BON JOVI – The Circle (2009 Island CD/DVD edition)
The Circle is an apt title for this Bon Jovi album. They returned from their pop country detour down the Lost Highway and returned to essentially exactly where they were on the previous album, Have A Nice Day. If you are familiar with Bon Jovi, you know that Have A Nice Day was an OK record full of pop rock like “Last Cigarette”, modern and slick. That’s what this record is too, but that’s starting to get a little old.
First single “We Weren’t Born To Follow” (I find that title ironic as Bon Jovi didn’t spend much of their career leading, musically) is a great, uptempo song with a catchy chorus and slick guitar playing by Richie Sambora. It’s another in a long succession of latter day Pop Jovi successes. The best tune on this record is the the “statement song” regarding the economic collapse: “Work For The Working Man”. However, isn’t there something we’ve heard here before? Doesn’t Hugh McDonald’s bassline sound a lot like the one from “Livin’ On A Prayer”? Even if it’s little more than a rewrite of the same hook, it’s a great song with a powerful chorus. It has some muscle to it, and is one of the few songs on the album that does. Rhythmic and strong, this echoes not only “Prayer” but also “Keep The Faith” in some respects.
Elsewhere on the album, there are some intriguing sounds that almost remind me of the back-to-basics goodness that was These Days, and the heavier moments on Bounce (see: “Bullet”). However “Bullet” is also bears unpleasant similarities to Collective Soul. There are also moments that take me back to Lost Highway and Crush ,but not in a good way. Songs like “Fast Cars” and “Brokenpromiseland” (ugh!) just sit there like the flaccid Pop Jovi songs that they are. Bon Jovi are on cruise control.
My two favourite Bon Jovi albums of recent vintage (ie: post-Keep the Faith) are the criminally underrated These Days, and Bounce. What the band need to do is: A) get their MVP back, Mr. Richie Sambora. B) write an album without all these outside writers like John Shanks and Billy Falcon, based on rock and roll, not the radio. The Circle is close at times. “Learn To Love” for example was written by Jon and Richie with Desmond Child, and approaches a vintage These Days epic quality.
How likely is Bon Jovi to rock out like they used to? The DVD documentary included with this edition of The Circle is not encouraging. Entitled When We Were Beautiful (named for the U2-like song on the album), it is an insightful look into the inner workings of Bon Jovi. It also has some enticing live clips. (Please, Jon, please! Release a full length audio version of Richie singing “I’ll Be There For You”, it’s great!) However it is quite clear that Jon is the driving force of the band, and the rest of the guys are salaried employees of the corporation. Jon is very clear that he’s a businessman and he must make albums that he thinks people will like. It’s unfortunate that he’s decided that pop music is the answer. I think it’s unlikely Jon will be breaking new ground again soon.
There are several Quiet Riot live albums available: this one, Setlist, Live at the US Festival, and Live & Rare. All are vintage recordings from the early 1980’s. Of the three, you might look at Extended Versions and pass on it. It looks cheap and unofficial. To overlook this CD would be a mistake, and this is why.
Sure, it lacks any sort of booklet or liner notes. All I know is that the first eight tracks are from Pasadena in 1983, and the last two from Nashville the same year. From the outside you wouldn’t know that. The only information is the ominous “Recorded Live” which tells you very little indeed. Being 1983, this is the “classic” lineup of Kevin DuBrow, Frankie Banali, Rudy Sarzo, and Carlos Cavazo, on the Metal Health tour. Introducing “Love’s A Bitch,” DuBrow reveals that they only began their US tour a short while ago.
Perhaps because it’s early in the tour, or maybe because they’re home in California, Quiet Riot pulled out two rarities for the Pasadena show. These are “Gonna Have A Riot” and “Anytime You Want Me”, neither of which are on Quiet Riot I or II. Both are written solely by DuBrow, but “Gonna Have A Riot” is from the Randy Rhoads period. “Anytime You Want Me” is of more recent vintage, and it’s actually quite an excellent pop rocker. Also rare was the set opener, “Danger Zone”, unreleased until 2001 when the studio version was added to the Metal Health remastered CD.
