While heavy metal fans hoping for a top to bottom headbanging barrage like the title song of 'Chinese Democracy' may have been disappointed, the long awaited and forever delayed Guns 'n' Roses release may very well be the best album of the year.
After a rock band becomes a major success, they're really in a 'no win' position. If they try to break new artistic ground, exploring different sounds or influences, they'll invariably hear complaints that they were better the way they 'used to be'. If they keep doing things the same way, a band risks losing any sort of artistic relevance and becoming a 'nostalgia act'. KISS is a good example--a lot of purists hated it when they took off their makeup and became another 80's 'hair metal' band, but they deserved respect for doing something different and trying to forge a new artistic path. On the other hand, there's KISS now: Gene Simmons eventually made the calculated, slightly cynical decision that commerce trumped art. Hes now giving fans the best representation of KISS that their nostalgic desires long for"to the extent of dressing a new guitarist and drummer up like Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Not exactly a high water mark in artistic creativity, but a highly lucrative enterprise that reportedly nets Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley a cool half million bucks per concert.
Axl Rose could have taken the same route with Guns n Roses. All he needed to do was patch things up with former lead guitarist Slash and the two of them and whatever supporting players they recruited could have toured forever playing the old songs in the old way and make a ton of money along the way. To some extent, Slash has chosen this route with his band Velvet Revolver. They play similar blues based hard rock to vintage GnR, and brought in former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland on vocals (who sounded almost just like Axl on a number of the early STP songs) Never mind the fact that everything Velvet Revolver has ever recorded sounds the same, or that the band members are all well in their 40s and a little old to be doing the rock n roll gypsy routine.
Axl refused to play the nostalgia game. Hes a very talented guy, but he doesnt have much of a knack for self promotion or media spin. While he worked on putting together a new version of the band and recording Chinese Democracy he let a variety of interests"not the least of which were his old bandmates"control the media spin. As a result, people had been brainwashed into thinking that the album was a stinker before it was even finished.
In many ways, its reminiscent of the Use Your Illusion releases in its depth and complexity. Many albums are fairly straightforward and are easy to figure out with a couple of listens"this song rocks, this is the power ballad, this song is filler and so forth. Others evolve and change with repeated listening"different songs become your favorites, you notice new things about ones you thought you knew well and most significantly songs that you glossed over the first time around start to grow on you.
On Chinese Democracy is definitely an album that lends itself to repeated listening. A great case in point is the song 'Better' It doesn't really jump out on first listen, but may be the catchiest pop song since The Killers first album.
One of the real triumphs of Chinese Democracy is the difficulty that a listener has in pigeonholing the songs. There's definitely a lot of the piano based material first heard on the 'Use Your Illusion' releases but overall its evident that the band is breaking entirely new musical ground and even they don't really know where they'll end up. It's very unpredictable and can be hard for a long time fan to wrap their head around, but once that happens its a very exciting sound.
Perhaps the worst thing about 'Chinese Democracy' is that a number of the songs have clearly been overproduced--not really surprising for an album that took so long to make. The best example of this may be 'Madagascar'--the band has been playing this song live for almost a decade, but the finish product doesn't have the same 'edge' or emotion that has been on display during live performances.
Thats a very small complaint about what is overall an amazing album. Theres nothing nostalgic about 'Chinese Democracy., just the sound of a great band breaking new ground.
After a rock band becomes a major success, they're really in a 'no win' position. If they try to break new artistic ground, exploring different sounds or influences, they'll invariably hear complaints that they were better the way they 'used to be'. If they keep doing things the same way, a band risks losing any sort of artistic relevance and becoming a 'nostalgia act'. KISS is a good example--a lot of purists hated it when they took off their makeup and became another 80's 'hair metal' band, but they deserved respect for doing something different and trying to forge a new artistic path. On the other hand, there's KISS now: Gene Simmons eventually made the calculated, slightly cynical decision that commerce trumped art. Hes now giving fans the best representation of KISS that their nostalgic desires long for"to the extent of dressing a new guitarist and drummer up like Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Not exactly a high water mark in artistic creativity, but a highly lucrative enterprise that reportedly nets Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley a cool half million bucks per concert.
Axl Rose could have taken the same route with Guns n Roses. All he needed to do was patch things up with former lead guitarist Slash and the two of them and whatever supporting players they recruited could have toured forever playing the old songs in the old way and make a ton of money along the way. To some extent, Slash has chosen this route with his band Velvet Revolver. They play similar blues based hard rock to vintage GnR, and brought in former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland on vocals (who sounded almost just like Axl on a number of the early STP songs) Never mind the fact that everything Velvet Revolver has ever recorded sounds the same, or that the band members are all well in their 40s and a little old to be doing the rock n roll gypsy routine.
Axl refused to play the nostalgia game. Hes a very talented guy, but he doesnt have much of a knack for self promotion or media spin. While he worked on putting together a new version of the band and recording Chinese Democracy he let a variety of interests"not the least of which were his old bandmates"control the media spin. As a result, people had been brainwashed into thinking that the album was a stinker before it was even finished.
In many ways, its reminiscent of the Use Your Illusion releases in its depth and complexity. Many albums are fairly straightforward and are easy to figure out with a couple of listens"this song rocks, this is the power ballad, this song is filler and so forth. Others evolve and change with repeated listening"different songs become your favorites, you notice new things about ones you thought you knew well and most significantly songs that you glossed over the first time around start to grow on you.
On Chinese Democracy is definitely an album that lends itself to repeated listening. A great case in point is the song 'Better' It doesn't really jump out on first listen, but may be the catchiest pop song since The Killers first album.
One of the real triumphs of Chinese Democracy is the difficulty that a listener has in pigeonholing the songs. There's definitely a lot of the piano based material first heard on the 'Use Your Illusion' releases but overall its evident that the band is breaking entirely new musical ground and even they don't really know where they'll end up. It's very unpredictable and can be hard for a long time fan to wrap their head around, but once that happens its a very exciting sound.
Perhaps the worst thing about 'Chinese Democracy' is that a number of the songs have clearly been overproduced--not really surprising for an album that took so long to make. The best example of this may be 'Madagascar'--the band has been playing this song live for almost a decade, but the finish product doesn't have the same 'edge' or emotion that has been on display during live performances.
Thats a very small complaint about what is overall an amazing album. Theres nothing nostalgic about 'Chinese Democracy., just the sound of a great band breaking new ground.
About the Author:
Ross Everett is a respected freelance writer who covers travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and deep sea diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.
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