Propaganda

58 minutes ago, youngswedishvinyl said:

I like Monster Energy, I like November Rain, I don’t want them anywhere near each other again! 

Why not? It's a sponsor! A good one! Why not have good sponsors?!?

I remember a little something about an album that had been rejected, that was gonna be self titled (Guns N'Roses)

7 hours ago, Kasanova King said:

$679 Canadian with the turntable.  Ends up being $497 USD.  That's with the 20% HOLIDAY code.  It works, I just tried it.

https://shop.musicvaultz.com/*/*/Appetite-For-Destruction-Locked-N-Loaded-Edition-GNR-Logo-Turntable/5ZCD0000000

I would have bought it but I just received my copy of the Super Deluxe.  The Super Deluxe is pretty sweet.  Great photo quality book and the extras are neat, worth the $98 I paid for it. 

I would buy the Super Deluxe for that price, but here it's still at 174 euros, which I can't bear my mind to spend. So for now the Deluxe cd will do.

Rock to Rock sounds like a mix of "Ain't Going Down" with AC/DC to me

17 hours ago, RussTCB said:

I totally hear and agree with what you're saying. However, for me they became a brand the moment I saw that Monster can on the piano during November Rain. 

I believe it was DJ who brought that sponsor to Guns btw...

He brought this charismatic Chinese Democracy start:

He brought his clothing line to the play and Axl even copied it and started wearing jeans like his.

Not to mention that Axl finally felt comfortable to release a live dvd with him in the band. He was the missing key. Axl saw the potential in him, which is why he wanted to bring him to the mix in the reunion gig.

As for his talent as a guitar player. He's certainly a better songwriter than Bumblefoot. He even wrote songs for Motley Crue, so that is enough to prove my point. He's in a successful band, which Bumblefoot is not. To me he's much better doing solos. It's a shame his contributions weren't on Chinese Democracy, for obvious reasons, because I think his input would have done much more creatively than what Bumblefoot's did.

I think it's fair to say that a lot of people didn't like Bumblefoot's contributions on Chinese Democracy, namely his guitar parts.

If you look at the shows solo spots, he even contributed more to that than Bumblefoot. So to me his input on GNR was of much more value.

Not to say that Bumblefoot isn't talented. I'm not a big fan of his solo work but the dude obviously has talent. He's also a very nice guy, and has been a very nice guy to the fans. But so is DJ. I have interacted with both and DJ and was quite nice too.

@RussTCB When you quoted me I still hadn't edited my post. Sorry about that. 

14 minutes ago, Gibson_Guy87 said:

Lol no 

Hmmm... yes! Bumblefoot would only work in a band like System of a Down or something like that. His noodling is annoying. He ruined the remix of Oh My God. He Ruined Chinese Democracy, he ruined There Was a Time, he ruined Shackler's Revenge, he ruined Riad... and so on. His solo records are nothing special either. But he's a nice guy!

DJ transformed New GNR into something else! Something on a next level! He brought charisma, which was lacking in the band, and he brought interesting ideas to the table. Even on the live shows. He reinvented Chinese Democracy! The dude is extremely underrated and much better than Bumblefoot. He's also much more creative than Bumblefoot and probably a better songwriter.

1 minute ago, gnfnrs1972 said:

I dont know why but Ashba never bothered me like he did a lot of you.  

Indeed! He was very nice to me when I met him, and he's a much better guitarist than Bumblefoot is...

If If If If.... If the Woooooooorldddd would eeeend todaaaay aaaaay aaaaaaaay!

The brand won't die. If Slash quits, then he will have the spotlight again on him, because people will want to know who's replacing him, and people will want to know what he has to say about it at shows... The only thing is he won't be able to sell out stadiums, so he won't make as much money... but then again, he wouldn't have to split his money, and he could pay the hired hands much less. It would still be good business for him.

I'm not sure if the label would leave him alone in terms of a possible cd release. They would probably make it dificult.

