Axl ‘shoot myself in the foot’ Rose and his band of merry men return from a lengthy hiatus with the release of their official greatest hits package. Although I say official, in truth had Axl had his way then this release would never have seen the light of day. As hard as he and Slash tried, ... Read review
one of the greatest rock&roll bands in the world. While, in retrospect, fellow graduates of the class of 1987 are about as cool as poodle perms and spandex, the LA...
one of the greatest rock & roll bands in the world. While, in retrospect, fellow graduates of the class of 1987 are about as cool as poodle perms and spandex, th...
one of the greatest rock & roll bands in the world. While, in retrospect, fellow graduates of the class of 1987 are about as cool as poodle perms and spandex, th...
one of the greatest rock&roll bands in the world. While, in retrospect, fellow graduates of the class of 1987 are about as cool as poodle perms and spandex, the LA...
A review by ManUtdBoi on Greatest Hits [Digipak] [PA] - Guns N' Roses November 22nd, 2004
Author's product rating:
Originality
Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics
Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks
Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Average
Value for Money
Advantages:
first 9 tracks are everything that can be hoped for (barring Patience)
Disadvantages:
no band input, mixed playlist, poor packaging
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
Axl ‘shoot myself in the foot’ Rose and his band of merry men return from a lengthy hiatus with the release of their official greatest hits package. Although I say official, in truth had Axl had his way then this release would never have seen the light of day. As hard as he and Slash tried, even efforts in court failed, they couldn’t stop Geffen Records releasing what they saw as an acceptable package. Geffen it seemed, having been taken to the limit with constant promises of Chinese Democracy, took it into their own hands to place together a collection of songs and rush release it. If I were to be honest, this is one of the worst ‘hits’ packages that you will find, not because of the music, rather due to the circumstances. Firstly, for a greatest hits package there is very little here that can’t be purchased on a market stall for £3.99, a flimsy collection of a mere 14 songs from a band that have a career spanning 20 years, quite frankly isn’t acceptable. The big hitters are all here - November Rain, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Paradise City and Civil War, but it just doesn’t suffice for what is supposedly their greatest hits……….
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Live and Let Die Don’t Cry (original version) November Rain
- all taken from 1991’s Use Your Illusion I
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Civil War Yesterdays You Could Be Mine Knocking On Heaven’s Door
- all taken from 1991’s Use Your Illusion II
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patience
- taken from 1990’s Lies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since I Don’t Have You Ain’t It Fun
- both taken from 1997’s The Spaghetti Incident ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome To The Jungle Paradise City Sweet Child O’ Mine
- all taken from 1987’s Appetite For Destruction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The gripe for me, and many people that I know, is that only three tracks were selected from the incredible Appetite For Destruction, whilst a couple of howlers (Patience, Live And Let Die) made it onto the record. This may have been Axl’s argument for stopping the release, not having faith in the label to choose the correct track listing, and with the evidence pretty clear, Axl may well have had a point. The music that is here, in large, is absolutely brilliant - with the beautiful November Rain, the eerie Don’t Cry and the utterly superb Sweet Child O’ Mine all main fixtures. My argument is in no way aimed at the music that Guns ‘n’ Roses gave us, rather it is what has been chosen as their career spanning package. As someone who owns all their studio material anyway, this doesn’t effect me, but for anyone that wished to get themselves into the band (assuming that you, like me would aim for the greatest hits collection first), this simply doesn’t do the band, nor their music, full justice.
"When I look into your eyes I can see a love restrained But darlin' when I hold you Don't you know I feel the same
'Cause nothin' lasts forever And we both know hearts can change And it's hard to hold a candle In the cold November rain...."
Thinking slightly more positively, Geffen have at least got 50% of the track list to standard, with the first half of the album without doubt the strongest, giving us all the big ‘guns’ within the first 7 tracks, leaving November Rain and Don’t Cry as the sole big hitters in the latter half of this hour long compilation. ‘Sympathy For The Devil’, a horrendous Rolling Stones cover, is one that truly should have stayed on a comeback album for a 2020 release, with the original being a shambles the hint should have been well and truly taken not to venture into murky waters. The packaging to the album is at first glance a good view - a very neat cardboard sleeve with a good selection of pictures and information included overleaf, but the one thing I shall warn you about is that these ‘modern‘ style cardboard sleeves tend to wear thin very quickly (much like my patience for the record).