In addition to the rarities, you get the hits: “Metal Health”, “Cum On Feel The Noize”, “Slick Black Cadillac”, “Love’s A Bitch”. There’s also a handful of well liked album cuts such as “Let’s Go Crazy” and the smoking “Breathless”. That song knocked me out as an 11 year old and it still does today. All performed by the band in their prime, before the downfall.
Live & Rare sounded awful, but this CD sounds pretty good. I’m not sure if it’s a radio broadcast, but it’s perfectly listenable. It’s too bad there’s no packaging, because if this had been packaged with more effort and care, it could have been sold as an “official” live album quite easily. Bummer there’s no liner notes, all you’re going to get is the music. However, the music stands up for itself and it’s an enjoyable live album.
Eric Carr, who should by all rights be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his bandmates, is such a tragic loss. He earned himself a legion of fans after just 10 years in Kiss. Knowing that Marko Fox is one such fan, I asked him what the other Fox meant to him:
“Being both a Fox and a drummer, I can positively say that Eric Carr’s work on Creatures of the Night remains one of the coolest achievements in rock…If only I could figure out how to master his makeup design…”
All true. But Eric Carr wasn’t just a drummer. He could play enough guitar and bass to write songs, and he could sing. His voice wasn’t super commercial, but neither is Gene Simmons’. One reason his loss is painful is because Eric was a virtually untapped well of creativity. I think every Kiss fan knows that Eric Carr was unhappy that he had so few lead vocals and writing credits on his Kiss albums.
Rockology is a series of demos, some in a near-finished state and some left incomplete. Recorded in the late 80’s, before Eric knew he was sick, these were to be used for cartoons and other miscellaneous projects. Bruce Kulick finished recording some guitar parts and mixed it 10 years later. He also wrote liner notes explaining origins and intentions for each track.
While there is nothing here that screams “hit single” today, in the late 80’s it would be easy to imagine “Somebody’s Waiting” on the radio with Paul Stanley singing. It would fit right into that Kiss Hot In The Shade or Crazy Nights era. Other songs here are more heavy and riff based, such as the Gene-esque opener “Eyes of Love”. When Eric sings the heavier songs, his voice falls into a Gene-like monster growl. On the ballads, his falsetto echoes Paul Stanley. Most songs here would have made excellent Kiss album tracks. Most are better than the filler that Kiss was padding their albums with in the late 80’s. It is a shame none of these songs were finished by Kiss themselves, as the full band would have made them more special.
Best track: the unfinished “Just Can’t Wait”. This instrumental has a really catchy guitar part, and I just know if it had been finished with verses and a chorus, it would have been classic. It was written for Crazy Nights by Eric, Bruce and Adam Mitchell.
Special mention must of course go to Bruce Kulick. He overdubbed guitar solos for a few of the songs, and I am sure each one came from the heart. Bruce is a very intelligent musician, but he’s also more passionate than he often gets credit for. I’m sure for Bruce it was passion rather than money that inspired him here.
Buyer beware, however: These songs are definitely unfinished. They are as polished as possible given some of their rough origins, but in some cases there are no drums, just drum machines. In other cases, there are no lyrics, just scratch vocals. Eric’s talent still shines on every song. His is a life that Kiss fans will continue to mourn.
The Kiss army, especially the lovers of the 80’s, need this as a crucial companion piece to their collections. Everybody else will have a tough time justifying owning it.
Dedicated to Iron Tom Sharpe, who doesn’t understand that sometimes you just have to blow off steam and review a shitty album.
POISON – Hollyweird (2002 Cyanide Music)
I have a soft spot for Poison, and I have every album. Every album that is, except Hollyweird. After several spins in-store, I realized this was never an album I was going to listen to again. (Although I did, for this review actually — you’re welcome.) Let’s face it, a “classic Poison lineup” reunion is not exactly earthshaking, especially when they traded down a true maestro in Blues Saraceno for CC to return. Not to mention Richie Kotzen before him. CC will never be classified as a guitar hero. It’s CC’s songwriting that he brings to the Poison table, that and some sloppily good rhythms. However Poison’s songwriting on Hollyweird is much like the production values — flat and dull.
