mjtoomey

I think it's too well developed to be fake. We already saw the info about the Best Buy exclusive go from pure rumor, hopeful speculation, to being confirmed. I have a feeling we'll see a stronger source report this today...Rolling Stone, Billboard.

Cool.

I was eagerly awaiting this album and was pretty disappointed.

Honestly, I think all the songs except the title track and MOtherfucker of the Year are horrendous and basically unlistenable. I barely got through the whole thing.

That guy Marti Fredrickson (or something like that) cowrote basically everything on here, as well as the producer and this wash-out from Beautiful Creatures DJ Ashba. It certainly wasn't the typical Sixx/Mars deal nor did the finished product sound like it. Marti Fredrickson ruined Aerosmith...well, actually Aerosmith ruined themselves by hiring a corny songwriter, and it seems like he didn't help the Crue too much either.

Anyway, the lyrics are actually some of the worst I've ever heard anywhere. I remember as a small kid playing pretend with my friend, being tough guys, and this kid liked to make theme songs about...basically everything, but he would make up stuff about how tough and bad-ass we were, and not having a clue, being like eight, it was ridiculous. The lyrics of this album sound like that kid wrote the whole thing.

Their songs were always about being bad-asses, getting chicks, getting messed up, having a great time, whatever...so thematically, they were already on the right page as far as being inspired by their book The Dirt...but someone in the Crue decided to actually write these ridiculous narratives that actually explicitly say stuff like..."We're getting chicks and so fucked up and fight someone but don't remember any of it tomorrow...down at the Whiskey." That was totally made up, but each song is lyrically parallel to that. "this aint a love song this is a fuck song?"

I wish you could return CDs where i got mine.

You can't maintain a voice like that for so long but he's still got the magic.

Mick Jagger's got a incredibly range, never a singer's singer. And Steve Tyler has that weird tinny falsetto that makes you think he's got a better range than he does.

No disappointment here either. I saw him with the Strange Sensation a couple of summers ago and he was great.

The sales are going to be fucking DISMAL! Don't care about sales if you're into this kind of music...not to mention the totally obscurity of the record.

They buried it in the Bs at Newbury Comics...not shelved with the new releases or even on the edge of the shelves like less anticipated new releases often are. You all say you can't find the thing...

If VR only sold about 250 thou to DATE...which had a decently popular radio single, decent promotional spots like that Nissan live sets thing and the AOL feauture with samples, Bach is not going to be running to the bank with this one.

Not happy with this record. To the point where I'd say it was terrible.

Skid Row, to me, is that fun boneheaded act that seemed to be legitimate and musically valid when I discovered them around 16... This record had me yearning for their chops and sophistication!

What's missing here is a competent lyricist/melody guy. Bach isn't credited on almost any Skid Row tracks and none of the classics (if Skid Row has classics) and I've read interviews from the guys (could be sour grapes) who poo-pooed the credits he has, saying he wrote a single line or something like that. Youth Gone Wild, Big Guns, Sweet Little Sister, 18 and Life, Monkey Biz...whatever, not a thing from Bach and thank God if he comes up with stuff like this.

I read someone talking about the screaming he does, I think that's because the guy's got a great voice but hasn't a fucking clue how to come up with a competent rock melody.

The tunes are all cool. I wish I could have an instrumental album because the high-octane thrashy sound of the band is really bad-ass. I was happy to hear Axl's voice in good shape. He's still got it. Bach apparently never really had it. Good voice, yes. Musicality and sensibility...swing and a miss.

It sounds like a reasonable review. From what I heard on Amazon, it sounds somewhat fair. I'm excited to get the record but I'm not expecting anything amazing.

I was in a Newbury Comics and I picked up a Revolver magazine largely to scoff at Avenged Sevenfold, and there was some absurd list that included Axl Rose and some clowns like the guy in Lamb of God as, it's coming back to me now, the Greatest Metal Frontmen. Whatever. Stupid huh? So the write-up on Ozz starts with something like, Despite a limited vocal range and an even more limited sex appeal....blah blah hilariously unsweet icon. I thought that was hilarious and kind of sums of the farce of Ozzy.

Don't get me wrong, he worked in Sabbath and I like two songs, the singles off Black Rain, but Ozz is just not artistically credible in any way at all. It's all been said earlier on in here.

I dislike the Beatles. Whatever. Stones work for me. That's a cliche. Deal with it. But anyway, despite my strong dislike of the Beatles, even I think the comparison was pretty ridiculous. But then again, music is all pointless in the grand scope of things. There's no meaning to life or anything really, thus some dude ranchers making noises to a beat can't really be weighed against each other. It's all equally pointless. That doesn't mean it's not great, but it's a major case of apples and oranges.

Even if Ozz was Britney Spears, didn't write anything, spent a day in the studio per album, if it touches people...who's to say. Frightening thought: a lot of people are actually touched by Britney Spears and Celine Dion and all that abominable machine music. Unfortunately, I think because it exists as real to these people, just as Axl or Bobby Plant's stuff exists to me, it's on existential level no better or worse. Terrifying.

