CAUGHT IN THE NET

You would need to have been keeping a very low profile not tohave noticed that Axl Rose has finally delivered a new Guns N' Rosesalbum. Fifteen years in the making, Chinese Democracy landed inshops on Monday after being trialled on the band's MySpace page,where you can still hear the blend of power chords and overstuffedballads, www.myspace.com/gunsnroses.

The NME reported that on the first day of the stream, it wasreceiving 25 listens per second, but whether many will be moved tobuy is unclear. Critics largely greeted the album with a bemusedshrug. One writer, though, had more to say on the issue. On the AVClub website, Chuck Klosterman delivered an extended review(tinyurl.com/669mam). The pop culture critic, who specialises intreating "low culture" very seriously indeed, with particularreference to heavy metal and hard rock, has been waiting much of hiscareer to review this album and he didn't hold back: "The finaltruth is this: he makes the best songs. They sound the way I wantsongs to sound. A few of them seem idiotic at the beginning, but Ilove the way they end. Axl Rose put so much time and effort intoproving that he was super-talented that the rest of humanity forgothe always had been. And that will hurt him. This record may tankcommercially. Some people will slaughter Chinese Democracy, and forall the reasons you expect. But he did a good thing here."

In the review Klosterman also makes an interesting claim:"Chinese Democracy is (pretty much) the last Old Media album we'llever contemplate in this context - it's the last album that will bemarketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the lastalbum that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who theband supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as aphysical object than as an internet sound file. This is the end ofthat."

This may be so, but given that Kanye West, The Killers and PaulMcCartney all released albums on Monday, you could be forgiven forthinking that "old media" was still in with a shout. Perhaps thereason such a slew of big name albums have arrived at the same timeis because today is "black Friday" - the first day afterThanksgiving in America, which kicks off their Christmas shoppingseason and marks one of the biggest retail days in the Americancalendar (the demise of Western capitalism not withstanding). Thefact that all four albums' online sales, not to mention illegaldownloads, will likely outdo their physical sales on "black Friday"or any other day, gives some credence to Klosterman's end-of-daystheory. While West and The Killers did launch their recordsaccompanied by full streams on their respective MySpace pages(www.myspace.com/kanyewest, www.myspace.com/thekillers), only ahandful of songs from each can be heard there. It is McCartney,surprisingly, who is acting the most "new media" friendly. ElectricArguments is the third album collaboration between Paul McCartneyand the bassist/producer Youth, under the moniker The Firemen. It'stheir first release for a decade and it can be heard in full onNPR.org, tinyurl.com/6d7rj3, and on their MySpace page,www.myspace.com/thefiremanmusic.

Not content with his new album, 808s & Heartbreak, West continuesto collaborate with other artists too. The Fader has a free downloadof one such recent effort - a track by the rapper GLC with Kanye onproduction duties and guest vocals to boot, tinyurl.com/6gmrz2. Heis also the cover star of The Fader magazine's 10th anniversaryissue, which was released on Tuesday and can be downloaded as a PDFfrom www.thefader.com. West might share some of the samemegalomaniacal tendencies with Rose, but the former could certainlyteach the latter a thing or two about work ethic.

Pick of the week

Bruce Springsteen, 'Working on a Dream'

On Monday, Springsteen, with his E Street Band in tow, offered anew single "Working on a Dream" as a free download from his website.The song was first aired publicly at a Barack Obama election rally.While musically it doesn't offer a huge change from his most recentefforts, lyrically The Boss is striking a note more suitable tothese Obamanian times, "I'm working on a dream/Though trouble canfeel like it's here to stay/I'm working on a dream/Our love willchase the trouble away."

www.brucespringsteen.net