And so here we are with the circus cruising into town: “Roll up! Roll up!” for Guns N’ Roses latest, Chinese Democracy. No big thing you might think - until you consider it’s only taken ten years (give or take) for them to finally rock up with the goods. Marvel at the ringleader better known as Axl Rose as he grips and whips his motley crew into shape and delivers razor-sharp high-wire action. But do they break on through safely to the other side or do they crash and burn? RealMusic Blog swaggered up to a ringside seat, strapped itself in and prepared for the ride…
Overall, the feel is one of bombast with everything done to the nth degree - especially on the title track, opener Chinese Democracy. But hey dude, it’s rock n roll, it’s slick and it’s Axl’s show goddamnit! There are killer riffs aplenty, guitar solos from hell and vocal acrobatics courtesy of the man himself on numbers such as Shakler’s Revenge, Streets Of Dreams and There Was A Time - the final track clocking in at a whopping 6:43 (half of which appears to be a guitar solo disguised as an outro - November Rain comes to mind). Elsewhere you’ll find ghosts of long gone Guns N’ Roses classics come to life in the form of no-nonsense tracks such as Scraped and Riad N’ Bedouins. Plus, as you’d expect to find there are a couple of the ballads that Axl became so fond of during the Use Your Illusion period (circa 91′-93′) - Street Of Dreams being the pick of the overblown bunch.
One thing’s for sure, lovers of the original line-up will probably have their grievances and doubts - there are an awful lot of strings here and no Slash heroics there. But in truth, the new band have delivered an exciting and modern record - one that head-bangers and music lovers with open ears can get in to if judged on its own merits. There’s even the mystique of eastern promise bubbling under on Better and If The World. A moot point may well be the addition of what sounded like drum loops and dance-lite rhythmic styling’s on the album closer Prostitute. But hey, they say it’s the oldest profession in the world and it seems fitting this should play out the album we’ve been waiting the longest time to hear.
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Chinese Democracy is out on Monday November 24th.
(Andrew John)
