johnwhite's Full Review: Use Your Illusion II by Guns N' Roses
The production of Use Your Illusion II is crisp and clear with all instruments easily audible. I have so many memories from seventh grade and twelfth grade (when I rediscovered it) because of this disc.
Civil War is nearly eight minutes long – just how I like my music! The soft-spoken "look at..." lyrics are beautifully sad enough to justify the angry verses. It ends very sweetly. An enjoyable aspect of GNR is their great use of the piano, which is rare for a hard rock group. It appears throughout the album.
I can't listen to Civil War without expecting 14 Years to follow? The sample of rain at the end of Civil War fits with "I try and feel the sunshine / You bring the rain." And the bass drum hits sound like thunder. 14 Years is underrated. The chorus is exceptionally assured and cathartic for such a depressing topic.
Possibly the sweetest song by Guns N' Roses is Yesterdays. There's a little bit of sadness, but in a nostalgic manner. It's hard to reminisce without feeling sad, but it's because of the great memories you miss. I've always found that this song had captured that beautifully. It really hits you at the stop time as Axl finishes the first verse.
Knockin' On Heaven's Door is a great cover. The timbre of the opening guitar is just sad. I'm not such a fan of the ten or so seconds of additional spoken words though. Otherwise, the background ladies sing swell. GNR does a great job of giving it a sad feel, like Eric Clapton's version, but without quite the reggae twist.
I really don't think much about Get In The Ring. It's basically Axl being pissy.
Listening to Shotgun Blues give me a better understanding of "The Spaghetti Incident?" (I quite like TSI, actually.) I only paid any real attention to it recently and it's better than I had thought previously. It certainly has a punk feel, more so in the last 90 seconds. It's a very urgent song. "Nothin' but a f**kin' p*ssy."
I have tried to like Breakdown. I don't think they ever decided what they wanted this song to be. And the Hindu-ish comments ("brahman") at the end just make it weirder, in a not-good way.
Pretty Tied Up doesn't quite sound like any other song. Funny lyrics and groovy sound make it a fun listen. Axl's vocals a little more slow and drawn out. Reminds me of a comment by Snoop Dogg about how Snoop raps in a more laid-back style versus other rappers.
If Locomotive (Complicity) had a soul-mate song, it would be Achilles Last Stand, by Led Zeppelin. Both songs are musical odysseys. Both are long and completely relentless, yet continually interesting. Locomotive has well over a hundred lines of lyrics, all excellent. Also notice the dual vocal tracks of Axl: one as screechy Axl and the other as baritone Axl. Yet again reminds me of Led Zeppelin, as there were often multiple vocal tracks of Robert Plant. Both songs end with instrumental of drums and guitar.
So Fine is nearly overly sappy, but it generally works. Axl does a great job with the chorus vocals.
Estranged is simply incredible. Stickers on the CDs at the store only say, "contains the epic track, Estranged." What else does it need to tell? Just listen to the fabulous lyrics and the beautiful guitar by Slash. Bass lines and drumming are great. To quote the liner notes, "Slash, thanks for the killer guitar melodies."
From the first millisecond, you know what the song is. I don't know how anyone can listen to this song and not instantly think about Terminator 2. Heck, it even reminds me of the Subway T2 drink cup promotion. I still have that cup. Great song. I've heard it too may times to consider it at all subjectively, just listen, it's rad.
The alternate version of Don't Cry is on this album. In my opinion, it is the better of the two. Though, I have plenty of memories attached to the original version since it was the one that got airplay.
My World is just weird. I rarely listen it. (I think I've heard it five times, tops.) Not bad, just odd.
Just a great hard rock album. I don't see how you can't own this if you like rock music.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.