasic! That first Snake album sounded more like old GnR then anything recorded since. Too Bad becuase Axel would have Slayed on that disc. He is a great singer and showman , I'll give him that. But he is also a maniac Depressive control freak.


That said..........
Heres to 2022 and the next GnR Disc! :messeduphttp://www.thegearpage.net/board/images/icons/icon10.gif

[OldSchool]

I think it's a crap GnR album, but a pretty decent solo Axl record.

Very well said.
POst of the Week. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/images/icons/icon14.gif

[SybianRiot]

This is the album Axl has been wanting to make since discovering Faith No More and Mr. Bungle in particular. While I don't think it is as good as either I do think it falls somewhere between the worst and best songs on Use Your Illusion. And this is as much a Guns N' Roses album as any that were made after Tracii Guns left. Does a football team cease to be a team when the quarterback they won the Superbowl with leaves for free agency?...

[nuthinew]

Does a football team cease to be a team when the quarterback they won the Superbowl with leaves for free agency?...


Yes becuse in this case it's just the quarterback, not the team.

some of the songs are decent but the last 4 or 5 blended together so much I didn't even notice that I had gotten thru them all. They seemed to be so much of the same composition that it sounded like one song.

[tiktokman]

I cannot stop listening to it. I love it.

It's very theatrical and over-the-top.

I don't care if anyone else here or anywhere loves it or hates it. It speaks to me in a way I don't have the words to express and I find myself compelled to listen to it.

[iggs]

http://t4toby.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/epicfail1.jpg

[Electric I]

I saw Kim Mitchell in August- great show, great band and he can still play that superstrat! He made a joke about people cheering for the new stuff, saying that the people cheering were responsible for the fifty copies of it that he sold. I am a huge KM fan going back to the Max days. The new record is pretty damned good.

As for the new GNR- I've listened to it- I'm not real thrilled with it, but there is some interesting things going on on it. It almost sounds like he was trying to come up with a hybrid form of music including modern rock, hip-hop, pop and even jazz in places. I give him props for the creativity, but the modern production kind of kills it for me- Axl with autotune? Yuck!

Mike

Was that show at the Fleet Club? If so, I was there. Awesome time. Nice to hear Kim stretch out on the new disc & let the chops fly.

Far as the GnR record goes, yeah, it's different. Which is why I dig it. The blend you mention goes a long way in setting it apart from just another rock record.

[sugarlou]

If you can get past the hip hop drum loops, Bucketheads video game gone crazy guitar solo's and Axle's "castratto" yelping....it ain't that bad.

[OldSchool]

This is the album Axl has been wanting to make since discovering Faith No More and Mr. Bungle in particular. While I don't think it is as good as either I do think it falls somewhere between the worst and best songs on Use Your Illusion. And this is as much a Guns N' Roses album as any that were made after Tracii Guns left. Does a football team cease to be a team when the quarterback they won the Superbowl with leaves for free agency?...


:eek: :NUTS

[OldSchool]

I cannot stop listening to it. I love it.

It's very theatrical and over-the-top.

I don't care if anyone else here or anywhere loves it or hates it. It speaks to me in a way I don't have the words to express and I find myself compelled to listen to it.


:rolleyes:

[wstsidela]

I like it.

[SybianRiot]

OldSchool, not sure why you are doing the little screwball smiley. When FNM was touring with Guns, Axl popped back stage with Bungle record in hand and said, "Dude I love this techno stuff". Now, anyone who knows Bungle knows that they were not techno and all members have an incredibly extensive grasp of nearly every genre of pop and world music imaginable. To Axl's relatively musical ignorant mind, it was "techno". So when he begin creating C.D. I think he was consciously trying to capture what he loved about Mr. Bungle. Of course that is filtered through his Aerosmith and Elton John-like tendencies and doesn't end up sounding like Mr. Bungle or Faith No More but it is there (at least to my ears). My main grip with the record is the utter lack of lyrical depth. All the lyrics seem interchangeable and every song is generally about the same thing. I also can't stand that he uses the same exact sample he used in Civil War from "Cool Hand Luke"....that is pretty lame. The music is pretty bad ass though and his voice ain't fallin' apart as bad as say Anthony Kiedis' or James Hetfield's...

[Captain Midnite]

I kinda like it

[scott]

if it can out 10 years ago maybe. even then it just sounds like any other shit metal band out right now. Definatly disapointed but then again I wasnt expecting much

[AD]

Great sounding album.

[Luke]

I'm not hearing any memorable licks that let you know it is GNR before the first vocal comes in. In fact the guitars are way too heavy and unmemorable IMO. Did any Neil Schon material make into the album?