At this point though, if Slash would quit, he would probably just retire.

2 minutes ago, donny said:

i think an Axl/Dc studio track is still a possibility. 

Axl being the new singer left most ACDC fans in turmoil and they sold their tickets, them that went said how good Axl was and fell in love with him. 

we know the new album has been recorded in canada with Brian but i wouldn't rule out Axl making an appearance on it.  

I think that's out of the picture, since Brian is back. Maybe touring won't be out of the picture though.

It's good to have Axl on tv for a change! The song isn't that great and sounds AC/DCish. Doesn't sound like something Axl would release with GNR though.

That would be the best thing ever!! What a way to reward the fans! 

I have stated many times during that time,  that I would prefer the Reunion. However, I regret that very much!

Today, I would prefer the album of all the chinese leftovers, because by release time I would have my last cd of Guns, and I could have closed the chapter on GNR forever, knowing that I would have enough music for my ears to listen to. (If that's even true)

Although I would prefer it that way, I can't be that selfish. I think Slash coming back and the reunion kind of saved GNR. I think Slash coming back, was the best thing that happened to Axl!

58 minutes ago, GnR Chris said:

I respect your opinion, but that's all it is. The things you say you don't like, I actually love. So everyone obviously has different views. TWAT church intro, for example. Or the reworked title track. I like it better than the grungier way it used to be performed. And a song you said is awful: "Prostitute" is a standout track for me. I absolutely adore it, though I didn't at first. I don't think t here's a truly bad song on the album. "There was a Time," which you said was really good, I think stands among the very best of GNR.

Yes. It is my opinion only. I don't like the grungier version of TWAT either. I like that 2001 Roy Thomas Baker version. I think the Roy Thomas Baker mixes sounded much better than the album versions, of what we've heard anyways. (Street of Dreams, Madagascar, TWAT) I like the earlier version of Chinese Democracy much better than the album version as well. I also liked the Skwerl leaked versions better than the album versions, except maybe for Riad, because I absolutely hate Buckethead's solo on the Riad. Bumblefoot's solo on that song is a little bit better but still crappy, and TWAT because of the church intro and the grungier guitars.

I hate Prostitute because I hate when Axl doesn't sing with his signature voice. I think even for clean vocals, the vocals on Prostitute are kind of embarrassing for Axl's standards. Even If The World has a better vocal track! I don't like the main solo either. So to me the album always ended with This I Love. The last minute of Prostitute is very cool though. The song ends in a beautiful way with that melody.

Just now, Crazyman said:

Is this serious? He'd get 100000000x the hype if he'd just release a statement and a teaser of an actual song. The only people who actually care about this are hardcore GnR fans  

Nope! Otherwise the media outlets wouldn't be picking it up!

If Axl was a smart business man, he would take advantage of the hype of this Looney Tunes gig while it's hot and while the media is all over it, and put out the Chinese Democracy left overs that he's not gonna use on the next album on iTunes as an EP, as a surprise release. He could call the EP "Closure" or something like that. Meaning it would close the Chinese Democracy sessions era and move on to other things. It would be a nice gesture with the fans, with the New GNR era members (cause they would have writing credits and royalties on those songs), and he would make a lot of money. It would be great for everybody, even Slash and Duff, cause they would also make money with it because of their partnership, and since it would be an EP, it wouldn't have the weight of an album, and it wouldn't be taken that seriously...

So Axl has been sarcastically mocking us with the Looney Tunes intro because of this ? Uh!

An Axl song with The Rock, and suddently this place is full. 😂😂

2 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I recently listened to it through Tidal Hi-Fi and thought the same thing. I actually had a few other people (at my weekly music gathering) say it was far superior to any other time they've heard it. 

It is, it sounds like the album was remastered, literally.  Would love to know if Axl is an audiophile fanatic (he probably is), and if he's aware of this.

