Use Your Illusion I - Guns N' Roses (Cassette 1991)

Next to Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Metallica, Guns N Roses ranks as one of the hardest rocking metal bands that evolved during the 1980s. After a four year break, Guns N Roses came back with a two part album, Use Your Illusion 1 and Use Your Illusion II were great comebacks. (After I review the First illusions, I ll do the second one)

The songs on this album:
1) Right Next Door To Hell
2) Dust N Bones
3) Live and Let Die
4) Don t Cry
5) Perfect Crime
6) You Ain t the First
7) Bad Obsession
8) Back Off Bitch
9) Double Talkin Jive
10) November Rain
11) The Garden
12) Garden of Eden
13) Don t Damn Me
14) Bad Apples
15) Dead Horse
16) Coma

My favorite songs are Right Next Door To Hell, Don t Cry, Double Talkin Jive, November Rain (it s long-9 minutes!). Let s see, I also liked Garden of Eden and Coma which was the longest of all (10 minutes) Now, don t get me wrong. The other songs on this album are great; it s just that those particular ones stick out in my mind more. They had some deeper philosophical message or a kick butt guitar riff to them. In any case, I loved em . I will just explain the songs I have listed here, as I would go on for eternity about every single song and spoil the whole album for you.

I like Right Next Door To Hell, as it is a good opening song. If one pays attention closely to the lyrics, the story is about a man who thinks we are destined to fail, life is too hard for him to handle, or anyone for that matter.
Right Next Door To Hell, Why Don t You Write a Letter to Me?
I said I m right next door to Hell, and so many eyes are on me.
Right Next Door to Hell, I Never Thought This is Where I d Be
But, I m right next door to Hell, Thinking Time Will Stand Still For Me.


"Don t Cry" is a good addition to Illusions I. It is not a fast roaring heavy metal song really. It has got a good and soft opening, and Axl Rose is not screaming and cussing his mouth off, as he tends to in his other songs. The song is about, from my perspective, two people that will soon depart. The man, that being Axl is telling her to look forward to brighter days and to cherish the times they had. There s a heaven above you Baby is what he says to her.

I thought the remake to "Live and Let Die" was pretty well done. It was originally a Beatles tune. I guess the message of this song is, a sort of 'survival of the fittest' mentality. As a young person, one is inclined to help out the less fortunate and be more caring, yet as the age the menality is 'Live and Let Die'; that is if one can't make it, then let then let nature take it's course. That is my take on this song.


"Double Talkin Jive" is another favorite of mine on this album, because it is just weird. It opens up with a funky guitar rhythm, and then fades away with some pretty Mexican kind of guitar solo. The song seems to be about someone who has is a mafia hit man, who is out to get what is due to him.

"November Rain" was a beautiful song. It has the right mix of guitar rhythm, orchestra and Axel is playing on the piano (on the music video I saw). The song is about how heart aches in relationships, or fights between lovers don t last forever. The analogy used is, hence the name of the song, November Rain. or I ll just end up walkin in the Cold November Rain. The freaky thing is how at the last couple minutes of the song, it switches to a more minor tone, where you can tell something has turned out to be a permanent hell for them.

"Coma" is the last and creepiest song of the whole album! It even has sound clips of emergency doctors frantically working to save somebody s life. The man in the song wants to be in the coma, away from the hells of everyday life, how he is dying and seeing his whole life before his eyes as he passes.

Give this is a chance, as well as Appetite For Destruction, and of course Use Your Illusion II. I bought this back in 1993 for $16 at Musicland.

I rarely do music reviews, (as you can tell) but I still hope this helps.