Guns N' Roses have finally finished their latest album - after 14 years.

The band's record company have reportedly received a completed copy of "Chinese Democracy" - which is said to have cost more than $13million (£6.5million) to record - and are now in negations with Axl Rose over money and rights to the songs.


Fans have been eagerly awaiting the next Guns N' Roses album since 1993 when the band released their covers album 'The Spaghetti Incident?', but have seen the release date of 'Chinese Democracy' continually been pushed back.

Last month, Axl said he was "surprised and very happy" about an offer by soft drink company Dr Pepper which offered a free can of the drink to every American if 'Chinese Democracy' is released this year.

Writing on the band's website, he said: "We are surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper with our album "Chinese Democracy", as for us, this came totally out of the blue."

A Guns N' Roses reality TV show is reportedly in the pipeline to coincide with the release of the album.

http://www.clevelandleader.com/files/MissionAccomplished.jpg

:pullanolte

I'll believe it when I see it.  

skeptical...can't imagine why

;)

Does it even matter at this point? People are gonna be so underwhelmed it's not even funny.

g&r nowadays is just Axel right?

Egon wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 1:19pm:

g&r nowadays is just Axel right?

no....................buckethead is in the mix somewhere too.  or did he die?


[laughs]


:booze

Egon wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 1:19pm:

g&r nowadays is just Axel right?

No.  Bumblefoot and Finck on guitars, the awesome Tommy Stimson on bass, Brain on drums, Dizzy Reed on keys (as always)

Holden wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 1:15pm:

Does it even matter at this point? People are gonna be so underwhelmed it's not even funny.

No.  The album is awesome and virtually all its tracks have been played live for several years now.  Even skeptics here on this board have come away impressed.  Worth the wait?  Shit, nothin's worth that long a wait!  But it's a great album....

the whole world...make that universe,
lost interest in Axl, his ego and his guitars for hire, years ago.

Cliff Richard's forthcoming album, will be of more relevance and interest.

Note that such naysayers have NEVER actually heard the band since 1993.  The new edition is a FAR superior outfit.

you're saying the new guns n' roses is better than the original? I'm  gonna go ahead and try to find the album online and listen to it. I've heard 2 or 3 songs before and I wasn't impressed.

Axl lost it a long time ago, but I'll try and give the new stuff a go

Ade wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 2:33pm:

the whole world...make that universe, lost interest in Axl, his ego and his guitars for hire, years ago. Cliff Richard's forthcoming album, will be of more relevance and interest.

my mother agrees.

Holden wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 2:52pm:

you're saying the new guns n' roses is better than the original?

Yes.  I saw the lineup with that lame Slash twice and the new lineup three times.  The band is FAR better now, hands down....Slash is exceedingly dull live, one of the worst rock performers when taken away from the studio

I just heard a new song on youtube, it just doesn't move me.

the new live band is better than the old version. Tighter, better musicians, not all high and fucking up to the point of lameness. We'll see how the album goes over, the new stuff I heard live was good, and could be great, but I'm on the fence with what i heard that has leaked... It's okay...

Pdog wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 5:50pm:

the new live band is better than the old version. Tighter, better musicians, not all high and fucking up to the point of lameness. We'll see how the album goes over, the new stuff I heard live was good, and could be great, but I'm on the fence with what i heard that has leaked... It's okay...

i like people when they're all fucked up and lame.............much more interesting.

:willya

wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 7:11pm:

Pdog wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 5:50pm: the new live band is better than the old version. Tighter, better musicians, not all high and fucking up to the point of lameness. We'll see how the album goes over, the new stuff I heard live was good, and could be great, but I'm on the fence with what i heard that has leaked... It's okay... i like people when they're all fucked up and lame.............much more interesting. :willya

Just curious, as to what band you saw live, and when was it, fucked up and lame band and you enjoyed the show?

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/open-g/Computer/Marijuana-Not-Crack-Magnet-C1175499.jpg

:weed :weed :warhorse :weed :weed :pullanolte :weed :weed :weed :weed

Holden wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 1:15pm:

Does it even matter at this point? People are gonna be so underwhelmed it's not even funny.

____________________________________________________


lol  ..great consideration. Actually, and to put it bluntly .... hell no. Nobody will give two shits. In fact, they have long since gave two shits about this damn thing. It has been by far and away the longest running commercially proposed album in the history of music.

We are talking 15 years here folks...

Not to mention Axl has done nothing in the mean time but either hide-out playing Howard Hughes or fuck up. He has had his last hope at anything or any sort of redemption trounced a few years ago when Ticket Master finally pulled the plug on him for continuously canceling shows. Hell and it was supposed to come out then... and then again last year ...and nothing ever was completed.

At that point when Ticket Master cancelled the tour due to Axl, even the G&R die-hards said..... Axl....Fuck you, who cares.

