Guns N’ Roses “Chinese Democracy” single review
Author: Britt Schramm October 23rd, 2008 3 Comments »
Since I’ve been the voice of dissention concerning W. Axl Rose and his multiple variation of Guns N’ Roses, I thought that the only fair and balanced thing to do would be to review the Chinese Democracy single, which was released worldwide yesterday. I have listened it at least 10 times and took some minor notes so no flying-off-the-handle here.
My initial thoughts are that it has the potential to be a really good hard rock song. The blues riffs of old are weaved around Rose’s trademark growl/high-sung duet. The groove marries well with melody lead by a syth-filtered rhythm guitar, giving the song a flavor of grunge-ish proportions. Really, there is no mistaking that this is a GnR song.
The drawbacks? It’s feels too short and too long at the same time. How can that be , you might be asking yourself? The complete song clocks in at 4:42 but is really around 3:33. There is an 46 sec intro that give an impression that this song is part of a concept CD. The same could be said for the 23 sec ending. Now, in the context of a concept CD, these parts might make more sense to remain. A more judicious hand on the production board might’ve helped in making this song a tighter (and better) track.
Overall, Chinese Democracy, the song, is a decent one and should get its fair amount of airplay. But as a single, especially one that their fans have been waiting for over a decade and half to pull their leathers out for and to rock out to, an in-your-face, immediate impact was needed and with this unneccessary padding, the might of GnR gets somewhat lost in the shuffle.
To listen for yourself, the single is located the Guns N’ Roses imeem site.
In the years following John Lennon’s murder, a strange thing happened. It seemed that because he met a tragically violent end, critics hesitated in truly evaluating Lennon’s solo work. In addition, Paul McCartney routinely became the recipient of pot-shots from reviewers, and a generation has been raised thinking that McCartney’s solo output is nothing but mediocre ballads and pop fluff, while Lennon continued breaking ground up until his death. Neither is true, but neither is completely false, either; McCartney has made several masterpieces (McCartney, Ram, Band on the Run, Flaming Pie, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard) and some awful albums (Driving Rain, Off the Ground, Press to Play, Pipes of Peace). Lennon made some horrid records (Sometime in New York City, Mind Games, the unlistenable Two Virgins), some mediocre albums (Walls and Bridges, Double Fantasy), and two all-time greats (Plastic Ono Band, Imagine). Even on their most disappointing albums, however, McCartney and Lennon showed flashes of brilliance. McCartney’s excellent career-overview, Wingspan, evenly divided his work between the “Hitsâ€Â? (Disc 1, which included all his charting singles) and the “Historyâ€Â? (Disc 2, which featured all his best lesser-known album tracks). Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon, a new 2-disc collection of Lennon’s best solo work, takes a slightly different approach; like Wingspan, it jumbles the chronology of the songs, but this set mixes Lennon’s classics right in with the lost gems. It makes for a fresh listening experience, and an album that contains almost all of what one really needs to hear from Lennon’s sometimes genius, sometimes sophomoric, solo catalog. 
If the Traveling Wilburys ever recruited a 6th member, it certainly would have been Dave Edmunds; the Welsh born roots rocker — easily one of the all-time great guitarists who is never recognized as such – married Phil Spector production with Chuck Berry rock and Everly Brothers harmonies to create a sound that was sometimes country, sometimes pop, sometimes rockabilly, but always distinctive and exuberantly fun. And he did it before anyone else, including Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, and Bruce Springsteen. Finally reissued and remastered, 1978’s Tracks on Wax 4 and 1981’s Twangin’ are two gems chock full of blistering guitar, sing-a-long power pop, and dirty rock n’ roll. They are also the last albums Edmunds ever recorded with Rockpile (his backing group that included songwriting partner Nick Lowe), and perhaps not coincidentally, are the last truly great albums Edmunds has made.