13 songs clocking in at just over 40 minutes, this is a collection of short pop rockers and ballads. The cover of “Squeeze Box” is pretty putrid, and Who fans would cringe if they happened upon it. Most of the originals are just plain dull, lacking the bombast, hooks, flash and excitement of any previous Poison album, Native Tongue included. If only Poison could have continued along the lines that they were pursuing with Crack A Smile, or even re-recorded it with CC. Alas, this is the worst of all Poison studio albums, and it was such a lame duck that the band never recorded another one (as of 2014, this is the most recent Poison studio album aside from the covers-only Poison’d).
The opening and riff to “Hollyweird” is pretty decent, but the song itself is pretty suck-tastic. Maybe I should take back what I said about CC. He’s the only good thing about this song. “Shooting Star” (a supposed sequel to “Fallen Angel”) is annoyingly bass heavy, and Bobby Dall ain’t that great a bassist. CC’s riff is the only good thing about it, since the chorus is drowned out in mush. Thom Panuzio isn’t a hack producer by any stretch, but he didn’t even show up on Hollyweird. Then, somebody thought it would be a good idea to let CC DeVille sing lead on “Emperor’s New Clothes”. The sad thing is it’s one of the better songs (even though it sounds more like Sum 41 than Poison). CC sings three songs on Hollyweird, but who cares?
Lowlights: Stinky “Squeeze Box,” whack “Wishful Thinkin’,” generic “Get Ya Some,” dull “Devil Woman,” horrible “Home”…or should I say “Homes,” since both Bret and CC have their own versions of this pop-punk wannabe? (In a row!)
Back in 1986, a lot of the rockers in my neighborhood had given up on Diamond Dave; we just couldn’t swallow “California Girls” and still wear our Judas Priest shirts proudly. On the flipside, we really dug Sammy’s “I Can’t Drive 55”. When the split and new singer were announced, we waited hopefully that Van Halen with Hagar in tow would produce something that really rocked. Then in early ’86 we saw that embarrassing live video for “Why Can’t This Be Love”, and all hopes were dashed. Eddie playing keyboards instead of guitar? What was with Sammy’s poofy short ‘do? And that out-of-tune scat? THIS was the new Van Halen?!
Way on the other side of the country in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Craig Fee remembers 1986 much like I do:
“I had been riding the Van Halen roller coaster through the DLR solo EP and all the pre-world wide web breakup speculation in magazines, and on all the rock radio stations in the area. When I’d heard that Sammy Hagar was the new lead singer, I was thrilled! I loved Sammy’s solo work. A friend quickly introduced me to Montrose (I was too young for that era of his career). I was fully on the Van Hagar bandwagon! This is gonna be AWESOME!!! Can’t wait to hear the new material!
“I first heard “Why Can’t This Be Love?” over a scratchy FM signal from Seattle. It sounded…different from 1984. Very different from anything on Diver Down.
“The video was to debut the next day on MuchMusic. My buddy Dan and I rushed home from school to watch (and record on his BetaMax) the debut of…a concert video? Gnarly!
“We must’ve played it a dozen times after the world premiere. Both of us were huge fans. It was after the 8th rewind and playback that both of us realized the same thing. It’s the same feeling when your team is expected to ‘win it all this year’ and gets thoroughly outplayed in the finals. That numbness mixed with pride, anxiety and half-hearted disappointment.”
The gnarly “new Van Halen video”
5150 isn’t as bad as we feared it would be, in fact it’s quite good in spots. Its major flaw is that this was a band in upheaval, and David Lee Roth was such a huge part of their sound. 5150 is a transitional album. It picks up with the keyboard flavours of 1984, and moves forward into parts unknown. Musically, most of this album was written with Dave still in the band. In his autobiography, Crazy From The Heat, Dave describes the music that Van Halen were writing as “morose”, reflective of the overall mood of the band.
While 5150 is not a completely joyless affair, it is considerably less upbeat than the party rock that they specialized in with Dave. Ballads have replaced Dave’s snarky winks and smiles. Sammy Hagar was obviously an apt replacement; he’s an accomplished singer, songwriter and guitar player, and he has a great voice. The fit however was awkward at first as Van Halen shoehorned Hagar into the songs written with Dave.