And since there are still legalities going on about the song rights and all I am assuming Axl and his legal folks will be reluctant to negotiate (as usual) and this may not even come to light any time soon anyway.

Look, I have no idea what he has been going through, I have no idea what goes on in his world, be it emotional, social, or financial endevors. But guess what, I  don't care. All I know is he has been talking about this album for fucking years (like we are supposed to care). Three seperate producers individually tried to get this thing out and couldn't.

Screw him. He is been nothing but toast for a long, long, while now.


Ian

Ian Billen wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 9:42pm:

Holden wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 1:15pm: Does it even matter at this point? People are gonna be so underwhelmed it's not even funny. Not to mention Axl has done nothing in the mean time but either hide-out playing Howard Hughes or fuck up. He has had his last hope at anything or any sort of redemption trounced a few years ago when Ticket Master finally pulled the plug on him for continuously canceling shows. Hell and it was supposed to come out then... and then again last year ...and nothing ever was completed. At that point when Ticket Master cancelled the tour due to Axl, even the G&R die-hards said..... Axl....Fuck you, who cares. Ian

The ignorance out there is incredible.  Axl has had several tours now with the new GnR, probably some 200 shows altogether.  btw, Ticketmaster sells tickets, they don't 'cancel' tours---promoters do that.  Stick to what you know Billen--whatever that is.

moonie!

kinks week revisited at maxlugar.com is off to a smashing success....we are in need of your posting skills.

perhaps just for the week? C10 bruthahood? we have some kinks kultists that are lighting the world on fire...

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 21^st, 2008 at 4:46am:

Ian Billen wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 9:42pm: Holden wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 1:15pm: Does it even matter at this point? People are gonna be so underwhelmed it's not even funny. Not to mention Axl has done nothing in the mean time but either hide-out playing Howard Hughes or fuck up. He has had his last hope at anything or any sort of redemption trounced a few years ago when Ticket Master finally pulled the plug on him for continuously canceling shows. Hell and it was supposed to come out then... and then again last year ...and nothing ever was completed. At that point when Ticket Master cancelled the tour due to Axl, even the G&R die-hards said..... Axl....Fuck you, who cares. Ian The ignorance out there is incredible.  Axl has had several tours now with the new GnR, probably some 200 shows altogether.  btw, Ticketmaster sells tickets, they don't 'cancel' tours---promoters do that.  Stick to what you know Billen--whatever that is.

Axl does cancel alot of shows... That's for sure!!! But Ian, you need to know what you're talking about before you go making coments like they are facts...
Even if the only G n' R show since the original break, was the one I saw At The Warfield in Sf, that show was really good. The band was tight, Axl sounded great.
Axl is batshit crazy and the music industry is totally fucked up, that is what is wrong here!!!

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 21^st, 2008 at 4:46am:

Ian Billen wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 9:42pm: Holden wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 1:15pm: Does it even matter at this point? People are gonna be so underwhelmed it's not even funny. Not to mention Axl has done nothing in the mean time but either hide-out playing Howard Hughes or fuck up. He has had his last hope at anything or any sort of redemption trounced a few years ago when Ticket Master finally pulled the plug on him for continuously canceling shows. Hell and it was supposed to come out then... and then again last year ...and nothing ever was completed. At that point when Ticket Master cancelled the tour due to Axl, even the G&R die-hards said..... Axl....Fuck you, who cares. Ian The ignorance out there is incredible.  Axl has had several tours now with the new GnR, probably some 200 shows altogether.  btw, Ticketmaster sells tickets, they don't 'cancel' tours---promoters do that.  Stick to what you know Billen--whatever that is.

__________________________________


lol OK. My fault, then Clear Channel canceled them. Explanation= I read that a spokes person from Ticket master said that they were refusing to continue sales of G&R tickets due to the cancellation and refund head-aches, so then Clear Channel of coarse said....well that's it boys. Now, I read this on a message board so ..who knows.

Axl HAS done 200 shows, sure, but how many were canceled and all in a period of about five months...

and guess what= over all those shows, still no album. Talk and talk and talk of it but still ....no album.

*How anyone can defend Axl Rose today, in 2008, with all the bullshit he has shown us continuously, and all the bullshit he has spit out his mouth about this Chinese Democracy album over the past 15 years, and this "New" Guns and Roses (other than the group being good musicians who can put on a good show at times ...provided they all show up) is totally beyond me.

Now that, to me at least, is what is incredible about our conversation.


