Use Your Illusion II [CD]

What proved to be their last album was one of their finest. Having said that they only made three albums full albums of new material (Appetite, Illusion 1 & Illusion 2). Lies and Spaghetti were mere fills during major tours.

Illusion 2 gave us the newer material that the band had at the time as Illusion 1 was made up old songs that never made Appetite. I remember waiting for the albums to be released and going to Wembley Stadium the week before they were released. The new songs songed good live but I found them to be even better on record. GNR were a band of highs and lows, but when they were good they were the best on the planet at the time. Illusion 2 seemed to capture the band at the height of their powers and is an album not to be missed. Rock songs at the time had to be short and sweet with the epic's being a thing of the past. This album though changed things and people realised once again that a long song was not a bad song. Estranged, Breakdown, Pretty Tied Up, Locomotive and Civil War being the highlights. Pretty Tied Up once again showing the darker side of GNR in their lyrics. This is still an album that should be part of any rock lovers collection.

This is one of the highlights from one of the all time great rock bands.

This is a very different beast from "Appetite", or even UYI Vol 1. Whilst Guns always could rip it up and tear it out with the best of them (and they do so brilliantly on Vol 1's "Perfect Crime", "Right Next Door To Hell", "Bad Obsession" and so on), on this album there's a concerted effort to display musical and emotional growth. Axl was always a broader musican than Slash - a fact evident from the fact that on this moderately-paced album, Slash only has 3 or 4 writing credits. This is very much Axl's baby, although the quibbling over credits (unlike "Appetite", which is band-credited) already suggests the loss of band solidarity. This album is less of a stomping hard-rock album and more of a classic rock album, where the act is established and they can now stretch their wings. Slash has already said that the UYI albums are their equivalent of the White Album.

The songwriting is I think consistently stunning. There's more, and more varied, emotion too. God only knows why "Estranged" isn't more recognised - it's one of the pinnacles of their acheivement, a cold, disconsolate beginning, shifting (via one of Slash's finest ever lines) to a sneering, callow hauteur, then a sad, yearning instrumental, to a open and warming ending, closing on an almost desperate note. "So Fine", sung wonderfully by Duff, has shivers and sighs of pure emotion, a rock ballad of unusual exquisiteness. "Locomotion", like "Estranged", considers the end of relationships and the realisation of emotional emptiness, Axl's nasal, almost-sneering delivery suggestive of the immaturity he's singing about. "Breakdown", another song that's oddly underappreciated, again suggests a man on the edge of his tether, yearning for the innocence and certainties of younger, simpler days (note the country-style intro - similar to Axl's piece of straw in the "Welcome To The Jungle video - he was an Indiana boy after all!) - which "Yesterdays" does explicitly but with far less style. "Pretty Tied Up", a classic piece of Izzy, is typically Stones-y and also features some outstanding sitar. And so on - the album is filled with classic moments ("Civil War", "You Could Be Mine").

Some have suggested that you could make one killer album from the two volume of Use Your Illusion. I think that would miss the point. Firstly, the two albums gave them the space to stretch their wings musically, which "Appetite" being far more condensed and focused didn't. Who would have expected sitar, spanish guitar, bizarre electronica, and so on? Secondly, the two albums very much have their own character. Volume One is far more aggressive and vitriolic, Volume Two is much more reflective and sensitive. GN'R always had both sides to them - hence their name, typically Yin/Yang.

This album is almost a return to a more 60s/70s rock album and succeeds on every possible level. Treat yourself.

As a GnR fan i would have to say this is one of their best live performances, everypart of the shows is just perfect, best part has to be the drum and guitar solo! A definite buy for a GnR fan!