Things start out well enough. “Good Enough” is an upbeat boogie-oriented party rocker. Great song, but the production is painfully thin. The drums clank along, awkward electronic toms creating a cacophony of noise. The guitar lacks Eddie’s trademark “brown” warmth. Where Dave called the album “morose” I would use the word “cold”.
Then, “Why Can’t This Be Love”; better than the live video version but still containing a weird bridge section featuring Sammy scatting. It’s a good song, a great song even, but it feels tired lyrically and musically. Perhaps Dave could have turned it classic, much like he did with “I’ll Wait”. Sometimes when listening to 5150, it hurts to imagine what might have been.
“Get Up” is an OTT (over-the-top) rocker, almost too fast as it sounds at times like the band is falling apart. This sloppiness of old is refreshing. Alex throws in some tasty fills. Mike, Ed and Al’s backing vocals help make this sound like a real Van Halen rocker. Nothing mindblowing or earth shattering, but enough to keep the album moving. If it had been produced with more oomph, it really could have been something.
Up next is “Dreams”, a simple little keyboard ballad. Eddie’s first guitar solo consists of just two notes! This isn’t a bad song, but far too reliant on that pop keyboard lick. It doesn’t feel very Halen, but Sammy definitely proves his vocal chops.
Side one ended with the classic “Summer Nights”. Although it was a B-side (to “Love Walks In”) I think it should have been a single in its own right. I find the funky verses to be a bit awkward, but the chorus to be irresistible. This is a party rocker, obviously and perfectly suited to those hot summer nights with your radio.
The second half of this wax commences with “Best of Both Worlds”, a pseudo-rocker, but it lacks balls and spark that we have come to expect from a Van Halen rock song. The chorus is decent and obviously the song has become something of a live classic. It wouldn’t make my personal best-of tape. Craig had a much more turbulent relationship with the song:
“‘Best Of Both Worlds’ is the song that might’ve been the catalyst for my divorce of Van Hagar as the logical continuation of my favourite band. The lyrics are absolute fucking cornball nonsense. Look them up. You’ll see what I mean. The Live Without A Net version on the B-side of the single brought me vivid flashbacks of those awful pink sweat pants Eddie wore onstage for the concert video. Those terrible Sammy and Mike harmonies. That cheesy walk Mike, Sammy and Ed did onstage. Sammy’s spray painting of the shoes and the accompanying ad-lib were possibly the lamest shit I’ve ever heard. Do you think David Lee Roth would’ve had a pair of fucking SHOES thrown onstage? Hell no!”
“Love Walks In” also would not make my personal best-of tape. Maybe this is how Dave defined “morose”? Another keyboard song, and softest on the album, this is Van Halen entering uncharted territory: a commercial power ballad. If they felt like they couldn’t do this kind of song with Dave, they must have felt great when this song went to #22. Lyrically, Sammy’s talking about aliens. Yes, aliens! (Sammy Hagar believes he has been an abductee.) And love. I don’t really get the lyrics, but witness lines such as:
“Contact, asleep or awake,”
“Some kind of alien, waits for the opening,”
“Silver lights, shinin’ down,”
“I travel far across the milky way,”
So there’s that. But in the same song, lines like “There she stands in a silken gown,” and love walking in. I’m not sure where Sammy was going with it. I’m sure most listeners didn’t really pick up on the UFO concept at the time. But who cares when everybody in the sold-out arena has their cigarette lighters out?
Up next is “5150”, another rocker along the lines of “Best of Both Worlds”, but faster and with a lot more life. This is not a bad song. Shame the album doesn’t have more like this.
Lastly is “Inside”, a song that I just can’t decide if I like or not. It’s barely a song, more like a story with a bassline, and an entire band sounded completely wasted. It grooves along with a robotic synth bass riff. Sammy’s on top of it, telling a story about…new shoes? Not sure exactly. The band, audible in the background, sound loaded but having fun. It’s like something off Diver Down, if Diver Down was performed by robots. As strange as it is, this song sounds like Van Halen, in the sense of a wasted band who isn’t afraid to play whatever the fuck they want. Unfortunately it also sounds like half an idea.