Ian

Pdog wrote on Apr 21^st, 2008 at 5:11pm:

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 21st, 2008 at 4:46am: Ian Billen wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 9:42pm: Holden wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 1:15pm: Does it even matter at this point? People are gonna be so underwhelmed it's not even funny. Not to mention Axl has done nothing in the mean time but either hide-out playing Howard Hughes or fuck up. He has had his last hope at anything or any sort of redemption trounced a few years ago when Ticket Master finally pulled the plug on him for continuously canceling shows. Hell and it was supposed to come out then... and then again last year ...and nothing ever was completed. At that point when Ticket Master cancelled the tour due to Axl, even the G&R die-hards said..... Axl....Fuck you, who cares. Ian The ignorance out there is incredible.  Axl has had several tours now with the new GnR, probably some 200 shows altogether.  btw, Ticketmaster sells tickets, they don't 'cancel' tours---promoters do that.  Stick to what you know Billen--whatever that is. Axl does cancel alot of shows... That's for sure!!! But Ian, you need to know what you're talking about before you go making coments like they are facts... Even if the only G n' R show since the original break, was the one I saw At The Warfield in Sf, that show was really good. The band was tight, Axl sounded great. Axl is batshit crazy and the music industry is totally fucked up, that is what is wrong here!!!

______________________


Yeah, I know they are really good musicians. Axl can sing, play guitar and piano well. I know all that. They are not some lousy lower end group I realize.

My bitch is first, that the originals have not remained. I was a real G&R fan a long time ago. I was before really any of my friends or before Appetite even got big in the states. Seen them live with Aerosmith in 87 in Cleveland.

I just am truly tired of Axl. He has waisted what could of been an all time great band in my opinion.

BTW, why did Axl and Slash have their split? What caused all of this?


Ian

Slash quit.  He's a dickhead.  The new album is now in the hands of Geffen Records.  And, shit, besides--anyone really interested has owned 'Chinese Domcracy; for some years now.  I've had a pretty complete copy since 2003.

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 1:57pm:

Egon wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 1:19pm: g&r nowadays is just Axel right? No.  Bumblefoot and Finck on guitars, the awesome Tommy Stimson on bass, Brain on drums, Dizzy Reed on keys (as always)

It would have a bigger impact / splash if they called the band something else...Blah Blah Blah...Axl Rose's new band...blah blah blah

Bullshit...he owns the rights to the band's name.  He paid for it.  The others had a chance and quit instead.  Fuck 'em.  If you saw them, you'd realize the error of your position.

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 11:49am:

- and are now in negations with Axl Rose over money and rights to the songs.

Don't mean to jinx it, but it ain't over till it's over, jizzy.  I smell more delays.  "Money" and "rights" are both kind of important.  Just sayin'.

Pdog wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 8:32pm:

wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 7:11pm: Pdog wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 5:50pm: the new live band is better than the old version. Tighter, better musicians, not all high and fucking up to the point of lameness. We'll see how the album goes over, the new stuff I heard live was good, and could be great, but I'm on the fence with what i heard that has leaked... It's okay... i like people when they're all fucked up and lame.............much more interesting. :willya its a band called monicas kneepads and they all dress up funkadelic and stuff...colourful wigs and scarfs and bell bottoms and big orange sunglasses and they play funk till like 4am.  they are always a good time. :warhorse Just curious, as to what band you saw live, and when was it, fucked up and lame band and you enjoyed the show?

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 20^th, 2008 at 1:57pm:

No.  Bumblefoot and Finck on guitars, the awesome Tommy Stinson on bass, Brain on drums, Dizzy Reed on keys (as always)

Scratch Robin Finck - www.livedaily.com/blog/1901.html

left shoe shuffle wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2008 at 6:50pm:

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 1:57pm: No.  Bumblefoot and Finck on guitars, the awesome Tommy Stinson on bass, Brain on drums, Dizzy Reed on keys (as always) Scratch Robin Finck - www.livedaily.com/blog/1901.html

gotta go with the steady work. Everybody needs a paycheck!

Pdog wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2008 at 7:18pm:

left shoe shuffle wrote on Apr 22nd, 2008 at 6:50pm: lotsajizz wrote on Apr 20th, 2008 at 1:57pm: No.  Bumblefoot and Finck on guitars, the awesome Tommy Stinson on bass, Brain on drums, Dizzy Reed on keys (as always) Scratch Robin Finck - www.livedaily.com/blog/1901.html gotta go with the steady work. Everybody needs a paycheck!

Maybe Tommy will make a coupla bucks on the 'mats re-issues while he's waiting...

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2008 at 2:48pm:

Bullshit...he owns the rights to the band's name.  He paid for it.  The others had a chance and quit instead.  Fuck 'em.  If you saw them, you'd realize the error of your position.

I saw them twice in 2006. Once at the Warfield in San Francisco. Good show ecsept for the fact that they kept people waiting until 11:30 to come on. Next time a few monthes later I won tickets to see them at Oakland Coliseum. He pulled the same shit waiting until almost midnight to come on. Axl's voice was terrible,they sounded like shit,lthe crowd was drunk and rowdy. We walked out after 3 songs. Bottom line,Axl has the potential to put together a good band and play good hard rock. But being the dick he is,it won't happen. SO what,Chinese Democracy is coming out. What a coincidence. Right before the Summer Olymoics in China. Where the big controversy is what?...CHINESE DEMOCRACY. Fuck you Axl. I'm more intersested in who is going to be Velvet Revolver's new lead singer.

