Emmo’s Blog

Well its been 3 days since Guns N’ Roses fell through my letter box and after 4 listens I’m more than happy.

I have read a few reviews from various music magazines and have found the following results:

Kerrang!: 2/5  Very poor review and proves that the once great metal mag is now a music mag for emo fans.

Q Mag:  2/5  A constructive review and makes a few points that after 4 listens I agree with. Q say that its as if Axl Rose has discovered the Prodigy and wants to put that sound all over the album. I would have to agree with this and think at times the sampling and keyboards (not pianos) are not needed. Shacklers Revenge is a great Rock song and it don’t need the samples etc.

NME 4/10 This review just sounds like someone who hates GNR and was forced to go to the listening party due to staff shortage therefore giving the album a poor review. He states that the album ends with 4 ballads – he obviously was not listening properly.

I have read a about 10 on-line reviews and most are positive. As I said in my review its to easy to give a negative review as the length of time it has taken means the album will never reach anyone expectations.

My advice is go out, buy it and judge for yourselves.

It’s here. After a very long time the mystic surrounding new Guns N’ Roses album is over. The beast has finally been unleashed. It’s been 17 long years since Axl Rose started this project if you take into account that the Use Your Illusion albums were released in 1991. Forget 1993s Spaghetti Incident punk covers album.

It has been rumoured that during the recording of the Chinese Democracy Axl has used over 30 studios and spent around $15m. The hot headed front man has fired countless producers, managers, musicians and anyone else who he thinks has stood in his way of making this album how he wants it. One producer claimed that he heard the finished product back in 2005 and doesn’t know why it’s taken nearly 3 more years to hit the shelves. Axl Rose aside no one will ever know the real reasons why this had taken so long. Rose has seen music trends come and go since the 90s. He feels that now is the time for you to hear his masterpiece.

Rose has always said in countless interviews that it will be released when ready and not before. The trouble is now  the hype that surrounds the album means the released product will never reach anyone’s expectations. Also anyone who thinks that just because this has taken 17 years each of the 14 songs on the album (of which clocks in at just over 70 minutes) will be 14 songs of shear perfection are fooling themselves.

I’ll let you decide whether Rose chose this year in particular to release the album especially when you consider what has happened to his former associates other band Velvet Revolver in the last few months. Is it coincidence that the Chinese Democracy hits our shelves a few months after VR lost their vocalist Scott Wieland and even better than that, the same week that VR have been dropped by RCA records or was it always planned to be released when VR were out of the way?

With Slash and Duff’s less than average solo albums and side projects many have said that Rose has played a blinder buy not releasing anything at all. After hearing the solo albums and side projects I totally agree with these views.

Before I review Chinese Democracy let me remind you of a few things. This is the new GNR not the old GNR. Those who want another Appetite don’t bother picking up this album. There is no way that this album is going to have the rawness and hunger of Appetite. Why? Two reasons. The first is how can this sound unpolished, hungry and raw after 17 years of mixing and re-recording? The second reason is Axl wanted to get as far away from GNRs original sound as possible and has said in countless interviews as far back as 1990, that he wants to “bury the sound” of Appetite.

This is for fans who want to see GNR as a journey and the music hopefully evolving on every album. If you liked Locomotive, Breakdown & Estranged from Use Your Illusion 2 then the new album could well be for you because in those songs there are various bits and pieces that tell you where Axl was heading to with Chinese Democracy. Long overblown songs is the sound that Axl wanted and he was going to do this with or without the others.

My only fear for this album is whether or not the world needs or wants another Guns N’ Roses album. I don’t want to harp on about it but I will…. It’s been 17 years and a lot has happened in the world since 1991. I am double my age since the last album for example!  Should GNR be something of legend or still be releasing music today? What if after all this time the album is the “transitional album” that should have been released in about 1998?

I hope this album is good solid rock music and not a band living of past glories as Chinese Democracy parts 2 & 3 are scheduled for release in 2010 and 2012 respectively. This album needs to kick off the trilogy with a bang and not a whimper.

