New Guns N Roses CD streaming on MySpace
November 20th, 2008 by Wade Tatangelo in Reviews
My first Guns N’ Roses experience came via a cassette tape of the band’s irresistibly decadent 1987 major label debut album Appetite for Destruction. I had just entered the third grade. I hid the tape from my parents. It was a prized possession of mine. The CD on my shelf still gets dusted off and played on a semi-regular basis.
Fast forward to 1991: I’m in junior high and rushing home from school everyday to see the latest Use Your Illusion video on MTV. The first time I caught “November Rain” it blew my mind. My man Slash soloing in the that field. Rad! If memory serves, I bought those discs on CD and still play the same ones from 17 years ago.
Fast forward to today. The most anticpated album of all time, Chinese Democracy, which I blogged about here, is streaming for free on MySpace. The whole album. On Sun., Nov. 23 you can purchase a physical copy at Best Buy. Usually discs drop on Tuesday. But for a release this big rules must change — I guess. Sadly, I’m several tracks into the album and have yet to be moved. Wait, this song “Better” is worming its way under my skin. And this power ballad “Street of Dreams,” which finds Axl sounding like Count Dracula, is pretty cool, too. The final verdict? We’ll see. Be back with a proper review once I’ve had a chance to properly take in this rather historic rock ‘n’ roll event.
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November 20th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
It sounds like Axl collaborated with Portishead and Meat Loaf to create a soundtrack to a Pixar animated film. Adventurous, but it’s got no nuts.
November 20th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Hilarious. I’m hearing Count Dracula more than Meta Loaf in the vocals — but there’s def something fishy going on in his voice when he goes for the big dramatic sell.
November 20th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I’m not sure what to think of this new GNR album. It seems to be all over the place. I wouldn’t say it sounds like Meat Loaf, but there are hints of Geoff Tate and Queensryche in a number of tracks. Fortunately, we get the occasional treat of the old Axl Rose sound on a couple of tracks. But most of the time he seems almost bipolar. The switching back and forth from a crooning ballad style to his trademark guttural wailing was a bit off putting. That said I’ve still pre-ordered the album on iTunes. If nothing else it is worth purchasing for the nostalgia and hype of this long overdue release from Mr. Rose.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
This in G’N'Axl, not Guns N Roses. It’s like saying “Right Now” is REALLY a Van Halen song.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
True, Joran. Axl’s gone through more band members than Auditorium. Wait…that can’t possibly be true.
It just seems to lack vitality. It’s over-thought, melodramatic, and (in my opinion) hindered by technology/over-production. Its not the players aren’t good, the band’s just not hungry and lacks chemistry.
Nevertheless, it will succeed through controversy and publicity, not necessarily because it moves people.
November 21st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I think this Wade Tatangelo has little to no credibility as a music “journalist” with your readers. Send him back into a bar so he can get drunk and write about it. That should be a good career maker for him.
November 21st, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Dad, stop posting comments on my blog!
November 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 am
i listened to the first half of the album from the myspace stream.
garbage.
it is painfully apparent that this was a 17 years in the making record… with axl’s shot voice to back it up.
maybe the second half didnt sound like a bag of screaming cats being drown in the river… not sure if i care to ever find out.