That’s 5150, the massive #1 smash hit (a first for this band), but also transitional album. I think the following disc, OU812, is stronger and more comfortable (albeit sounding unfinished). But to get from A to B, you have to make a journey and that’s what 5150 is. It may lack power, it may be half-loaded with sap, it may sound weak. The tour supporting it was a tremendous success and many of these songs became concert staples.
Craig Fee tells me that this is his favourite Van Hagar-era album. “Probably because I listened to the living shit out of it trying to love it.”
IRON MAIDEN – Revenge Is Living In the Past (2006 live bootleg CD, The Godfatherecords)
Astute metal fans know that there have been couple very special Iron Maiden tours of late that were not commemorated with a live album. That’s shocking considering how many live albums Maiden’s done since reuniting with Bruce and Adrian in 1999 (four). The one I had been seeking the most was the Matter of Life and Death tour. On that tour, Maiden played every song from that excellent album in sequence. Some moaned and complained about the shows being loaded top-heavy with an album 70 minutes in length. Those people did not appreciate what they were witnessing, which was the only time you were going to be hearing most of these songs live. And what great songs they are. I am on record with A Matter of Life and Death being among my favourite Iron Maiden albums.
Then, at the Toronto Musical Collectibles Record & CD Sale 2014, I found it: A soundboard recorded double CD from Stockholm, November 18 2006. This was the second of two nights at the Globe arena. (They would return to Stockholm again a week later on the 25th!) I do not pay money for “burned” (CD-R) bootlegs, and one vendor had hundreds of beautifully packaged, factory pressed live bootlegs. They had many from this label, The Godfatherecords, all in lovely digipacks. I paid $40, the most I paid for any single item at the CD show. This was well below the $60 that I paid 15 years ago for the awful Virtual Lights Strikes Over France, also by Iron Maiden. I think $40 was a fair price for a double bootleg CD of this quality.
How does a live performance of A Matter of Life and Death hold up? Remarkably well! In fact there was only one song that I felt didn’t work well, which was “The Longest Day”. It’s a great song on album, but live, Bruce’s vocal is more erratic. Still, it is hard to be critical since this is but a blip in the course of the CD. The songs are remarkably album-accurate otherwise, with Steve and Adrian providing backing vocals where needed.
“Different World” is a brilliant opener, and the crowd is immediately fired up. Also well received was the single “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg”. At the conclusion of A Matter of Life and Death, Maiden break into “Fear of the Dark,” and the crowd sings along to every word, as they often do. The set closes with classics: “Iron Maiden,” “2 Minutes to Midnight,” “The Evil That Men Do,” and “Hallowed Be Thy Name”. All brilliant of course. It is good to have an excellent sounding commemoration of this tour. I had never really understood why Iron Maiden did not release their own official CD. That’s why the world needs bootleggers.
The Godfatherecords generously filled out the second CD with four songs from another very special show: Rome, October 27 1981. Why is that special? It was only Bruce Dickinson’s second show with the band! Ever! Paul Di’Anno’s final show was only a couple weeks prior, on the 10th. From this show, we get “Iron Maiden,” “Transylvania” (what a bizarre song to include since it’s instrumental), “Drifter” and “Prowler”. I don’t think I have a copy of Bruce singing “Drifter” on anything else I own!
The sound quality is not that great, as expected. The lineup then was Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Clive Burr. Immediately obvious is that the band were playing much faster back then, and Bruce’s range was greater. It’s very cool to hear Steve Harris himself do the song introduction on “Transylvania”! I don’t think I’ve ever hear him speak so much on stage before. (He also introduces “Prowler” with Bruce.) And Bruce singing “Drifter”? Very different. The audience “Yo yo yo yo’s!” along to Bruce, but it sure sounds weird to hear anybody but Paul Di’Anno doing it.
This is a great CD, and if you happen upon it, I recommend you add it to your collection.
You had to know Kiss were going to come out with another Greatest Hits set to celebrate their 40th anniversary. This is in addition to the massive, beautiful Kissteria vinyl box set. I’m looking forward to KISS 40, since it will include some live recordings previously only available on Kiss’ Instant Live discs. It will also include “Reputation”, an early Kiss demo previously unreleased.
