[Album cover courtesy of allmusic.com]
GUNS 'N' ROSES
Chinese Democracy
[Geffen-2008]
It’s been over a week since the most talked about album of the decade finally saw the light of day and the reviews have been plentiful. Because of the nature of the circumstances surrounding this release—mainly, the inordinate length of time taken by the artist to complete it—we decided to take it slow and listen intently before rendering our verdict on the album that caused our wisecracking about its title to become obsolete with its arrival. (You know, the one about democracy coming to China before its release. Anyway...)
In any event, if you have yet to hear Chinese Democracy, here’s our take.
First the bad news: the most self-indulgent thing about this album is not how long it took to make but Axl Rose’s kitchen sink approach to arranging the material. There’s dilettante touches of latter day R&B and hip-hop (“Better”), nu-metal (“Shackler’s Revenge”), power ballads (“Sorry”), and nauseating Freddie Mercury-type piano pieces in search of some long-lost Phantom of The Opera musical-to-be (“This I Love”, “Street of Dreams”).
But…
If you ever loved GnR “I.R.S.” will remind you why you did and why this album deserves your attention. Oh, man! Nuanced, well-paced, rockin’ as hard as anything from their past, and with a chorus the size of a house, this tune alone is worth the trip to Best Buy (the album's exclusive retail outlet). “I.R.S.” single-handedly announces the return of Axl and co. in a big way. Yes, it’s that good.
‘Not so fast,’ say the goofy-titled “Riad N the Bedouins”; “Scraped”; and the title track, stomping rockers each and every one. This is the man’s forte: the aggro-rock swagger and attitude of his youth still suits him in the midst of middle age better than almost all of his contemporaries and some of his still-active forebearers. (We’re looking at you, AC/DC.)
Our verdict? Chinese Democracy expands on the panoramic scope and indulgences of Axl's last two albums of original material, Use Your Illusion I and II, while still bearing the stamp of Appetite for Destruction. But, was it worth the wait? Nope. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. And after this long of a delay nothing short of a magnum opus could make up for it. But it's a solid rock record and a lot better than anyone ever expected it to be. More importantly, this is the result of an uncompromising artist who, love him or hate him, chose to make Chinese Democracy his way or the highway and followed thru on his vision. In addition, with its release, like the seminal album that put GnR on the map two decades ago, Axl has shown impeccable timing.
You see, while Appetite showed up just in time to save hard rock from its then poofy-haired merchants and certain mainstream oblivion, Chinese Democracy is the last of the "event" albums. In a way, it's actually the last grandiose album of the 20th century. That's why in these times of overly self-conscious, pre-fab, researched-to-the-core, beer-commercial-soundtrack rock albums, the over-the-top Chinese Democracy is a reminder of a time when—however self-indulgent—artists had true ambition and were willing to take risks and follow their muse, no matter what. And for that, but not exclusively, Axl gets our $15.
As David Fricke states in his Rolling Stone review of the album,
"To [Axl], the long march to Chinese Democracy was not about paranoia and control. It was about saying 'I won't' when everyone else insisted, 'You must.' You may debate whether any rock record is worth that extreme self-indulgence. Actually, the most rock & roll thing about Chinese Democracy is he doesn't care if you do."
Amen.
Highlights: “I.R.S.”, “Riad N the Bedouins”, “Scraped”, "Catcher in the Rye", and the title track.
