Axl Rose, Dizzy and a bunch of other good musicians that make up the 2008 version of Guns N Roses have released Chinese Democracy on MySpace first, followed by a Best Buy only release this Sunday.

After listening, I know one place I will be this Sunday besides watching the Seahawks get beat again.

Yes, you can now listen to every Chinese Democracy track in or out of order for free streaming and after the first listen through I figuratively wiped my brow.

Wow.

There are some powerful, mind bending guitar riffs in here. If like me you miss the days when songs were layered with catchy guitar solos, you are in for a serious treat when you listen to what’s behind the Chinese Democracy curtain. Major kill switch, guitar bending, screaming action on some of these tracks.

Sure, the guitar wizard Slash isn’t there — and no disrespect is intended by the title of this post or the following admission — but you don’t end up missing him that much. This is either a testament to it taking nearly 20 15 years to get this GNR album published or the reality that there are 2008 guitar wizards in the making. I saw this 8-year old kid on YouTube yesterday that might grow up to be a future guitar god, who knows.

But what does Slash think about it? He has already weighed in — and likes it:

To tell you the truth: I already listened to it. At first I thought that I would never listen to it until it’s released, but someone handed it to me and I was in my car and I was like, "Okay, let’s give it a try." So I listened to it: It’s a really good record. It’s very different from what the original GUNS N’ ROSES sounded like, but it’s a great statement by Axl. Now you understand where he was heading all this time. It’s a record that the original GUNS N’ ROSES could never possibly make. And at the same time it just shows you how brilliant Axl is. So it was a relief for me to actually hear it.

Like former GNR guitarist I too felt prepared for disappointment and was pleasantly surprised by how good this album sounds. This had Spore-like hype written all over it but unlike Spore, Chinese Democracy delivers.

Track listing and notes

1. "Chinese Democracy" - for a title track and intro to the album, I suppose it works, but it had a bit too much going on for my taste. Not that I don’t like complex music, but this one feels like you need an Iron Maiden type lineup of multiple guitarists to pull it off faithfully live. I like music that doesn’t feel too much like it was over-processed and this track just oozes over-production. This doesn’t take away from it being a decent song melodically, but stripped down a bit I bet this would have rocked more. The guitar solo foreshadows perfectly (3:26) that this will be a guitar album that kicks ass.
2. "Shackler’s Revenge" - this has been available and playable on Rock Band 2 for awhile now. One of the weakest vocal tracks IMO. A little too new wave sounding for me, although love the guitar work. Fun to play this on Rock Band.
3. "Better" - Ironically, this is where the album starts to pick up some serious steam for me. I’d heard a bootleg of this a few years back and enjoyed it then. Professionally mixed it sounds even better. Catchy verse and chorus. Layered with some thundering power chords. This could have been a B-side cut — and a good one — on Use Your Illusion II. If you were worried if Axl could still sing, this track answers with an exclamation mark. Great track.
4. "Street of Dreams" - the first mellow track on the album, heavy in the keyboard area. Axl’s verse vocals seem off the first few listens, like he’s singing in a can or something but it grew on me after a few listens. This isn’t "November Rain" or "Patience" but it’s pretty good.
5. "If The World" - has a groovy 70s-era riff going.  Almost like this could be something you heard playing in the background of a Shaft movie.
6. "There Was A Time" - an almost religious song like opening and closing, quickly replaced by a guitar moaning in the background and catchy beat. One of the best guitar solos on the album. 5:21 listen for the liberal kill switch. I think it’s songs like this that will have budding guitarists everywhere adding kill switches to their axes.
7. "Catcher In The Rye" - second mellow song. Just OK. Kind of a Bon Jovi-ish la-la-la chorus part that didn’t work very well for me. Too much layering and overdubbing here again.
8. "Scraped" - a vocal assault opening that leads into a "Rocket Queen" type riff. Digging it, especially the wah-wah guitar solo.
9. "Sorry" - Sebastian Bach of Skid Row sings backup vocals on this haunting third mellow track.  This is one where the tons of layering guitars and overdubs actually works quite well. Might be the best lyrics of any song on the album or at least the easiest to understand. Liner notes needed.
10. "Riad N’ The Bedouins" - easily wins the strangest song title award. A beginning with a theme that moves into an upbeat, rocking moaning intro. I don’t have any idea what this song is about but it jams.
11. "I.R.S" - (somewhat) mellow track #4. Better than "Catcher in the Rye" but not as good as "Sorry" and "Street of Dreams"
12. "Madagascar" - mellow track #5. There is some similarity to the last track with this one, although the beat is different. Gotta dig the clips of King’s famous "I have a dream" interspersed with the "Failure to co-mun-nicate" clip in "Civil War" — nice way to pay homage.
13. "This is Love" - this is the sixth and final mellow track complete with piano, keyboard and vocals only opening. When the guitar comes in around a minute in the song, it’s surprisingly subdued but effective. Axl layered vocals are nice. This kind of reminds me a bit of Black Sabbath "Changes" in the overall feel, though the melody is nothing like it. At 2:15 the guitar power chords start to color the song leading to a heavy, somber solo. Cheap guitar solo nowhere to be found on this album. Thanks GNR!
14. "Prostitute" - the drumbeat to this one reminds me a bit of "Locomotion" on Illusion 2. This might be my sleeper favorite of the album with the gripping melody. Some nice Axl screams before the guitar wailing. I thought at first, hey this solo was short, but stay with it as more riffing assaults your ears (in a good way) at 4:23. Oh yeah this is good. Are we going to be left with a piano outro? The drums fade into the distance and keyboards dominate. You can imagine smoke rising through the stage. And then like that it’s just … over.

Can’t stop listening to these tracks on MySpace.

Kudos aside, back down to earth it’s clear that Chinese Democracy isn’t Appetite For Destruction. There is no smoking gun of a song like "Sweet Child O’ Mine" on here, but there are several very good, catchy heavy tracks like "Better" that will get plenty of rotation. The guitar work alone deserves high marks.

Axl would likely be the first to say that creating another Appetitle wasn’t what he was trying to do. I believed he’d botch up Chinese Democracy, but there are brushes of brilliance on this album. Axl might be difficult to get along with, but there’s no denying he’s got major talent and knows the recipe for good music.

Appetite is a classic and even if the original GNR got back together I doubt they could bring back the fire and magic of that album. I’d put Chinese Democracy somewhere between Use Your Illusion I (which I didn’t much care for) and Use Your Illusion II (which is a classic). The 6 of 14 mellow songs make it feel very Use Your Illusion 2 like as far as overall theme. It’s world’s better than the crap on Spaghetti Incident. Although they are two completely different types of albums, I put it about on par with Lies.

Where does this work for a grade? The wait was much too long, but it feels worth it in a few of these songs. The overall vibe of the album is thumbs up. Easily one of my favorite albums of the year among the best of the new music by 80s bands. A few of the tracks are weak, but even the weakest are better than expected. And hey, don’t forget your free Dr. Pepper! Now I’m stoked for a live GNR concert. Grade: A-

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