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2008 at 9:24pm:

I'm more interested in who is going to be Velvet Revolver's new lead singer.

Ah, so you're the one!

left shoe shuffle wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2008 at 9:31pm:

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Apr 22nd, 2008 at 9:24pm: I'm more interested in who is going to be Velvet Revolver's new lead singer. Ah, so you're the one!

New Guns N' Roses Single Hits Radio Tomorrow
Axl Rose
October 21, 2008 , 5:15 PM ET
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
The title track from Guns N' Roses' new album, "Chinese Democracy," will be available to download by U.S. radio outlets at 5 a.m. ET tomorrow morning (Oct. 22). Although some album tracks leaked this summer, this is the first authorized new music from the group in nine years.

As previously reported, "Chinese Democracy" the album is due Nov. 23 exclusively via Best Buy. The 14-track set includes only three songs that have not either been performed live or leaked online in recent years.

Guns N' Roses was last on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart in 1999 with "Oh My God," its contribution to the "End of Days" soundtrack. The song peaked at No. 26. Prior to that, it hadn't appeared on the tally since 1994, when its cover of "Sympathy for the Devil" from the "Interview With a Vampire" soundtrack reached No. 10.

that track kicks major fucking ASS!!

the dj played the new single on the radio last night for the 1st time here in new paltz.   i like the sound of the music, but the lyrics will take a while to figure out.

everybody soy ow.

it rocks...its different.

:pullanolte

say owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Fuck GNR.  Garbage. Put them out Monday night so the trash men can pick them up Tuesday morning.  Garbage, they are, with maggots and stink.  Fuck them.  Almost as bad as Aerosmith.   Almost.  More GNR lies.  FUck.

OK now

album of the year...nay, the century

robpop wrote on Oct 31^st, 2008 at 4:56am:

Fuck GNR.  Garbage. Put them out Monday night so the trash men can pick them up Tuesday morning.  Garbage, they are, with maggots and stink.  Fuck them.  Almost as bad as Aerosmith.   Almost.  More GNR lies.  FUck.

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/blog/axl_4.jpg

The Rolling Stone review, by David Fricke

Let's get right to it: The first Guns n' Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record. In other words, it sounds a lot like the Guns n' Roses you know. At times, it's the clenched-fist five that made 1987's perfect storm, Appetite for Destruction; more often, it's the one sprawled across the maxed-out CDs of 1991's Use Your Illusion I and II, but here compressed into a convulsive single disc of supershred guitars, orchestral fanfares, hip-hop electronics, metallic tabernacle choirs and Axl Rose's still-virile, rusted-siren singing.

If Rose ever had a moment's doubt or repentance over what Chinese Democracy has cost him in time (13 years), money (14 studios are listed in the credits) and body count — including the exit of every other founding member of the band — he left no room for it in these 14 songs. "I bet you think I'm doin' this all for my health," Rose cracks through the saturation-bombing guitars in "I.R.S.," one of several glancing references on the album to what he knows a lot of people think of him: that Rose, now 46, has spent the last third of his life running off the rails, in half-light. But when he snaps, "All things are possible/I am unstoppable," in the thumper "Scraped," that's not loony hubris — just a good old rock & roll "fuck you," the kind that made him and the old band hot and famous in the first place.

Something else Rose broadcasts over and over on Chinese Democracy: Restraint is for suckers. There is plenty of familiar guitar firepower — the stabbing-dagger lick that opens the first track, "Chinese Democracy," the sand-devil fuzz in "Riad N' the Bedouins" and the looping squeals over the grand anguish of "Street of Dreams." But what Slash and Izzy Stradlin used to do with two guitars now takes a wall of 'em. On some tracks, Rose has up to five guys — Robin Finck, Buckethead, Paul Tobias, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and Richard Fortus — riffing and soloing in broad, saw-toothed blurs. And that's no drag. I still think the wild, superstuffed "Oh My God" — the early Chinese Democracy track wasted on the 1999 End of Days soundtrack — beats everything on Guns n' Roses' 1993 covers album, The Spaghetti Incident?

Most of these songs also go through multiple U-turns in personality, as if Rose kept trying new approaches to a hook or a bridge and then decided, "What the hell, they're all cool." "Better" starts with what sounds like hip-hop voicemail — severely pinched guitar, drum machine and a near-falsetto Rose ("No one ever told me when/I was alone/They just thought I'd know better") — before blowing up into vintage Sunset Strip wallop. "If the World" has Buckethead plucking acoustic Spanish guitar over a blaxploitation-film groove, while Rose shows that he still holds a long-breath vowel — part torture victim, part screaming jet — like no other rock singer.

