I listened to "IRS" and "The Blues" from the upcoming Chinese Democracy album from Guns'n'Roses. Needless to say, there was little there to stir my heart or imagination. I would not say that the songs were bad -- they seemed well-written and well-produced. Axl's voice sounds the same as it did back in the late 80's/early 90's. The guitar tone was classic G'n'R, and the absense of Sir Slash was barely noticed. But the tracks definately did not carry the visceral weight of early G'n'R. Perhaps I'm just getting old and jaded.

Guns'n'Roses introduced me to danger in rock'n'roll music. They were not safe and slick like, say, Def Leppard or Bon Jovi. Their decadence and nihilism was palatable; their music smelled of the grime of Hollywood's underbelly. They were not clownish in their debauchery like Motley Crue or the countless other Sunset Strip glam metal bands. Guns'n'Roses gave a young kid the sense that something was out there, something forbidden and tasty, something that would ruin you. I suppose that the words I use conjure up the immediate responses of "sin" and "temptation," but these are often consequences of a life lived instead of hidden. G'n'R felt real. They did not feel like a cartoon or like a pre-pubescent gutteral fantasy.

The overbloated and overblown rock music world wasn't quite ready for G'n'R in the late 80's, and now their darkness seems like a pale tint to cynical, irony-seeking eyes. But more than anything else, G'n'R sounded like Los Angeles. Maybe my perception of boredom and irrelevance at the new tracks stems from my rejection of LA as the city of nihilistic urban dreams. I'm actually happy to be as far removed from LA as possible, both geographically and spiritually.

So cheers to you, Axl. I applaud your perseverance in continuing to make decent-sounding records and attempting to harness some of that danger for the kids who only know rock music as a cheeky joke. Maybe their ears are still looking for a seedy LA underbelly to wallow in for a while.

Dang, some of the tracks from the new Guns'n'Roses album are posted up on Stereogum and I haven't listened to them yet. I'm actually fearing it. Usually, long-awaited comeback albums from artists/bands that are long past their prime are a horrible disappointment. Also, "classic rock" bands that still manage to put out records despite the absence of the majority of their founding members often release pure garbage. You can find stacks and stacks of such in the record bins at the Goodwill (Wow!!! Lynard Skynard is still putting out albums! But I thought that most of them died in a plane crash...) Anyway I'm not setting my expectations too high. The "other" G'n'R reunion incarnation (Velvet Revolver) was a waste of time and energy, and contained what many consider to be the creative nucleus of the band in Slash and Duff. So how could Axl on his own be any better???

If you're wondering why this is such an issue for me, please bear in mind that G'n'R played a very important formative role in my life. They helped to get me where I am today (poor, under-employed, etc.) I still hold to my opinion that Appetite For Destruction is the best rock album ever.

Stay tuned for my report when I finally summon up the courage to download the above metioned songs.

I have just noticed that it's been nearly two months since I last posted on this blog. How time flies when you are doing nothing spectacular! Apparently the "inevitable blog explosion" was more of a fizzle, snuffed out by the incessant rain. Or something to that effect.

Seriously though, it has been a difficult time for me creatively for the past few months. My relationship with writing is like one with a jealous lover; it is a love/hate thing that manifests in frustration more often than not. Of course, reading through the archives of this blog provides little consolation. I wince at the lack of topical focus, the lack of direction. Perhaps this is just a reflection of my desire to say something important and profound. But in the process, I have courted a muse that remains distant.

My New Year's resolution this year was to return to simplicity, to stop doing things only for results, to stop avoiding adversity. I'm not going to make any promises about regular updates because I can only fail to keep them. But I really would like to write more. If you check here regularly, hopefully you will not be disappointed.