14 years in the making: Guns N' Roses in talks for exclusive album release
 

So will this thing ever come out??

http://www.reuters.com/article/enter...rpc=22&sp=true

By Ed Christman

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The June leak of nine allegedly "mastered, finished" tracks from Guns N' Roses' long-delayed "Chinese Democracy" spurred a renewed round of speculation about whether the Axl Rose-led band will finally release the 14-years-in-the-making album.

But some concrete signs are finally emerging that the album's release could be imminent. That's because, according to sources, negotiations are under way for "Chinese Democracy" to come out as an exclusive at one of the big-box retailers -- either Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

Negotiations are also ongoing for conventional record company distribution, another source said.

Guns N' Roses is now managed by Irving Azoff's Front Line Management, and Azoff is a well-known proponent of issuing albums exclusively through retailers. He released the Eagles' "Long Road Out of Eden" through Wal-Mart, much to the chagrin of other merchants.

It's unclear who initiated the Guns N' Roses exclusive negotiations -- Front Line or Interscope, the band's label.

Representatives at Front Line and Interscope with knowledge of the situation couldn't be reached for comment. A Wal-Mart representative said the chain couldn't confirm this fall's exclusive album offerings. Best Buy representatives couldn't be reached for comment.

Reuters/Billboard

I hear rumors of this every now and again and from all I've read it's a friggen HORRIBLE album...

I can't believe Axl calls this shit GnR. I don't.

The name Guns N Roses = $$$$$

Axl Rose + "Insert random band name here" = HUH????


IM with Rausch on this. Most likely the stuff is horrible. If the songs were truly any good, they would have found a way to release this years ago.

There are few things more pathetic than heroin junkies. Success didn't change them, it just allowed Axl to become a well-to-do junkie.

If a list of "$3it not to do" was handed down by God instead of the Ten Commandments I'm thinking heroin addict is an easy lock for top 3...

True dat. I may be mistaken about Rose. He might just suffer from psychosis...the rest might be the heroin addicts.

I agree it will probably be horrible but I will buy it.

It is kind of like watching the Chiefs this year.

It is going to be a train wreck but I will watch every chance I get.

the brett favre of rock bands

What does that mean??

No Slash...no thanks.

I've heard most of the leaks of this album. And while I wouldn't call it horrible, it's not great either. To me it seems like the music is good, but the overall composition is where the songs are lacking. There's just no direction to it at all which makes it a little more boring, less catchy and bit complex to take in. Now, I like complicated music that doesn't perscribe to normal song structures, but even so these demos were all dragging along for me.

Now, as far as guitar is concerned- Buckethead is very impressive on the recordings. I'm not sure if he's the only guitarist, but what I've heard is every bit as good as anything I've ever heard from Slash- if not better. The Band flat out rocks. I'm not in love the synth and some of the beats that are used, but the band is certainly up to par with old GnR. And Axel's voice sounds decent.

The song Chinese Democracy is actually okay. It could be a single. Though nowhere near as good as the classic GnR hits. Probably a good comparision would be the difference between Pearl Jams monster hits from 10 (like Even Flow) and the meager singles from their new album (like World Wide Suicide, which I actaully do like.).

Now, the actual album may end up being better than the leaks. I've not heard them all together, and I've never heard "Shackler's Revenge" which will debut on the game Rock Band 2. I've heard that song will be the big single. So maybe there's hope. I've got my fingers crossed.

Shannon Hoon is dead.

A handful of the released tracks were solid. Some were not so good...

As I've mentioned before, there are more than 113 songs currently recorded for Chinese Democracy. Everything from classic G'N'R to NIN type techno-rock. Which songs they'll choose for the final release is anyone's guess.

And while the songs may not be "great", the players most certainly are top notch. Josh Freese, Troy Van Leeuwen, Billy Howerdel, Buckethead, John 5, Paz Lenchantin, Richard Fortus, Chris Pittman and on and on and on.