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The new Guns 'n' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" is finally seeing the light of day, 17 years after the band first started work on it. In another Soundcheck Smackdown, music critics and listeners debate whether it was worth the wait. Plus: a look inside Tra La La Blip, an electronic collective of intellectually and physically disabled musicians.
The Long Road to 'Democracy'
Hard-rock kings Guns 'n' Roses began work on a new album shortly after their "Use Your Illusion" project in the early 1990s. Few could have imagined it would take 17 years to complete, cost millions of dollars, and scare off every original band member -- save for singer Axl Rose. ...
Smackdown: Chinese Democracy
Seventeen years. Thirteen million dollars. One Axl Rose. This week, the once-mythical Guns 'n' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" finally sees the light of day. But was it worth the wait? In another Soundcheck Smackdown, Lizzy Goodman of Blender magazine and rock writer Sean Manning ("Rock and Roll Cage Match") square ...
Tra La La Blip
The debut CD from electronic collective Tra La La Blip is garnering airplay in Australia and the UK, thanks to dreamlike soundscapes and vocals. Many people don’t know that members of the collective's four bands are intellectually and physically disabled. Founder Randolf Reimann joins us to talk about the project.
Criticsourcing: SJ on Chinese Democracy
I’d give it 8/10. Every song is awesome except “Shackler’s Revenge” and “Catcher in the Rye.” “Shackler’s Revenge” has a bit too much of an industrial and nu-metal influence, and it really bugs me. “Catcher in the Rye” looks promising from the name but ends up being a really boring ...
Criticsourcing: Nathan on Chinese Democracy
It was never going to be great. Just like Brian Wilson's "Smile", somewhere around the 5-10 year mark the potential for this album to actually deliver was done. When you spend that much time in the studio tinkering on something, one thing is for sure. It's going to be a ...
Criticsourcing: Spliff on Chinese Democracy
It's not as terrible as I thought it would be. Axl sounds fantastic. "Better" is probably his best vocal work ever (even though it's heavily edited). "IRS" has very impressive falsetto work. "Chinese Democracy" rocks hard, though simplistically, and has a gutteral scream that totally gets you hyped to hear ...
Criticsourcing: Robby on Chinese Democracy
It took him 15 years to make the album, but it sounds more like all the music that has come into popular play in the past 5 years or so. The production, the "wall of sound" that I always hear now, and the effects on his voice all make the ...
Criticsourcing: Douglas on Chinese Democracy
Alright, it's been a long time. Everybody gets it, but that really has nothing to do with the album. If all everyone does is focus on that then what's the point really? A review is about the music so let's cut to that. The track list is as follows: 1. ...
At long last, "Chinese Democracy" arrives
How you respond to the long, long-awaited Guns N Roses album, “Chinese Democracy,” will probably depend on whether you were already a GNR fan. The band has always had a fairly wide fan base, including the hard-rock fans and enough punks, power poppers, and metalheads to fill the country’s ...