Blog Archives
The Top 10 Albums of 2008 (#1-5)
Before we get on with the conclusion of the Top 10 (#6-10 found can be found here), let me first say that outside of the #1 spot, there were no clear cut rankings. I spent the last month listening to each and every 2008 release once a day in order to accurately judge where they should be ranked.
Okay, not really, but it was pretty tough deciding who went where, especially when getting down to the cream of the crop…
1. Guns ‘N Roses – Chinese Democracy
Well, this was a no-brainer for me. Is it bloated? Full of ego? Overproduced? Sure. But through all of that, there’s no filler. Regardless of who the public thinks should be a member of GNR and what GNR should sound like, this is a great hard rock album. The fact that I spent the last 7 years listening to most of these tracks (in some form or another) and still play this almost every day in my car to and from work just goes to show how powerful the whole album is. It’s completely epic, UYI sessions to the extreme and I love it.
2. Edguy – Tinnitus Sanctus
Edguy came late in the year and vaulted over everyone to earn the No. 2 spot in my eyes. I’m a big fan of Edguy’s change in style and Tinnitus Sanctus continued the hard rock catchiness and huge choruses found on Rocket Ride.
3. Whitesnake – Good to Be Bad
After hearing the new tracks from Whitesnake’s Live: In the Shadow of the Blues, I knew David was going to give the world a great hard rock album… and he did! This is quite possibly Whitesnake’s best release, it stays true to the Whitesnake sound, and I’m still playing it these days. The band is powerful and so is David’s voice. Just a shame Whitesnake doesn’t carry as much cloat as a band like AC/DC because Good to Be Bad definitely deserved a wider audience.
4. Metallica – Death Magnetic
Funny thing is, this album may have ranked higher had it played in my car, where I tend to do most of my music listening (it’s a 20 minute drive to work at the least, depending on traffic). For some reason, it skips in my car’s CD player, so I was restricted to listening to it in the home, where I’m often distracted. Great album though. I’m still not sure where I’d rank it in the band’s catalog, but easily their best since the Black Album and possibly even better. Metallica just can’t win with fans these days though, because I’ve seen some serious trashing on this album as well.
5. AC/DC – Black Ice
Well, they did it! One of the most successful releases of the year and AC/DC definitely earned it with Black Ice. AC/DC is a great band, but I had grown tired of them quite some time ago. This album pulled me back in.
Now that we’ve talked about the best…
Most Disappointing Releases of 2008
Def Leppard – Nine Lives
I’m okay with Def Leppard abandoning the “Def Leppard sound” for the most part, but I just can’t get behind this album. 1970s glam cover album YEAH! was definitely an influence here, but it didn’t influence them to rock. “Nine Lives” was a great Leppard-esque rocker, but the rest was a huge letdown.
Alice Cooper – Along Came a Spider
Not bad, but definitely one of Alice’s least impressive albums. There’s just nothing special about it. Just to show how little of an impact it made on me, I only remembered it after posting this article! Again, my gripe was that it just didn’t rock out enough.
Don’t forget to check out what these great sites thought of this year’s releases…
All Metal Resource
Bring Back Glam
Hard Rock Hideout
Hair Metal Mansion
Heavy Metal Addiction
Heavy Metal Time Machine
Imagine Echoes
Layla’s Classic Rock
The Metal Minute
The Ripple Effect
Rock And Roll and Meandering Nonsense
Rock Of Ages
SLASH’S SNAKEPIT – Ain’t Life Grand
Slash’s Snakepit – Ain’t Life Grand (2000, Koch Records)
Track Listing:
1. “Been There Lately” … 4:28
2. “Just Like Anything” … 4:23
3. “Shine” … 5:21
4. “Mean Bone” … 4:40
5. “Back to the Moment” … 5:33
6. “Life’s Sweet Drug” … 3:53
7. “Serial Killer” … 6:19
8. “The Truth” … 5:17
9. “Landslide” … 5:30
10. “Ain’t Life Grand” … 4:54
11. “Speed Parade” … 3:52
12. “The Alien” … 4:27
Band:
Rod Jackson – Vocals
Slash – Guitar
Ryan Roxie – Guitar
Johnny Griparic – Bass
Matt Laug – Drums
Additional Musicians:
Teddy Andreadis – Keyboard, Harp
Jimmy Zavala – Sax, Harmonica
Lee Thornburg – Trumpet
Jack Douglas – Sitar
Produced by: Jack Douglas
A decent effort full of solid blues rock and Rod Jackson is a great vocalist, but the album on a whole is fairly forgettable. This album lacks bite and doesn’t come close at all to the danger and anger of GNR, but then, this was just Slash wanting to have fun and killing time until something else came along anyway.
