Use Your Illusion II [PA] by Guns N' Roses (CD, Sep-1991, Geffen)

Track listing
1. Civil War - (remix)
2. 14 Years
3. Yesterdays
4. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
5. Get In The Ring
6. Shotgun Blues
7. Breakdown
8. Pretty Tied Up
9. Locomotive
10. So Fine
11. Estranged
12. You Could Be Mine
13. Don't Cry - (alternate version)
14. My World


Details
Playing time: 75 min.
Contributing artists: Shannon Hoon
Producer: Guns N' Roses, Mike Clink
Distributor: Universal Distribution
Recording type: Studio
Recording mode: Stereo
SPAR Code: AAD


Album notes
Guns N' Roses: Izzy Stradlin (vocals, acoustic, electric & coral guitars); Axl Rose (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, drums, sound effects); Slash (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo); Duff McKagan (bass, percussion, background vocals); Dizzy Reed (piano, organ); Matt Sorum (drums, percussion, background vocals).
Additional personnel: Howard Teman (piano); Johann Langlie (keyboards, drums, sound effects); Steven Adler (drums); Shannon Hoon, The Waters (background vocals).
Recorded at A & M Studios, Record Plant, Studio 56 and Image Recording, Hollywood, California; Conway Studios, Los Angeles, California; Metalworks Recording Studios, Toronto, Ontario.
Four years after becoming an uninvited guest at the party that is the music industry with its seminal debut, APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION, Guns N' Roses detonated a creative blast by releasing USE YOUR ILLUSION I & II. Thanks to a reckless approach toward life and music, G N' R was constantly at the center of controversy and the result was that much of it was chronicled on this two-volume project. By this time, original drummer Steven Adler had been dismissed due to alleged drug dependency problems and was replaced by the Cult's Matt Sorum. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed was also added as a member.
ILLUSION II lacks the hits of the first volume and also doesn't overflow with as much bile, aside from a couple of exceptions. Axl Rose howls at the editors of Spin, Kerrang, and Hit Parader magazines on the rollicking "Get in the Ring," and addresses the inherent pitfalls of fame on Izzy Stradlin's scathing "Pretty Tied Up (The Perils of Rock N' Roll Decadence)". Elsewhere, G'N'R tackles an old Dylan nugget ("Knockin' on Heaven's Door"), includes tracks cut for charity and soundtracks ("Civil War," "You Could Be Mine"), and an underrated masterpiece about heartbreak that manages to emote both indignation and sorrow without sounding pathetic ("Estranged").

The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard charts followed by Use Your Illusion I, and certified 7x platinum, It also reached No.1 in the UK. There are significant differences in artwork to be noted between Use Your Illusion I and II. The cover art of these two albums, identical except for color, is very representative of these differences: Use Your Illusion I is red, and has, for the most part an angrier, heavier sound; Use Your Illusion II is blue, and has a softer, more bluesy sound.

"Civil War", debuted at the 1990 Farm Aid concert. That concert also featured Guns N' Roses playing a cover of the U.K. Subs song "Down on the Farm." "Civil War" was released as a B-Side to "You Could Be Mine." The song was also released on a charity album called Nobody's Child. The album was a fund-raising compilation for Romanian orphans.

Lead vocals on "14 Years" are performed by Izzy Stradlin (Izzy also sings "Dust N' Bones," "You Ain't The First" and "Double Talkin' Jive" on Use Your Illusion I). The song was only performed live when Stradlin was still in the band. It is about Rose's and Stradlin's friendship as they knew each other for 14 years.

"Yesterdays", is a single, It was written by Axl Rose, West Arkeen, Del James and Billy McCloud. This song is featured in the 2004 compilation "Greatest Hits". Arkeen died of a drug overdose in 1997. "Knockin´ On Heavens Door", a cover that was released almost a year earlier on the Days of Thunder soundtrack. Originally from Bob Dylan. Played in almost every concert. "Get In the Ring", dealing with the topics of violence, law enforcement, and media bias, finds the band lashing out at a career's worth of critics and enemies.

"Shotgun Blues", The song is one of two songs on which Rose plays guitar[1] (the other being Dead Horse). The song was never performed live by the band. The song was allegedly directed at Mötley Crüe's frontman Vince Neil after Axl Rose and Neil challenged each other to a fight, because Neil claimed Izzy Stradlin (Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist) was making a pass on his wife.

"Breakdown", Axl Rose has stated that the vocal ending to the song is the only thing he was not satisfied with on the Use Your Illusion albums. Additionally, Slash has stated that it was one of the most complicated songs to record on the album. According to him, the guitar, drum, and piano parts were hard to synchronize, drummer Matt Sorum "lost it" a couple of times trying to get the drums just right.

"Pretty Tied Up" (The Perils Of Rock N' Roll Decadence)", The song opens with the sounds of a coral sitar played by Stradlin. According to an interview, It could be possible that Stradlin himself wrote Pretty Tied Up after seeing a dominatrix chick with a client. The song was a live favourite during the Use Your Illusion Tour. Reached No.1 in Czechoslovakia before "Don´t Cry".