"She's got a smile that it seems to me Reminds me of childhood memories Where everything Was as fresh as the bright blue sky Now and then when I see her face She takes me away to that special place And if I stared too long I'd probably break down and cry..."
The most endearing moment is the epic cover of Bob Dylan’s classic ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ a song covered by many, but rarely this well. Slash makes it his own and Axl sounds like he’s been singing it all his life, truly wonderful. As some of you may know from past reviews, I have a huge soft spot for November Rain, the track that turned me onto the louder side of life and a track that I hold great respect for. The nine minutes that it spans for drift by as if a second had past, showing that when the jobs done right, it’s magnificent, but sadly enough it’s just not done regularly enough and I would honestly say only purchase this if your getting into the band. As I’ve been a fan for years I can freely turn to my CD collection for the omissions.
"My hands are tied The billions shift from side to side And the wars go on with brainwashed pride For the love of God and our human rights And all these things are swept aside By bloody hands time can't deny And are washed away by your genocide And history hides the lies of our civil wars..."
The music chosen is top drawer (In the majority), but the bands music is jeopardised by a mixed play list, weak packaging and much hype over nothing I’m afraid. Chinese Democracy had beta be on the horizon because this is certainly not the way that one of the finest rock bands in history wishes to go out. It will be said that die-hard fans will love this regardless, but I am such a fan and personally this could, and should, have been so much better. The second half of the playlist needs seeing to, the packaging needs a sort out and the band need input into it - here's hope to a 'proper' hits package in the near future.
"Mama take this badge out of me, I can`t use it anymore. It`s getting dark, too dark to see. I feel like I'm knockin` on heavens door..."
What must be kept in mind however is that this was not the bands selection, this was most likely thrown together by some back room office junior at 4 in the morning (probably had Eminem on his MP3 player)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Track Listing -
1. Welcome To The Jungle **** 2. Sweet Child O’ Mine ***** 3. Patience * 4. Paradise City **** 5. Knockin On Heaven’s Door ***** 6. Civil War ***** 7. You Could Be Mine ***** 8. Don’t Cry ***** 9. November Rain ***** 10. Live And Let Die ** 11. Yesterdays ** 12. Ain’t It Fun ** 13. Since I Don’t Have You * 14. Sympathy For The Devil *
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.geffenrecords.com
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Still Rocking!! Review ofGreatest Hits [Digipak] [PA] - Guns N' Rosesby
carminator
Advantages: A fine collection of all the best records Disadvantages: Not everyones cup of tea!
I bought this album the other week having not listened to any of their stuff since being a child. When I was younger my dad used to listen to Guns N Roses all the time, they were one of his favourite groups. So many of the different Guns N Roses albums were played over and over again in our house when I was younger, so I know most of the records by heart!
A brief history of the band members (it's a little complicated so bare with me!)
The rock ... ...(born Saul Hudson) and Izzy Stradlin (born Jeff Isbell), the lead singer Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose in Lafayette, Indiana), the bassist Duff McKagan and the drummer Steven Adler in the year 1985. In October 1990 the band fired Steven Adler and replaced him by Matt Sorum. In the same year they added Dizzy Reed on keyboards. End of 1991 Izzy Stradlin left the band and was replaced by the guitarist Gilby Clarke. In the middle of the 90's Slash ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Plenty of massive hits Disadvantages: You've probably got them all already
...up of 2 EP's. This greatest hits collection takes the majority of its tracks from the 4 studio albums - Appetite for destruction, Use your illusion 1, Use your illusion 2, and the covers album The Spaghetti incident. Without a doubt the best album they released was Appetite for destruction, some would argue that this is the only GnR album that you need. Only 3 tracks from this groundbreaking debut album are included in this greatest hits, which is ... ...of the tracks on the greatest hits.
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (Taken from Appetite for Destruction) - The first track on 'Appetite...' and a great opener for that album and this one. A straight-forward heavy rock tune which sums up all the best bits of GnR, Slash's great guitaring and Axl's screeching vocals, along woth lyrics such as 'I wanna watch you bleed'. Charming!
SWEET CHILD OF MINE (Taken from Appetite for Destruction) - Probably one of the ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: MOST OF THE GREATEST HITS OF GUNS 'N' ROSES Disadvantages: I CAN THINK OF A FEW MORE
GUNS 'N' ROSES GREATEST HITS
GENRE HARD ROCK
RELEASED 2004 GEFFEN RECORDS
To the ones new to guns 'N' Roses this is the perfect album for them as it does have a very good arrangment of the best works from all there albums.