In addition, the Japanese will get their own exclusive bonus track, so I have pre-ordered that version from the fine folks over at CDJapan. I have been a satisfied customer there since 2008.
Complete KISS 40 tracklist is below:
‘Nothin To Lose’
‘Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll’
‘C’mon and Love Me’
‘Rock And Roll All Nite’ (Live)
‘God Of Thunder’ (Demo)
‘Beth’
‘Hard Luck Woman’
‘Reputation’ (Demo) – Previously Unreleased
‘Christine Sixteen’
‘Shout It Out Loud’ (Live)
‘Strutter ‘78′
‘You Matter To Me’ (Peter Criss)
‘Radioactive’ (Gene Simmons)
‘New York Groove’ (Ace Frehley)
‘Hold Me, Touch Me’ (Paul Stanley)
‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’ (Single Edit)
‘Shandi’
‘A World Without Heroes’
‘I Love It Loud’
‘Down On Your Knees’
‘Lick It Up’
‘Heaven’s On Fire’
‘Tears Are Falling’
‘Reason To Live’
‘Let’s Put The X In Sex’
‘Forever’ (Remix)
‘God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II’
‘Unholy’ (Live)
‘Do You Love Me?’ (MTV Unplugged)
‘Room Service’ (Live)
‘Jungle’ (Radio Edit)
‘Psycho Circus’
‘Nothing Can Keep Me From You’ (Detroit Rock City soundtrack)
BLACK SABBATH – 13(2013 Universal deluxe, Best Buy, and Spotify editions)
Last year, Uncle Meat gave us his detailed review of Black Sabbath’s 13. (His rating: 3.25/5 stars. Check out his full review for the scoop on the first CD of this metal monolith.) Having had almost a year to live with it myself, I think it’s time I got around to reviewing the songs he didn’t: the bonus tracks!
The deluxe and Best Buy editions have “Methademic,” “Peace of Mind,” and “Pariah.” “Methademic” is cool for being a fast-paced heavy rocker, something I associate more with a Dio kind of sound. It’s a good track, good enough that Sabbath play it live. Geezer’s got a serious groove going on with the bass part, and Brad Wilk is playing with furious drive. You wouldn’t consider this song to be as good as any on the first CD of 13, but it’s a great bonus track.
“Peace of Mind” is of equal quality to “Methademic.” This time Sabbath have gone back to doomy, but Ozzy’s vocal melody takes it to a special place. All it’s missing is that looseness that only Bill Ward could provide. It sounds so authentically Black Sabbath, but if you concentrate on the beat, you can hear that the loose swing of old is not there. Having said that I enjoy “Peace of Mind” very much, especially when it picks up after the 2:15 mark.
My favourite of this trio of songs is “Pariah.” It occupies a mid-paced groove which chugs along nicely. Tony has a couple cool riffs in it, but once again Ozzy’s vocal seals the deal. Tony’s guitar solo is icing on the cake. I love when he has a chance to slow down and play bluesy, as he does here.
Japanese fans, and Best Buy shoppers have their own exclusive bonus track, and it’s the one with the best title: “Naïveté in Black.” You have to love that. This smoker is similar to “Time Machine,” from Dehumanizer. I don’t know why a song this good was left to Best Buy, because it’s better than the other three. It’s definitely unique among the 13 songs for sounding more like Dio-Sabbath than Ozzy-Sabbath; perhaps that’s the primary reason. Count me as a big fan of “Naïveté in Black.”
Finally even Spotify have a bonus track, which is “Dirty Women,” live. This is with Tommy Clueftos on drums, from the same show as the recent Gathered In Their Masses live DVD (but not the CD). I am fortunate enough to have an excellent quality copy of the song burned to a CD, the perfect final bonus track to 13.
But that’s not all folks. With the deluxe box set edition, there’s a DVD as well. There is a brief documentary about the reunion and recording of the new album. There are quite a few humorous moments, but I do not consider this to be much of a bonus. All this stuff is available for free on youtube. I don’t value a physical copy of something like this as much as I value a physical copy of a song.
