I was a pretty big Guns N’ Roses fan back in the day – I had a number of bootlegs besides the studio albums (Illusions 1&2 are still my faves). Unlike the rest of the hair metal crew (throw an umlaut on that if you want), they had a diverse group of influences they weren’t afraid to show, including Queen and ELO. Sure, Axl’s crazy, but he’s always been – it’s just more obvious now he’s on his own. I picked the new CD up on Sunday when it went on sale, and finished listening to it (in the car) today. The album itself is ok, teetering on the edge of C+/B-, but how could it be anything else? Produced and tweaked to death for years (apparently it was substantially finished in 2001), it’s a mish mash of styles, but enough of the original essence is there to make it more than a solo album (kinda like Billy back with the Pumpkins). It’s still better than The Spaghetti Incident?.
More than the music itself, I’m enjoying the wave of coverage. From comparing Chuck Klosterman’s 2006 April Fool’s review to his real review vs. the real Spin review and behind the scenes interview with an early chronicler as well as the real fail from Dr. Pepper (I tried several times, never got in). Not to mention this great list of 31 other lost projects.
Overall, I still think it’s a pretty weak effort considering the amount of time spent on this project. Thanks for linking to that article about Josh. Pick up that Dr. Dog album, you’ll thank me…