3 hours ago, Gackt said:

It's strange to me, I've loved If The World since the album was released but it's apparently one of the most divisive songs on the album.  If I had to rank the songs right now:

1. Better
2. There Was a Time
3. Street of Dreams
4. Shackler's Revenge
5. If The World
6. Madagascar
7. Prostitute
8. Chinese Democracy
9. I.R.S.
10. This I Love
11. Riad N' The Bedouins
12. Sorry
13. Catcher in the Rye
14. Scraped

Some are hard to place because they're equally essential when picking out individual tracks to listen to from the album, but the latter half are songs that I typically don't care to listen to on their own.  I wanted to place TWAT higher, but I honestly find Better to be more enjoyable throughout the entire song than waiting for it to really pick up.  Without the guitar solos, TWAT would likely fall into the lower half of the list.

1. Better

2. Street of Dreams

3. Chinese Democracy

4. There Was a Time

5. Catcher in the Rye

6. Madagascar

7. This I Love

8. IRS

And I could do without the rest.

Today I went to my Mom's basement. I have all my cd boxes there, and I found "Chinese Democracy" the SHMCD Version, I had bought when the album came out.

Had a two hour drive this morning and listened to the album from start to finish, and I can tell you that the SHMCD version, sounds like a Remastered version of CD on my car's cd player. Especially on the title track "Chinese Democracy", you can hear a clear difference. The bass is stronger and the drums are finally audible. I'm surprised I had this cd shelved on a basement, and had the regular one on my car lol

3 minutes ago, Bailey15 said:

I definitely agree on those 3 as belonging in the first tier. We differ on some of the others which is great because the album stirs up opinions and discussions.

 

I also always felt that Better should have been the first single

 

Well you know, music is about taste anyways... Some like apples, some like oranges, and some like both.

Better is definitely my first single as well, but it would be a close one had Chinese Democracy (the song) not had been changed, and had stick with the version that leaked before. It was heaviest song on the album (the leaked version)... it didn't need the mix to be messed with, or the bass to be buried, or the drum parts to be changed, or what Bumblefoot did with it. It lost the industrial feel to it, and it definitely lost that Nirvana element on the drums, since they are powerless in the final mix...

14 minutes ago, Bailey15 said:

But that's the thing about that album...everyone here probably has different songs in those three tiers. I know mine are drastically different than yours.

I'm not listing favorites here. I'm listing what I think are the stronger and weaker songs.

Axl once said in 2006, that is favorite songs were Better, There Was a Time and I think Street of Dreams. So I think he would agree that those are the stronger songs on the album. Even though there might be fan favorites that are not expected.

This is the way I see Chinese Democracy:

Overall the final product isn't a very good album but for the good songs it has, it's acceptable. It has 5 really good songs (Better, TWAT, Street of Dreams, Chinese Democracy, Catcher in the Rye), 5 average songs (This I Love, Madagascar, Riad & The Bedouins, IRS, Sorry), and it has 4 awful songs (If The World, Shackler's Revenge, Scraped and Prostitute).

One common thing about all of these songs is that the songs that actually leaked, sounded better than the finished product.

The heaviest song on the album (Chinese Democracy) suffered a dramatic mix change that affected the track and the whole album as well...

Catcher in the Rye has some click piano sounds coming up on the main track, that should have been buried in the backing track, or shouldn't have been there in the first place.

There Was a Time was a very melodic song, with melodic guitar solos and parts, and somehow they have tried to make that song a rocker with Bumblefoot guitar parts and Axl's backing voices. Also, that Church intro is horrible - Big Mistake!

I could go on and on. In essence there's a lot of songs that I wished it had been replaced by better songs, and the great songs on the albums, they should have sticked with the leaked versions of the songs (Skwerl leaks), as they have fucked up the final mix and buried what was interesting in those songs.

I grade Chinese Democracy as a whole at 3.5 / 5 .

Guys it's gonna get here, but it will take time. We're at the "don't hold your breath stage".  3 more years and maybe we'll have a new album.