Best moment:
Fan – “I came all the way from Croatia!”
Ozzy – “Where the fuck is that?”
The deluxe set is large and very nice to look at, but I considered it sparse in terms of worthwhile goodies. There are lots of large glossy photos, but they’re not up to handling repeatedly. There’s a print of the “God Is Dead?” single art, a 2 CD set (minus “Naïveté in Black”), and 13 on double 180 gram vinyl LPs. Everything is lovely and fragile. There’s also far too much room in the box itself for everything, so things move around inside. That’s a bit of a design flaw just to save on some extra cardboard packaging.
The Best Buy set came with a T-shirt, which I have kept in-package. You can find pictures of both versions below.
By request of reader Johnny Sixx: A review of Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy so long that I split it into two installments.For the first part, click here.
GUNS N’ ROSES – Chinese Democracy(2008 Geffen)
Chinese Democracy, over a decade in the making, became both the biggest joke in rock and the most anticipated album of all time. It polarized music fans as expected. Was it worth the wait? That’s a pretty hard question to quantify. Ultimately it’s up to the individual. Did I expect more, personally?
No. I didn’t expect more. I got what I expected. I did hope for more, but by and large I was very happy with Chinese Democracy.
My first exposure to these songs came in 2001, after the Rock In Rio concert. I downloaded all the new tunes from Limewire. (Remember Limewire?) My favourite of the new tunes was “The Blues” (later renamed “Street of Dreams”) but I also loved “Chinese Democracy”, “Madagascar” and a track called “Silkworms”. Those of us who had heard the songs in advance of the album release were much more likely to enjoy the new GN’R for what it is: Axl attempting to keep the GN’R name going, and stay current. For better or for worse.
For Axl, staying current meant incorporating more electronics. It also meant replacing feel-based guitar players like Slash with shredders. No, this does not sound like the dirty, blues-based majesty of Appetite. Yet, it does rock. Hard. Add in some samples, lush ballads and some cool lyrics and we have a modern followup to Use Your Illusion I and II. It has the same diversity and experimental bent, even if it sounds nothing like those two albums.
I won’t sit here and defend Axl’s decision to keep going with the name, that’s a dead horse that’s been flogged over and over again. It is what it is, and at least Axl has chosen musicians that are at the top of their fields. The Rock In Rio lineup was already long gone by the time of this album release, but all those guys contributed to Chinese Democracy. That means you will hear guitar solos by ex-members Robin Finck (an underrated player) and the incredible Buckethead. You will also hear drums by Brain, and Frank Ferrer too. You will have contributions from everybody. Hell, you will even get one song that dates back to the Slash n’ Duff years called “This I Love”, another epic ballad. It was written way back in 1993; it’s most likely the oldest song here.
The album is chock full of riffage. The title track itself (written by Axl and ex-drummer Josh Freese, yes that Josh Freese) is a monster. That riff is infectious, as are the verses. Axl loads the whole album full of vocal hooks, piano hooks, guitar hooks — this album may pack more hooks per minute than any other in history, who knows? He certainly had time to come up with and perfect them.
This is an even more dramatic Guns N’ Roses than anything before. Some might say over-dramatic. You thought “Estranged” was epic? This is even more so. Yet, boiled down, “Street of Dreams”, “Madagascar”, and “Better” are all emotion-drenched tunes and extremely well written and executed. The production, as expected, is thick and sweet. Maybe too sweet. A tune like “If The World” for example might have been better served with more basic guitar oriented production? Who knows? I’m sure Axl has done a thousand mixes of each of these songs, before selecting these final versions.
Highlights: “Better” for its angry, awesome riffage. “Street of Dreams” as the natural successor to “November Rain”. The title track, for anger and aggression. “Madagascar” as the next “Civil War”.
Lowlights: Wasn’t much into “Scraped”, “If The World”, and the overly-techno “Shackler’s Revenge”. Illusions had filler too, y’know.
