So recently Guns’N'Roses released Chinese Democracy. Well, at least word `recently’ in my world extends back forty five days. Relative to GNR’s latest release, I believe this is an applicable term, but we’re getting off subject here.
Guns’N'Roses holds a near and dear place in our musical hearts. GNR straddled a very fine line that few bands were able to maintain. They had the over the top Dinoysian culture of orgy and excess that was typical of eighties bands, yet they butted right up to the edge without crossing it in a way bands like Motley Crue had that reduced them to cartoon caricatures. They were able to incorporate conventions of eighties production that normally instantly evokes the scent of stale hairspray and runny eyeliner and dialed it back just enough to make music that couldn’t be dismissed by the excessive reverb built into the snare and bass drum. They were true songwriters – in my opinion, probably the most versatile of that era. Whatever type of sound Guns’N'Roses wished to evoke, they had the capability and talent to forge it. Slash was one of those guitar players who occupied a very rare air in that not only was his technical ability breathtaking, he had a signature to his sound that like all great axemen, is simply unduplicable.
The most fascinating character in the pantheon of Guns is William Axl Rose. Axl by all accounts is the last true rock star on planet earth. Every rock star whose music graces the shelves of Hot Topic and blogs on Myspace has an element of showmanship that is completely and totally contrived. I would completely fuck around with Atreyu and make fun of them with disdain. I might even screw around with Zakk Wylde if I thought I could get away with it. I would never fuck with Axl Rose. Axl is the last of a dying breed whose combination unparalleled volatility with unlimited resources yields a potential for vengeance that knows no limits. Few other men could generously buy high end Cristal for all in attendance at a party on nothing more than a whim, and punch a prostitute in the face for looking at him wrong in the same night. With Axl, you can’t rule this out.
Not only that, by all accounts, Axl shouldn’t be successful. His voice is completely non-traditional in the sense of modern rock. His lyrics drip with venom and anger – metalcore bands think that only by screaming with reckless abandon can you truly convey emotion – Axl can take a non-threatening rock song and imbue it with a seething rage that is undeniably potent. It is clear from repeated listenings of Guns’N'Roses catalog that never once did the opinion of his bandmates, management, label, or fanbase enter into the equation of what was put from pen to paper and how it would be sung. It is as honest and unblemished as there has ever been and probably ever will be, for the better or detriment of the material. It’s also a testament to adhering to your artistic vision, no matter what others might say or your fear of its critical reception – a concept that we hope Cwn Annwn never loses sight of.
Cwn Annwn is of the unwavering, yet extremely minority belief, in the superiority of Use Your Illusions to Appetite for Destruction. This is not to slag on Appetite which is a great record, and embodies what made Guns’N'Roses great. But Use Your Illusions showed what Guns’N'Roses was ultimately capable of before its self destructive tendencies and subsequent cryogenic freeze took hold. Use Your Illusions was a more mature album that featured for intricate composition and greater variety. It had a greater spectrum of emotion. I understand those who prefer Appetite’s rawness to Illusions’ cultivated deliberation, and the double album nature of Illusions probably resulted in some unnecessary songs, but the `A’ material of Illusions revealed a band who I felt was not only scratching the surface of their creative potential but demonstrating a versatility just not found in most artists.
This premise established, fast forward fourteen years from the Spaghetti Incident to Chinese Democracy. The first and most absolute iron clad corollary – if you liked Appetite more than Illusions, you may find Chinese Democracy novel simply because you got to hear Axl’s voice again, but you aren’t going to like it. If you liked Illusions, you are going to stand a fighting chance of loving this album, and an almost certainty that you’ll like it.
Simply put, Chinese Democracy is the next natural step in the progression from Appetite to Illusion artistically. Specifically, in the arrangements. The core of Guns’N'Roses has been straight forward riff rocking. I’m relatively convinced that the way the bulk of this album was written is that Axl wrote the song and lyrics on guitar – Axl’s guitar teacher is credited occasionally on Chinese Democracy. Once he wrote the simple groove and main idea, he then dressed it up with a mountain of exotic musical ingredients. This is a little departure in the sound on Use Your Illusions which was more of a shared musical entity rather than Axl’s autocratic vision.