I have heard the album twice now and it’s a massive success. It seems that Rose has tried to put everything in his head on CD and it works. Yes the songs are long but they are not boring. They are songs that start of slow and build up to a crescendo of sound. Half way through the album you forget that Slash & Co were ever in the band. There are roughly 6 guitarists named in the credits and most play on most of the songs. The guitar work and especially the solos are out of this world.

A real highlight on the album for me are Street Of Dreams. Call me an old romantic but I do love a cracking ballad and that’s what we have here. A song that well and truly puts November Rain in the shade (thank god for that). Starts off with just Axl and Piano and the soft versus build up to a stadium filling chorus. You just know you are going to get a cracking solo and that’s followed by the song slowing down to just piano before every instrument comes in to finish the song of powerfully. One of the best songs GNR have ever done.

Another highlight is the song Better. It starts off with high pitch singing sung at a low volume. Guitars come in and the song bounces along nicely. Some excellent lyrics here for example “A twist of fate, the change of heart kills my infatuation, A broken heart provides the spark for my determination.” The chorus takes the song to a new angry level the song then ends with the way that it started

The heavy side of GNR come through in the title track, Shacklers Revenge & Scraped. Whereas the epic overblown masterpieces are here in the form of If The World (which could be the next James Bond theme), There Was A Time, Catcher In The Rye, Madagascar and Prostitute.

Sorry is a song that the old GNR would never have released but I’m so glad this GNR have. This is a slow moody song with a soul feel, Rose sings “You close your eyes, All well and good, I’ll kick your ass, Like I said that I would.”  Make your own minds about who this is about. It’s also the only song on the album written in full by Rose

The only downside for me is  This I Love. Could be a grower but not instantly likeable.
The song just plodded on and nothing after the first 2 listens makes me think this will be a great song but I’ll give it a few more plays. Sounds like a Meatloaf/Opera song.

The 6 minute Prostitute closes the album and leaves you wanting and needing Chinese Democracy parts 2 & 3 now.

So there we are. We waited 17 years and the question is was it worth the wait? The answer is massive yes. As I said before not all 14 songs are perfect but maybe that’s a good thing.  To coin a phrase “It’s So Easy” to slag the album of as some of the press have already. One review said the album ended with 4 ballads? I don’t know what album he was listening to. Maybe it’s because the album is a grower and gets better with each listen that it’s been wrote off is some quarters and one listen didn’t hit the spot for them. NME was never going to give it a good review neither were those music gurus at The Sun.

The truth is that Axl Rose may has just given Rock music a much needed kick up the backside. This album is well and truly the album of the year, if not decade. 
Track listing:

Chinese Democracy
Shacklers Revenge
Better
Street Of Dreams
If The World
There Was A Time
Catcher In The Rye
Scraped
Riad N’ The Bedouins
Sorry
I.R.S
Madagascar
This I Love
Prostitute

My Rating 9/10

Please see below my order confirmation that the Guns N’ Roses album is not a myth and that it has been sent out today

Your order for Chinese Democracy – Guns N’ Roses has been posted.

Please note PLAY.COM will show on your statement.

Please allow 3-5 days delivery.

Please check the following order information:

Order reference: ********

Title:            Chinese Democracy – Guns N’ Roses

Price:            GBP      8.95

Delivery Cost:    FREE

Payment:          Credit Card

Delivery Address:

Mr *************

********

*******

****

United Kingdom

*******

Hopefully this will arrive by Monday and my review will be up for you by Tuesday at the very latest….

Keep Rockin!!!

Jon Gaunt

So Jon Gaunt has been sacked from his hugely popular Radio show on Talksport.

It doesn’t seem to matter that Gaunty had the highest ratings from 10am-1pm. I’m led to believe that nearly 1 million listeners a day listened between 10am-1pm.

This is because he called a Redbridge counsellor a “Nazi” and an “ignorant pig” after the suit had told listeners that people who smoked shouldn’t be allowed to adopt children. What crap. I’m a non smoker by the way.
We all know that smoking is a filthy disgusting habit. The pubs and other social places are 100 times better since the ban came in, but now people are being told they can’t even smoke at home.

If you have read Jon Gaunts autobiography then you will know that his mum died when he was young, his dad couldn’t cope and put him into care. The stories that Gaunty tells are extremely personal and heartbreaking about his time in care. His heart is well and truly on his sleeve when this topic is mentioned.