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION 1987
Welcome To The Jungle, with the chunky guitar riffs and solo's from slash, this is a fun hard rock classic.
Sweet Child O' Mine, A massive guitar intro from slash, massive melodies working into ... ...ever.
Paradise City, If your a practicing air guitarist you'll love this one full of chunky riffs and if you find a video of them on stage why not copy them run all over the place playing your air guitar. Or if you actually have a guitar play along.
LIES 1988.
As the demand for the 1986 E.P LIVE LIKE A SUICIDE was so great and the new E.P was well overdue, the lads decided to combine the both to bring the fans this great album.
Patience, sweet, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: All the best songs from Guns 'N' Roses on one album! Disadvantages: None
...Guns 'N' Roses Greatest hits has all the best songs taken from their different albums.
Here are some of the best:
'Welcome to the jungle'
This is a fast paced rock tune to get you started!
Some lyrics:
Welcome to the jungle
we take it day by day
if you want it you're gonna bleed
but its the price you pay
Your a very sexy girl
thats very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights
but you won't get them for free
'November rain'
In ... ...all of Guns 'N' Roses greatest hits, a must if you are a fan of their music, even if you have only heard one or two Guns 'N' Roses songs, if you liked them, get this, you will be glad you did! I got this album in Virgin for 9.99!
Thanks for reading! ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: All the best ones are here Disadvantages: A little short?
I am fond of a fair portion of Guns 'n' Roses tunes, but I'm not sure if I qualify as a fully paid-up fan. For this reason, its stands to reason that this is the ideal CD for me or anyone else who considers themself part of the same demographic. There's no denying that the band or its various line-ups have released some poor material in the past also, but all of the well known classics are here. As a criticism, I would say that any avid fan may be ... ...such a history and back catalogue. That said, I find the tracks to my liking and all of the golden ones are here.
Personally, I wouldn't have chosen the last few tracks, maybe replaced on or two of the them. But the first three quarters of the album is hit after hit.
The tracks are as follows;
1. Welcome To The Jungle
2. Sweet Child 'O' Mine
3. Patience
4. Paradise City
5. Knocking On Heaven's Door
6. Civil War
7. You Could Be Mine
8. Don't ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Album Notes: Guns N' Roses: W. Axl Rose (vocals, piano, synthesizer, percussion, programming); Slash (acoustic & electric guitars, 6-string bass); Izzy Stradlin (guitar, percussion, background vocals); Dizzy Reed (piano, keyboards, background vocals); Duff McKagan (bass, background vocals); Matt Sorum (drums, background vocals); Steven Adler (drums). Additional personnel includes: Shannon Hoon, Michael Monroe (vocals); Gilby Clarke, Mike Staggs, Paul Huge (guitar); Matthew McKagan, Rachel West, Robert Clark, Jon Trautwein (horns); Stuart Bailey, Reba Shaw, The Waters (background vocals). Hard-rock juggernauts Guns 'N' Roses arrived as rock & roll saviors in a dark time of generic hair metal and bloated pop. With only five studio albums to draw from (one being the all-covers SPAGHETTI INCIDENT), nearly a third of the material on GREATEST HITS is unsurprisingly devoted to other people's songs. Inclusions range from a dramatic version of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heavens Door" and an outsized take on Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" to punk classic "Ain't It Fun" and doo-wop nugget "Since I Don't Have You." The band's original songs, however, are the heart of G'N'R's appeal. Start with the quintessential heavy-rock anthem "Welcome to the Jungle." Amid the thunderous time-keeping and tasty riffing are slinky grooves, sexy swagger, and quite an aura of danger. The acoustic "Patience" found these tattooed bad boys showing off a softer side, while archetypal power-ballad "Sweet Child O' Mine" is a perfect hybrid of sentiment and soaring guitar solos. Think of GREATEST HITS as a sampler for the sumptuous buffet that is G'N'R's recorded oeuvre.
Titles on disc 1
1.: Welcome To The Jungle
2.: Sweet Child O' Mine
3.: Patience
4.: Paradise City
5.: Knockin' On Heaven's Door
6.: Civil War
7.: You Could Be Mine
8.: Don't Cry (original)
9.: November Rain
10.: Live And Let Die
11.: Yesterdays
12.: Ain't It Fun
13.: Since I Don't Have You
14.: Sympathy For The Devil
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Listed on Ciao since : 20/04/2004
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