[jazzandmetal?]

I just got it and really dig it. The solo on Street of Dreams kills.

I am not looking at it as the second coming of AFD. I think it is good.

[Gretsch6136]

I just listened to the 5 songs on the GnR Myspace page. I own Appetite, Lies, and Illusion 1 & 2, but I won't be buying this. Its not bad per se, but its not very good either. The production has got in the way of the music resulting in something that sounds nothing like a rock band kicking out the jams.

Axl and his hired guns should go have a listen to aussie band Airbourne. That is what rock is all about!!!

[RanaldoNecro]

Can anyone tell me what Buckethead is playing on the album? What are his definitive solos?

RN

[OldSchool]

[quote=SybianRiot;5075505]OldSchool, not sure why you are doing the little screwball smiley. When FNM was touring with Guns, Axl popped back stage with Bungle record in hand and said, "Dude I love this techno stuff". quote]



Nothing to do with Mr Bungle or who ever that is. Its your comparison of G&R to a Football Team. Sorry But you can't compare what an artist does and a football Team does. ANY band is alot more then just its singer. G&R identity was a lot more then just Axel. He was a big part of the formula, but without Slash and Duff its just words on paper. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/images/icons/icon13.gif

[partytrain]

Can anyone tell me what Buckethead is playing on the album? What are his definitive solos?

RN

He is credited on all but 2 songs, but so are 2 or 3 other guitarists. I'm positive that he is the solo on the first song, Chinese Democracy...halfway through the solo you can hear him using his "kill switch" on that white les paul...I haven't listened to the rest of the album enough to recognize his stuff.

[RanaldoNecro]

Here is a vid I dug up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86DEKFissl4&search=buckethead

Seems interesting...

[RichieRich]

blah.

[axehunter]

Can anyone tell me what Buckethead is playing on the album? What are his definitive solos?

RN

I've only heard the preview tracks, but as a Buckethead fan, I'd say that he is definitely on the solo on Chinese Democracy (as already mentioned), with the kill switch. The intro, solo, and bridge riff for Better are pure Buckethead, with the crazy runs and electronica-type guitar riffing; Shackler's Revenge might as well have come off a Buckethead album. Also, though a lot of people don't know about Buckethead's "softer side", the song "Sorry" sounds a lot like Buckethead's "Electric Tears".


As for the album, I've only heard the few preview tracks, but I really like some of them. Better is awesome. Then again, I think I'm one of the few people that actually liked "Estranged" from Use Your Illusion II....

[SybianRiot]

Old School, I'll grant you that Izzy's departure has made a huge impact on the overall sound of GnR but Slash was pretty much just a lead player for GnR since Use Your Illusion. The biggest hits off that album were Axl spectacles (November Rain, Don't Cry,Estranged). And Duff as a songwriter, come on, "So Fine", gimme a break? Axl does need some lyrical help though which Duff and Izzy definitely brought to the table....

[jjboogie]

It is NOT Guns & Roses.......


Axl is just using the name to sell more albums than he could as a solo artist.

It is basically an Axl Rose album.......

That being said I don't care for the songwriting AT ALL but the production is top notch and the guitar playing is very good but I wouldn't buy it the album.

[SybianRiot]

He came up with the name long before slash/adler and duff were pulled in, it is his name and none of those guys put up a fight about him using it in perpetuity. I'm sure none of us will ever succeed at anywhere near the same level they did and have to decide whether to drop the band name we came up with because our band members all catch BAD heroin addictions and quit in a huff. Of course if he had stopped using it I am really sure that Slash and Duff would've respected the legacy and not tried to use it (riight!)....
And I think you can compare bands like Guns N Roses to a football team, better yet a a pickup basketball team that got pulled into the NBA. They weren't just a bunch of kids that came up together. Izzy and Axl recruited Slash and Adler and then hooked up with Duff, they were all "players" brought together to form the band Izzy and Axl envisioned.

[jjboogie]

He came up with the name long before slash/adler and duff were pulled in, it is his name and none of those guys put up a fight about him using it in perpetuity. I'm sure none of us will ever succeed at anywhere near the same level they did and have to decide whether to drop the band name we came up with because our band members all catch BAD heroin addictions and quit in a huff. Of course if he had stopped using it I am really sure that Slash and Duff would've respected the legacy and not tried to use it (riight!)....
And I think you can compare bands like Guns N Roses to a football team, better yet a a pickup basketball team that got pulled into the NBA. They weren't just a bunch of kids that came up together. Izzy and Axl recruited Slash and Adler and then hooked up with Duff, they were all "players" brought together to form the band Izzy and Axl envisioned.


