Chinese Democracy

I almost can't believe it, but I just heard three Guns N Roses songs from the new album Chinese Democracy....and they were actually good!

Maybe not 17 years in the making good (I don't count The Spaghetti Incident as their last studio album, so I'm counting from '91 when the excellent Use Your Illusion albums were released), but it appears Axl may not have totally stunk up the joint like a lot of us were speculating he would. Even if he does look like a really pale version of Ali G now.



The site antiquiet somehow procured nine songs from the new album and posted them here.
We all knew this album would get leaked eventually, so my hats off to these guys (and/or gals) for being the ones to release it to the public. Good work!

I was able to hear "Chinese Democracy", "IRS" and "The Blues" before they had to take the player down...I'd imagine they needed to make some adjustments before their server crashed. Hopefully they will be able to get it back up and I can hear the other six songs, but I'm sure enough legal action will be threatened that they will be forced to take it down completely. That was good stuff for those of us who got to hear it though. Axl's voice sounded great (the studio has always been kind to his vocals) and the band is solid. When I heard them play new songs live on the last tour, I wasn't wild about them, but these studio versions were definitely enjoyable. There has been a lot of talk about a more industrial sound to the new music, but I only heard some fancy keyboard sound effects and samples in "IRS"...otherwise it was straight ahead rock. I wish I could give you a more thorough and informed review, but I only got to hear the songs once and barely absorbed them...I just know that they didn't suck.

Wonder if this means an actual release date is looming in 2008? I hope so because I love Dr. Pepper and they'll owe me a free soda if this album hits shelves this year!