USE YOUR ILLUSION 2

My favorite song on this CD is Civil War because they talk about
not fighting in a war and the reason is that the music is great.
Other than that I like 14 Years, Knock, Knock, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, & You Could Be Mine. In my opinion, Estranged is
the weakest song off the cd and is one of the saddest songs ever
made. Anyway my favorite song off the Illusions is November Rain
because it has some of the best riffs ever!

4.5 Stars - Excellent but inconsistent

'Use Your Illusion, Part II', Guns n' Roses' third studio album (the second part of the Use Your Illusion Pair), released in 1991 was, at the time a unique album feat. Never before had a band put together two epic albums and released them at the same time. The band's debut effort, 'Appetite For Destruction' was a massive success and was itself one of the greatest albums of all time. Therefore, the LA based metal quintet had an awful lot to live up to with their follow up effort. Fans of the band had waited a long time for the follow up to Appetite and so when it was released, were they disappointed? Not in the slightest!



'Use Your Illusion, Part II' for me is the weaker of the two albums; it is much more uneven and inconsistent with both some excellent, unsurpassable tracks but also some really, really bad tracks too which brings down the work's overall standing. This part, for me is also not quite as heavy as its partner, still however, we still have the classic GN'R sound and the music is on the whole very good with lots of firepower. Axl Rose still fronts the line up with his familiar protesting vocals and Slash's guitar playing on the album is first rate, with plenty of excellent solos on most of the tracks. The only real change to the line up was the addition of Matt Sorum, who replaced Stephen Adler on the drums, who was chucked out the band after acquiring a real excessive drug addiction. The songswriting goes from the sublime (i.e. Estranged) to the plain ridiculous (i.e. My World - more about that later).



Guns n' Roses have attracted no end of controversy over the years which have caused them to be loved or hated by loads of people. However, whether you like them or not, you have to give them credit for the risks they took with their music. Releasing two epic albums at the same time was very ambitious but it paid off and gave the band the unique feat of holding the top two spots in the Billboard 200 album chart at once. This is proof though, of how good their music was when they were at their peak. If there was one criticism though, it would be centered around having the 'Use Your Illusion' in two parts. If the best material from part I and the uneven part II was taken and put into a single album, it would have made a phenominal CD, something to definitely rival their debut effort and plenty of other classic albums.



Nevermind, the music is still great on the whole for this album. The opener for Part II is one of GN'R's best, 'Civil War'. This is 7 minutes of pure brilliance, with plenty of heartfelt lyrics. The whole thing leaves you with a great line - 'What's so civil about war anyway?' '14 Years' follows this, an underrated song by Izzy Stradlin, who sings on this one. 'Knockin on Heavens Door' is one of the more famous GN'R tracks, a cover of Bob Dylan's original - its a great track, with a brilliant solo from Slash midway through. This track for some reason gets more attention than better GN'R tracks which is a bit unfair but I suppose it has more of a commercial feel to it. Then we have a dip in quality.... 'Get in the Ring' is more of an arrogant ramble than anything, the language doesn't bother me but it spoils a pretty good track rhythmically. Similarly, 'Shotgun Blues' is just a mess, with no direction and just a songwriters hash with guitar riffs thown over the top of bad lyrics. However, we see the light with the excellent 'Breakdown', a long track with plenty of drive and a great piano part underlying the music. 'Locomotive' has plenty of great moments to keep the 8 minute epic worth the listen and 'So Fine' is a slower, more passionate track with great lyrics (now are you seeing how up and down the album is!)...



Then we come to Estranged. This is, for me the greatest track that GN'R ever made. It is 9+ minutes of sheer ecstacy ... I've not heard a track quite like it. From the whispering opening from Axl Rose through plenty of great sections on the guitar from Slash through to the final drumroll, this track will captivate your imagination, thats how good it is! 'You Could Be Mine' is an excellent track too - the heaviest, most classic metal sounding on the album. However, the album should have ended there but we have two unnecessary tracks. The first is an alternative version of 'Dont Cry'. Its still pretty good, but I dont think its necessary a 2nd time round, or is as good as the original. Then we have 'My World', a 1 minute piece of s**t. Dont let this short piece of crap put you off the whole album. You wonder what the hell Axl had in mind when he penned this rock-rap failure - I thought it was another band when I first listened to it. When you listen to 'Use Your Illusion Part II' turn off after 'You Could Be Mine' and you will feel satisfied with a great album, listening on to 'My World' just leaves a bad taste in the mouth!