Yeah I am fully aware that Axl came up with the name and that it was his band that he started however it doesn't change my opinion. I don't blame him for using the name still. I would do the same thing.

Just to me it is not the same.

Fleetwood Mac changed personel and they changed radically while both genres of Fleetwood Mac were awesome.

I cannot say the same for GnR......but hey they may sell a kazillion albums and have great success......regardless it is all just one mans opinion! ;)

[OldSchool]

Old School, I'll grant you that Izzy's departure has made a huge impact on the overall sound of GnR but Slash was pretty much just a lead player for GnR since Use Your Illusion. The biggest hits off that album were Axl spectacles (November Rain, Don't Cry,Estranged). And Duff as a songwriter, come on, "So Fine", gimme a break? Axl does need some lyrical help though which Duff and Izzy definitely brought to the table....

Have you ever heard Slashes Snake Pit ? Go get Its 5 Oclock somewhere , the first one.

THAT is Guns & Roses. Very simuliar to appitite. Between you and me , Use your illusion 1&2 didn't sound anything like Old Guns either. By that point The band had reached a new level of stardom. Axel and his Lawyers were running most of the show becuase Slash and Duff were stoned out Junkies. So Yes.......I bet most of this album sounds alot like the Use your Illusion era.

Slash is just a lead Player? Who wrote the opening Riff for sweet child of mine? THAT is what made Guns & Roses period. How about the Opening for Welcome to the Jungle? Those intros defined the band for its life. Everything done afterwards is just feeding off of every intro and lead break that Slash Created. Izzy was great as well.

I also don't like matt Sorum nearly as much as Steven Adler on drums. How many songs were started with a drum or cowbell beat on that first album? Steve DROVE that disc. Matt is way too slick and Professional for my tastes. Thats NOT what G&R is about. They were sloppy stripped down home Rock n Roll. Nothing fancy.

Don't get me wrong , I like this new album. But Axel vision is SOOOO different from that first band, that first disc, and since all the members are basically Axel puppets.......How can you even consider this a G&R album? Its Axel Roses circus. That said..........it ain't half bad. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Michael T]

I like it

[Vaachek]

rubbish!!!

[SybianRiot]

I'm not ranking it with Appetite...it along with Siamese Dream, Angel Dust and the first Mr. Bungle Records are my favorite "rock" albums that I grew up with. I think Use Your Illusion could've been condensed into a pretty damn good single album and like I said I think the lyrics on CD are lacking, he is recycling previously used samples and he doesn't sing with the reckless abandon that earned him the keys to the kingdom. But even if the Appetite crew get together for a reunion hurrah, it will not be the same without those other important members of GnR, smack and vodka. I agree with the points about Adler and yes Slash's guitar lines did help define and round out their biggest hits, we'll see if any of bucket and bumble's do that as the album grows on some of us. Anyways.....that's...or that was...rock 'n roll.

[OldSchool]

I'm not ranking it with Appetite...it along with Siamese Dream, Angel Dust and the first Mr. Bungle Records are my favorite "rock" albums that I grew up with. I think Use Your Illusion could've been condensed into a pretty damn good single album and like I said I think the lyrics on CD are lacking, he is recycling previously used samples and he doesn't sing with the reckless abandon that earned him the keys to the kingdom. But even if the Appetite crew get together for a reunion hurrah, it will not be the same without those other important members of GnR, smack and vodka. I agree with the points about Adler and yes Slash's guitar lines did help define and round out their biggest hits, we'll see if any of bucket and bumble's do that as the album grows on some of us. Anyways.....that's...or that was...rock 'n roll.

Just FYI: I grew up on the same block as Ron (Bumble-foot) Thal (actually Blumenthal) and went to Hebrew school with him and his brother Jeff. And I KNOW what a monster player he is because I saw him transpose the entire Van Halen 1984 album backwards off of a reel to reel on January 1, 1984............So I Love the guy and totally respect were he's coming from and I'm so glad he finally "made it" big. But he's not Slash. I believe Slash was more Guns and Roses then Axel anyday of the week. Go get that Snake Pit album I told you about and I think you will see what I mean.

Too bad Steven Adler is done as a muscian.......maybe even a person. That guy had a great Rock n Roll heart.

[6Tones]

"This is love "sounded good,Axels got a great range.
Some of the other songs go in one ear and out the other.

