When the two double albums “Use Your Illusion I & II” were released in September 1991, the year was over. There were people (including the author) who didn’t, couldn’t hear, anything else for months because they were busy penetrating those 30 songs. We had waited long enough, four years since the debut, “Appetite For Destruction”. Guns N’ Roses had become the biggest hard rock band of the decade, and Use Your Illusion celebrated that status.
The power of the band is impressive
Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, and assistants Matt Sorum and Dizzy Reed had created a monster, and they knew it. The word “extremely” was never so appropriate – the songs stretched out in all directions, some found no end, many things didn’t fit together, and yet you almost wouldn’t want to miss anything – not even songs like “Back Off Bitch”, which you misogyn could find if you didn’t feel that Axl hated himself a lot more than any woman, even his mother.
The psychedelic “The Garden” (featuring Alice Cooper), the insanely fast “Garden Of Eden” and the clever “Don’t Damn Me” are juxtaposed against more traditional ones like “14 Years” and “Yesterdays” and covers (“Live And Let Die “, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”), in between the irresistible cracker “You Could Be Mine” and the grandiose “Civil War” light up. And the ballads! “Don’t Cry”, “November Rain”, “Estranged”: an unparalleled tear-jerking trio. GN’R allowed themselves nonsense like the hate tirade “Get In The Ring” and the pseudo-rap “My World” – but at least it ended the second album appropriately.
“You ain’t been mindfucked yet,” Axl Rose claimed – and that’s what happened. Two songs will stand out forever in this mesmerizing array: “Breakdown,” which boasts at least three pieces of vital wisdom, and the ten-minute, elusive “Coma,” which takes us to the afterlife and back. That’s how it was then, and what about now – in classic Guns N’ Roses fashion, crooked 31 years later? The original albums are re-released as a 2-LP or CD edition remastered, in deluxe versions with various live tracks, or together as a 2-CD deluxe edition – each with a special feature: “November Rain” was replaced by a new one “2022 Version” replaced, featuring a 50 piece orchestra mixed by Steven Wilson.
When megalomania is so much fun, there are no arguments
First impulse: cheek! You can’t just exchange a piece of such a work of art! But honestly, you hardly hear it, so it doesn’t matter. And if you do, then you need the super deluxe edition with 7 CDs or 12 LPs (77 songs each) plus Blu-ray (20 songs). Apparently there weren’t any presentable demos and outtakes left, so in addition to a 100-page photo book and knick-knacks like posters and backstage pass replicas, there are two performances to hear (or the former also as a video): Guns N’ Roses live at the warm-up Gig at the New York Ritz in May 1991 – still with Izzy on guitar, who left shortly afterwards – and in Las Vegas in January 1992, then already with Gilby Clarke.
The power of the band is impressive in both cases, even if Axl Rose is quick to admit in New York that he always shirks rehearsals. Humor and self-knowledge were not so far from him at that time. The sweet Shannon Hoon joins on “Don’t Cry” and “You Ain’t The First”. In Las Vegas they play a famous version of “Civil War” with “Voodoo Child” parts. The deluxe version has a steep price: it costs around 270 euros with CDs and 490 euros with vinyl. The band knows what it’s worth. But when megalomania is so much fun, there are no objections. It was the best, most exciting time – and if almost everything hadn’t gone wrong afterwards, we might appreciate it less.
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