Vincent Vega Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 I'd like the people who dislike or hate CD to, in a respectful way, say why they feel CD is a bad album, like, go song by song even and point out the flaws. I don't want this to turn into an Attitude thread, I'd like a respectful discussion on what you feel went wrong with CD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TombRaider Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 This is gonna be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HisRoyalSweetness Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 this topic sucks as hard as chinese democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsession Of Vanity Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 I love CD, but even I know it suffers from overproduction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSeeker Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Axl seemingly did one take for every song vocally, and then autotuned the vocal tracks years later.Autotune on everything.Overdubs on everything.Scraped is hilariously bad.Axl and Caram Costanzo hacked up multiple guitar takes and pasted them back together using Protools, creating solos that no guitarist ever actually played. Brian May and Bumblefoot were pissed about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liers Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 IMO it's a good album, but....It would be better without all the over production, and I think that's why a lot of people don't like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HisRoyalSweetness Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) could have used a chorus here and there. Edited April 25, 2013 by HisRoyalSweetness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Vega Posted April 25, 2013 Author Share Posted April 25, 2013 Myself, I just feel there's something very artificial and dead about the sound of it, I can't even quite explain it, but it's like uncanny valley and while the songs themselves--the actual compositions--aren't bad, there's something just very off putting about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldog Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Myself, I just feel there's something very artificial and dead about the sound of it, I can't even quite explain it, but it's like uncanny valley and while the songs themselves--the actual compositions--aren't bad, there's something just very off putting about it. Yes there is no feeling. There are some real disasters on it (Scraped/ Raid) The guitar sounds so processed and unnatural. Axls voice on street of dreams is so auto-tuned its almost unlistenable . Electronic drum loops, no real riffs (other than title track), very few choruses or recognizable melodies, bad lyrics (horrible in some cases), Axls voice isn't even good on it, too many random sound effects, its outdated, too many mid temp songs, etc...Even with all that it is still a "decent" album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trqster Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Axl seemingly did one take for every song vocally, and then autotuned the vocal tracks years later.Autotune on everything.Overdubs on everything.Scraped is hilariously bad.Axl and Caram Costanzo hacked up multiple guitar takes and pasted them back together using Protools, creating solos that no guitarist ever actually played. Brian May and Bumblefoot were pissed about this.This sums it up nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) It's not a bad album, but it has the overproduction issues and, if you're hater, of course, there's the no Slash issue. Edited April 25, 2013 by Chewbacca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coma16 Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 It's not a bad album, but it has the overproduction issues and, if you're hater, of course, there's the no Slash issue.Bingo. Even if it was "raw" album people would have found something else to point out.In my opinion many people made up their minds because:-no Slash-it took forever and a day finally come out-Axl dropped off the face of the earth after 2007 (this might actually be the biggest reason). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iftheworld Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) uhhh CD is amazing so..... Edited April 25, 2013 by iftheworld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceguy Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) I should qualify my fandom first: I love AFD a lot, and I think UYI was a missed opportunity at greatness.I also think Chinese Democracy was another missed attempt at greatness---not for GNR, but for Axl Rose. To me, this is Axl's solo work, not GNR. I genuinely don't mind, because I'll gladly listen to anything Axl releases.Here's why I think CD isn't so great:1. Overproduction. There are needless layers of "shit." The fake Chinese voices, the absurd quadruple-layering of vocal harmonies, the MLK speech samples, the endless symphonic layers. It's just too much, and it chokes the life out of the songs. Oh, and Axl's stupid Dracula-style "but I don't want to do it" in Sorry.Glimmers of this idiotic overproduction are what prevented UYI from being great. Listen to Axl's idiotic Elmer Fudd impersonation in the opening of Don't Damn Me, or the idiotic YEAH! at the end of You Could Be Mine, or the telephone call in Knockin', etc. It's like Axl took this shit and ran with it for ChiDem, just piling on shit, layer after layer after layer, killing the organic feel of the songs.2. Noodly