Editorial Review:

Album Description:
Limited 2008 UK 180gm vinyl pressing of this classic album, released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the long-playing record. This is an exact replica of the original packaging and contains a voucher enabling the purchaser to download MP3 versions of the songs within. Happy Birthday, my dear vinyl LP! Universal.

Amazon.com:
Part one of Guns N' Roses' ambitious second album is arguably the better of the two. It certainly rocks harder, though this seems to be more coincidence than anything else; which songs went on which CD looks to have been a random selection. Use Your Illusion I stays closer to the band's bluesy hard-rock roots, with guitarist Izzy Stradlin contributing some of the best songs, including 'Dust N' Bones' and 'You Ain't the First.' 'November Rain' (clocking in at over nine minutes) became an instant classic, and there are a fair number of straight-ahead rockers, such as 'Perfect Crime,' 'Don't Damn Me,' and 'Garden of Eden.' Taking the best from this album and Use Your Illusion II would have made a killer single CD, but there's enough good stuff here to make it worthwhile. --Genevieve Williams









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• Use Your Illusion II
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Disc 1:

1. Right Next Door to Hell - Guns N' Roses, Stradlin, Izzy
2. Dust N' Bones - Guns N' Roses, Stradlin, Izzy
3. Live and Let Die - Guns N' Roses, McCartney, Paul
4. Don't Cry - Guns N' Roses, Stradlin, Izzy
5. Perfect Crime - Guns N' Roses, Stradlin, Izzy
6. You Ain't the First - Guns N' Roses, Stradlin, Izzy
7. Bad Obsession - Guns N' Roses, Stradlin, Izzy
8. Back off Bitch - Guns N' Roses, Huge, Paul
9. Double Talkin' Jive - Guns N' Roses, Stradlin, Izzy
10. November Rain - Guns N' Roses, Rose, Axl
11. The Garden - Guns N' Roses, Arkeen, West
12. Garden of Eden - Guns N' Roses, Slash [1]
13. Don't Damn Me - Guns N' Roses, Slash [1]
14. Bad Apples - Guns N' Roses, Slash [1]
15. Dead Horse - Guns N' Roses, Rose, Axl
16. Coma - Guns N' Roses, Slash [1]

Rating: - * Shows how good a metal album can be ... Yep, the full five stars here and I'll tell you why; One reason is that this work feels optimistic, even when it's addressing pretty dour issues, it's an expansive work by a band that worked hard with their production team and developed their sound further than they'd had the opportunity to on their debut. They sold a squillion of these things at the time and the way the album works on a number of levels is part of the reason why. One level is the pure molten metal songs like Don't Damn Me and Dead Horse and Garden of Eden which show that when the faux nastiness is left behind and a genuine feeling of unclean sneer is available then you will connect with people. It shows how metal can make you think and can at times open up some unpleasant internal cans of worms. And then there are the tracks that make this a cool done-me-wrong good time blast like Dust n' Bones, You Ain't The First and Bad Obsession. Not to mention the good time humour of Back Off Bitch. In fact it's pretty hard to pick a single drop of the ball here. Even the cover of Live And Let Die is pretty good and really, if your going to sing a song like that would you find it more believable coming from these guys with Axle Rose in full roar than Mr Sensible Shoes McCartney? I'm mean really... As to the band, these guys are so famous it's hard to come up with anything original to say other than that there is/was a certain synergy within this band. After all I'm sure that Duff, Izzy and Sorum are good musos but it's hardly relevant, these are just strong songs. They speak their piece well and with verve and commitment and that's enough to carry the day. And as for Slash, well as I write in 2008 the guy is probably the most recognisable guitarist on the planet to the average punter. And while I feel that his most brilliant riffs are perhaps on Appetite the guy here shows a solid and varied palette from which to paint. Which means the rhythm section can get on with the job of laying either a solid as oak blues base for a song or a crunching metallic bed of nails, whichever is required. Five stars all the way and a hugely important album that any music fan with even a modicum of rock in their veins should acquaint themselves with. Rating: - * Roll your own ... There's an excellent sequel to _Appetite For Destruction_ trapped within the two bloated discs that are _Use Your Illusion_. Here it is: 01. You Could Be Mine 02. Pretty Tied Up 03. Dust 'n' Bones 04. Locomotive 05. Don't Cry (Original) 06. Don't Damn Me 07. Back Off Bitch 08. Estranged 09. Shotgun Blues 10. 14 Years 11. November Rain Download, burn, enjoy. Rating: - * Masterpiece #1 ... Guns N Roses have many excellent albums but when it comes down to variety Use Your Illusion is full of variety. Both parts 1 and 2 are full of variety. But I am reviewing part one here and it is a masterpiece just like the second part. Not that their other albums aren't masterpieces. Ok, this cd is as perfect as Guns N Roses gets if there is such a thing as perfection. Every track has a mood of its own and that is what makes the Use Your Illusion discs so special. There are songs that make you laugh, cry, party, depressed, happy, angry, anarchist, quirky. It's all here. Get them both. Every rock, metal listener and quite franky any music lover should have this in their collection. Rating: - * Perfect ... I'm only 17 years late on this review but it's better late than never. I LOVE this CD. I am addicted to all of my GnR music. This collection is poetry meets metal, symphony meets scream. It's absolute perfection, anyone who disagrees is.....well, a fool. Rating: - * Killer! ... Part of a two album masterpiece, Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I provides a slightly more straight up, bluesy, rock n' roll approach than its counterpart, Use Your Illusion II, which is somewhat more experimental. I've heard a few complaints that the Illusion albums are overproduced, and I can't honestly say that I understand this complaint. They're certainly enormous in scope, far beyond what Appetite for Destruction reached for, but what exactly does it mean for something to be overproduced? In truth, these complaints are from those who wanted Appetite Part II and didn't get it. But on to the album itself... UYI I is a nasty bit of rock n' roll. Aggressive, full of attitude, and showcasing any number of GNR's influences. From the the guttural base line that starts off "Right Next Door to Hell" through the powerfully epic "Coma," the album is a true rock n' roll roller coaster. Most of the tracks are hard rockers, with exceptional guitar work from Slash, that would have fit in just fine with the Appetite material, though they're effectively balanced out with the slower tracks, the move from the aggressive "Perfect Crime" to the Stones-esque "You Ain't the First" being a perfect example. Want something bluesy? They got bluesy rock in spades, with "Bad Obsession," "Bad Apples," and a number of other tunes. Soaring atmospheric rock? Sure, try "Coma" or "November Rain." It's all here, and it's all great! The true measure of a great album, I've always felt, is not in the quality of its hits. Rather, the so-called "filler" is far more important in creating a great album. Do listeners skip over the songs between the hits, or do those songs quickly become favorites? It's a daunting task, with the Illusion albums, for any of the in-betweens to truly be favorites, as there are so many hits between the two albums. But, nevertheless, UYI I succeeds in this, with the "filler" making a good album great. So, what's my definition of over produced? As far as I'm concerned, it means that this album is able to kick your a$$ in many more ways than one.