Use Your Illusion I - Guns n' Roses

Though this bands career seemed to completely diminish after their split after the release of their cover version of The Rolling Stones track, Sympath For The Devil, their earlier work was known world wide and had a strong reputation. The Use Your Illusion albums were both released at exactly the same time in 1996 just as the band had seemed to turn 'commercial' as it were. The sleazy style of Appetite For Destruction is retained on the first track, Right Next Door To Hell which is one of the faster and heavier tracks on the album. The next track, Dust n Bones seems to move on to a much less heavy and strongly bluesier style of rock which is very ...  Read the complete review

PROLOGUE 14 years ago these albums were constantly played at full volume in my bedroom. Screams of 'turn that bl**dy music down' still echo in my mind when I think back to those days. How will the albums fare now the tragic truth that Axl won't marry me has been realised? Are the albums as good as I remember them or was I blinded by love (and that kilt mmmmmm)? A BIT OF HISTORY Following the massive success of their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, the hype and expectations surrounding the simultaneous release of the 1991'Use Your Illusion' albums was huge. The 'Use Your Illusion' title came from a painting that Axl had seen ...  Read the complete review

Use your illusion I is a mixed bag with lots of high points. 1.The cd starts when a band... Right Next Door to Hell is a awesome all out rock song with a great riff and energy. This rocks with the fury of appetite but with better vocal work by axl. The bass line is all you need to hear to know this song is going to rock. LOVE IT 2. Dust N' Bones- is ok at best... The problem is that Axl didn't write it or sing on this one... he does the backing vocals that's it. Izzy sings it and it chugs along without anything really good about it. filler. 3. Live and Let Die is a great cover song. This riff gets stuck in my head all the time. ...  Read the complete review

It's a strange marketing ploy to release two albums at the same time - risking commercial suicide some might say - but for Guns n Roses and their Use Your Illusion 1 & 2 albums, it did seem to work. Of course the sales figures were never likely to match those of their debut album, Appetite For Destruction, but each of the Use Your Illusion offerings had successful single releases, proving their individual merits. The two opening tracks, Right Next Door To Hell and Dust N Bones, sound like they are trying to continue what was started in Appetite For Destruction, but neither quite matches the punchiness of Welcome To The Jungle or Mr Brownstone and, as a ...  Read the complete review

The two Use Your Illusion albums, like most things to do with GN'R, were surrounded in controversy. It was argued that the band simultaneously released two albums rather than a double to make more money, the band said it was so fans could buy one, if they liked it buy the other, or copy it from a friend. Then came the controversy over the content of the albums. The first track on Use your Illusion 1 was suposedly about Axl Rose's obsessed fan neighbour, Axl's brainchild November Rain was deemed genius by some, and trashed by others, while songs from Use Your Illusion 2 were aimed at the press and a member of another well known rock band. To add to ...  Read the complete review