This theme can be seen throughout the album. I.R.S., There Was a Time, and Chinese Democracy are at their very core, somewhat simple songs. You could probably play all of them on an acoustic guitar by yourself in a coffee house and stand a chance of them sounding okay. Some songs required a bit more composition, such as Madagascar or This I Love, but the songs still remain grounded in a base of simplicity.
But despite what one of my bandmates might say, there is nothing wrong with simplicity. Ultimately, the reason Chinese Democracy works as an album more than anything is that at its core, Axl’s a good songwriter. He always has been. His lyrics, vocal progressions, and chord progressions are always high level, likely due to his background as a solo pop piano player in his early childhood. What makes Chinese Democracy in my opinion, a great album, is the level of detail that went into making these simple songs epic.
Chuck Klosterman reviewed Chinese Democracy and noted that one if its fascinating aspects were some of the little details that you knew Axl recorded hundreds of variants on before settling on what ended up on the album, such as the Mexican vampire accent he used when singing “but I don’t want to do it” on the track Sorry. It was a 100% accurate observation. Deliberate, methodical, and painstakingly meticulous are all terms that can apply to Chinese Democracy. And while all these are anathema to the Jack Daniels swollen rock and roll debauchery of Appetite for Destruction, it’s extremely uncommon to hear an album crafted with the precision and ability that went into Chinese Democracy. Songs like “There Was a Time” and “Chinese Democracy” have a intricacy that evokes the arrangements of Queen and other progressive bands.
But, it’s a Guns’N'Roses album, and there are moments that rock. The album is littered with guitar solos embellished with the watery bluesiness that Slash helped trademark, notably the guitar solos on This I Love and Sorry. Small blazing explosions of shred erupt like fireworks without having the over the top, domineering focus that ruins Dragonforce. There are a series of aggressive, angry riffs that could have easily been found on Appetite, such as in Scraped or Rhiad and the Bedouins. Axl delivers his raspy vocal hooks with a level of unforgettableness that hasn’t waned over time, such as his yearning for a gun on Catcher in the Rye, or the hypnotic lamentations on Beter. Most of the songs on Chinese Democracy have a solid rock core that could just have easily appeared on Guns’ classic material.
That isn’t to say there aren’t missteps. No album could have been produced over fourteen years and tens of millions of dollars without some amounts of over-indulgence, such as the overly lush instrumentation on Catcher in the Rye, or the bizarre tribal Queen-like harmony at the beginning of Rhiad and the Bedouins. Certain songs such as If the World and Prostitute have potential, but just never materialize with a sense of dynamics that the albums better cuts feature.
But while critics laud Metallica’s lip service at returning to its roots with Death Magnetic, they forget that Load, Re-Load, and St. Anger were released in between their last arguably good material. The gap between Metallica’s classic albums and their latest fare is ocean sized in its vastness when compared to and perceived difference in quality between Chinese Democracy and Illusions and Appetite. It is obvious that Axl’s desire was to make the band somewhat of a modern day Led Zeppelin – a band that could not only deliver ass-kicking rock and roll, but was able to delve into any stylings and conventions of music to deliver unforgettable material. Use Your Illusions was the first step in that direction, and Chinese Democracy was the next step in that journey.
Axl Rose has always delivered on promises of volatility and unpredictability. While remaining mostly lucid, interviews with him and chat transcripts of him always have moments where he slips into the insanity that firmly grips his soul – and likely makes him genius. It is unlikely that his band will tour and further record, continuing the momentum of a big return and great album, which is too bad. Guns’N'Roses has always been synonymous with unfulfilled potential – probably why so many of us identify with them. But while it’s easy to focus what could be with Axl and Guns’N'Roses, what is with them is still pretty damn good.
- Neil
Tags: CDs, GNR, music review
