The Never-Ending Saga

WNEW.com has an insightful piece on Chinese Democracy that you may enjoy reading.

An excerpt follows. You can read the entire article here.

Two weeks ago, we got the closest thing to an actual release of Chinese Democracy. Nine songs, three of them previously unheard, all mastered, surfaced onto the internet. While Kevin Skwerl and his blog Antiquiet, the source of the leak, gave no details as to the place of their origin, he did claim the songs were in fact the real McCoy - nine tracks from the Guns N' Roses project now nearly 15 years in the making.

Skeptics of the leak were silenced within the first thirty seconds as the still remarkable vocals of Axl Rose made their first appearance on Better, a song purported to be the album's first single. Each of the following eight songs are equally GNR-friendly, full of epic guitar solos, rocking melodies, and the band's notorious frontman presented front and center. There's no doubt about it. This is indeed Guns N' Roses we hear, performing songs most likely from Chinese Democracy. And to say these tracks were worth the wait would be an understatement.

Guns n' Roses' sixth studio is now in its fifteenth year in the making. As of March 2005, it has cost a reported $13 million to make. Thesis papers have been written about it, websites are dedicated to it. The saga of Chinese Democracy has evolved into one of the most interesting stories in the world of rock 'n roll.

But even considering all of this, will we actually ever see an official release of the band's sixth studio album?

Only time will tell.