Chinese Democracy landed with a big thud last November. It didn't really have a hit, the band didn't support it with a tour, and the album became a laughingstock, its name synonymous with big expectations that fall flat. But I think it has some of the best songs in the band's catalogue, and is ultimately one of my favorite albums of 2008. It's the only album in years that I raced to the store first thing in the morning to pick up, even if I was the only one there. Well, me and one other dude.
For a decent part of last year, my beat was keeping tabs on Chinese Democracy leaks, something I relished. I also may have inadvertently participated in a guy getting picked up by the FBI, but he's the one who posted stolen songs online, I just reported on it. Sorry, dude. For the most part, I was really surprised at how much I liked what I was hearing. I'm admittedly an Axl apologist (what, do we suddenly not want our rock stars to be totally insane and egotistical? that's practically the definition), even without the rest of the band around him. I'm the only guy I know who thought the band's 2003 VMA appearance was really, really impressive, and the snippet of "Madagascar" they performed at that show stuck with me for five years.
So on my last day at that aforementioned job, when I managed to get my hands on an advance of Chinese Democracy, I was a pretty happy dude. It was quite a chunk to sit through at once, but I heard enough to convince me that this was something I was going to enjoy. There were lots of new elements that didn't quite fit the GNR style of old, but hey, it was like 14 years after they'd released anything, so I was willing to adapt. Here's a rundown of what I see as the greatest moments on an album everyone wants to hate, even if they haven't listened to it.
"Street Of Dreams"
This is a song that remained essentially unchanged for at least seven years. It was called "The Blues" for a while until Axl decided the song wasn't bluesy enough, which it really isn't at all, and was performed for the entire time the band toured before the album's release. I'm going to be honest, I hate the first two minutes of this song with Axl in his warbly quaver voice, but as soon as the key change comes in (at 2:33 in the above video, where he also gets all catty) and he sings the "I don't know just what I should do" bit, the song becomes absurdly perfect from then on out, and as a big sap, I think the line "What I thought was beautiful don't live inside of you anymore" is pretty damn great as a kiss-off.
"Madagascar"
This song was played at the aforementioned VMA performance, and the complete over-the-topness of it totally grabbed me. I was bummed to hear on the studio version that he'd toned down some of the vocals on what had previously been more screechy parts and replaced them with a low tenor, but it's still good in my book. I can just see him slaving away at this track for like 10 years and finally hitting a take that sounds the same to all of us as every take before it, but somehow made the most sense to him. It's tragic there isn't a documentary of the making of this album, even if it would have taken like 15 years to make. I think it would have sold better than the album did.
"This I Love"
Ignore the video element of the above clip, some clown just made it and it's the only way I could post the track. Anyhow, this, along with the next song, are my favorite cuts on the album, and they're also the closing duo. What really struck me right away about this song is how uncomfortably direct and specific it is lyrically. There's no metaphors to veil what he's getting at, and it's blunt and pleading and borderline pathetic in terms of how overwrought he feels. But that sort of nakedness isn't something Axl has really given us before, so it's pretty surprising. His vocal performance is nothing short of great, and the brief, piercing guitar interludes are the perfect compliment to the keys that dominate most of the instrumentation. The last bit of the song, around the 5:00 mark in this video, is probably the highest he's ever sang with a 'clean' voice in the band's history.
This is the song that made me turn and stare at the CD player I was using to listen to the heavily (but not heavily-enough) copyproofed disc. From the start, there's an incredible sense of building and momentum that no other track on the album had. Instead of getting a chorus right away, we get a few prechoruses which seem good enough on their own, but all of the sudden Axl jumps from a 7 to a 10 and goes absolutely nuts right around 2:45 and drives home the most satisfying chorus I'd heard in a long time. It's also somewhat clever how the song title doesn't quite refer to what you'd expect, but rather Axl respoding to people's expectations about him, which, while it's clearly unnecessarily defensive and self-centered, still catches you a bit off guard.
When people chuckle as I try to explain why I love Chinese Democracy, here's what I say: I treat it as Use Your Illusion III. The previous two albums were nothing close to cohesive pieces of work. You had crazy covers, experiments in different genres, epic ballads, and a few streamrolling rockers. And that's what you get on Chinese Democracy. There's no attempt at a big picture, and there really was no need for one. It's a collection of songs that are complete thoughts in themselves, but didn't warrant any grand concept or binding style. And after a decade and a half, would it make sense for Axl to come out with an album that sticks to one path? Hell no, this thing is all over the place, and as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what I wanted.
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