Chinese Democracy Album Review & Track Listing

Best Buy has updated their site (see earlier post), with the track listing for Guns N’ Roses upcoming Chinese Democracy release.

Tracks
1. Chinese Democracy
2. Scraped
3. Shackler’s Revenge
4. Street Of Dreams
5. If The World
6. Better
7. This I Love
8. There Was A Time
9. Riad N’ The Bedovins
10. Sorry
11. I.R.S.
12. Catcher
13. Madagascar
14. Prostitute

What do you think? Have you heard any of these….in the (up to) 13 years they have been floating leaked around the internet (or live in concert). There are 5 that I recognize, and am sure I have heard before: Chinese Democracy, Shackler’s Revenge, There Was A Time, I.R.S, and Madagascar.

Looking at my MP3 library, I already have studio versions of There Was a Time, I.R.S., and Street Of Dreams (formerly known as The Blues). I also have live MP3 versions of Madagascar, Chinese Democracy, and The Blues from the Rock In Rio III show. I got these MP3′s at least 4 years ago…and listen to them pretty often.

So, how about an early review of Chinese Democracy?

There Was A Time:
Has a bit of an Estranged feel to it. Somewhat power ballad sounding. Actually sounds like it could have (should have) been on Use Your Illusions. I like it quite a bit. Actually, sounds like the old GNR guys have actually played it. Hopefully, the final recording sounds just like this bootleg I have.

I.R.S.:
Has some electronic drums in it, and the recording sounds really rough. Starts off slow, and rocks in the middle. Not bad, has some cool riffs in the middle. Not a stellar song, but I’m looking forward to hearing how the final recording comes out.

Street Of Dreams (aka The Blues):
Another ballad, piano style. Think November Rain and Estranged. I heard this live when they were in Boston a couple years ago. I like the song, sounds very 1991. Though Axl’s vocal recording is so-so. I hope it’s cleaned up for the final recording. But, again, another ballad…not a hard raw rocker. Pretty good, .

Madagascar:
Dizzy Reed on keyboards (he joined the band during the Use Your Illusions days). Yet again, starts off as a ballad, with electronic drums. Do you see a trend here? Starts to rock about a minute in, but stays primarily slow throughout. Not bad, sounds decent.

Chinese Democracy:
We have a rocker here. It’s heavy (not too heavy though). Simple rocker, with good basic rhythm section and decent guitar riffs. Vocals are pretty good. I see this as becoming a radio friendly single. I like it.

Shackler’s Revenge:
This is on Rock Band 2, and I have played it a couple times. The intro to the song is very over the top with guitar, bass, and electronic drums. The vocals in the song are not so great. I’m really not fan of this song at all. Kinda wish it wasn’t in Rock Band 2, or on the coming album.

So there you go, my pre-release review of some tracks. Overall, I thing Estranged is one of Axl Rose’s best songs…and I think he agrees, since several of the upcoming Chinese Democracy tracks sound quite a bit like Estranged. Though, I can only take so many ballads on a 14 song album. I expect the album to be heavily (over) produced with lot’s of vocal effects, electronic drums, and guitar effects…which I’m not so excited for. But, in general, from what I have heard I expect that I’ll enjoy listening to the album. There are still 8 songs that I have not yet heard.

On a gaming note, I’d like to see the song Chinese Democracy in Rock Band in some upcoming downloadable content. Axl and Harmonix, are you listening?