Use Your Illusion I

Untitled

Use Your Illusion I is an album by Guns N' Roses. It was the first of two albums released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour, the other named Use Your Illusion II.

History

The Use Your Illusion albums represent a turning point in the sound of Guns N' Roses. Although they did not abandon the hard rock tendencies so vivid in their first album, Appetite for Destruction, Use Your Illusion I demonstrated, for the first time, more or less, elements of blues, classical music, and country. For example, lead singer Axl Rose plays the piano on several tracks of both albums. In addition, with the Use Your Illusion Tour, both the music and stage presence of the band became more theatrical, in the tradition of progressive rock. This fact is evidenced by the numerous music videos produced in conjunction with these albums. Use Your Illusion I contains two of the three songs, "November Rain" and "Don't Cry", whose videos are generally held by fans to be a trilogy (the third song, "Estranged", is on Use Your Illusion II). It was songs like "November Rain" which brought Guns N' Roses popularity among music fans who usually did not listen to hard rock or heavy metal.

File:School of athens.jpg

Raphael, The School of Athens (detail)

A number of songs on the album were written in the band's early days, but were not included on Appetite for Destruction. "Back Off Bitch", "Bad Obsession", "Bad Apples", "Don't Cry" (referred to by Rose during the ensuing tour as 'the first song [they] ever wrote together'), "November Rain", and "The Garden" are considered part of this group. There is also a cover of "Live and Let Die".

Besides stylistic differences, another new aspect seen in Use Your Illusion I was longer songs. "November Rain", an epic ballad, is over 8 minutes long, and "Coma" is more than 10 minutes long. Another change was the presence of tracks sung by other members of the band: lead vocals on "Dust N' Bones" and "Double Talkin' Jive" are performed by rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin (bassist Duff McKagan sings "So Fine" in Use Your Illusion II).

There are significant differences 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, even more bluesy sound.

The cover was done by Mark Kostabi, who took detail from Raphael's fresco The School of Athens and edited it.

Track listing

1. "Right Next Door to Hell" (Axl Rose/Izzy Stradlin) – 3:00
2. "Dust N' Bones" (Slash/Izzy Stradlin/Matt McKagan) – 4:56
3. "Live and Let Die" (Paul McCartney/Linda McCartney) – 2:59
4. "Don't Cry (Original)" (Axl Rose/Izzy Stradlin) – 4:40
5. "Perfect Crime" (Axl Rose/Slash/Izzy Stradlin) – 2:23
6. "You Ain't The First" (Izzy Stradlin) – 2:35
7. "Bad Obsession" (Izzy Stradlin/West Arkeen) – 5:28
8. "Back Off Bitch" (Axl Rose/Paul Tobias) – 5:03
9. "Double Talkin' Jive" (Izzy Stradlin) – 3:23
10. "November Rain" (Axl Rose) – 8:56
11. "The Garden" (features Alice Cooper) (Axl Rose/West Arkeen/Del James) – 5:22
12. "Garden Of Eden" (Axl Rose/Slash) – 2:41
13. "Don't Damn Me" (Axl Rose/Slash) – 5:18
14. "Bad Apples" (Axl Rose/Slash/Izzy Stradlin/Matt McKagan) – 4:28
15. "Dead Horse" (Axl Rose) – 4:17
16. "Coma" (Axl Rose/Slash) – 10:16

Credits

• Axl Rose: vocals, piano
• Slash: lead guitar, acoustic guitar, dobro on "You Ain't The First", 6-string bass on "Right Next Door To Hell", backing vocals
• Izzy Stradlin: rhythm guitar, lead vocals on "Dust N' Bones" and "Double Talkin' Jive"
• Dizzy Reed: keyboards
• Duff McKagan: bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "So Fine"
• Matt Sorum: drums and percussion

Also featuring:

• Shannon Hoon: vocals on "Don't Cry", backing vocals
• Johann Langlie: synthesizers, sound effects
• Alice Cooper: vocals on "The Garden"
• Michael Monroe: sax and harmonica on "Bad Obsession"
• Matt McKagan, Jon Trautwein, Rachel West, Robert Clark: brass on "Live And Let Die"
• Tim Doyle: percussion on "You Ain't The First"
• Stu Bailey, Reba Shaw: backing vocals on "November Rain"
• West Arkeen: acoustic guitar on "The Garden"
• Bruce Foster: sound effects on "Coma"