Chinese Democracy

by Guns N' Roses

Overview

To put Chinese Democracy in some perspective: it arrives 17 years after the twin Use Your Illusion, the last set of original music by Guns N' Roses. Consider that 17 years prior to the Illusions, it was 1974, back before the Ramones and Sex Pistols, back before Aerosmith had Rocks and Toys in the Attic, back before Queen had A Night at the Opera -- back before almost anything that Axl Rose worships even existed. Generations have passed in these 17 years, but not for Axl. He cut himself off from the world following the trouble-ridden Use Your Illusion tour, retreating to the Hollywood Hills, swapping every original GNR member in favor of contract players culled from his mid-'90s musical obsessions -- Tommy Stinson from the Replacements, Robin Finck from Nine Inch Nails, Buckethead from guitar magazines -- as he turned into rock's Charles Foster Kane, a genius in self-imposed exile spending millions to make his own Xanadu, Chinese Democracy. Like Xanadu, Chinese Democracy is a monument to man's might, but where Kane sought to bring the world underneath his roof, Axl labored to create an ideal version of his inner world, working endlessly on a set of songs about his heartbreak, persecution, and paranoia, topics well mined on the Illusions. Using the pompous ten-minute epics "Estranged" and "November Rain" as his foundation, Axl strips away all remnants of the old, snake-dancing GNR, shedding the black humor and blues, replacing any good times with vindictive spleen in the vein of "You Could Be Mine." All this melodrama and malevolence feels familiar and, surprisingly, so does much of Chinese Democracy, even for those listeners who didn't hear the portions of the record as leaked demos and live tracks. Despite a few surface flourishes -- all the endless, evident hours spent on Pro Tools, a hip-hop loop here, a Spanish six-string there, absurd elastic guitar effects -- this is an album unconcerned with the future of rock & roll. One listen and it's abundantly clear that Axl spent the decade-plus in the studio not reinventing but refining, obsessing over a handful of tracks, and spending an inordinate amount of time chasing the sound in his head -- that's it, no more, no less. Such maniacal indulgence is ridiculous but strangely understandable: Rose received unlimited time and money to create this album, so why not take full advantage and obsess over every last detail? The odd thing is, he spent all this time and money on an album that is deliberately not a grand masterpiece -- a record that pushes limits or digs deep -- but merely a set of 14 songs. Compared to the chaotic Use Your Illusion, Chinese Democracy feels strangely modest, but that's because it's a single polished album, not a double album so overstuffed that it duplicates songs. Modest is an odd word for an album a decade-plus in the making, but Axl's intent is oddly simple: he sees GNR not as a gutter-rock band but as a pomp-rock vehicle for him to lash out against all those who don't trust him, whether it's failed friends, lapsed fans, ex-lovers, former managers, fired bandmates, or rock critics. Chinese Democracy is the best articulation of this megalomania as could be possible, so the only thing to quibble about is his execution, which occasionally is perplexing, particularly when Rose slides into hammy vocal inflections or encourages complicated guitar that only guitarists appreciate (it's telling that the only memorable phrases from Robin Finck, Buckethead, or Bumblefoot or whoever are ones that mimic Slash's full-throated melodic growl). Even with these odd flourishes, it's hard not to marvel, either in respect or bewilderment, at the dense, immaculate wall of god knows how many guitars, synthesizers, vocals, and strings. The production is so dense that it's hard to warm to, but it fits the music. These aren't songs that grab and hold; they're songs that unfold, so much so that Chinese Democracy may seem a little underwhelming upon its first listen. It's not just the years of pent-up anticipation, it's that Axl spent so much time creating the music -- constructing the structure and then filling out the frame -- that there's no easy way into the album. That, combined with the realization that Axl isn't trying to reinvent GNR, but just finishing what he started on the Illusions, can make Chinese Democracy seem mildly anticlimactic, but Rose spent a decade-plus working on this -- he deserves to not have it dismissed on a cursory listen. Give it time, listening like it was 1998 and not 2008, and the album does give up some terrific music -- music that is overblown but not overdone. True, those good moments are the songs that have kicked around the Internet for the entirety of the new millennium: the slinky, spiteful "Better," slowly building into its fury; the quite gorgeous if heavy-handed "Street of Dreams"; "There Was a Time," which overcomes its acronym and lack of chorus on its sheer drama; "Catcher in the Rye," the lightest, brightest moment here; the slow, grinding "I.R.S."; and "Madagascar," a ludicrous rueful rumination that finds space for quotations from Martin Luther King amidst its trip-hop pulse. These aren't innovations; they're extensions of "Breakdown" and "Estranged," epics that require some work to decode because Axl forces the listener to meet him on his own terms. This all-consuming artistic narcissism has become Rose's defining trait, not letting him move forward, but only to relentlessly explore the same territory over and over again. And this solipsism turns Chinese Democracy into something strangely, surprisingly simple: it won't change music, it won't change any lives, it's just 14 more songs about loneliness and persecution. Or as Axl put it in an apology for canceled concerts in 2006, "In the end, it's just an album." And it's a good album, no less and no more. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/23/2008
Label:	Black Frog / Black Frog/Geffen / Geffen / Geffen/Black Frog
UPC:	0602517906075