What Gaunty was basically saying to the counsellor was that if you asked a child in care whether they would want to stay in care or be taken into a loving home by new parents who smoked what do you think the child’s response would be?
Would they say keep me in care because these 2 people smoke or would they like to be given a chance to live like normal boys and girls, have a Sunday roast and a chance to celebrate Christmas and Birthdays, things I imagine go uncelebrated in care homes. I think the answer is obvious.

The whole issue here is getting kids out of care and into families to give them a better chance in life, smoking shouldn’t even be an issue.

Gaunty let his emotions get the better of him as his past probably came back to haunt him. To him it probably felt like being in care again when a suit said no families for people who smoke. Took him back to hearing the door slam as his dad left the care home and left him all alone. He spoke up for the kids in care and if anyone should know what they would say it would be him as he has been there.

The counsellor accepted an apology and Gaunty adjusted it to from Nazi to “Health Nazi” and after an apology on air after his show that should have been the last of it.
Talksport received a few complaints but then they probably do every day, in fact they used to make adverts saying listen to Britain’s most controversial DJ on this station. They used the 48 complaints last year to promote Gaunty and have now used the few he got last week to sack him. How hypercritical is that?

I don’t know what’s going on at Talksport towers lately. I do know that have got a new owner who saw fit to sack Mike Mendoza & James Whale, both of which had the most listeners at the time when their shows were on air.
Whale was sacked for saying that we should vote for Boris Johnson instead of Ken Livingston at the London Mayor elections this year. Here is a man who has come through Kidney cancer but still came into work despite doctors orders not to.

Mike Mendoza didn’t have his contract renewed as the new owner thought he could get someone in better and that’s his prerogative but from what I have heard the listeners are voting with their ears.

All the personalities are now gone from Talksport, yes you still have Mike Parry, Danny Kelly, Hawksbee and Jacobs and Ian Collins but how long until they say something not PC and are fired?

Alan Brazil was recently convicted of drink driving when found way over the drinking limit. What’s worse? Telling someone to vote Boris or possibly killing people with drink driving? It’s a no brainer.

The world has gone PC mad lately. Yes Gaunty shouldn’t have called this bloke a Nazi but to him it felt like the counsellor was one. He should have said it to him in the ad break. Thing is if I know Gaunty he probably has something up his sleeve already. He will continue on his various TV programmes and still write his column for the Sun. The real losers are his 1 million fans. But one thing is for certain is that when Gaunty takes the reins on another Radio show expect 1 million listeners to flick over from Talksport to listen to him. As he keeps telling us, he has 3 sony’s you know!!!

update: 20/11/08 – click on the comments at the bottom of the page to see reply from Jon Gaunt himself!!!

John Sergeant

I have just been informed that John Sergeant who is currently wowing the public with his moves on BBC1s Strictly Come Dancing has stepped down. Why? Because the BBC and other dancers don’t want him there. They think he is belittling the competition.

What rubbish. The BBC have to realise that we the public pay for their shows and if we want to see some old bloke bust his moves on the dance floor then we will. We ring up and vote (paying more money to BBC) so we decide who we want to keep. Not them.

I watched it last week for the first time and all the poncy dancers who were in fear of going out were saying “Vote for the dancing not who you like or feel sorry for.” How patronising.

If they have to moan about something then how about moaning at Bruce Forsyth who they wheel out every year to present the show. His dreadful gags and not being able to read the auto-cue is painful to watch.

The public voted and they thought Sergeant was better than anyone else and voted for him in their thousands. The judges slagged him off and said him being in the competition was a joke. The joke was on them as the person they thought would fall at the first hurdle and be laughed of the show has won over the public.

OK, Sergeant isn’t the most light footed dancer to ever grace the dance floor but the public love the fact that he has got up and had a go. Remember the public decides not the BBC so why is everyone on the show moaning? If no one watched it and didn’t vote the show would be taken off air.