And there is so much going on in "There Was a Time" — strings and Mellotron, a full-strength choir and Rose's overdubbed sour-growl harmonies, wah-wah guitar and a false ending (more choir) — that it's easy to believe Rose spent most of the past decade on that arrangement alone. But it is never a mess, more like a loud mass of bad memories and hard lessons. In the first lines, Rose goes back to a beginning much like his own — "Broken glass and cigarettes/ Writin' on the wall/It was a bargain for the summer/An' I thought I had it all" — then piles on the wreckage along with the orchestra and guitars. By the end, it's one big melt of missing and kiss-off ("If I could go back in time . . . But I don't want to know it now"). If this is the Guns n' Roses that Rose kept hearing in his head all this time, it is obvious why two guitars, bass and drums were never going to be enough.

It is plain, too, that he thinks this Guns n' Roses is a band, as much as the one that recorded "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Used to Love Her" and "Civil War." The voluminous credits that come with Chinese Democracy certainly give detailed credit where it is due. My favorite: "Initial arrangement suggestions: Youth on 'Madagascar." Rose takes the big one — "Lyrics N' Melodies by Axl Rose" — but shares full-song bylines with other players on all but one track. Bassist Tommy Stinson plays on nearly every song, and keyboardist Dizzy Reed, the only survivor from the Illusion lineup, does the Elton John-style piano honors on "Street of Dreams."

But Rose still sings a lot about the power of sheer, solitary will even when he throws himself into a bigger fight, like "Chinese Democracy." In "Madagascar," which Rose has played live for several years now, he samples both Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech and dialogue from Cool Hand Luke. And at the end of the album, on the bluntly titled "Prostitute," Rose veers from an almost conversational tenor, over a ticking-bomb shuffle, to five-guitar barrage, orchestral lightning and righteous howl: "Ask yourself/Why I would choose/To prostitute myself/To live with fortune and shame." To him, the long march to Chinese Democracy was not about paranoia and control. It was about saying "I won't" when everyone else insisted, "You must." You may debate whether any rock record is worth that extreme self-indulgence. Actually, the most rock & roll thing about Chinese Democracy is he doesn't care if you do.

Guns N’ Roses Bring A Free Dr Pepper To All Americans: Here’s How To Get Yours!
Now that the November 23 release date for Guns N’ Roses’ oft-delayed, more-than-a-decade-in-the-making album, Chinese Democracy, seems to be a reality, Dr Pepper owes every American a can of soda.
Back in March, the beverage company said that it would give every man, woman, and a child in the U.S. a free can of Dr. Pepper should Guns N’ Roses release Chinese Democracy before the close of 2008. And now, the event no one — certainly not the folks at Dr Pepper — thought would happen is rapidly approaching.
“We never thought this day would come,” Tony Jacobs, vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper, said in a statement issued Wednesday. “But now that it’s here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper’s on us.”
So, how does Dr Pepper plan on dispensing the free sodas? Well, on November 23 — and only on November 23 — thirsty Americans can log on to the official Dr Pepper Web site and register all of their vitals, so that the company can mail them a coupon for a free 20-ounce can of the drink. Once that coupon arrives in the mail, redeem it wherever Dr Pepper is sold. The last step in the process, according to the press release: “Drink your Dr Pepper slowly to experience all 23 flavors. Dr’s orders.”
As we said, registration for the free Dr Pepper coupons is available only for 24 hours, beginning at 12:01 a.m. ET on November 23, and the coupons will have an expiration date of February 28, 2009. Obviously, there is a coupon limit — one per person.

So get out your straws and chill those glasses, kids — the Dr will be in your fridge soon, all thanks to Mr. Axl Rose.

lotsajizz wrote on Nov 20^th, 2008 at 5:41pm:

Guns N’ Roses Bring A Free Dr Pepper To All Americans: Here’s How To Get Yours! Now that the November 23 release date for Guns N’ Roses’ oft-delayed, more-than-a-decade-in-the-making album, Chinese Democracy, seems to be a reality, Dr Pepper owes every American a can of soda. Back in March, the beverage company said that it would give every man, woman, and a child in the U.S. a free can of Dr. Pepper should Guns N’ Roses release Chinese Democracy before the close of 2008. And now, the event no one — certainly not the folks at Dr Pepper — thought would happen is rapidly approaching. “We never thought this day would come,” Tony Jacobs, vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper, said in a statement issued Wednesday. “But now that it’s here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper’s on us.” So, how does Dr Pepper plan on dispensing the free sodas? Well, on November 23 — and only on November 23 — thirsty Americans can log on to the official Dr Pepper Web site and register all of their vitals, so that the company can mail them a coupon for a free 20-ounce can of the drink. Once that coupon arrives in the mail, redeem it wherever Dr Pepper is sold. The last step in the process, according to the press release: “Drink your Dr Pepper slowly to experience all 23 flavors. Dr’s orders.” As we said, registration for the free Dr Pepper coupons is available only for 24 hours, beginning at 12:01 a.m. ET on November 23, and the coupons will have an expiration date of February 28, 2009. Obviously, there is a coupon limit — one per person. So get out your straws and chill those glasses, kids — the Dr will be in your fridge soon, all thanks to Mr. Axl Rose.