Slash’s Snakepit was okay, but definitely no GNR and not even Velvet Revolver. Surprisingly, Slash’s own talents, in his own band, seem to be downplayed. That only hurts this album.
Highlights: “Been There Lately”, “Shine”, “Mean Bone”, “Back to the Moment”, “Serial Killer”
GUNS N’ ROSES – Chinese Democracy
Guns ‘N Roses – Chinese Democracy (2008, Geffen Records)
Track Listing:
1. “Chinese Democracy” … 4:43
2. “Shackler’s Revenge” … 3:36
3. “Better” … 4:58
4. “Street of Dreams” … 4:46
5. “If the World” … 4:54
6. “There Was a Time” … 6:41
7. “Catcher in the Rye” … 5:52
8. “Scraped” … 3:30
9. “Riad n’ the Bedouins” … 4:10
10. “Sorry” … 6:14
11. “I.R.S.” … 4:28
12. “Madagascar” … 5:37
13. “This I Love” … 5:34
14. “Prostitute” … 6:15
Band:
Axl Rose – Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Piano, Backing Vocals, Guitar
Bumblefoot – Guitar
Richard Fortus – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Tommy Stinson – Bass, Backing Vocals
Frank Ferrer – Drums
Dizzy Reed – Keyboard, Piano, Backing Vocals
Chris Pitman – Synthesizer, Keyboards, Bass, Guitar, Backing Vocals
Additional Musicians:
Buckethead – Guitar
Robin Finck – Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Paul Tobias – Guitar, Piano
Bryan “Brain” Mantia – Drums
Um… Let’s just say the credits for the songs are like a phone book, so I’m not listing the rest!
Produced by: Axl Rose & Caram Costanzo
In 1993, Guns N’ Roses released The Spaghetti Incident?, a collection of covers. 15 years later to the day, GNR’s next studio album has finally seen the light of day as an exclusive through Best Buy.
There aren’t too many surprises here for anyone who’s had a computer and an internet connection since the leaks began way back in 2001. Various live versions, mixes and demos have been leaked to much controversy, from a legal standpoint and a listener standpoint.
GNR (Axl specifically), much like KISS and Metallica seem to be a lightning rod for die hard hate from those that profess to be the fans of the band. I don’t like change more than anyone, but it’s not 1988 and Slash, Duff and Izzy aren’t coming back to give us Appetite For Destruction, Part II. Everyone’s got opinions, but I think GNR’s new music has been unfairly criticized over the years just because of who *isn’t* in the band.
In my opinion, the music of Chinese Democracy is simply amazing. Yeah, this isn’t Appetite. So what? Guns never did anything even similar to Appetite, so why even bother comparing then and now when it’s a whole new lineup and musical direction? The only thing I could see where people could knock the music is that Axl’s voice definitely isn’t as strong as it used to be, but there are still some shining moments where we get the old Axl back.
Take the best of the Use Your Illusion albums and push it into the millennium and this is the album you get. I’ve seen it criticized as being too pompous, overproduced and orchestral, but that’s just Axl’s influences (Queen, Elton John, Bowie, etc.) shining through. It’s just an epic release.
While the whole album is very good, the ballads especially shine. “There Was A Time” is one of my favorite Guns songs EVER now, “Street of Dreams” is a wonderful piano ballad and “Madagascar” and “This I Love” are mesmerizing.
Will Chinese Democracy appreciated by the masses? Time will tell. I think it at least has a strong curiosity factor going for it and that will give it some great initial sales. According to Sebastian Bach, Axl told him this is part one of a trilogy, with the next installment to be released in 2010, but who knows. If this album bombs, I don’t think we’ll ever see Axl again unless it was at gunpoint to bring the original Guns back.