"So Fine", is a song not only sung by bass guitarist Duff McKagan, but it was written by him as a tribute to the deceased punk rock musician Johnny Thunders. Their first official single from the albums, "You Could Be Mine", was released in July 1991 and is featured in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. "Don´t Cry" (Altered Lyrics) vocal and verses differ.

Both Illusions albums broke boundaries!. This is A MUST HAVE for all GNR fans and collector as well. I bought two, one for my brother and another for me. I also bought the rest of GNR albums, so check out more review, and continuing story of this Band.

Thanks.

With the release of their Appetite for Destruction Album Guns and Roses established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in heavy metal. The controversial EP Lies wet our appetites (no pun intended) for an effort that would prove that they were not simply a five man band from the Sunset Strip that got lucky.
That effort was entitled Use Your Illusion. Use Your Illusion turned out to be such a huge project that it was broken into a two albums Use Your Illusion one and two respectively.

Use your Illusion two was the better of these two efforts. While Use Your Illusion 1 contained the single "November Rain" arguably the BEST song G&R ever recorded (which demonstrated their ability to deliver a soulful power ballad with a symphony orchestra that could change at the bridge into genuine metal) and Don't Cry ( a metal dirge for a love dying) Use Your Illusion two had a better variety of songs.

From the haunting political statement of "Civil War" and their heart wrenching cover of the legendary Bob Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door, Illusion 2 has more of an edge than it's co-release Illusion 1. The album has an overall edge to it that DEFINES the angst that was the late 80's/early 90s with the embittered anthems "Get in the Ring", "Shotgun Blues", "Estranged" and "You Could Be Mine."
If you could own but one Guns and Roses album other than Appetite for Destruction it should be this one. Axl Rose's vocals, combined with the brilliant guitar work of Slash make this an album worthy of being an essential part of ANY music collection. In the days when metal was dying and grunge was emerging, Illusion 2 proves a beautiful and dynamic exit for a form of music that defined a generation.

Easily tied with some other albums for "Greatest of All Time", "Use Your Illusion II" is the one review I kept putting off, not thinking I could ever be in the proper state of mind to give this piece of music the justice and worship that words can never express. Well, I've obviously started typing, so let's see what happens...

(Oh first of all let's get the "Appetite" and "My World" issues out of the way; yes, Appetite is wonderful and there's no reason to let any sort of comparison between these two albums impede the immense praise that is deserved by both. And yes, "My World" is an example of "WTF, Axl?????". HOWEVER, you have over 70 of the most well spent minutes of your entire existence to experience from this album before the final two minutes, so how DARE anyone let "My World" affect the reaction towards "Use Your Illusion II.")

Ok here we go. This album is epic (did I mention that?). When you are down and out, ready to give up, think all hope has gone, etc., etc..... you do NOT go to Nirvana. you do NOT go to Britney Spears. No, my friends (and enemies), you go to this album, track 11. There you will find the reason music exists. Heart and soul, blood and guts, tears, catharsis, anger, rage, emotion of the highest form, a purging of all of your demons: THAT is what will be injected into your veins when you listen to one of the greatest songs ever, "Estranged." Unfortunately, songs like this were a major reason for the sad (and painfully slow) breaking of the fellowship that was known as the mighty original Guns. Axl was (and is) a control freak that dictatorially directed how the music was going to be. His grand schemes exhausted and frustrated his cohorts, who felt they were losing their voices in the band. As tragic as the break has been, I will offer up the condolences that if an album's creation pays that very highest price that can be paid (short of death), atleast the album created is "Use Your Illusion II", and atleast it contains the song "Estranged."

If you liked Guns N Roses after 1993 (such as I did), you were CRUCIFIED by the public. There's a lot of moral wrongs in society, and I'm not going to start comparing Nirvana fans to terrorists, but I will say that the nineties gave us blatant evidence as to why not enough people are open-minded and think for themselves. The music of Guns N Roses - the very music that was irrationally chastised for being mindless, talentless and overblown - is some of the most gut-wrenching, fist-clenching, serious and thought-provoking music out there. Just LISTEN to what Axl's actually ranting about. Just FEEL what Slash's Les Paul is really doing to your soul. It all comes together with this album. I love the Beethoven 9th as much as the next guy, but the grand finale to "Estranged" is the most emotional music I've ever heard. It may be from a rock band, but the point is, it's from THIS rock band. Learning "Estranged" on piano is what made me what I am today - instead of quitting piano, I majored in it. Instead of laying down to die in front of the door of the past decade of musical B.S., I vowed to go to my grave defending the music that really reaches out to people, trendy or not.

More than the already unsurpassable amount of blessing must be given to the fact that this is not an album with just one sound. Guns pulled off the project of pure human emotion with diversity! "Estranged" itself winds around into different keys, with different themes, and different moods. A real journey.

This is the better of the Use Your Illusion Set. The opening cut Civil War is one the Gunners finest moments..Knocking on Heaven's Door is the best Dylan cover since Jimi's All along the Watchtower..and that's saying alot!!!! Estranged is a grand opus which is even better than November Rain, and Slash's licks are perhaps his best ever...amazing melody and tone. Not much filler here...most of the cuts are outstanding...one the best of ninties..it was great while it lasted.