Additional personnel: Roy Thomas Baker.
Audio Mixers: Mike Scielzi; Paul Saurez; Andy Wallace; Axl Rose; Caram Costanzo.
Like the hard-rock equivalent of Brian Wilson's SMILE, Guns N' Roses' CHINESE DEMOCRACY was one of the greatest records that never was--a project more fable than fact, more speculation than actualization. Created over 15 years with countless producers and musicians, the album often seemed as if it would remain forever mired in the swamps of Axl Rose's legendarily unpredictable personality. When the disc finally did appear, the musical landscape had changed so significantly that many wondered if Rose's fans even still cared.
What the faithful got for their undying loyalty may not have been classic GnR, but it was an unquestionably powerful slice of enigmatic, genre-pushing hard rock which retained some the group's famously rebellious attitude. Sonically, CHINESE DEMOCRACY benefited from its long gestation period by incorporating bits of many post-SPAGHETTI INCIDENT subgenres, including nu-metal, electronica, new garage rock, and post-grunge. Luckily, even after all his bizarre, Michael Jackson-like personal travails, Rose lost little of his lyrical bite, shooting back at disbelievers with the fervor of a much younger and hungrier artist, leaving admirers wondering if perhaps the best was still yet to come. minimize