Chinese Democracy Starts Now.

It’s been a long wait, hasn’t it?

Guns N’ Roses released their new single, Chinese Democracy, earlier this morning. It’s taken from the upcoming album of the same name. Click here for a streaming version.

Here (might be) the cover:

Now, your first thought might be: Yeah, right. That album’s never coming out.

If that’s what you’re thinking, you might want to head on over to Rolling Stone, who just received a press release from Irving Azoff, the newly-instated manager of GN’R, who confirms the release date of November 23rd, 2008. The album will be sold as a digital download (probably through iTunes), and also in both vinyl and CD formats, the last two of which will be sold exclusively at Best Buy. (Who, incidentally, just posted new ads on their site promoting album pre-orders.)

“The release of Chinese Democracy marks a historic moment in rock n’ roll,” said co-managers Irving Azoff and Andy Gould. “We’re launching with a monumental campaign developed by Gary Arnold and the Best Buy team that matches the groundbreaking sound of the album itself. Guns N’ Roses fans have every reason to celebrate, for this is only the beginning.”

“Chinese Democracy is one of the most highly anticipated albums in music history, and Best Buy is thrilled to deliver this explosive and previously elusive release to Guns N’ Roses fans. Longtime fans will be rewarded for their patience and loyalty to this great band, while a new generation of fans will be blown away,” said Gary Arnold, Senior Entertainment Officer for Best Buy. “Axl Rose is one of the most dynamic and gifted writers and performers in modern music. Best Buy is excited to work with Axl to make the release of Chinese Democracy THE musical event of 2008!” (click here for more)

Oh, and the official site was just updated, too. It’s a splash page announcing the album release date with a streaming version of the single playing in the background.

All in a day’s decade and a half’s work for GN’R.

Of course, I’ve already posted my review of the demo leaks from June, so I don’t need to go into a description of my thoughts on the single that was released today. Suffice to say, the production is far better than on the older demo versions, and it’s exactly the sort of kick-in-the-ass rock song that this band very desperately needs to help reintroduce itself to the world. The first improvements I noticed were better use of instruments (particularly real-sounding drums for a change), better vocal layers (I dig the new high-pitched rasps during the verses), and generally just better all-’round production. It’s a very good song – straight and to the point – and will probably do fairly well for them.

I’m quite happy about everything else, too. I don’t think anyone really expected so much to happen all at once after, essentially, 15 years of on-again-off-again ambiguities and cancellations and rumours. It’s a refreshing change of pace for the group, and I’d say a lot of it is due to the new management team of Irving Azoff and Andy Gould, who obviously know what the hell they’re doing.

The next month should be interesting.

Tagged as: chinese democracy