[Priestunes]

Diggin' the hell out of it. The Onion has published a great review of it. The production is SICK. There's a lot being squeezed into that mix, and it all comes through crystal clear. I completely dig track 5, even if the drums do sound like they were generated by Reason. Whether or not it's G N' R .... Being a Yes fan, that one doesn't exactly bother me. I can understand why some people think it's bunk too. I decided I'd like it and do. His vox is flipping brilliant at times. I can hit some pretty high notes, but nothing remotely close to his work on aforementioned track.
Peace.

[Andre LaFosse]

Every Guns release has at least one complete and utter "WHA?!?!" moment where the listener does an involuntary double-take at some unfathomably bizarre choice on Axl's part.

My favorite one on CD is a single line of phrasing in the first verse of "Sorry":

"You like to have me/Jump and be good...

http://wirelessdigest.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/sesame_street_count_dracula.jpg

BUT I DON'T WANT TO DO IT!!!"

[partytrain]

Finally got a chance to sit down and listen to the album in full....I love the thing. I was never into GnR, but this album is just fun start to finish...Some pretty phenominal guitar playing all over the album too...I'm hearing a ton of Buckethead on there.

[Jwblack]

I like it also, I am a big fan of the original lineup and love Slash.

I think its great to have Axl back on the airwaves again, its been to long, Bucketheads outro solo on There Was A Time is just epic IMO.

[OldSchool]

I like it also, I am a big fan of the original lineup and love Slash.

I think its great to have Axl back on the airwaves again, its been to long, Bucketheads outro solo on There Was A Time is just epic IMO.


I'm digging it myself..........but how long to he starts screwing with people coming to his shows? :huh

[Lennox Lewis]

Great album. If you go into it with an open mind and judge it on the music itself, it is kickass. Yes it took forever to get here, and it's not the old band, but it's a very good piece of work. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. It's one you want to hear all the way through and maybe even give it 2 listens or more.

[Evilmusician80]

I like it took a few listens but there are a few tracks I like ,but nothing like afd every song on that cd is gold! wayyyyyyyyyy overproduced even more than a Britney Spears album ! but why the hell did it take 15 plus years! Jezz at times the guitar reminds me of Freak Kitchen! but its not Guns N Roses to me IMO........... :stir Axl should of ditched the name and called the band Axl Grease or something !

[axehunter]

Does anyone know anything about a tour to support this album and who will be showing up with Axl (assuming Axl shows up!)??? Also, as someone mentioned above, Axl has been known to screw the fans at shows....would you guys risk going to see him live (assuming, for the sake of argument, that you liked this album)?

[buddaman71]

It turned out exactly as I thought it would---rubbish.

Heard a few interesting guitar tones, but it's NOT GnR!!!

No Slash=NO GnR!!!

Period.

[Hackubus]

My favorite one on CD is a single line of phrasing in the first verse of "Sorry":

"You like to have me/Jump and be good...

http://wirelessdigest.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/sesame_street_count_dracula.jpg

BUT I DON'T WANT TO DO IT!!!"



That's great innit? The "Mexican Vampire lyric" I've heard it referred to as being.

[madscientist]

The first two songs left me feeling like my tympanic membranes were sodomized. The guitar tones were awful.

3,4,5 are decent.

A few okay songs, a few forgettable songs, and a few that are awful. Could have been worse. It needs Izzy and Slash.

[Andre LaFosse]

That's great innit? The "Mexican Vampire lyric" I've heard it referred to as being.

The mind BOGGLES. Chuck Klosterman put it perfectly in his amazing review (available in full at http://www.avclub.com/content/node/90390):

Somewhere in Los Angles, there's gotta be 400 hours of DAT tape with nothing on it except multiple versions of the "Sorry" vocal. So why is this the one we finally hear? What finally made him decide, "You know, I've weighed all my options and all their potential consequences, and I'm going with the Mexican vampire accent. This is the vision I will embrace. But only on that one line! The rest of it will just be sung like a non-dead human."

[OldSchool]

Heard a few interesting guitar tones, but it's NOT GnR!!!

No Slash=NO GnR!!!

Period.


True. But its still a pretty good record. G&R died 14 years ago. I'm not gonna let the name on the disc keep me from some good music!

[johnny67]

:dudeI think this new album is great! I just got it a couple of days ago and I love it. It has songs that rock and songs that have alot of good feel to them. The solos are unreal lots of bluesyness to them. I think Axl has a magic to his song writing and although I would love the original band to be back together I think the guitar playing on this album is descent. It sounds right where "Use your illusion" left off to me.

[RanaldoNecro]

My favorite one on CD is a single line of phrasing in the first verse of "Sorry":

"You like to have me/Jump and be good...

I just got it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xeAeVraDaU