Look elsewhere for the second coming. I don’t know where, but certainly not here. I mentioned the Chinese Democracy ad campaigns in my review of the “Chinese Democracy” single and unsurprisingly, for all the bombast, anticipation and outright ridicule the album has stumbled across, it turns out that the finished product wasn’t really worth waiting 17 years for. That’s not to say it’s a disaster - the new Guns N’ Roses haven’t disgraced themselves here, and in some respects it’s actually a triumph (not least because it’s actually out!). But anyone expecting either a full-blown return to form or a hard rock opus for the 21st century will be disappointed. Neither of those targets are fulfilled, but in listening to Chinese Democracy it often seems that Axl Rose never aimed to achieve them. Derivative in parts it may be, but this album is still fiercely individualistic, dominated almost always by Axl himself, who frequently sounds like he’s singing with his back against the wall. In parts, these songs sound like a document to the chaotic and epic story that the creation of this album has been. Continue Reading

Have you seen that TV advertising campaign for the Chinese Democracy album? I saw it the other day, and whilst adverts rarely make me pay any attention, this one really knocked me back in my chair. In some ways it came across as strikingly pompous, packed as it is with dramatic black and white footage of stuff like tanks rolling around (most likely Tianenmen Square, 1989), Martin Luther King, rocket launches, and so on. When we’re told that Chinese Democracy is the “most anticipated album ever”, it seems that it’s being implied that the album’s release later this month will be a historically momentous occasion to contend with the “I Have A Dream” speech and god knows what else. Of course that is a bit pompous, and actually probably not quite what we’re supposed to think. But despite that, and despite the various leaks and red herrings over the years (”Oh My God”, for example, the much talked-about song from Arnie-vehicle End of Days‘ soundtrack, in 1999) the release of this first single is still pretty significant. There’s no getting around it - Guns N’ Roses are a huge band, and it’s been a long, long time since they released a proper single.

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