GUNS N' ROSES
Use Your Illusion I (MFSL UDCD-711)
Genre: Rock
Format: FLAC + cue + log
Released: 2007
Label: MFSL
Number of Discs: 1
Line Up :
Axl Rose - lead vocals, piano
Slash - lead guitar
Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (track 2)
Duff McKagan - bass, backing vocals, lead vocals (track 10)
Matt Sorum - drums, percussion
Dizzy Reed - piano, organ, keyboards, backing vocals
Steven Adler - drums, percussion (track 1)
Howard Teman - piano (track 10)
Shannon Hoon - vocals (track 13)
Johann Langlie - keyboards, drums and sound effects (all in track 14)
Josh Richman - speech (track 4)
The Waters - backing vocals (track 4)
Track Listings:
1. "Right Next Door to Hell" (Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Timo Caltia) – 3:02
2. "Dust N' Bones" (Slash, Stradlin, Duff McKagan) – 4:58
3. "Live and Let Die" (Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney) – 3:04
4. "Don't Cry (Original)" (Rose, Stradlin) – 4:45
5. "Perfect Crime" (Rose, Slash, Stradlin) – 2:24
6. "You Ain't the First" (Stradlin) – 2:36
7. "Bad Obsession" (Stradlin, West Arkeen) – 5:28
8. "Back Off Bitch" (Rose, Paul Tobias) – 5:04
9. "Double Talkin' Jive" (Stradlin) – 3:24
10. "November Rain" (Rose) – 8:58
11. "The Garden" (features Alice Cooper) (Rose, Arkeen, Del James) – 5:22
12. "Garden of Eden" (Rose, Slash) – 2:42
13. "Don't Damn Me" (Rose, Slash, Dave Lank) – 5:19
14. "Bad Apples" (Rose, Slash, Stradlin, McKagan) – 4:28
15. "Dead Horse" (Rose) – 4:18
16. "Coma" (Rose, Slash) – 10:14
Anyone who's into Metal has an opinion about this band. Some like them. Some hate them. Some worship them. And for some, GUNS 'N ROSES was the band that got them into Rock/Metal. I am one of these people. Frankly, if I hadn't heard "November Rain" all those years ago, I probably wouldn't be writing this review. This band warped my frail virgin mind and made me appreciate guitar riffs and wailing solos. But enough about me, on with the review.Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 17 years, you would know that this band plays balls-to-the-wall Hard Rock. With their debut album, they gave the Rock world a kick in the face, and made it dangerous again.v In 1991, GUNS 'N ROSES released 2 albums worth of material, "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion 2". They kicked out their original drummer, Steven Adler, due to drug related problems, and replaced him with the drummer from THE CULT, Matt Sorum. The rest of the band stayed intact, with Axl on vocals and on piano occasionally, the rhythm and lead guitar team of Izzy Stradlin' and Slash, and bassist Duff McKagan. Also new to the band is Dizzy Reed, playing organs and/or piano on certain tracks.This album features both extremes in terms of songwriting. On one hand, this album contains what I believe is the greatest GUNS 'N ROSES songs ever written, the groovy and swinging "Dust And Bones", with Izzy singing with his extremely nasal and cool voice; the thrashy and metallic "Perfect Crime", and the beautiful epic that is "Coma". On the other hand, it houses my least Gun songs EVER, namely the sappy drunken cowboy ballad "You Ain't The First". I gotta give props to the band though. This is an honest break-up song, compared to all the ones on MTV/Much music, where the poor guy/girl that got dumped begs the person who dumped him/her to take him/her back. And another sappy ballad, "Don't Cry", that was recorded TWICE, for each of the "Illusion" albums.......Once was enough, boys.Guitar wise, this contains amongst the band's best riffs and Slash's coolest solos. How can you not feel the groove in "Dust And Bones"? How could you not want to just thrash your room while listening to "Garden Of Eden"? "The Garden" shifts out of its two moods, one of them that seems to invite you to a dream, the other one daring you to get out of the nightmare you're stuck in. And the nylon-stringed guitar solo at the end of "Double Talkin Jive" is beautiful. Also, I gotta give props to Izzy. The man never got his due as a rhythm guitarist. He laid down the foundation for most of Slash's solos, and the riffs he came up with and played just plain ruled! And Duff, whose bass riffs can unfortunately only be heard on certain songs, because the guitars drown them out. It's weird. The only two members that most people mention from GUNS 'N ROSES are Slash and Axl...The rest deserve credit too, you know!!!!!!"Coma" STILL kicks my ass after all these years. The song is about a man who's in a coma (hence, the song title) and is contemplating whether or not the world is worth living in. You get lots of different points of view, lyric-wise, Axl Rose playing (singing) the parts of the person in the coma, and that person's friend, and the entire song, riffs, lyrics, samples, makes you feel both men's ordeals about the "Coma".
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