I hope millions take advantage of this... I hope Dr. Pepper goes broke and needs a bailout. I'm listening to the new album all day today... the mastering is top notch!

I'm tracking mine online--it's been in Springfield, just 100 miles from me since last night!  Maybe tomorrow......their myspace site is streaming it today, over two million streams sice this morning!

Just heard the new album, I feel I'm owed another free Dr. Pepper just for listening to it through the end

Is there a list of tracks which are floating out there that did not make the finished product?

Nellcote wrote on Nov 21^st, 2008 at 12:48pm:

Is there a list of tracks which are floating out there that did not make the finished product?

If I find anything I'll point ya.. I was thinking one of the tracks, is renamed, that I heard on one of the leaked things I got years ago. i'm not as die hard or thorough, or maybe i just don't give a fuck!!!

me too, and others...a song always written as "The Blues" in bootlegs and reviews turns out to be called 'Street Of Dreams'.  Just what from my own Chinese Democracy boots I've had over the years, I know there's at least another 4-6 finished tunes that did not appear on the new album; stuff like 'Silkworms' and 'Catcher In The Rye'...btw, still waiting for USPS to deliver mine.....

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

been weedin'....sorry


still waiting for the postman!

lotsajizz wrote on Nov 21^st, 2008 at 3:14pm:

me too, and others...a song always written as "The Blues" in bootlegs and reviews turns out to be called 'Street Of Dreams'.  Just what from my own Chinese Democracy boots I've had over the years, I know there's at least another 4-6 finished tunes that did not appear on the new album; stuff like 'Silkworms' and 'Catcher In The Rye'...btw, still waiting for USPS to deliver mine.....

Catcher in the rye made it, silkworms didn't... I'm bummed that all the leaked stuff i ever heard was in Mp3, I never heard the leaks in any wav forms...

track 6 is better known as TWAT (There Was A Time)

lotsajizz wrote on Nov 21^st, 2008 at 3:27pm:

been weedin'....sorry still waiting for the postman!

I've heard of some people getting their pre-orders as early as Monday this week. If anyone deserved it sooner, it is you.

faith rewarded?  as you know, I've been singing the new stuff's praises since my mind was blown at the December 2002 show I saw.....pdog, I'm glad you say such a good show at the Warfield (?) back in '06 and went with an open mind....

this and the new ac/dc cd's i am interested in giving a listen.  i have heard neither in there entirety.

:pullanolte

IT'S HERE!!!!!!  Off to the basement for weedin'/prep.....then a listen or thirty or so!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

14 years in the making!!!

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is a spawling, over-indulgent, motherfuckin', mess of a god-damned, GNARLY, over-the-top, MASTERPIECE!!!!!!!
IMHO


WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pdog wrote on Nov 21^st, 2008 at 3:09pm:

Nellcote wrote on Nov 21st, 2008 at 12:48pm: Is there a list of tracks which are floating out there that did not make the finished product? If I find anything I'll point ya.. I was thinking one of the tracks, is renamed, that I heard on one of the leaked things I got years ago. i'm not as die hard or thorough, or maybe i just don't give a fuck!!!

Thanks,  Man!

lotsajizz wrote on Nov 21^st, 2008 at 7:24pm:

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a spawling, over-indulgent, motherfuckin', mess of a god-damned, GNARLY, over-the-top, MASTERPIECE!!!!!!! IMHO WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had it on in the background at work today.  It does have a large sound, the gitars are great.

lotsajizz wrote on Nov 21^st, 2008 at 7:24pm:

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a spawling, over-indulgent, motherfuckin', mess of a god-damned, GNARLY, over-the-top, MASTERPIECE!!!!!!! IMHO WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh please don't exagarate

word!

Remember the first time you heard Appetite for Destruction?

:)

Some Guy wrote on Nov 21^st, 2008 at 8:40pm:

Remember the first time you heard Appetite for Destruction?

