Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I - guest review
Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I - guest review
Tracklist
01. Right Next Door To Hell02. Dust N' Bones
03. Live And Let Die [Paul McCartney cover]
04. Don't Cry [Original version]
05. Perfect Crime
06. You Ain't The First
07. Bad Obsession
08. Back Off Bitch
09. Double Talkin' Jive
10. November Rain
11. The Garden
12. Garden Of Eden
13. Don't Damn Me
14. Bad Apples
15. Dead Horse
16. Coma
Guest review by
Death To Posers February 10, 2011
When talking about the performance on the album I of course have to start with GnR's two most iconic stars, Slash and Axl. Axl Rose is one of the best frontmen of all time; he has such a unique voice and such a great range. He was also that guy that everyone wanted to be. I heard someone joke one time that Axl could open his own chain of used panty stores with the amount of tail he got, and he probably wasn't exaggerating by much. His vocals on this album are exceptional but they don't live up to his work on Appetite For Destruction, they just don't seem as passionate. On Appetite you could really hear him pouring his heart into the lyrics, which isn't the case here. Slash is often considered an overrated guitarist but I believe he lives up to his hype, no one can convincingly mesh bluesy jazz and sonic sounding metal styles the way that Slash can. He's not really a shredder (though he can play pretty quick), but he plays with soul which is why I say it is convincing when he plays in a "bluesy" fashion. Some good examples of this can be heard on "November Rain" and "Double Talkin' Jive." The other members of GnR are good but don't get the respect they deserve, which is to be expected with superstars Slash and Axl Rose in the band. Izzy is an excellent rhythm player and his vocals are a nice break from Axl's outstanding, but at times overwhelmingly shrill voice. Duff McKagan's an excellent bass player, but I feel like his playing is drowned out by Slash and Izzy's riffs on some of the songs. I can understand this from the producers' stand point; they want people to focus on the massive solos and riffs, but personally I like to be able to hear the bass line more. Drummer Matt Sorum does a great job filling in for Steve Adler who succumbed to his substance abuse issues; he may actually be a better drummer than Adler.
Though this is a great album, it's far from perfect. It seems like they were putting in songs for people with certain tastes, so that everyone would have at least a couple songs they liked. So out of the 16 tracks I skip about half of them, fillers like "Dead Horse", the "Live and Let Die" cover, and "You Aint The First" are just plain bad to me. The good tracks however more than make up for the filler which are especially forgivable in this day and age where you can download one song at a time. It's not a masterpiece like their first album, but Use Your Illusion is definitely a great progressive venture worthy of the Guns N Roses legacy.
Favorite Tracks: "Coma," "Double Talkin' Jive," "Don't Cry," "November Rain"
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Death To Posers | February 10, 2011
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments:
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| Mechanist
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Mechanist
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Wow, fastforwarding into 2011, I wouldn't have expected a Guns N' Roses review at this moment of time  . Regardless, Guns N' Roses are one of the bands I grew up listening to, especially this album, it's twin as well as "Appetite For Destruction", very nice review, I like the detailed explanations. Good job.
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 Posts: 268 |
Posts: 268
Thanks. Yeah man, I still hear their songs on movie soundtracks and ballgames a lot  Makes me feel like I'm getting older.
---- The word gen means "illusion" or "apparition." In India, a man who uses conjury is called a genjutsushi ["a master of illusion technique"]. Everything in this world is but a marionette show. Thus we use the word gen.
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| Mechanist
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Mechanist
Account deleted Written by Death To Posers on 10.02.2011 at 20:38 Ah, those days, those carefree days...
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 Posts: 64432 |
Posts: 64432
Nice review, classic album , second I got I mean original one, and damn school days, we were young and immortal, time did not existed, school, summer, beer, metal, girls even they didn't want thing what rocks tars asked for so ... we just stuck to music ... still means much to me, so I decided to spin this today again
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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Posts: 96  |
Posts: 96
"Dead Horse" is far from a filler. It's plainly a great song about life. "Live and let die" is better than the original, and totally rocks in shows. Maybe not all the songs here (and on II) are perfect 10, but after listening to the albums as a whole, I feel they are fantastic. Axl and Slash are geniuses at what they do, the compositions (esp. with pianos) and the lyrics that state a bold truth: life is hard.
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