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Post by SmoothGangsta on Oct 23, 2017 19:37:25 GMT
You really should give it a listen, Azzaabb. I know I'm always trying to force the music I love onto you, but it's only because I have such faith in you that you would share my impeccable taste. Chinese Democracy is like Axl's HIStory. Very personal, angsty, paranoid, complex and beautiful. It's actually my favourite GNR record, despite Axl being the only original member on the record. From what I'm reading it appears to be Axl's Invincible - I see a pattern here Matty- and AFD was their Thriller. π I will listen to this for sure and I'm actually looking forward to finally hearing it. Impeccable taste?! I'll take that! π It's also a very well mastered album if you care about that. The mixing could be better but it's not at all compressed.
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Post by aazzaabb on Oct 24, 2017 11:25:11 GMT
From what I'm reading it appears to be Axl's Invincible - I see a pattern here Matty- and AFD was their Thriller. π I will listen to this for sure and I'm actually looking forward to finally hearing it. Impeccable taste?! I'll take that! π It's also a very well mastered album if you care about that. The mixing could be better but it's not at all compressed. Oh yes! I love a well mastered album. The fact there's no compression is great to hear and makes it good already. Hopefully will get around to hearing this tonight. π
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Post by MattyJam on Oct 24, 2017 16:23:06 GMT
You really should give it a listen, Azzaabb. I know I'm always trying to force the music I love onto you, but it's only because I have such faith in you that you would share my impeccable taste. Chinese Democracy is like Axl's HIStory. Very personal, angsty, paranoid, complex and beautiful. It's actually my favourite GNR record, despite Axl being the only original member on the record. From what I'm reading it appears to be Axl's Invincible - I see a pattern here Matty- and AFD was their Thriller. π I will listen to this for sure and I'm actually looking forward to finally hearing it. Impeccable taste?! I'll take that! π I suppose it's like Invincible in the sense that it's GNR's most divisive album amongst the fanbase, but that's more to do with the fact that Axl was the only original member featured on the album, rather than anything to do with its musical content. A valid argument can be made for it not really sounding much like a traditional Guns N Roses record (Slash's solo stuff sounds more GNR to be honest, although his solo stuff is no-way near as good as Chinese Democracy). I think it's also controversial because it was quite a radical departure in sound from the hard rock, punk roots of the original band, and sounded more industrial and nu-metal-esque, which turned off a lot of the Appetite For Destruction fans. But despite the controversy, there's still a big chunk of the GNR fanbase who adore Chinese Democracy and consider it to be the bands best album, which cannot be said for Invincible and MJ's fanbase.
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Post by SmoothGangsta on Oct 25, 2017 9:30:10 GMT
Basically classic GNR fans were annoyed they waited so long for an album that wasn't about having sex and doing drugs. That's the impression I've gotten from discussing the album on forums anyway.
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Post by SmoothGangsta on Oct 25, 2017 20:49:12 GMT
The 87 Ritz show leaked recently
It's not the full show but I'm unsure if the full show even exists.
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Post by SmoothGangsta on Oct 25, 2017 21:00:32 GMT
My favourite recent performance of this song, definitely the best since 2010 imo.
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Post by SmoothGangsta on Oct 29, 2017 14:07:56 GMT
It's also a very well mastered album if you care about that. The mixing could be better but it's not at all compressed. Oh yes! I love a well mastered album. The fact there's no compression is great to hear and makes it good already. Hopefully will get around to hearing this tonight. π Pssst, you listened yet, I'm curious to see what you think
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Post by aazzaabb on Oct 29, 2017 23:09:19 GMT
SmoothGangsta , I'm embarrassed to say I've not gotten to it yet! I've had a mad busy few days and -as geeky as this sounds- I really want to give it my full attention as I'm really looking forward to finally hearing it. I might get to it within the next hour or two.
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Post by aazzaabb on Oct 30, 2017 2:09:06 GMT
Ok, 3 songs in to Chinese Democracy, and this album is fucking great! Chinese Democracy, Shackler's Revenge and Better are all superb! On Street Of Dreams now, hearing a bit of an Elton influence on it, the melody is beautiful, actually I would say so far this is one of the most melodic albums Axl has made.
And the mastering? Fantastic; beautifully mixed. Onto If The World now. They'res a beautiful r&b vibe with almost a hint of disco. The rhythm is superb and now I'm hearing some spanish guitar at the end.
Onto There Was A Time now. Really liking the strings on it. Man, this album really shows Axl's eveloution as an artist. It's a lot broader in its style than early GNR's although by Use Youre Illusions I and II he showcased a wider range of sounds than Appetite.
I'm very surprised by how good this album is.
