Spike-X
Grumpy Old Sarah
I just had a listen to the whole album. Here are my thoughts, track-by-track:
Track 1 - Chinese Democracy
Not bad. Rock by numbers. Interesting guitar solo, sounds a bit like Tom Morello in places.
Track 2 - Shackler's Revenge
Doesn't flow at all - first half of the verse has a completely different sound to the second half, then the chorus has a different sound again. Very jarring. I do not like this song.
Track 3 - Better
Crappy, cliche, overproduced 'sounds like a telephone or really tiny speaker' intro. Sounds like a drum machine farting.
This song is just all over the place. Melodic (but bland) verse, hard rock riff in the chorus, then goes off into a bunch of riffs all thrown together. Nice guitar solo over the melodic verse progression.
Track 4 - Street Of Dreams
Intro sounds like Elton John. Axl can still hit the high notes.
This one's not bad. Nice guitar solo. Gets a bit carried away in the second half, though.
Track 5 - If The World
Some kind faux middle eastern intro, then into some wakka-wakka guitars and a funk-ish bassline. Cliche love song lyrics don't go with the quite interesting musical backing AT ALL.
Track 6 - There Was A Time (TWAT for short - tee hee!)
Another one with a melodic verse into a heavy riff-based pre-chorus thing. The transition is jarring and doesn't serve the song well. Nice Slash-like melodic guitar solo, then a chorus, then an extended guitar solo where the guitarist (who is it this week?) really gets to show off.
Track 7 - Catcher In The Rye
Melodic intro that actually flows nicely into a melodic first verse! Well done Axl! Like a lot of the songs so far, this one has a nice basic structure, but suffers somewhat from Axl just trying to do too much in the one song. Not every song has to be a mini-epic!
Overall, this one is probably my favourite song on the album so far.
Track 8 - Scraped
Interesting multi-tracked vocal intro into some hard rock riffs. Lots of vocal overdubbing on this one.
The good thing about a lot of these songs is, if there's a part you don't like, just wait twenty seconds and something completely different will come along!
Track 9 - Riad N' The Bedouins
The first fifty seconds contribute nothing to the song and should have been left off.
Not a bad hard riff-based song. Seems to stick to the same couple of basic ideas musically, which is a refreshing change. He says 'fuck' in this one! That Axl, he's such a bad boy.
The guitar solo section sounds like a bad Welcome To The Jungle ripoff.
Track 10 - Sorry
Gets straight to the singing without too much faffing around. That's about the best that can be said about this one. Bit of a plodder.
Track 11 - I.R.S.
Another slow drum machine intro. Doesn't know if it wants to be melodic or hard. Guitar solo seems to be way too early in the song. Interesting quiet-ish guitar solo in the second half though. This song is like the musical equivalent of Track 7 at the You Yangs - mostly harder technical stuff interespersed with the occasional smooth, flowy section.
Track 12 - Madagascar
A bit of deep brass in the intro, and more bloody drum machines! Starts off quiet, then gets the loud guitars happening after the first verse. Don't really like this one. More ambitious than it needs to be. Sample of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech in the middle is just fucking pretentious.
Track 13 - This I Love
The big overblown Axl piano ballad. Nice guitar solo. This song does one thing, and does it well.
Track 14 - Prostitute
Nice melodic rocker to close out the album. Doesn't try to do too much in the first half. Develops a bit in the second half, but in a good way. Very pretty outro to finish up with.
Overall, this isn't a bad album. I went in determined not to like it (as you can probably tell), but I've ended up being quite pleasantly surprised in places.
Some of the songs, especially early on, try to do way too much too soon - too many ideas, and they sound very unfocused at times. But when they get it right, the results are quite good indeed. It's definitely not the old G'n'R sound, and I still have huge issues with Axl continuing under that name, but leaving that aside, this is mostly a prety solid album. Definitely worth a listen, at least.
Track 1 - Chinese Democracy
Not bad. Rock by numbers. Interesting guitar solo, sounds a bit like Tom Morello in places.
Track 2 - Shackler's Revenge
Doesn't flow at all - first half of the verse has a completely different sound to the second half, then the chorus has a different sound again. Very jarring. I do not like this song.
Track 3 - Better
Crappy, cliche, overproduced 'sounds like a telephone or really tiny speaker' intro. Sounds like a drum machine farting.
This song is just all over the place. Melodic (but bland) verse, hard rock riff in the chorus, then goes off into a bunch of riffs all thrown together. Nice guitar solo over the melodic verse progression.
Track 4 - Street Of Dreams
Intro sounds like Elton John. Axl can still hit the high notes.
This one's not bad. Nice guitar solo. Gets a bit carried away in the second half, though.
Track 5 - If The World
Some kind faux middle eastern intro, then into some wakka-wakka guitars and a funk-ish bassline. Cliche love song lyrics don't go with the quite interesting musical backing AT ALL.
Track 6 - There Was A Time (TWAT for short - tee hee!)
Another one with a melodic verse into a heavy riff-based pre-chorus thing. The transition is jarring and doesn't serve the song well. Nice Slash-like melodic guitar solo, then a chorus, then an extended guitar solo where the guitarist (who is it this week?) really gets to show off.
Track 7 - Catcher In The Rye
Melodic intro that actually flows nicely into a melodic first verse! Well done Axl! Like a lot of the songs so far, this one has a nice basic structure, but suffers somewhat from Axl just trying to do too much in the one song. Not every song has to be a mini-epic!
Overall, this one is probably my favourite song on the album so far.
Track 8 - Scraped
Interesting multi-tracked vocal intro into some hard rock riffs. Lots of vocal overdubbing on this one.
The good thing about a lot of these songs is, if there's a part you don't like, just wait twenty seconds and something completely different will come along!
Track 9 - Riad N' The Bedouins
The first fifty seconds contribute nothing to the song and should have been left off.
Not a bad hard riff-based song. Seems to stick to the same couple of basic ideas musically, which is a refreshing change. He says 'fuck' in this one! That Axl, he's such a bad boy.
The guitar solo section sounds like a bad Welcome To The Jungle ripoff.
Track 10 - Sorry
Gets straight to the singing without too much faffing around. That's about the best that can be said about this one. Bit of a plodder.
Track 11 - I.R.S.
Another slow drum machine intro. Doesn't know if it wants to be melodic or hard. Guitar solo seems to be way too early in the song. Interesting quiet-ish guitar solo in the second half though. This song is like the musical equivalent of Track 7 at the You Yangs - mostly harder technical stuff interespersed with the occasional smooth, flowy section.
Track 12 - Madagascar
A bit of deep brass in the intro, and more bloody drum machines! Starts off quiet, then gets the loud guitars happening after the first verse. Don't really like this one. More ambitious than it needs to be. Sample of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech in the middle is just fucking pretentious.
Track 13 - This I Love
The big overblown Axl piano ballad. Nice guitar solo. This song does one thing, and does it well.
Track 14 - Prostitute
Nice melodic rocker to close out the album. Doesn't try to do too much in the first half. Develops a bit in the second half, but in a good way. Very pretty outro to finish up with.
Overall, this isn't a bad album. I went in determined not to like it (as you can probably tell), but I've ended up being quite pleasantly surprised in places.
Some of the songs, especially early on, try to do way too much too soon - too many ideas, and they sound very unfocused at times. But when they get it right, the results are quite good indeed. It's definitely not the old G'n'R sound, and I still have huge issues with Axl continuing under that name, but leaving that aside, this is mostly a prety solid album. Definitely worth a listen, at least.
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