What’s even more impressive is that fact that Sergeant doesn’t have a sob story like most of the mob on ITVs The X Factor. This is another show where its decided by the public. Every week Simon Cowell says “Your vote has to be for the best singer.” If both these shows are not happy with the public’s views and the results they get from us then don’t get us to spend our weekends and money having the cheek to vote for who WE want. Pick them yourself and get of our TVs!!!

Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hours close at hand………..and Jacko’s nearly bankrupt.

What has happened to Mickey J? Once a great entertainer and responsible for some of the world’s best pop songs (we have all liked Jacko at some point in our lives, he has touched us all….not like that!!!) Jacko it seems has blown his money on what seems like a ton of tacky objects for his living room.

In the last 10 years (roughly) Jacko has just re-released the same old albums with songs that were too shit to make the original, stuck it a jewel case (wow!), added a few new photos and put it back out for his fans to buy the old stuff that they already have.
Who is buying this stuff? My mate Dean. He is probably responsible for keeping Jacko’s Never Land open on his own. He would buy the sound of Jacko farting 12 times in an empty can of baked beans if he released it as an album. Dean buys re-release after re-release and tries to convince us (more like himself) that he is not being ripped off by the former king of pop.
I mean over 200 million people have Thriller so why would they want to buy it again?

Since the allegations Jacko has done nothing of any note that I can remember. Let’s get this straight. I don’t care he hasn’t released anything nor would I care if he never released anything again (although that fart album sounds like it’s worth a listen) but how can this man be skint?

I haven’t heard anything from Jacko in years but last night I flicked on the news to find he has (allegedly) borrowed £5 million from the son of a king with the promise to pay it back with the royalties of a new album. That album has never seen the light of day. If Jacko loses this court case he will be bankrupt and have to sell all his property. This time I don’t think another Greatest Hits album will do the trick.

There is talk of a world tour but why should fans (I’m not one) pay to watch some bloke go through the motions to pay his debts off? No album in the past few years means no recent tours and no tours means no hugely overpriced merchandise stalls selling a £2 t-shirt for £35.
If he had got off his plastic arse and released a new album a few years ago he could be back at the top of the charts but MJ has done nothing but spend his money of awful antiques and now don’t have an antique pot to piss in.

I think Jacko should have released an album the day after he was found not guilty of kiddie fiddling. The album would have shot straight to number 1. Even if Dean hadn’t bought his 10,000 copies the album would have been a success as there’s no such thing as bad publicity is there? Don’t believe me? Look at Andrew Sachs.

Sachs was never on the TV unless there was a re-run of Faulty Towers but now Jonathon Ross and Russell Brand have told the world Brand shagged his granddaughter the bloke hasn’t been off my TV. Coronation Street now want him to be a new character and he is being inundated with offers for work and why is this? It’s all down to his granddaughter being a stripper who shagged some tramp from Tilbury. She was so upset that her poor old granddad had been seen to be having the Michael (no pun) taken out of him she just had to sell her side to the Sun newspaper while promoting her job as the chief rubber of blood on her tits in the Vampire Sluts. Sachs gets all this work all because the world now knows what he knew all along about his granddaughter.

The world has indeed gone mad so Cha’mon MJ get your bony arse in gear and give something to your fans something to shout about. If you dont have any new songs I have an empty can of baked beans waiting for you…..

update – Dean has left two comments about MJ – please read them

Ladies, Gentlemen and those who are not sure. Its less than 7 days until a piece of plastic, shaped like a doughnut falls through your letter box (Internet orders) or will be actually in your hand (shop customers). This is the CD we have all been waiting for. Its taken Axl Rose nearly 15 years to write this new Guns N Roses album. It has cost millions of dollars, has used countless studios and band members. I have read a few reviews and most are positive. A few people wanting to be different have slagged it off but fuck ‘em.

I’m disappointed with Classic Rocks online review which stinks of them trying to be controversial. In 2007 CR magazine caused a storm when it said that their album of the year was the un-released and Internet leaked version of the Chinese Democracy. What a kick in the teeth for everyone who got their arses in a studio, wrote, recorded and released something. Now in late 2008 with the album due to hit the shelves they say its not that good and some of it sounds dated? What a bunch of hypercritical arseholes.

This GNR album is meant to be the sound that Axl had in his head for the band. Its the sound that the other members didn’t want to go with and given average solo albums and mediocre Velvet Revolver albums maybe they should have listened.

