At one time, Guns n Roses were THE biggest band in the world bar none. At the height of their popularity, everybody in the world knew who they were, and they could fill stadiums with thousands upon thousands of screaming fans. Nowadays unfortunately, GnR have become a little bit of a joke, everybody wondering, (but not really caring) if and when their new album is going to come out.
Axl Rose is the only remaining member of GnR, yet he still insists in carrying the name on, and insists that the bands new album 'The Chinese democracy' is going to come out soon. He's been saying this for years. The other band members - Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, have all left, fed up with Axl's huge ego and grip over the band, and have formed another band Velvet Revolver.
Throughout their time, GnR released only 5 albums, and 1 of these was only a mini album made 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 a little bit disappointing to be honest. Still, here's a rundown 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 most famous guitar riffs in music history, and probably GnR's biggest hit. Every young budding guitarist will, at some point, learn to play this guitar riff, myself included! This is really just a love song, but its a perfectly structured, radio friendly rock love song.
PATIENCE (Taken from Lies) - The only track here to be taken from their mini album, and this is an acoustic number, complete with a whistling solo in place of a guitar one! This is a great track, and it shows the softer side of GnR, and shows that Axl doesn't scream and screech all the time, he does actually sing quite nicely aswell! Very peaceful, moving track.
PARADISE CITY (Taken from Appetite for destruction) - Probably GnR's second biggest hit, another proper full-on stadium classic. The intro chords which ring out are as familiar as Sweet Child's guitar riff, then a whistle is blown, and a heavy rock riff takes over, which is brilliant! This is another reason why GnR became as massive as they did. Brilliant song.
KNOCKIN' ON HEAVENS DOOR (Taken from Use your Illusion 2) - A cover of the Bob Dylan song, although Dylan doesn't keep going 'i, i, i i yeah...' in the chorus! I'm not too keen on this song, as its a little bit repetitive, and is pretty much only 3 chords all the way through. Still, it always gets a cheer when its played live, and its probably one of their better known hits.
CIVIL WAR (Taken from Use your Illusion 2) - This is a great song, starting very peacefully, before breaking into an epic sounding chorus and solo. Lyrics are basically Axl waffling on about anti-war issues, which is unusual for an otherwise unpolitical GnR.
YOU COULD BE MINE (Taken from Use your Illusion 2) - Also on the soundtrack to Terminator 2, and has a great video featuring Arnie. This is another slice of classic gunners, heavy rock tune, Axl's screeching vocals at their best, and Slash's guitar is on fire (not literally)
DON'T CRY (Taken from Use your Illusion 1) - There were 2 versions of this song, on each of the 'Illusion' albums, basically the same song with different lyrics, so slightly pointless. However this is another example of the other side to GnR, as it is serene and peaceful both musically and lyrically. It does tend to rock out towards the end, but it still retains its beauty.
NOVEMBER RAIN (Taken from Use your Illusion 1) - Where would MTV be without this song and its classic video?! Whenever the music channel network has 10 minutes to fill, what better to put on, than November rain! This is an epic song, basically telling the story of a love won and lost, and the video contains Axl's then wife, and depicts their wedding, and her funeral (nice). This song has everything, a full orchestra, a classic Slash solo (over the top in the video, but who cares?) and at nearly 10 minutes in length, it really is a masterclass in how to write an almighty rock song! Meatloaf eat your heart out!!
LIVE AND LET DIE (Taken from Use your Illusion 1) - A cover of the Paul McCartney song from the James Bond film of the same name. A lot rockier than the McCartney version obviously, and in my eyes a lot better. Not a lot else i can say about it really.
YESTERDAYS (Taken from Use your Illusion 2) - Nothing special to be honest, probably one of the weakest ones on the album, just your average run-of-the-mill rock song, average lyrics, average music, yawn.
AIN'T IT FUN (Taken from Spaghetti incident) - Probably one of the best songs from GnR's dodgy covers album, This is a great snarling rock tune, with Axl spitting out lyrics such as 'aint it fun when you know that you're gonna die young'. I'm quite surprised he didn't judging by the amount of drugs the gunners used to take, but anyway. Good song.
SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU (Taken from Spaghetti incident) - Fairly dodgy punk/love song cover, with Axl attempting to sing melodically, but with his trademark screech! Rather forgettable album filler, should have been replaced with something else.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (Taken from the Interview with the vampire soundtrack) - This is a cover of the Rolling stones classic, and is slightly rockier and heavier. Not a great song, but ok nevertheless. Still should have been replaced with a proper gunners song.
So thats all the tracks. As i said earlier, the selection of tracks is a little disappointing, as some great tunes off their debut album have been ignored, such as Mr Brownstone, or Its so easy, in favour of mediocre covers (since i don't have you). Indeed, a double album could have been made here instead, and would have probably been so much better. This would have given a lot wider range of tracks, and given any new listener a better idea of what this once great band were all about.
Guns n Roses have been almost as famous for their drug and alcohol fuelled antics, and bad language aswell, however this particular collection is devoid of any swearing, but in my opinion suffers because of this! GnR are all about hard rocking and bad language, and i think it needs the odd 'f' word to get the full experience (and to offend a few mothers along the way!)
All in all, if you are unfamiliar with GnR, this is an ok introduction to their big hits. However, it only scrapes the surface. If you buy this and like it, then you MUST purchase appetite for destruction, as this is GnR at their best. They were a great band in their day, and to be honest, we'll be waiting forever for Axl to bring out any new material, so just go out and enjoy their old stuff!
You can purchase this CD from any high street store for around £13.99 at the moment,most supermarkets from about £9.99, and also on Amazon.co.uk for £8.99. If you want to see the gunners perform their stuff live, then i recommend the Use your Illusion tour on either video or DVD.
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Great op. I love Sweet Child of Mine and Don't Cry.
Lightpants 26.06.2004 22:37
I can do a great rendition of Paradise City, full blast in the car... and I still know all the lyrics after all these years, I grew up on Use Your Illusions..
If time is the true test, then Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits confirms that they really were ... more
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...
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If time is the true test, then Guns N' Roses'Greatest Hitsconfirms that they really were ... more
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...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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