But Chinese Democracy sporadically suffers from the same problem that paralyzed proto-epics like “Estranged” and “November Rain”: It’s as if Axl is desperately trying to get some unmakable dream song from inside his skull onto the CD, resulting in an overstuffed maelstrom that makes all the punk dolts scoff. His ambition is both noble and wildly unrealistic. It’s like if Jeff Lynne tried to make Out of the Blue sound more like Funhouse, except with jazz drumming and a girl singer from Motown.