Most of all I love the playing. These are some of the best players in the world, bar none. Plus a guy like Tommy Stinson is a rock veteran with a history longer than Axl’s. With these kinds of experienced rockers on board, Chinese Democracy was bound to be impressive. What Chinese Democracy lacks are two things:
1. Band chemistry. You can’t fake it.
2. A suitable predecessor. If Guns had even one interim album to bridge the sounds and introduce new members gradually, Chinese Democracy wouldn’t sound like such a shock to the old-time fans.
It may turn out that Chinese Democracy is as close to a “bridge” record as we will get. Axl claims the next two albums that he’s written are even more extreme departure from the Guns sound.
Hopefully, those next two Guns N’ Roses records will eventually materialize. They should include “Silkworms” a great punky synth-rocker, and a song that Sebastian Bach raves about called “The General”. Whenever Axl feels motivated enough to finish them.
By request: A review of Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy so long that I split it into two parts. Part Two comes tomorrow. Read on!
RECORD STORE TALES Part 285: Chinese Democracy
The story goes like this:
In late 1994/early 1995, T-Rev and I would update the store’s “new releases board” every few weeks. This board advertised what new releases were coming in the weeks and months ahead. When I was given my own store, T-Rev took over the original as manager, and continued on diligently with the new releases board.
Of course, one of the most anticipated releases even back in 1994 and 1995 was the “new” Guns N’ Roses. We’d sat through solo albums from Izzy, Duff, Gilby and finally Slash himself. While Izzy and Gilby came close to the mark, none of these were a substitute for a real Guns N’ Roses album. The only official new Guns N’ Roses CD that we had for sale was the CD single for “Sympathy For the Devil”. Little did we know back then that “Sympathy” was like the straw that broke the Guns’ backs! (Axl had secretly brought in Paul Huge as Gilby Clarke’s replacement, and had him overdub “answer” solos to go with Slash’s. Slash was furious, especially since Axl fired Gilby without telling anyone.)
The rumours were always buzzing, so T-Rev would periodically call me. “Mikey! Do you know any more new releases I can add to the board?” I was always checking out M.E.A.T Magazine, and inside a recent issue (March/April 1994), Slash himself said he was mixing the new album himself, and that it would be out by summer. He actually went into quite a bit of detail regarding the new Guns N’ Roses album in this article. He offered no song titles, but it’s easy to tell from his descriptions that many of the songs ended up on his and Gilby’s solo albums. He downplays Axl Rose’s contribution to the project considerably.
An excerpt:
Flush with cryptic updates such as these, I would always be able to help T-Rev keep the new release board up to date.
“Yeah man, I got a Guns N’ Roses update for you,” I would tell him on the phone. “The new album’s coming out next quarter.” After M.E.A.T Magazine went bust in 1995, I would have kept up with the latest Hit Parader or RIP Magazine. The release dates kept getting pushed back.
Every month, T-Rev would dutifully change the board. Guns N’ Roses – spring 1995. Then the next month, he’d call me again. “Anything new?” And I’d let him know whatever I’d read. “The album’s scheduled for summer. This is according to Metal Edge,” or whatever.
And the board changed again. Fall 1995. Christmas 1995. Spring 1996. It became a running gag. Even if there was no GN’R news, T-Rev kept that album on the board dutifully. He’d just bump it ahead a couple months. He kept doing that until the store moved and changed formats at the end of ’96. Even if no customers got the joke, the two of us thought it was freakin’ hilarious. Trevor always predicted it would never come out.
I don’t think we would have laughed if we knew how long it would really be before Chinese Democracy was finally released to the public! We waited through lineup change after lineup change, and the release of the new track “Oh My God” in 1999. It would be almost a decade more before the final release. Would it be worth the wait? Find out tomorrow.
BON JOVI – The Circle (2009 Island CD/DVD edition)
My two favourite Bon Jovi albums of recent vintage (ie: post-Keep the Faith) are the criminally underrated These Days, and Bounce. What the band need to do is: A) get their MVP back, Mr. Richie Sambora. B) write an album without all these outside writers like John Shanks and Billy Falcon, based on rock and roll, not the radio. The Circle is close at times. “Learn To Love” for example was written by Jon and Richie with Desmond Child, and approaches a vintage These Days epic quality.
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