guitars. I'm a big fan of guitar music, from 60s all the way to modern guitar bands. I like big guitars. But the lead guitars on ChiDem are severe overkill. All the god damn sweep picking! It's like a 1980s Ninetendo game suddenly appears. It just doesn't fit. Fine, it's techinically proficient virtuoso work, but if I can't hum the solos, then I don't really remember them. There's no melody to the guitar solos, it's all just masturbatory wanking and sweep picking.Clearly, Axl overcompensated for Slash's absence by finding the most severely over-the-top guitarists he could find, and none of it works. Finck tries the Slash tone (neck pickup of Gibson with tone all the way down), but god damn, his playing is so terrible. It's like "Hey, I can't compose a melody, so I'll just play five notes a million miles and hour. Or, I'll keep bending this one note for hours. THAT'LL show em!" It doesn't work for GNR, and it sure as fuck doesn't match Axl's songwriting.3. Self-indulgent song arrangement. Dig the intro to the title track: NINETY SECONDS of fake Chinese voices, crappy guitar, synths. Or the intro to Scraped, with all the "EHHH!!!!!" shit. Or the choppy back and forth of Better. Better would have been such an incredible song if the arrangement were tightened up, with fewer prechorus repeats and FAR fewer guitar solos and ZERO noodling wheedly dee wheedly doo. And this all ties in to my first complaint (overproduction).In summary, ChiDem would have been a remarkable album in the hands of the right producer, and if Axl were open to listening to the producer. Instead, it comes off as sloppy, lifeless, and painful to listen to at times. It's all the problems of UYI multiplied by a thousand. Edited April 25, 2013 by niceguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvH Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 It ISN'T a bad album. Pointless thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nambis Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) to put it simply - the songs suck. even the best ones are only on par with UYI fillers. Edited April 25, 2013 by nambis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iftheworld Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) to put it simply - the songs suck. even the best ones are only on par with UYI fillers.cupcake alert Why don't you just come out and say it? "Slash wasn't on the album playing sloppily so I don't like it." Edited April 25, 2013 by iftheworld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facekicker Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 It annoys the hell out of me that Axl sounds better and like the Axl we all know and admire on Angel Down than he does on the whole of Chinese Democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nambis Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 to put it simply - the songs suck. even the best ones are only on par with UYI fillers.cupcake alert Why don't you just come out and say it? "Slash wasn't on the album playing sloppily so I don't like it."It has nothing to do with slash, that guy is as washed up as Axl. The songs just suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakestar Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 I like it.BUT, I thought when it was released it was just a album to break the ice (of all the time that went by), and then we'd move on and get some releases on a regular basis.Kind of like when you have a fight with someone you love, it's always hard to see them the first time, but after that time, it is right back to normal.Lead us to believe that he was back. Sucks when people let you down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris 55 Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) I like it for what it is. There are no singles on it and there NEEDED to be to help it be successful. But for me, it's got some really good songs on there that I love listening to. Edited April 25, 2013 by Chris 55 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreCC Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 It's a great album, but it should have more rockers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axlrosefan1 Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Is madagascar supposed to be a song? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
November_rain Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Imo it´s a good album but the problem is that people had their expectations too high and a big amount of them expected another AFD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TombRaider Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) To be fair, there's just no way Chinese Democracy was ever going to live up to the hype it created. Very few bands, with their original lineup or not, ever manage to release an album worth of their best material after a breakup and a reunion. Or... let me rephrase that, very few bands manage to release an album that pleases most of its fans after a breakup and a reunion or formation of a new lineup. There's always the But it's no the original (insert random musician) thing. Axl had a huge legacy to live up to. Chinese Democracy would've needed near perfect songs to please everyone. Something similar happened to George Lucas and his prequels. The hype surrounding Episode 1 was huge. It was ridiculous. He'd have needed a Empire Strikes Back-like success to please critics and all fans alike. IMO. Edited April 25, 2013 by TombRaider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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