Overall, the 3 'bad' tracks aside, 'Use Your Illusion, Part II' is a thoroughly excellent album. Guns n' Roses are doing hard rock at its best for most of this album. This is no Appetite For Destruction but it is still definitely worth buying if you like Guns n' Roses's music. Get it with Part I (the better half of the pair in my opinion) and enjoy 2 1/2 hours of great music. This is the last great work from the great rock act, Guns n' Roses before they lost their way, in most part due to Axl's grand schemes and the coming of grunge metal bands. Don't overlook this excellent album.

Lose Your Delusions, Axl

Okay, I can admit that out of 14 tracks, there are 3 skippable songs (Get In The Ring, Shotgun Blues and My World).

But when a band like G'n'R puts together 11 songs as unbelieveably diverse, and consistently excellent, as these tunes, you have an instant classic on your hands. The sleaze from Appetite and UYI 1 have almost disappeared, leaving some epic songwriting and awesome guitar work from the superlative-defying duo of Slash & Izzy.



1 Civil War: 10/10 - Whoa. What an opener. From the Cool Hand Luke excerpt to the wonderful guitar virtuosity, to the genuinely touching lyrics, this is an epic unlike any other anti-war song.



2 14 Years: 9/10 - A great little blues rock, honky tonk number, giving Izzy room to shine.



3 Yesterdays: 10/10 - A lovely ballad, with some nice harmonies and a great video.



4 Knockin On Heaven's Door: 9/10 - Overplayed, over-rated and SO much better live, it still merits a 9/10 for turning a mediocre Dylan number into an incandescent glam rocker.



5 Get In The Ring: 4/10 - Embarrassing lyrics, hilarious rant, actually quite good music, but still near unlistenable.



6 Shotgun Blues: 4/10 - Like a bad rash, the embarrassing lyrics just wouldn't go away until...



7 Breakdown: 10/10 - Nice banjo intro! This is a genuinely beautiful song, if you ignore the weird deep voice in the chorus, which is totaly out of place.



8 Pretty Tied Up: 9/10 - Izzy wrote this one, and it rocks the bells! A verse on S&M, a verse on the decline of the band and a verse on the dangers of fame, all "tied up" (sorry) to a hard-rockin classic.



9 Locomotive: 10/10 - In no way overlong. The lyrics are actually wonderful, the music is funky, almost reminiscent of Rocket Queen in that regard. The piano outro is gorgeous.



10 So Fine: 10/10 - Duff, take a bow, my man! This is a beautiful piece of balladry, interspersed with great blues rock. Written for Johnny Thunders, but listen to it with a special someone in mind, and it makes so much sense.



11 Estranged: ?/10 - How high can you count? An awe-inspiring piece of work. Music as art, art as catharsis. Too many highlights to number, but special mention to THAT guitar solo, after Axl sings 'And what for?' Axl and Slash prove they've got the goods to rival any frontman/guitarist duo, ever. That means Page/Plant, Jagger/Richards, Tyler/Perry etc. I really can't put into words how impossible it is to over-rate this song. It is pure emotion on a little shiny disc, perhaps only matched by Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog for sheer beauty.



12 You Could Be Mine: 10/10 - A classic hard-rocker, sleazy, arrogant and brilliant for it. If you liked You're Crazy, this goes even further into pure sexed-up glam rock.



13 Don't Cry: 9/10 - The original would get 10/10, because I prefer the lyrics, but as long as that solo is still there, I'm not complaining. A truly excellent power ballad, I could do without the strange extended 'toniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight' at the end. But if you think that's bad...



14 My World: 0/10 - I refuse to consider this a G'n'R song. Axl, if you think going in this direction is going to top what the boys have done with Velvet Revolver, you're sadly mistaken. No one wants to hear another lame rap-rock crossover act.



So, with G'n'R losing control over Axl, and the birth of grunge, this was the last classic album from the boys as a whole. Of course, everyone who has released an album since has managed to recapture some of the glory. Snakepit, any Stradlin solo LP, and of course, Velvet Revolver are all glorious rock records, and I can say from experience that VR are a top-notch live act. So Axl, get your act together fast, or you will lose all the status uo rightly deserve.