That's what I love about this one. It forgoes the cliché verse-chorus-verse-chorus thing (which should never be a goal in and by itself) and instead builds almost like a classy striptease: slowly building the anticipation without working to a specific climax. It's not about the destination, it's about the journey. Very, very cool song.

Got my copy yesterday and had a long car trip planned for today (well, long in Belgian terms... 4 hours back and forth), so I had plenty of time to let it sink in. I really, really dig it. Don't get what people find so terrible 'bout baby can't drive and certainly don't get what people love about Promise so much. Easily the worst song on the album for me. Dr. Alibi is really growing on my, which is strange 'cause it's a simple straight forward (aka predictable) song, but it has killer production values. The artificial harmonies on Lemmy's voice crack me up (in a good way).

Might write a full review when I've had some sleep...

You have to call a spade a spade: these weren't real multitracks, these were rockband moggs. Meaning no separate guitar lines, all extremely processed and cut&pastes all over the place to fit the game format. Sure, might be fun to play with, to make some rudimentary mixes, but calling them multitracks is giving too much weight to it.

That being said, I did download the vocals and guitars for ChiDem to see what it's all about (and come to the aforementioned conclusion), they should still be lingering around on my hd somewhere. Don't have webspace though, and I wouldn't want to send them one-by-one (I have an upload restriction, unfortunately) so someone would have to help me out with the hosting. I refuse to use filesharerapidmegazillahostwhatever... so that's out

I think we're saying that despite the fact that he kept the name Axl's still playing for half-empty venues in the US. At least, that's what I would be saying if I were taking part in the discussion...

@Naltav: There's two different meanings to selling out that you can object to. I'm not too fond of an artist throwing away their artistic integrity myself, if that means that said artist only or mainly puts out unlistenable crap that is designed to attack the charts without being based on something the artist actually likes. I'm against artists performing/writing/releasing songs they don't actually like or can get behind.
(although things are slightly different in a band situation obviously. I don't really think Slash was selling out when he played SCOM live all those years, despite him not liking the song.) For instance, Robbie Williams doing boyband-type stuff in Take That when he was in fact mocking the music, I would consider that selling out and no sir, I don't like it. I don't know for sure, but I don't think you can say Slash has ever done anything like that. Yes, this means that I think he actually likes Blackstreet & Cypres Hill.

However, earning money by doing cheesy commercials to cash in on the image and respect that you've built up over the years, leveraging your artistry to make a (very decent) living, ... that I don't have a problem with. As a matter of fact, I'd be inclined to think you're a dumb ass motherfucker if you don't do those things. That'd be like stumbling upon a beautiful vineyard filled with the juiciest grapes and not eating some 'cause that's not what you set out to do in the first place... (excuse the odd analogy, this one might work better in my native language ).

Either way, if VW commercials and silly Guitar Hero/Bill Gates appearances help him foot the bill for things like his solo album (or a new car, Malibu house or whatever,... ), I'm all for it!