Guns N' Roses (Use Your Illusions I) 1991 My Original ReviewHow the f uck does any band follow up Appetite For Destruction? That's a damn near impossibility. I really didn't know what to expect from Use Your Illusion I and II at all when I went to pick it up at Midnight when it dropped.
As for this UYI I, it was a good album, just nowhere near that of AFD. It had its moments, but the first half of the record is just above average. It wasn't until the 2nd half that we got some good sh*t, namely November Rain, The Garden, Don't Damn Me, and probably the best cut on the album, Coma.
I seem to have a love/hate relationship with this one. Sometimes I love everything about it and other times it just seems meh. At least the first half of it anyways.
Personally I just prefer UYI II over UYI I as it has my favorite songs from the double CD.
My Latest ReviewThe above review pretty much sums it up for me. One thing about going to the Midnight opening for
Use Your Illusion, I think this is the only time I have ever done so for an album release. There may have been another one or two, but I can't recall at the moment who they were. But for this one it was pretty cool because I went straight to
Tower Records right after work and there were tons of people already waiting in line with a couple of news crews filming and I ended up running into a long lost buddy (
Richard) of mine who I hadn't seen in years. We ended up talking a lot about music while waiting in line to get into the store. We talked a lot about
Ozzy Osbourne and the
No More Tears album.
As for
Use Your Illusion I, the problem with it is that it's way overproduced and that all falls on
Axl's shoulders. And the mix is another thing that did (still does) bother me regarding
Izzy Stradlin's guitars which are non-existent. Also, the overall feel and style of this one is a drastic departure that allienated a ton of fans. I for one have just accepted the fact that
AFD was a one in a million album and no matter how hard the band tried, would never ever be able to equal it. So I just accepted
UYI for what it was/is. I do think that
UYI I is the ugly stepchild of the two albums. Others may disagree.
Fave Songs:
Live And Die, Don't Cry, November Rain, The Garden, Don't Damn Me and
Coma. Co-MVP goes to
November Rain and
ComaAlbum cover is meh. It's easily recognizable for sure. But they could have put a little more thought into it. This was after all their first full album to follow their mega hit
AFD.
Use Your Illusions I Music Videos