Chinese Fire Drill

Axl’s probably going to break his foot off in someone’s ass for this, but the long, LONG-awaited Chinese Democracy has leaked onto the Internets. Or least some version of it has leaked.


There still doesn’t seem to be a real release date for the album. It was supposed to be out last Tuesday (the 6th), but was yet again delayed. "There is no official release date, as the band is currently mixing, but after some delays and scheduling difficulties, things appear to be moving along," reads a post on GnR's Web site.

Chinese Democracy leaks appear to be nothing new. As far back as 2003, versions of “IRS” began seeping out. The band's management referred to it as a "low quality demo," but it was most likely a recording of DJ Eddie Trunk's September 2003 broadcast of the song. In February 2006, full studio demos of the songs "Better", "Catcher in the Rye", "IRS", and "There Was a Time" leaked online. Brian May confirmed on his blog that he recorded guitar for the "Catcher in the Rye" demo in 1999. On Feb. 20, 2007, a new version of “Better” was leaked onto the Internet. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed confirmed the song as real, however, he also said it is not the final studio version.

There is also some dispute over how many songs are or will be on the album. Various sources, from bassist Tommy Stinson to Axl himself have been quoted as saying anything from 10 or 11 songs to 18 songs with 10 bonus tracks.

Here’s the track list for what I’ve seen:

1) Better
2) IRS
3) There Was a Time
4) Catcher In the Rye
5) Chinese Democracy
6) The Blues
7) Madagascar
8) Rhiad and the Bedouins
9) Oh My God
10) Silkworms

The last three songs were reportedly not going to be included, so I’m not sure if this is the actual album or yet another studio demo leak. I kind of lean toward the latter, as the vocals are somewhat muddy. Whatever it is, here’s my take on it: Despite everything you may have heard, this is not a bad album. It’s just not a good Guns n’ Roses album. The songs have an orchestrated feel, almost as if Phil Spector were twiddling the knobs instead of Axl Rose. Think of the worst songs from the Use Your Illusion albums. Not horrible, but not the raw rock and roll from Appetite for Destruction. Like we used to say about college exams: Think long, think wrong. Maybe that’s what happened here. The Ramones recorded their classic debut album in just over two weeks on a $6,200 budget. Axl, on the other hand, has spent 13 years and millions of dollars working on Chinese Democracy.

I’m going to post the title track so you can decide for yourself. I was going to post “Better,” which I like, ahem, “better,” but once I started looking at the history and saw it had already been leaked all over, I thought I’d go with something different. And if history is any indication, someone will probably break their foot off in my ass and this song won’t be up for long.

Chinese Democracy.mp3

posted by aikin @ 9:29 PM