This is an album that I have listened to for many many years now. In my opinion this is clearly
Guns N' Roses best and most varied album. The changing styles are a big plus, from direct and hard, to atmospheric and long, to slow and sensitive.
Civil War is a brilliant song. I like the critical lyric and the chorus fits into the rhythm perfectly. The slow parts are really melodic and the well played guitar leads are a big plus.
Another great song is the chorus based and happy hearted
Yesterday. The heavy guitar breaks sound very raw and give the song a nice hard edge. The vocal lines are very melodic, and the slow parts are quite catchy.
Get In The Ring is the most aggressive track and it features some wild and cool leads. A song about lies and obstacles. It is pretty fast and all in all a good song.
Breakdown is one of the album's strange songs. It is very varied and has some fitting piano elements. The chorus is a bit overdone but apart form that, the vocals are great. The lyric is about personal problems, but very strange in the end where the story goes a bit wild.
Locomotive is a long detailed song. It has a great pumping rhythm and the breaks in pace makes it interesting. It is a song about love but the chorus is not all that great. On the other hand the slow piano/guitar based parts is a big plus, very melodic. The drumming on this track is very varied and offers lots of great details.
Next up is a real ballad.
So Fine is one of the finest tracks on the album. The lyric is very well written and passionate. The sensitive music underlies the great vocal parts form both Duff and Axl.
The changes in rhythm are also working well, as well as the emotional solo and almost dreaming piano parts.
Estranged is my favourite song on the album. Very quiet and with a dreaming atmosphere. Lots of changes in rhythm and a wonderful mid-section with some high class guitar leads from Slash. The symbolic lyric about inner troubles and feeling of loss is also very good. The song has a very special feel to it.
You Could Be Mine is one of the most direct songs, with a catchy chorus and a fast and melodic rhythm. A good rocker.
My World is a terribly strange and mysterious track. I don't understand it and a bad ending to a great album. What is it with the noisy electronic sounds?
I have mentioned most of the songs on this record. The rest are also of acceptable to pretty high standard. What holds the album a bit down, apart from the critiques I have already mentioned, is that some short songs seems a bit basic in rhythm and lacks the more complex edge I find so great in the longer songs.
The lyrics are of different themes, sometimes a bit abstract but really good when they, most of the times, are dealing with war, love and personal issues.
The band sounds very tight and the amount of great guitar leads is fantastic. The drums are working as a powerbase in many songs, and the pretty hard bass makes a solid fundament.
On the vocals there are some great technical and sensitive performances, a bit overdone here and there. The rhythm guitar offers great melodic riffs, and the fast ones are really functioning, plus the piano parts give many songs and extra level of depth.
The production is clear, tight and gives room for the small details, so very positive.
My overall impression is a very fresh, tight and at its coolest moments, varied record.
Written by
Tommy Friday, January 17, 2003
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