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Post by aazzaabb on Oct 30, 2017 2:16:46 GMT
Catcher In The Rhy would have been a book Axl would have read in school, and like Civil War on Use Your Illusions recals the assenation of JFK, this is striking in the sense that the "wish I had a gun" lyric is perhaps telling in what struck him about that story also.
Scraped is a bit more back to his roots of early GNR's tracks in that its a straight rock riff but with added backing vocals. Nice track actually.
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Post by MattyJam on Oct 30, 2017 13:36:03 GMT
What did I say??
Love reading your initial thoughts Aazzaabb. To me, the album just got better and better with subsequent listens. It's such a dense, layered and intricate record with such a storied history, there really is nothing else out there quite like it.
The mix of players on the album are incredible. I love original GNR as much as the next fan, but there's no way Slash/Duff/Izzy could've made an album like Chinese Democracy with Axl. Buckethead is incredible on the album, but for me, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal is the star player of the album. I may be getting my geek on a little bit here (as someone who openly confesses to having a major boner for OTT guitar shredding etc), but I just love it when an instrumentalist creates something completely unique and almost impossible to replicate. Listen to Ron's guitar solo in the middle of Shacklers Revenge... some fans refer to this as the "elephant solo" and give Ron shit for it, but I just love how wild and utterly crazy it sounds. Slash couldn't play that. Buckethead couldn't play that. No other guitarist in the world would be able to replicate that solo note for note, because it is so unique, even Ron himself had to sit down and study it to attempt it live. There's a reason why they dropped Shacklers Revenge from the live setlists once Ron left the band.
This is part of why I love Chinese Democracy so much, because it saw Axl push himself into areas that he just wouldn't have discovered if he was still playing with the old guys
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Post by SmoothGangsta on Oct 30, 2017 15:09:09 GMT
Yeah, my first few listens I heard something new on every song. It's so layered. Which has been a major complaint of the album but I like it.
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Post by aazzaabb on Oct 30, 2017 15:50:56 GMT
What did I say?? Love reading your initial thoughts Aazzaabb. To me, the album just got better and better with subsequent listens. It's such a dense, layered and intricate record with such a storied history, there really is nothing else out there quite like it. The mix of players on the album are incredible. I love original GNR as much as the next fan, but there's no way Slash/Duff/Izzy could've made an album like Chinese Democracy with Axl. Buckethead is incredible on the album, but for me, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal is the star player of the album. I may be getting my geek on a little bit here (as someone who openly confesses to having a major boner for OTT guitar shredding etc), but I just love it when an instrumentalist creates something completely unique and almost impossible to replicate. Listen to Ron's guitar solo in the middle of Shacklers Revenge... some fans refer to this as the "elephant solo" and give Ron shit for it, but I just love how wild and utterly crazy it sounds. Slash couldn't play that. Buckethead couldn't play that. No other guitarist in the world would be able to replicate that solo note for note, because it is so unique, even Ron himself had to sit down and study it to attempt it live. There's a reason why they dropped Shacklers Revenge from the live setlists once Ron left the band. This is part of why I love Chinese Democracy so much, because it saw Axl push himself into areas that he just wouldn't have discovered if he was still playing with the old guys Half of my initial thoughts on the album have disappeared?? Lol, not to worry. But yeah, I totally agree. This Ron Bumblefoot guy is just an incredible musican and all these guys helped Axl evolve musically. As you say, there's just no way Slash and the boys would have been able to reach these levels. And that's no disrespect towards them, it's just be honest. It's been an age since I've listened to a record thats soooo satisfying to the ears. That solo on Shackler's Revenge -theres also some stunning guitar playing towards the end of the album- is simply art. You guys also used a key word that escaped me; LAYERED!! This album is incredibly multi-layered and dense. I don't really know what I was expecting from this but it exceeded all expectations and then some. I'm not sure I would have believed Axl had this in him but I way underestimated him. Perhaps I was a little put off by his live vocals which at times struck me as a little shook and beat up, but alot of his material is far from easy to perform live and touring tends to do that. I'm going to give it another listen later at some point and we should all revisit the catalogue also and discuss. Where's TonyR I need your thoughts on this. Actually being that Dangerous is your fave MJ album, Chinese Democracy was made for you!
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Post by SmoothGangsta on Oct 30, 2017 16:03:44 GMT
Also, if anyone is interested in hearing some early demos and stuff from earlier in the makings of the album let me know. I think I still have them on my PC. It's a nice insight into how the album evolved over the many years it was in production.
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Post by aazzaabb on Oct 30, 2017 16:23:50 GMT
SmoothGangsta , would appreciate that alot man. I want to delve into this entire era and the making of the album would be ideal. Would love to hear any early demos you have.π
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