I’ll admit, for an album that’s been worked on since 1994, it’s not going to live up to the expectations of anyone. I know most people are going, “Okay, you had 14 years, this better be the greatest album ever made”. It’s not. But I think it *is* a great release and definitely the best of 2008. Axl is a genius and knows how to write great songs (though I don’t hear any hit singles here). So my hope is that people can just sit back, forget about the roster changes and the years of waiting and take the album for what it is.
Highlights: Simply one of the greatest albums in YEARS. The only song I’m not in love with is “I.R.S.”, which is okay, but seems like filler.
END OF DAYS – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
End of Days – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Clean Version] (1999, Interscope Records)
Track listing:
1. “Camel Song” performed by Korn … 4:22
2. “So Long” performed by Everlast … 5:00
3. “Slow” performed by Professional Murder Music … 3:58
4. “Crushed” performed by Limp Bizkit … 3:24
5. “Oh My God” performed by Guns N’ Roses … 3:40
6. “Poison” performed by The Prodigy … 6:15
7. “Superbeast (Girl On A Motorcycle mix)” performed by Rob Zombie … 3:52
8. “Bad Influence” performed by Eminem … 3:40
9. “Nobody’s Real” performed by Powerman 5000 … 2:54
10. “I Wish I Had” performed by Stroke … 6:34
11. “Sugar Kane” performed by Sonic Youth … 5:58
12. “Wrong Way” performed by Creed … 4:20
Soundtracks can be a great (and not so great) snapshot of a certain time in music history when said soundtrack is full of contemporary songs & artists. The soundtrack to 1994′s The Crow perfectly captures the grunge & alternative rock scene and End of Days does a fairly good job of showing what rock music was at the turn of the century: rap metal, nu metal, industrial metal and post-grunge rock.
BUT… While the soundtrack covers it’s musical bases just fine, that doesn’t necessarily mean those genres were any good in the first place and that this album is. Okay, okay… I’ll be honest, there’s actually some solid stuff going on here and not your usual soundtrack throwaway filler.
I could mention that, surprisingly, I like the Korn, Limp Bizkit, Creed and Eminem songs, but that’s not what is important about this album. What IS important is that it holds the only officially released single from the mythical Chinese Democracy from Guns N’ Roses. Of course, I’m talking about “Oh My God” which is a loud, aggressive NIN-inspired song that is just awesome and features Axl at his angriest and most sneering. It’s a far way from “November Rain” or “Nightrain”, but so what? Good is good and I love this song and it’s the only reason I bought the soundtrack. At this time though, if Democracy does ever come out, I think it’s probably best to leave this one off the record due to the time that’s elapsed since it’s original release.
In the end (of days), despite the genres involved, this album actually offers up some really great tunes and to this day, it’s an album I’ll occasionally pull out and listen to. Which is a lot more than I can say about the supposed “comeback” the movie was meant to be for Arnie.
And yes, I have the “Clean” version, picking it up at Wal-Mart and not realizing until later that there was an explicit version.
Highlights: “Crushed”, “Oh My God”, “Superbeast [Girl on a Motorcycle Mix]“, “Bad Influence”, “Nobody’s Real”, “I Wish I Had”
Will we live in a Chinese Democracy come November?
From Billboard.com:
Best Buy is set to be the exclusive retailer for Guns N’ Roses decade-plus-in-the-making new album “Chinese Democracy” before year’s end, sources close to the situation tell Billboard. Some details of the deal are still being worked out, including the release date.
ANOTHER supposedly credible, supposedly somewhat official announcement? Well, we’ll see how this goes. I gotta believe Axl would not allow “Shackler’s Revenge” on Rock Band 2 or “If the World” in the movie Body of Lies unless there was SOME plan in place for an official release by the end of the year.
The rumored release date is November 25th, but we’ve heard this story before, even from Axl’s own mouth. So, I won’t believe it until I have the CD blasting in my car stereo.
Exclusive seems to be the best way to go these days for veteran acts, but if this is happening, they need to make an official announcement and start hyping the bejeezus out of this album real quick.
I’m looking foward to it though, most people seem to take the time to proclaim their hate and disinterest in the current band, but the whole album has pretty much been leaked and I think it’s great. Is it old school GNR? No, but it’s still great music, people should take the blinders off. I can’t wait to hear the final and cleaned up versions on CD.