Next Tuesday come back to this site where I will give my honest review. I won’t let nostalgia get in the way. If Its shit then ill say so.

7 days seems like miles away. We have waited 15 long years but this 7 days will kill me!!!

Rock on.

Liverpool cruised to a 0-2 victory over Bolton (as predicted by me!!) on Saturday. Goals in each half by the in form Dirk Kuyt, a powerful header after a patient 25 pass move, and a Stevie Gerrard header after excellent work by sub Fernando Torres made sure the reds claimed all 3 points.

This game could have finished with the reds scoring more but bad finishing from Gerrard, Lucas, Keane and Torres ensured Bolton got off lightly. Bolton has a goal rightly disallowed after Nolan’s foul on Riena and sub Gardner would have scored if he had not been wearing espadrilles instead of football boots after rounding Riena only to fall flat on his face sending the ball way over the bar. Liverpool do need to score more as they lost top spot (which was theirs for 4 hours) on goal difference after Chelsea comfortably beat the hopeless WBA 0-3.

Next up for the reds Fulham at Anfield on 22/11/08

Liverpool travel to Bolton for tomorrows lunch time clash with Bolton Wanderers.
The Reds will make 10 changes from the pathetic midweek display against Spurs in  which the squad and youth team players did themselves no favours with boss Rafa Benitez.

Fernando Torres will start his first league game in 6 after his recent hamstring injury.
Benitez will be forced to make 1 change from the defence that started in last week’s 3-0 win over WBA as    Arbeloa is suspended after picking up 5 Yellow cards.

Liverpool will look to get all 3 points here and mid-table Bolton will need to be put to bed if the reds are serious about winning the league title this year. Chelsea and Utd won’t lose here so the Reds can’t afford to slip up either. A win will see Liverpool go back to the top of the league…..for a few hours at least.

My prediction: Bolton 0-2 Liverpool.

So Liverpool’s unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end in a surprising loss to   bottom of the table Spurs in this Premier League top versus bottom clash .
A Spurs team that was outplayed for roughly 75 minutes and survived attack after attack from Liverpool all which nearly resulted in Reds hitting the woodwork.
It just wasn’t Liverpool’s afternoon and it was match that on any other day could have been won by half time and by 5 or 6 goals. As much as I’m amazed at the defeat Liverpool have only themselves to blame.
It was nearly all over after roughly 8 minutes. First of all Liverpool went 1 up thanks to Kuyt’s rasping shot after just 3 minutes which followed by the onetime England forward Darren Bents inability to clear the ball from 6 yards resulting in him hitting his own post. Fine lines and margins.
Liverpool wont dwell on this match and will hopefully learn that getting the second goal is so important especially when on top for ¾ of the match. It only takes one error to undo a good afternoons work so step forward Jamie Carragher who although is one of the best defenders in Europe, must now come in at least 3rd in the own goal stakes. Being beaten only by Chelsea’s hapless (and I use the term loosely) ex-defenders Frank Sinclair and Eddie Newton.
A corner floated in saw Carragher rise and head the ball with such power only to see it fly past Pepe Riena into the net.
This gave Spurs the belief they didn’t have for 70 minutes and for me there was only going to be one winner from then on in.
Liverpool made a pigs ear of clearing the ball from a rare Spurs attack which ended with Bentleys powerful swerving shot that Riena could only parry away. The ball was going out for a corner when Bent (to his credit) didn’t give it up and kept the ball in cutting it back for the anonymous half time substitute Pablichencko to tap in. It proved to be the winner
Forget the “Redknapp magic” that the press have been touting about this victory was done to pure luck on Spurs side. I’m not bitter as I’m the first to admit that Liverpool have stolen points of Man City, Borough and Wigan and it’s a case of what comes around goes around. Spurs will play much better and lose whereas Liverpool will play much worse and win. Its why we love football so much even if I hate it right now.

Liverpool’s next match is Tuesdays home game against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. This game sees the possible return of striker Fernando Torres after a 5 match absence due to the injury he picked up playing for Spain last month.
A win will see Liverpool through to the knock out stages of the competition.