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Billboard CD reviews: Guns N' Roses, Kanye West

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Grunge. Techno. Boy bands. Both President Bushes. These are just a few of the things Guns N' Roses has improbably outlasted in the 17 (!) years since its last album of original music.

Almost ever since, lone original member Axl Rose has been working on "Chinese Democracy," which reached mythic status as the album many thought would never materialize.

Lo and behold, here it is. Apparently to make up for lost time, the set is front-loaded with huge-sounding, heavily produced rockers coated in a modern sheen that contrasts starkly with the stripped-down aesthetic of GNR's glory days. Tracks like "Riad N' the Bedouins" have "Appetite for Destruction" bones but exoskeletons dipped in chrome. Rose eventually backs off and lets the songs breathe, with promising results. "Scraped" is a riffy monster in the vein of "Mr. Brownstone"; "Catcher in the Rye" is pure, major-key classic rock; and "This I Love" is a grandiose ballad you can picture Rose playing with a candelabra on the piano lid. The artist is in fine, ever-changing voice throughout, and there's certainly a ton of musical food for thought here, requiring several listens before the nuances are revealed. Worth the wait? Maybe. Worth a few hours of your time? Definitely.

ARTIST: KANYE WEST

ALBUM: 808S & HEARTBREAK (Def Jam)

Kanye West has had a rough year (the death of his mother, splitting from his fiancee), so it's not surprising to hear raw emotion and frustration on his fourth album. He's not mincing words when it comes to women: He's the victim who's been mistreated on "Heartless," and he's unable to wrench himself away from an ex-lover on "Say You Will." While interesting, these tracks aren't nearly as fun as the cocky "Amazing" and the Lil Wayne-assisted "See You in My Nightmares," where he gains the upper hand in a breakup. Sonically, West pushes the envelope by relying on the drum machine from which the album takes its title, as well as the ever-popular vocoder. In the end, it seems that no matter how pained West is, as long as his one true love -- himself -- is intact, he will prevail.

ARTIST: TOM JONES

ALBUM: 24 HOURS (S-Curve Records)

Rather than stage a stripped-down comeback in an incense-laden studio with an acoustic guitar and/or Rick Rubin, 68-year-old Tom Jones struts in the other direction, having waited for the full Winehouse-led rebloom of the bombastic rock 'n' soul he made not so unusual in the first place. Jones roars out of the box with Tommy James & the Shondells' "I'm Alive," a sweat-soaked jumpsuit of a song thick with fierce maleness. The Bono-penned "Sugar Daddy" is basically a series of dirty-sex couplets delivered as a smirking kiss-off to anyone who dares doubt his continued virility. Then there's the Bruce Springsteen obscurity "The Hitter," about a past-his-prime boxer who can't stay clear of the fight. Like Jones, you might be wondering what he could possibly be doing in the ring, until he lands a hook or two.

ARTIST: TRACE ADKINS

ALBUM: X (Capitol Nashville)

There's a reason Trace Adkins is still alive and well on his 10th album: He is the sincere, God-fearing, pickup-truck-driving, sometime-screw-up everyman that his songs appeal to. Not known as a songwriter, Adkins has an innate ability to make a song his own, as is the case with the seemingly autobiographical "Happy to Be Here" and the family-first "All I Ask for Anymore." Adkins' sense of humor is on display on "Marry for Money," a hilarious take on a male gold digger, and on the self-deprecating "Hillbilly Rich." The baritone channels his inner Barry White on "Let's Do That Again" and shows his vulnerable side on "I Can't Outrun You." "Til the Last Shot's Fired," with its poignant prologue, and bluesy single "Muddy Water," which speaks of spiritual rebirth, are the best cuts.

ARTIST: THE KILLERS

ALBUM: DAY & AGE (Island Records)

Leave it to these Vegas boys to take another gamble. After the monster success of their 2004 new-wave-inspired debut, "Hot Fuss," the Killers borrowed a page from Springsteen's playbook for their '06 set "Sam's Town," a grandiose concept album tailored toward the everyman. Here, the band trades in the slick mega-hooks and stadium-size rockers for steel drums, bongos and a whole lotta sax. There's even an out-of-character seven-minute epic. But the band sounds best on "Human," a Pet Shop Boys-like synth-pop number, and "Spaceman," a big, hooky rocker. The Caribbean-flavored "I Can't Stay" and the Duran Duran-lite "Joyride" are more perplexing, as is the looped chanting that anchors "This Is Your Life." If nothing else, this band keeps fans on their toes.

ARTIST: SCOTT WEILAND

ALBUM: 'HAPPY' IN GALOSHES (Softdrive/New West Records)

After Stone Temple Pilots' first hiatus in 1998, Scott Weiland released a solo album, "12 Bar Blues." A decade later, following his messy departure from Velvet Revolver and the return of STP, he's back with another, released on his own Softdrive label. While the debut showed him eager to step outside the confines of STP, he essentially has nothing to prove here, and as a result, it's a casual-sounding record. Some tracks, like first single "Missing Cleveland" and "Paralysis," are rockers that wouldn't sound out of place on an STP album, but there's also the Paul Oakenfold-assisted electronica cover of David Bowie's "Fame" and the bossa nova rhythm of "Killing Me Sweetly." It's definitely more ambitious than anything he did in Velvet Revolver, but it should still please fans of either of his bands.

ARTIST: THE FIREMAN

ALBUM: ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS (MPL/ATO Records)

Paul McCartney and producer Youth have long been identified as the brains behind once-anonymous electronica duo the Fireman, but even if they weren't, the project's third release would be an instant giveaway. It's the first Fireman album to include McCartney's vocals. And with his voice on "Electric Arguments" comes a much more diverse, song-based, pop/rock approach to the Fireman's experimental slant. Opener "Nothing Too Much Just out of Sight" is a growling, fiery blues jam, followed by the sunny, acoustic, "Blackbird" descendent "Two Magpies." New Age, psychedelia and gospel take turns with more straightforward, at times derivative classic rock, until world-infused ambient tracks find their way back to the Fireman's focus with "Lovers in a Dream" and "Universal Here, Everlasting Now." The set closes with the Zeppelin-esque "Don't Stop Running" -- and it's clear from the sheer range and energy on this album that McCartney is heeding his own advice.

ARTIST: NICKELBACK

ALBUM: DARK HORSE (Roadrunner Records)

Despite the claim that you should bet horses and not houses, we're wagering the farm that "Dark Horse" will cross the same multiplatinum finish line as champion predecessor "All the Right Reasons." The reason? The bulletproof Nickelback provides affordable fun that promises good returns in hard times. Yes, entrees are cooked to order for radio. The quartet gets its hands dirty, though, with guitar solos, heavier chops and double-entendres. It hails the party life but condemns it when it goes too far. Saddle up tight for another long Nickelback run.

Reuters/Billboard