Use Your Illusion I poll

i feel like I like UYI 1 way way better than UYI 2

I disagree! they're about equal imo. plus I think "coma" kinda sucks

and "the garden" is the worst non-"my world" thing on either record

ahh no way re: "Coma". hearing it live was a blast last night in all of its "millions of jumbled parts" Frankensteinery. Axl screaming "what the FUCK is going on" always gives me chills.

"The Garden" is aight, the Alice Cooper bits are teh only parts I like really.

what's with all the funny voices

is it a 'thing'

was axl protecting his voice from touring fatigue or something

Double talkin jive deserved better

Like as if don’t cry and November rain are better guns and roses songs than double talkin jive, pretty much the only song on UYI with no horrible stadium bloat, what were you all thinking

Double Talkin Jive is one of the handful on this one I like.

what's with all the funny voices

is it a 'thing'

was axl protecting his voice from touring fatigue or something

― j., Thursday, February 27, 2020 9:49 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

IIRC the voices are a central topic of Eric Weisbard's 33 1/3 book (although I don't know that he shed any light on the whys). He makes frequent reference to low-voiced Axl as Deep Downer.

Is that book good ? I like that series but from what I understand this one doesn't really deal with this album per se.

I liked it buuuut I don't know if I'd recommend it. It's been a while but I think the gist is that they were important albums to him that he hadn't engaged with in a long while and then kinda writes as he's revisiting them.

Am feeling «Breakdown» today. Kind of underrated track.

Ah, wrong thread. Should have been in II.

I think "The Garden" is a good jam... it's certainly better than, say, "Back Off Bitch."

BACK OFFFF
BACK OFF BIIIIIITCH

Surprised that song even got 2 votes... it's easy enuff to skip, but it irritates me that they included it at all. It's an old song, there's nothing good about it musically or (god knows) lyrically... it just sits there like a turd on Side 2.

no votes for Double Talkin' Jive? i think it could be my favourite these days. furious groove, great Stradlin lead vocal, terrific soloing, and that left-field flamenco outro from Slash that somehow fits right into place.

Somewhat bizarrely, D. Fricke's original RS review (which I revisited last night) opined:

Slash’s classical-guitar break at the end of “Double Talkin’ Jive” comes out of nowhere and should have stayed there.

I wrote about these albums on Substack this week...

Guns N' Roses Goes To New Jersey

it shows at least rudimentary self-awareness.

I think Axl is extremely self-aware… that’s what makes many of the songs (and his contemporaneous interviews) particularly interesting.

(Also, well I’m not an expert in New Jersey-ology, I don’t think these albums really qualify, because there was literally no real follow-up or period of sales decline… the classic band just broke up)

That EP in '87 though where JBJ used the n-word.

I guess one difference is that the "classic New Jersey" has a more-of-the-same-stuff-you-liked-last-time feel about it, while these records were clearly supposed to be both a giant step for Guns 'n' Roses and a major "big statement". Since the only instrument on Appetite that wasn't guitar or drums was 30 seconds of synth on "Paradise City", they knew it was bold to reinvent themselves as Elton John or Queen.

I used to 'produce' my friend's shitpost albums when we were 12/13. Anyway one of them had a track which was just the last 25 seconds of Back Off Bitch playing out my CD player before my friend says the name of some footabll stadium. Anyway I mention this because I haven't been able to separately acknowledge the GNR song for 11-12 years now.

It may just be that I'm not from the US but the UYIs have never struck me as a very convincing a New Jersey because they have so many hits that people still listen to.

Fwiw, I agree w/unperson about Sorum’s drumming lacking swing, etc. I’m not sure how great a drummer Adler necessarily was (maybe he was?), but I do think they could’ve chosen a better replacement.

No coincidence it came out after CDs took over

Quite honestly I don't skip much on either

Kinda hoping for an eventual sleep time album for kids called Snooze Your Illusion

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/619nWTPToRL._AC_SY355_.jpg

Omg

I used to 'produce' my friend's shitpost albums when we were 12/13. Anyway one of them had a track which was just the last 25 seconds of Back Off Bitch playing out my CD player before my friend says the name of some footabll stadium.

Ha, I had junior high friends who claimed copyright on a new version of "Nighttrain," simply because they changed the lyric "flying like an aeroplane" to "flying like an arrow plane."

I realised tonight Miami Twice was UK TV's Use Your Illusion

I listen way more to my own curated distillations of UYI I & II than I do Appetite, the latter of which was pretty much spoiled by me through radio overplay before I ever bought it myself around 1999-2000 (when I was 16-18 years old). UYI definitely hurts from the loss of Adler’s natural groove, but I don’t think anyone could reproduce that - they tried with a bunch of other drummers before settling on Sorum, who whatever his deficiencies still replicates it more accurately than GNR’s current drummer.

The current reissue of UYI I has a newly-recorded orchestra in place of the synth strings on the original November Rain. I haven't heard it yet, so I can't comment on whether it adds to or detracts from the song, but I guess it's good to see Axl is still capable of grandiose, misguided bullshit.

Yeah, I mentioned that in my writeup — it sounds really good. That's about the only argument in favor of the reissues, honestly.

Oh fuck, sorry - I missed the link! I'm glad to hear that it sounds good, but it still rankles me that they would "special edition" a track like that.

I think it's essentially meant to "replace" the original track – as the new CDs aren't called out as special new editions or anything on the packaging (other than the shrink-wrap sticker; I mentioned this on another thread). I assume the original versions of the albums will be discontinued, and these remasters just sort of take their place.

Right, I meant "special edition" in the George Lucas sense of overwriting the material that is already known to fans.

Nah, they just replaced cheap orchestrations with a real orchestra.

Lucasing the track would be like adding an accordion solo and having background singers periodically singing "BLASPINKY"

“Coma” is still one of their few songs that I enjoy

xp "Where's Izzy?" vs. "Han Shot First"

Replacing "You Ain't the First" with "Trouble On the Way"

It may just be that I'm not from the US but the UYIs have never struck me as a very convincing a New Jersey because they have so many hits that people still listen to

The thing is though the most famous songs on the UYIs are “November Rain” and a couple of covers (why release two covers as singles?)

Their equivalents on Appetite in terms of fame and notoriety? Welcome To the Jungle, Sweet Child O Mine, Paradise City (and if you go on, Mr Brownstone, It’s So Easy etc). It’s a washout.

Have Don’t Cry, Estranged, Civil War, You Could Be Mine etc really endured in popular consciousness beyond the fact they were a big deal in 1991/92? I’d say not