September 17, 1991 - Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II

A week after my last release and four years since their rockin' debut "Appetite For Destruction", Guns N' Roses released two full-length albums (not a double album, but two separate releases) on September 17, 1991: Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. I completely skipped over their second album "GNR Lies" and out of both these new albums I have only three total songs, so as you can see I'm not a big Guns N' Roses fan, but both these albums took the top two spots on the charts when it was released! There are a couple line-up changes since their debut as drummer Steven Adler was fired from the band due to a heroin addiction. He is replaced by Matt Sorum, formerly of The Cult and Guns N' Rose's are now a six-piece as they add keyboardist Dizzy Reed to the fold. All three of the songs I have were popular singles and two of them are even covers!

The first song I have is "Live And Let Die", a cover of the James Bond song by Paul McCartney & Wings. Axl Rose's voice sounds a bit more animated compared to McCartney's smooth vocals as he sings and moans in his one of a kind voice and Slash's guitar sounds heavier than the original, but that is just fine. I like the original version better, but this cover is still solid and GNR do a pretty good job of sticking to the original script. The only original song I have off these albums is the nine minute long "November Rain", a power ballad that's driven by some nice piano by newcomer Reed. Axl actually plays the synths, though they aren't very difficult or exciting, while Reed plays the much cooler piano that sounds very wholesome and epic. Sorum's slow drum rolls sound epic as well and Slash plays some light guitar while Axl does a pretty good job of leading the slow verse. Even the "ahhhh"ing backing vocals sound epic in this power ballad and after about three and a half minutes Slash finally plays some loud guitar and delivers a slow but solid solo. Axl sings another brief part before we get another short solo from Slash then they return to the main riff for a final long and epic verse and the song seems like it might end around the 6:48 mark. But Teed's piano persists and they build things up nicely until it reaches another guitar solo from Slash, this one much faster and much better than earlier. Axl starts to sing overtop the solo and he continues this new chorus over and over while Slash continues to play some nice guitar and Reed plays some great piano as well until they finally close the song out with some synths and the sound of rain falling. The last song I have is "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", a Bob Dylan cover. Izzy Stradlin plays a light guitar riff to start it off and Axl sings a long "oooooooo" as the rest of the band joins in to complete the slow main riff. Duff McKagan's bass and Slash's guitar I'm sure are heavier than the original, but things still have a slow and sappy feel to them as they slowly jam through the first verse with Axl singing in his typical high voice overtop. In the chorus Axl just sings the name of the song, but he uses a different voice each time he does it including a lower voice and at times going quite high. The chorus leads right into a slow and elic sounding guitar solo from Slash, then it quiets down to repeat the process. After another verse, chorus and solo they quiet things down and we hear a phone dial a number, ring and then a very quick-talking call that leads right into another chorus. There are no guitars in this chorus and Reed gets a chance to shine with some cool piano bits before the whole band joins back in to slowly rock out a couple more choruses and they end the song with Axl holding a long "yeah-heh-heh-hehhhhhhh. Ow!"

This is actually the last we will hear from Guns N' Roses in my library and while all three of these songs were good, none of them were particularly great and that just about sums up GNR for me. "Appetite For Destruction" has some cool rock music for sure but I don't think it's as great as a lot of people make it out to be and I'm certainly not going to miss Axl's mostly very whiny and nasally voice. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

July 24, 2001 - Avenged Sevenfold and Sounding The Seventh Trumpet

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release another new band joins my library when Avenged Sevenfold released their debut album "Sounding The Seventh Trumpet" on July 24, 2001. But who are Avenged Sevenfold? They are a four-piece metalcore band from Huntington Beach, California consisting of Justin Sane (bass, piano), James "The Rev" Sullivan (drums, percussion), Zacky Vengeance (guitars, backing vocals) and M. Shadows (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards). Avenged play an interesting mix of heavy metalcore with screaming vocals, but also a very accesible style of metal with singing at others. Let's see what Avenged Sevenfold are all about! The album kicks off with a short intro called "To End The Rapture" and Vengeance plays a nice heavy rhythm guitar riff before coming right in with some soloing! He is just shredding it right from the get-go with some really wicked stuff and then we hear Shadows for the first time in his uni...
Read more

November 6, 2001 - As I Lay Dying and Beneath The Encasing Of Ashes

Two weeks after my last release a new band joins my library when As I Lay Dying released their debut album "Beneath The Encasing Of Ashes" on November 6, 2001. But who is As I Lay Dying? They are a four-piece metalcore band from San Diego, California consisting of lead singer Tim Lambesis, guitarist Evan White, bassist Noah Chase and drummer Jordan Mancino. As I Lay Dying are part of the budding metalcore scene and they play a very heavy style of metal and Lambesis does all screaming vocals. Let's see what AILD is all about! The album begins with the title track "Beneath The Encasing Of Ashes" and things start off with a pretty fast pace led by some heavy, chugging guitars and bass. They break things down not long after getting started and most of the song is at this slower, very brutal sounding pace. Chase's bass is super heavy, White plays some cool guitar that ranges from super low, all the way to super high, and Lambesis can hardly be understood he sound...
Read more

August 28, 2001 - Puddle Of Mudd and Come Clean

On the same day as my last release a new band briefly joins my library when Puddle of Mudd released their debut album "Come Clean" on August 28, 2001. But who is Puddle of Mudd? They are a four-piece post-grunge band from Kansas City, Missouri consisting of lead singer/guitarist Wes Scantlin, guitarist Paul Phillips, bassist Doug Ardito and drummer Greg Upchurch. I'm not a huge Puddle of Mudd fan, I only have two songs by them in my library, but they are both off this album and were both succesful singles. The first one is called "Blurry" and it's got a smooth and catchy light guitar riff that drives the song and Scantlin sings in a solid grunge-y voice overtop. They ramp nicely from the verse to the chorus and it's a nice heavy chorus with some louder guitars and a solid chorus sung by Scantlin. It's a little repetitive, but things still sound pretty smooth and solid and I think it's a good but not great song. The only other song I have is ...
Read more