I do, and like over a year later people were telling me I had to hear it!!! It is nice being really into music, you discover bands and discard them and once in a while those band become huge, and you get to act like a snob and tell them, oh I was into them a long time ago....
This album is exactly what Jizzy said... and despite that, it is pretty good... I'm also happy, that, probably Axl and Ludwig, told the record companie not to follow the industry and master the album loud. The production value matches the musicianship, and the fact it is Axl's 14 year long pregnancy, amkes it that much more special.

good review pdog, here's another.....Chuck Klosterman's


Reviewing Chinese Democracy is not like reviewing music. It's more like reviewing a unicorn. Should I primarily be blown away that it exists at all? Am I supposed to compare it to conventional horses? To a rhinoceros? Does its pre-existing mythology impact its actual value, or must it be examined inside a cultural vacuum, as if this creature is no more (or less) special than the remainder of the animal kingdom? I've been thinking about this record for 15 years; during that span, I've thought about this record more than I've thought about China, and maybe as much as I've thought about the principles of democracy. This is a little like when that grizzly bear finally ate Timothy Treadwell: Intellectually, he always knew it was coming. He had to. His very existence was built around that conclusion. But you still can't psychologically prepare for the bear who eats you alive, particularly if the bear wears cornrows.

Here are the simple things about Chinese Democracy: Three of the songs are astonishing. Four or five others are very good. The vocals are brilliantly recorded, and the guitar playing is (generally) more interesting than the guitar playing on the Use Your Illusion albums. Axl Rose made some curious (and absolutely unnecessary) decisions throughout the assembly of this project, but that works to his advantage as often as it detracts from the larger experience. So: Chinese Democracy is good. Under any halfway normal circumstance, I would give it an A.

But nothing about these circumstances is normal.



For one thing, Chinese Democracy is (pretty much) the last Old Media album we'll ever contemplate in this context—it's the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file. This is the end of that. But the more meaningful reason Chinese Democracy is abnormal is because of a) the motives of its maker, and b) how those motives embargoed what the definitive product eventually became. The explanation as to why Chinese Democracy took so long to complete is not simply because Axl Rose is an insecure perfectionist; it's because Axl Rose self-identifies as a serious, unnatural artist. He can't stop himself from anticipating every possible reaction and interpretation of his work. I suspect he cares less about the degree to which people like his music, and more about how it is taken, regardless of the listener's ultimate judgment. This is why he was so paralyzed by the construction of Chinese Democracy—he can't write or record anything without obsessing over how it will be received, both by a) the people who think he's an unadulterated genius, and b) the people who think he's little more than a richer, red-haired Stephen Pearcy. All of those disparate opinions have identical value to him. So I will take Chinese Democracy as seriously as Axl Rose would hope, and that makes it significantly less simple. At this juncture in history, rocking is not enough.

The weirdest (yet more predictable) aspect of Chinese Democracy is the way 60 percent of the lyrics seem to actively comment on the process of making the album itself. The rest of the vocal material tends to suggest some kind of abstract regret over an undefined romantic relationship punctuated by betrayal, but that might just be the way all hard-rock songs seem when the singer plays a lot of piano and only uses pronouns. The craziest track, "Sorry," resembles spooky Pink Floyd and is probably directed toward former GNR drummer Steven Adler, although I suppose it might be about Slash or Stephanie Seymour or David Geffen. It could even be about Jon Pareles, for all I fucking know—Axl's enemy list is pretty Nixonian at this point. The most uplifting songs are "Street Of Dreams" (a leaked song previously titled "The Blues") and the exceptionally satisfying "Catcher In The Rye" (a softer, more sophisticated re-working of "Yesterdays" that occupies a conceptual self-awareness in the vein of Elton John or mid-period Queen). The fragile ballad "This I Love" is sad, melodramatic, and pleasurably traditional. There are many moments where it's impossible to tell who Axl is talking to, so it feels like he's talking to himself (and inevitably about himself). There's not much cogent storytelling, but it's linear and compelling. The best description of the overall literary quality of the lyrics would probably be "effectively narcissistic."

As for the music—well, that's actually much better than anticipated. It doesn't sound dated or faux-industrial, and the guitar shredding that made the final version (which I'm assuming is still predominantly Buckethead) is alien and perverse. A song like "Shackler's Revenge" is initially average, until you get to the solo—then it becomes the sonic equivalent of a Russian robot wrestling a reticulating python. Whenever people lament the dissolution of the original Guns N' Roses, the person they always focus on is Slash, and that makes sense. (His unrushed blues metal was the group's musical vortex.) But it's actually better that Slash is not on this album. What's cool about Chinese Democracy is that it truly does sound like a new enterprise, and I can't imagine that being the case if Slash were dictating the sonic feel of every riff. The GNR members Rose misses more are Izzy Stradlin (who effortlessly wrote or co-wrote many of the band's most memorable tunes) and Duff McKagan, the underappreciated bassist who made Appetite For Destruction so devastating. Because McKagan worked in numerous Seattle-based bands before joining Guns N' Roses, he became the de facto arranger for many of those pre-Appetite tracks, and his philosophy was always to take the path of least resistance. He pushed the songs in whatever direction felt most organic. But Rose is the complete opposite. He takes the path of most resistance. Sometimes it seems like Axl believes every single Guns N' Roses song needs to employ every single thing that Guns N' Roses has the capacity to do—there needs to be a soft part, a hard part, a falsetto stretch, some piano plinking, some R&B bullshit, a little Judas Priest, subhuman sound effects, a few Robert Plant yowls, dolphin squeaks, wind, overt sentimentality, and a caustic modernization of the blues. When he's able to temporarily balance those qualities (which happens on the title track and on "I.R.S.," the album's two strongest rock cuts), it's sprawling and entertaining and profoundly impressive. The soaring vocals crush everything. But sometimes Chinese Democracy suffers from the same inescapable problem that paralyzed proto-epics like "Estranged" and "November Rain": It's as if Axl is desperately trying to get some unmakeable dream song from inside his skull onto the CD, and the result is an overstuffed maelstrom that makes all the punk dolts scoff. His ambition is noble, yet wildly unrealistic. It's like if Jeff Lynne tried to make Out Of The Blue sound more like Fun House, except with jazz drumming and a girl singer from Motown.

