“Hong Kong Democracy” By Various Artists.

It’s been over a decade since we were promised the Basic Law’s biggest ever release, but with delay after delay after delay, many of us started thinking we’d end up seeing the new Guns N’ Roses album before this would see the light of day.

Over the years, we’ve had plenty of clues about how it would shape up. First there was the low-quality bootleg from 2007 featuring Civic Party member Alan Leong on bass. While it was certainly a step away from the previous release, “Colonial Blues,” it ultimately rang hollow, regarded more as a watered-down curio than a true lead-up to what many were expecting to be a revelatory experience.

And now we’ve got this—a stopgap crowd-pleaser of an EP that ßis here apparently just to tide us over until the full release in 2017. It’s basically two or three power ballads broken up with interminably long spoken-word interludes recorded in the chamber of Legco. The songs touch on self-determination, accountability, poverty and public works. All admirable topics to be sure, and proof that the album is gaining some momentum, but they’re still looking towards the future, and many fans want to see what they have to say about the present.

As far as the sound goes, it’s kind of like Jay-Z, but with ten times more bureaucracy. It definitely reminds one of the severely disappointing 90s release, “Tibetan Freedom.” And the much-hyped duet between Emily Lau and the Democratic Party? An interesting diversion from what we’ve heard so far, but nothing to really sink our teeth into—hopefully, we can at least take it as a sign the group is becoming much more coherent. And the less said about that whole “Functional Constituency (The Remix), featuring T.I.,” the better.

The overwhelming feeling one gets while listening to this is of disappointment. It leaves you hankering for the real thing, which has apparently been pushed back to 2017 (and even now, they’re soft-peddling their promises on that). So why so many delays? Industry insiders say that the fractious nature of the collaborating artists is severely hampering proceedings. Bickering and in-fighting between the band and its entourage, not to mention the controlling, Svengali-like manager in Beijing are all combining to seriously stifle any nascent sense of creativity.

All in all, the real “Hong Kong Democracy” will only (optimistically) see the light of day in the far-off future. But will the public even be interested in its release eight years from now, if that is indeed when we get it? We hope so, but when Axl Rose actually manages to beat your release date, you can’t blame us for worrying.

1 out of 5 Stars by HK Editorial.