Chinese Democracy Song by Song Thread

Street of Dreams

This song does the job of "Estranged" in half the time!

I like this one from the Elton John-y opening all the way through. Axl's vocals start off weird, but then he brings it with some nice emotion.

And I guess I'm the only one, but I love the production on this album.

 

Love this tune.

 

Love it also

 

I love it too. I love the song that comes right before it also...

 

If the World:

And now we reach If the World, credited to Axl and Chris "Slinky Synth" Pittman. The latter explained in an interview that the song was written about environmental decay in a futurist setting. The song would later appear in the credits of the 2008 film Body of Lies.
The song starts with an acoustic and some atmospheric electronics, and Bucket's flamenco does a really cool job at contrasting the minimalist keys and synths, sets a really interesting mood for the track, as does the lack of bass, this being the only song that Tommy doesn't play on. Axl comes in at :34, doing a great job on vocals. I should also mention Brain, who does this funk/trip hop type of thing on the drums that flows really well and really lets the track breath and groove in a way that Sorum never did when he was in the band. Even Dizzy, who I usually hate, does some nice piano on this track. And we must Bucket's solo at 3:19 is great, really soaring and rising, great feeling and sense of melody.
This is a great song, and the album is definitely back on track.

 

Live in 2009:

 

Here's Brain from that same podcast and he talks a lot about his time with Guns

 

The version on Body of Lies:

 

I'll be back for "Sorry"

Love this album

 

Hope you'll come back for other songs as well

 

The album credits don’t clarify everything about who’s making exactly which sounds here, but when the result is this cool, who cares?

I really, really like those low-pitched synth-bass lines that move the song forward, along with Buckethead’s guitar. Strings work really well here (Pittman?). Great vocal & lyrics, tasty jazz-inflected piano from Dizzy, drums by both Brain & Ferrer. Chris Pittman is all over this. Everything here works.

The classical-sounding guitar combined with the synth-bass and jazzy piano chording is a unique combination. When I say that Chinese often works best when it sounds least like “GN’FN’R, man...!” “If The World” is Exhibit A.

 

A whole album of Chinese Democracy remixes was completed, but was never released. Could have been interested, and it was have really upset the Slash partisans.

Anyway, here's a preview of the remixes of If The World, Better and Sorry, performed by Brain (who oversaw most of the remixes) and new keyboardist Melissa Reese. I think this is very good for what it is:

 

My favorite track from Chinese Democracy. I'm not a fan of the new GN'R, but I listen to this song over and over. Thanks to that Ridley Scott film, Body of Lies

 

Glad to see it's not just me that loves this track. I think it's one of the big successes on the album. It sounds fresh, the production actually suits the track - giving it an atmospheric, soundtrack-y feel - and Buckethead's exquisite solo is 'more fluid than Jeff Beck'. This should have been the touchstone for the rest of the album - 'dear Axl, make all the songs like this' - but...ah, forget it...there are far too many what ifs surrounding Chinese Democracy...at least we'll always have If the World...

 

That is so awkward. I wonder what the audience made of it

 

Talkin' 'bout remixes, here is a very cool mash up of 'If The World', 'In The Air Tonight' and 2Pac's 'Starin' At The World Through My Rearview':

 

If the World never did anyhthing to me. I dont know, i.guess its an OK track but not for me.

 

If the World is one of my favorite songs on the album, but I really dislike that part where the instrumental pans from the left to the right of the stereo field approximately 2 minutes into the song. It reminds me of something a high school band would do in Audacity or some other free music editing program.

 

It says a lot about the quality of “Sorry” that it can survive a radical transformation like that, and remain catchy as hell.

This performance makes me want to hear the Chinese remixes. Cool stuff. We’re not in Kansas anymore, though. The fan base would mock it to no end, without even listening.

 

I’d actually never heard the Body Of Lies alternate version before today. I’d always just assumed it was identical to the Chinese album version. Stripped-down. Cool!

By scaling back some of the production flourishes (including the stereo panning), more emphasis is placed on the song and the instrumental work. There’s some fine funk-like electric rhythm guitar at around 2:00 that I’d never heard before. Good stuff.

 

I really like that version of Sorry, and the nod to Do Ya Love Me is a neat touch. Wow, Melissa has a great voice

 

Am I right in thinking the Body of Lies version is the same as the original leaked version?

 

Just checked on that. I *think* it’s essentially the same as the leaked version. I hadn’t listened to the 2008 leak in a long time... so I guess I actually had heard the soundtrack version before! The mix sounds very slightly different to me, but we’re talking very minute differences. Yep.

 

If the World: probably the strongest track on the entire album. While the demo is better, I agree that the production suits the track, whereas with many of the tracks on CD it doesn't. I don't think it's the best song on the album, just the best execution. But even then, I'd say it's a pretty great song and it would be in the top 5 whichever version I'd be considering.

 

There Was A Time:

And now we come to There Was A Time, credited to Axl, Paul Cantpickaname, Dizzy, and Stinson, this being interpreted as a breakup song. Axl, in addition to vocals, also performs keyboards, synthesizers, and even guitar on this track. Freese is once again credited for arrangements along with Brain, who once again shares drumming duties with Ferrer; in addition, Slinky Synth plays Mellotron and programmed bass and drums for this track, and Marco Beltrami is credited for string arrangements.
The song starts with a choir over strings and some sound effects, and it sets a certain vibe for the song. Axl comes in at :13, delivering a strong vocal over a fairly trip hop beat, the strings create a sense of drama and tension, and the mixture and acoustic and electronic drums works fairly well here, as does Bucket's lead here, having a sense of fury but also regret, matching the lyrical and vocal tone nicely. And we get to Robin's solo at 2:37, such an exquisitely crafted solo, with taste and feels throughout, this is without a doubt one of Robin's solos on the album, and the crescendo in the orchestra is f---ing amazing along with Axl's vocals on here. At 3:43, Robin gets a mini solo which is awesome, and wow is Axl fantastic on this song. And at 4:23, we get Big B just in his own world, delivering his crazy awesome goodness, just on another planet that guy is, this solo is the highlight of not just the song but the album as a whole, seriously, it is awesome.
This song is, if not my favorite, then damn near so, it is a great epic tune, I love it.