Throughout Chinese Democracy, the most compelling question is never, "What was Axl doing here?" but "What did Axl think he was doing here?" The tune "If The World" sounds like it should be the theme to a Roger Moore-era James Bond movie, all the way down to the title. On "Scraped," there's a vocal bridge that sounds strikingly similar to a vocal bridge from the 1990 Extreme song "Get The Funk Out." On the aforementioned "Sorry," Rose suddenly sings an otherwise innocuous line ("But I don't want to do it") in some bizarre, quasi-Transylvanian accent, and I cannot begin to speculate as to why. I mean, one has to assume Axl thought about all of these individual choices a minimum of a thousand times over the past 15 years. Somewhere in Los Angles, there's gotta be 400 hours of DAT tape with nothing on it except multiple versions of the "Sorry" vocal. So why is this the one we finally hear? What finally made him decide, "You know, I've weighed all my options and all their potential consequences, and I'm going with the Mexican vampire accent. This is the vision I will embrace. But only on that one line! The rest of it will just be sung like a non-dead human." Often, I don't even care if his choices work or if they fail. I just want to know what Rose hoped they would do.

On "Madagascar," he samples MLK (possible restitution for "One In A Million"?) and (for the second time in his career) the movie Cool Hand Luke. Considering that the only people who will care about Rose's preoccupation with Cool Hand Luke are those already obsessed with his iconography, the doomed messianic message of that film must deeply (and predictably) resonate with his very being. But how does that contribute to "Madagascar," a meteorological metaphor about all those unnamed people who wanted to stop him from making Chinese Democracy in the insane manner he saw fit? Sometimes listening to this album feels like watching the final five minutes of the Sopranos finale. There's no acceptable answer to these types of hypotheticals.

Still, I find myself impressed by how close Chinese Democracy comes to fulfilling the absurdly impossible expectation it self-generated, and I not-so-secretly wish this had actually been a triple album. I've maintained a decent living by making easy jokes about Axl Rose for the past 10 years, but what's the final truth? The final truth is this: He makes the best songs. They sound the way I want songs to sound. A few of them seem idiotic at the beginning, but I love the way they end. Axl Rose put so much time and effort into proving that he was super-talented that the rest of humanity forgot he always had been. And that will hurt him. This record may tank commercially. Some people will slaughter Chinese Democracy, and for all the reasons you expect. But he did a good thing here.

Grade: A-

Played it last night and Pdog is spot on the production and sound is freakin awesome.Overall its good but I personally cant find that one hit song that grabs me...yet anyway.But their fans will really dig this Im sure.Nice to have this and AC/DC to as some new kick ass rock.

I heard some clips ff youtube and it sounds interesting.  I may pick this up.

There might have been some good songs buried underneath all that production at some point but they are lost now. Still haven't listened to the whole thing though.

That review gave me a headache.   So does the album, so far.  I just don't see what's the fuss.  

Download it here:

http://zinhof.blog.hr/

listened to it all weekend, it's superb

Not bad, maybe a bit overproduced.
First 4 songs and last 5 songs, good stuff there.

rather an obvious cliche to say an album that long in the making is over-produced

lotsajizz wrote on Nov 25^th, 2008 at 7:45pm:

rather an obvious cliche to say an album that long in the making is over-produced

Yep, but overproduced in a bad way.
See Madagascar: an awesome song almost ruined by the synths, programming, samples and who knows what else.

I love it.  Worked great everytime I've seen it live.

I thought it was boring as hell, the fast forward button on my player hasn't had a workout like that since A Bigger Bang

It's a decent album, not very catchy. It's definitely not worth spending 20 years on and it's not worth the hype either. It'll never be Guns' n roses to me without Slash, Izzy, and Steve, doesn't even sound like GNR.
Sorry is a fantastic tune.