Beta Lebeis: "Album was finished before Christmas"

UK magazine Classic Rock recently tracked down Beta Lebeis, personal manager of Axl Rose, who confirmed to us that Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy album "was finished before Christmas".

She added: "Everybody knows that."

Lebeis said Axl is currently "in negotiations" with unspecified parties to arrange to album's on-sale date.

However, Classic Rock believes that Chinese Democracy may not be 'released' in the traditional sense - at least not initially.

We suspect that GN'R may follow the Radiohead route of pay-as-you-like downloads. But we stress this has not been confirmed.

Another source close to the GN'R camp also suggested that Chinese Democracy may gain a conventional release in late summer, with a view to it becoming "a big Christmas album".

Stay tuned for the full, unexpurgated story behind Chinese Democracy in the next issue of Classic Rock, on sale on February 6!