Guns N Roses – 2 Classic Albums Under Review: Use
You Illusion I & II
(MVD/Chrome Dreams)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Main Program: C+
So what
happened to Guns N Roses? The same
answer could fit for another question: what happened to Rock music? Both can be easily answered by the same way,
the arrogance and laziness of Axel Rose cut them both down. Rock will continue and is making a comeback
of sorts, but whether there will ever be another GNR (as we shall refer to them
henceforth) album is another story. Chinese Democracy is the most expensive
album never made, epitomizing Rose’s attitude.
Rock goes
down the drain when its biggest proponents fail it or sell it out. Despite their commercial success, I always
felt the two volumes of Use You Illusion
were among the most pretentious, tired, non-Rock, regressive, lazy, smug and
self-impressed releases of the 1990s and maybe all time. This new Under
Review look at the albums reminds us of this, especially as everyone acts
as phonily friendly as they are high, two “delusions” that were soon to come
crashing down as rose fired everyone and worse.
The
program is suddenly full of ironies as everyone is having a great time, acts
like November Rain is important and
you can just see the hairline cracks before the fall of a band that brought
back edgy rock before failing it as if they had never been there. Running a long 85 minutes, fans (they do
exist, many of whom actually agree with this position) will enjoy it, but it
feels and plays as a far more distant event than 1991 when Geffen Records
issued both sets instead of a double set.
No wonder albums and Rock have fallen on hard times.
Many feel
a release of Chinese Democracy would
revitalize Rock, but with Rose’s attitude and constant ego-fueled failure to
finish it, the title just might be ironic as if he would rather wait until the
title refers to the real thing because the album probably will not come out
until then. That could mean never. Use
You Illusion then has new meaning, as if they remain a great band. Rose has burned (among other things) so many
bridges, the illusion is over. Now, you
can see the final record of its decline.
The 1.33
X 1 image is colorful, but can be soft and blurred because of its analog PAL
origins, but lays back just fine otherwise.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is good, if not great, but plays the music
back decently. Some archival sources for
things like interviews are monophonic.
Extras include L.A. Stories
(just over 10 minutes) featurette, text contributor biographies and another
tough quiz.
You can
read more from this series on the band at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4780/Guns+N’+Roses+DVD+Collector’s+Box
- Nicholas Sheffo