You guys are desperate for anything that looks something like the golden era of sleaze rock, ie black leather, bandanas, etc, etc. This is emo crap. My roommate loves this group. I'm subject to this band regularly. He also loves all that stuff that sounds like it could air nicely on the Nickelodeon channel between cartoons. This is really thinly veiled screamo, emo, whatever you have. They have a few riffs here in there, some wretched tone-deaf melodies, a nasally voiced singer (not akin to anyone a bit nasally who actually produces a musically identifiable tone from his voice, which can rock) and the rest is that spastic, "I'm wildly expressing myself" rock that is popular with angsty teenagers and college students right now. It's depressing to see this on here. You guys like Hinder and Saliva? Think they're bringing rock back where it should be? Christ. Avenged Sevenfold. On one song, a guitarist ran three scales essentially note for note for his solo. This is just wretched. You're GNR devotees but this....it's like you're all bending over for Ratt. It's worse than that. THis is like being married to some incredibly attractive person and getting fucked in the ass (regardless of gender) by a midget with bad teeth.

It's funny that people say Chinese Democracy might be "too metal". I mean, what the hell was Appetite For Destruction? To this day, songs like Welcome To The Jungle and Paradise City still get top spots in all-time Metal songs lists. How would Chinese Democracy be a departure?

Yeah, but there's a gaping chasm between what's called "metal" and lumps in groups like GNR, Motley, Faster Pussycat et al, and the aggressive, driving stuff, which I would really call metal, like Metallica, Slayer and Testament. The complaints about Chinese Democracy sounding too metal probably has more to do with the latter possibility, where the aggressiveness in Axl's voice and the pumelling riff gives off a harsh vibe that isn't usually associated with the group.

I agree with what's been said thus far about the likely radio edit. It's a great opening track and needs to be taken as such. Singles have to fit in wherever and this song deserves it's rightful place, thus disqualifying it to possibly sit beside a Nickelback song. I'm sure GNR have something up their sleeve. There's a chance we haven't heard the first single yet...although there seems to be something about these tracks that keeps leaking out to us, and maybe that's more telling than not.

Things are a lot different now. Rock is a lot different. Album sales are down because everyone downloads. It's suddenly fashionable to not rock and wear a sweater and go to art school in bands. "If I just lay here...If I just lay here..." Give me a goddam break. No one is filling huge football stadiums in the States anymore. Rock n roll is totally upside down next to what it was some 14 years ago. Look at it this way, Velvet Revolver has comparable attendance figures to the new GNR. I saw them both at the same venue (Worcester Centrum) and Velvet Revolver, in addition to having a markedly smaller audience than GNR, sucked ass. You could just as easily say, "With AXL these guys played to a gajillion screaming fans, but with Scott Weiland they play to sparsely filled arenas with people leaving early to catch some shitty show on CBS." Even huge groups for kids like Green Day don't fill stadiums up to the brims. It's not the same any more. Besides monstrous shows generally suck anyway. About 20 thousand are constantly in transit to get more beer. I'd rather a small theater full of music fans than a horde of slobbering idiots whose ears are probably full of nacho cheese anyway.

From Blabbermouth we get:

GUNS N' ROSES: 'Chinese Democracy' To Arrive In September? - Feb. 26, 2007

The web site of HMV, the leading music retailer in the United Kingdom, is listing the release date for the eternally delayed new GUNS N' ROSES album, "Chinese Democracy", as September 17. No official release date has yet been announced for the CD.

Better than never I suppose. Could be something to this.

I completely love his style. He's a wild man and personally I think his playing and personality best fit what the "conceptual" GNR is all about. Granted, there are the sour notes, but Jimmy Page's overextended solos in virtually every Led Zeppelin show ever, were chock full of notes worse than Finck could ever manage. I'm judging him on his live performances, and in that realm he's the second most exciting person in the band. I'm judging him on the solos he's done between songs (the one in Worcester was kind of akin to Machine Gun and Since I've Been Lovin You) and the "leaked tracks." Slash is gone. Bumblefoot is a shredder (no thanks) and Fortus has less feel than Zakk Wylde. So all considered, as it is, he wins my hearty approval.

finck is the most amazing person bar axl in the band. if anyone can play a solo as good as he did that night...he can throw anything any time and he's still the man.

Finck was absolutely amazing at the Worcester show, so contrary to the last poster, I was worried that he'd leave the band. I was wondering what was going on myself, but all and all a bit of angsty guitar throwing action adds a desired spice to a bad ass show.

I felt the same way at the third Hammerstein Show, I was astounded at the real lack of excitement that anything new inspired. However, like has been said, most people are fools who enjoy the hits that are played everywhere from basketball games to supermarkets, so I'm not surprised. If the album drops, god willing, people will start getting excited at a live airing...The Blues is going to be HUGE, make no mistake. But first we've got to get a release date for that to happen

Sorry to everyone who's answered this a million times. At my show (15th) they didn't do TWAT, and since downloading it have been dying to know who does the awesome solos on it. I'm sure someone knows so if anyone can quickly show me the light I could rest easy tonight. Thanks everyone/anyone!