Tracks

1. Chinese Democracy
2. Shackler's Revenge
3. Better
4. Street of Dreams
5. If the World
6. There Was a Time
7. Catcher in the Rye
8. Scrapped
9. Riad N' the Bedouins
10. Sorry
11. I.R.S.
12. Madagascar
13. This I Love
14. Prostitute

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Guns N' Roses   Primary Artist
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal   Guitar,Soloist
Suzie Katayama   French Horn
Axl Rose   Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Sampling,Keyboards,French Horn,Synthesizer,Synthesizer Strings,Vocals (Background)
Brain   Drums,Drums
Patti Hood   Harp
Robin Finck   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar,Soloist,Keyboards
Pete Scaturro   Keyboards
Paul Buckmaster   Orchestra
Chris Pitman   Bass,Drums,Guitar (Bass),String Machine,Guitar (12 String),Vocals (Background),Keyboards,Mellotron,Synthesizer
Marco Beltrami   Orchestra
Frank Ferrer   Drums
Caram Costanzo   Drums
Eric Caudieux   Drums
Sebastian Bach   Vocals (Background)
Dizzy Reed   Piano,Keyboards,Synthesizer,Vocals (Background)
Richard Fortus   Guitar
Paul Tobias   Piano,Guitar
Tommy Stinson   Bass,Guitar (Bass),Vocals (Background)
Buckethead   Guitar,Soloist,Guitar (Acoustic)

Technical Credits

Pete Scaturro   Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Audio Engineer,Digital Editing
Jeremy Blair   Audio Engineer
Mantia   Arranger
Suzie Katayama   Arranger,Choir Arrangement,Horn Arrangements
Axl Rose   Mixing,Arranger,Composer,Audio Engineer,Vocal Producer,Digital Editing,Audio Production,Choir Arrangement,Drum Arrangements,Horn Arrangements,Orchestral Arrangements,Synthesizer Orchestration
Dan Monti   Audio Engineer
Billy Howerdel   Engineer,Audio Engineer,Digital Editing
Paul DeCarli   Audio Engineer
Ok Hee Kim   Audio Engineer
Vanessa Parr   Audio Engineer
Justin Walden   Audio Engineer
Paul Saurez   Mixing
Isaac Abolin   Audio Engineer
Bryan Mantia   Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Audio Engineer
Jose Borges   Audio Engineer
John O'Mahony   Audio Engineer
Donald Clark   Audio Engineer
Brian Carroll   Composer
Bob Koszela   Audio Engineer
Paul Tobias   Composer,Arranger,Composer
Beavan   Arranger
Mark Everton Gray   Audio Engineer
Peter Scaturro   Composer
Robin Finck   Drum Arrangements,Arranger,Composer,Producer,Digital Editing
Greg Morgenstein   Audio Engineer
Rail Jon Rogut   Audio Engineer
Shawn Berman   Audio Engineer
Paul Buckmaster   Arranger,Orchestral Arrangements
Andy Wallace   Mixing
Billy Bowers   Audio Engineer
Brain   Arranger,Drum Programming,Drum Programming,Drum Arrangements
Marco Beltrami   Arranger,Orchestral Arrangements
David Dominguez   Audio Engineer
Shinnosuke Miyazawa   Audio Engineer
Dizzy Reed   Orchestral Arrangements,Synthesizer Orchestration,Arranger,Composer,Audio Engineer
Caram Costanzo   Mixing,Editing,Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Processing,Re-Editing,Introduction,Audio Engineer,Digital Editing,Audio Production,Drum Arrangements
Eric Caudieux   Arranger,Introduction,Audio Engineer,Digital Editing,Audio Production,Drum Programming
Jeff Robinette   Audio Engineer
Scaturro   Arranger
Josh Freese   Arranger,Composer,Drum Arrangements
Sean Beavan   Arranger,Engineer,Producer,Audio Engineer,Digital Editing,Audio Production
Chris Pitman   Audio Engineer,Digital Editing,Audio Production,Drum Programming,Drum Arrangements,Additional Production,Orchestral Arrangements,Synthesizer Orchestration,Arranger,Composer,Producer,Processing
Critter   Audio Engineer
Stuart White   Audio Engineer
Tommy Stinson   Arranger,Composer
Jan Petrov   Audio Engineer
Buckethead   Arranger,Composer
James Musshorn   Audio Engineer
Mike Scielzi   Mixing
Alessandro V. Perrota   Audio Engineer
Joe Peluso   Audio Engineer
Christian Baker   Audio Engineer
Paul Payne   Audio Engineer
John Beene   Audio Engineer
Dror Mohar   Audio Engineer
Xavier Albira   Audio Engineer
Erich Tabala   Audio Engineer
Brian Monteath   Audio Engineer
Andy Gwynn   Audio Engineer