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Rolling Stone Reviews: UYI I & II


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I was reading a Rolling Stone article about the 100 best albums of the 90s and saw that they rated UYI II at #48, leaving UYI I off altogether. That led to me looking up the original Rolling Stone reviews of each album.

I'm only half way through the UYI I review but something stuck out to me: they go on about how Don't Damn Me is the best song on the album. I love that song, but I wouldn't call it the best one on the album and I also know it's got a lot of haters out there, so I was surprised to read that. Here's the link to both reviews in case anyone else is interested:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/use-your-illusion-i-19911017

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/use-your-illusion-ii-19911017

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1 hour ago, Tourettes2400 said:

Thanks, I had never read these before

I'm guessing I would've read them when they were new, but I couldn't remember a thing about them when I read them earlier today. I thought the Don't Damn Me thing was so interesting. 

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3 hours ago, RussTCB said:

I was reading a Rolling Stone article about the 100 best albums of the 90s and saw that they rated UYI II at #48, leaving UYI I off altogether. That led to me looking up the original Rolling Stone reviews of each album.

I'm only half way through the UYI I review but something stuck out to me: they go on about how Don't Damn Me is the best song on the album. I love that song, but I wouldn't call it the best one on the album and I also know it's got a lot of haters out there, so I was surprised to read that. Here's the link to both reviews in case anyone else is interested:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/use-your-illusion-i-19911017

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/use-your-illusion-ii-19911017

Cool post! And for what it's worth Don't Damn Me has always been a personal favourite of mine. As is Bad Apples by the way. 

On a side-note, I always felt that both UYI I and II were collections of great songs with a few fillers thrown in. But to me they never really worked as albums. They're very long and they lack a sort of direction and coherency. Again, GREAT songs, but as albums they're all over the place. I is a bit more rock'ish and II a bit more melodic-melancholic-epic'ish. But in general incoherence is a flaw in both imo. 

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2 hours ago, username said:

Cool post! And for what it's worth Don't Damn Me has always been a personal favourite of mine. As is Bad Apples by the way. 

On a side-note, I always felt that both UYI I and II were collections of great songs with a few fillers thrown in. But to me they never really worked as albums. They're very long and they lack a sort of direction and coherency. Again, GREAT songs, but as albums they're all over the place. I is a bit more rock'ish and II a bit more melodic-melancholic-epic'ish. But in general incoherence is a flaw in both imo. 

Oh I agree on both Don't Damn Me and Bad Apples. 

I think they do work well as albums overall though. It's probably familiarity though. I'm just so used to listening to them that they flow well. 

If I were to listen to them with fresh ears, I bet I'd think differently though. 

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7 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

Well if he doesn't like Don't Cry he doesn't like it - it is not one of my favourites either. Reviews never claim to be anything other than subjective.

Calling it a misfire and claiming Axl isn't good at such sentiment was the true misfire. These guys are similar to sports journalists, they want to be the person they are covering, and often insert little shitty judgements into thier work which doesn't help give the reader an accurate view.

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18 minutes ago, The Holographic Universe said:

Calling it a misfire and claiming Axl isn't good at such sentiment was the true misfire. These guys are similar to sports journalists, they want to be the person they are covering, and often insert little shitty judgements into thier work which doesn't help give the reader an accurate view.

Inserting judgements into their work is rather inherent to their work I would think!

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32 minutes ago, bigpoop said:

They didn't review it. Kind of funny to think about that now but they didn't. 

Interesting. I know I read an original review about it once and I don't think it was favorable. Spin magazine perhaps? 

In any case, I love reading original reviews of albums I love or classics. Puts an interesting perspective on it. 

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1 hour ago, The Holographic Universe said:

Music critics are lazy fuckers. Charlatans. He said Don't Cry was a misfire. And Axl's only good at rage or some horseshit. Album reviews are such garbage. 

I always thought this too! At the end of the day, it's just another opinion! 

and as they say, opinions are like arseholes, everyone's got one! 

Edited by Tadsy
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16 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

No. Spag Incident.

I know this is a trademark Diesel sarcasm post, however let's be fair and state that TSI was a return to GnR's "back to basics" approach. Perhaps not what many of us expected, but it was a return to Appetite aesthetics.

It was lean, stripped down, and raw. Close to half the album is pretty good. The other half is filler I suppose but the band sounds really tight. I think Mike Clink nailed their 90's sound with TSI. Even Sorum sounds good! :o:lol:

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26 minutes ago, RONIN said:

 

I know this is a trademark Diesel sarcasm post, however let's be fair and state that TSI was a return to GnR's "back to basics" approach. Perhaps not what many of us expected, but it was a return to Appetite aesthetics.

It was lean, stripped down, and raw. Close to half the album is pretty good. The other half is filler I suppose but the band sounds really tight. I think Mike Clink nailed their 90's sound with TSI. Even Sorum sounds good! :o:lol:

It is the bands best sounding album. 

Edited by The Holographic Universe
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