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Tarfumes.com - Use Your Illusion II
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List Price: $13.98
Our Price: $10.97
Your Save: $ 3.01 ( 22% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Geffen Records
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0720642442029
Format: Explicit Lyrics
Label: Geffen Records
Manufacturer: Geffen Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Geffen Records
Release Date: 1991-09-17
Studio: Geffen Records
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Editorial Reviews:
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Limited 2008 UK 180gm vinyl pressing of this classic album, released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the long-playing record. This is an exact replica of the original packaging and contains a voucher enabling the purchaser to download MP3 versions of the songs within. Happy Birthday, my dear vinyl LP! Universal.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Epic, Theatrical, Part II...
Comment: Use Your Illusion part 2. Many say that comparing to the first part, this one has more substance and less filler. Others say the band should have just combined the two albums into one, with the best material of each. However, if the band did that, those same people would compalin that we got a slew of unreleased songs and should just make an album of them as well. Oh well, you can't please everyone.
That said, part II of this theatrical masterpiece is considered by many to be the last great effort by the band. If that were the case, then they pulled no punches! An album that had it all; great rockers, heavy ballads, deep lyrics, and heavy GnR style riffs! There is definetly no shortage of what makes GnR one of the best bands of all time!
1. Civil War - Starts of haunting, with a portion from the movie Cool Hand Luke as soft whistling comes in. Awesome way to open an album (which GnR have always been good at) with heavy riffs and deep, meaningful lyrics; really sets the tone for where the album can go. 5/5
2. 14 Years - This song did take me a bit to get into fully, however I feel there is some great harmony on this track. Aside from that, there is very solid bass playing as well. Could this song have been some serious forshadowing for how long it would take to release Chinese Democracy? Haha, with GnR you never really know. 4/5
3. Yesterdays - I would consider this song to be the first ballad on the record. To me it has that tone of the heavier portion of "November Rain" and there definetly is that element of having had more production. Making is sound grander and bigger for the final product. Again, the bass is what stands out for me here, and really brings everything together in a very solid song. 4/5
4. Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Although this is a cover song, this may be the most recognizable version. In my opinion it is one of the best covers ever heard. The band may have over-produced this song in spots again making it sound very large and theatrical, but it works because the lyrics are very powerful. Everything gels together so well here, and Slash's guitar work shines through! 5/5
5. Get In The Ring - Now, many people may think this song falls a bit short for the bands standards, but I'll tell you, I like it. In the beginning, you hear a crowd chanting "Guns N' Roses" with a bluesy overtone of Slash's guitar, then the heavier riffs and drums blast in for that classic GnR rockin' feel! What I also like about this song is the fact that it has that straight-up rockin' feel, but maintains that bluesy over-tone! The entire band gets into the act here, and it just seems like an awesome song to write and perform! 5/5
6. Shotgun Blues - This song picks up right where "GITR" leaves off. Heavy rocker, with solid guitar playing from Slash. Duff also stands out pretty heavy here! Another solid song that seems like it was fun to create; a lot of RAW emotion. 4.5/5
7. Breakdown - Another song with a slightly softer bluesy tone. Starts with awesome whistling from Rose (ala Patience) then comes in with pretty solid guitar work. I think the piano is what brings everything together on this track, one of the under-rated gems on the album as a whole. 5/5
8. Pretty Tied Up - An awesome track! Truly a Guns N' Roses rocker! The way Axl sings is very slow and kind of sinister. When the guitars and drums kick in, you know this is going to be a killer tune. Very solid, and very cool! 5/5
9. Locomotive - Another solid track here. Has the essential heavy riffs, almost like "Appetite", yet again has a sort of bluesy influence within it. Axl also adds a new trick to enhance his vocal technique on this song; not sure if that fits in the end, but the lyrics are amazing and really fit the rest of the album. 4.5/5
10. So Fine - It took be a few to get into this song, but feel it is pretty powerful within the context. Duff McKagen again stands out here and shows that he is very essential to the overall flow of the band. 4/5
11. Estranged - A very, very powerful ballad from the band here. In some ways I think it could beat out "November Rain" I hear a lot of emotion from everyone in this song, and Slash does an amazing job brininging that emotion out through his guitar. Drums also play a key role in this song as it keeps everything on pace and really stands out against the screech of the guitars. Amazing! 5/5
12. You Could Be Mine - This is just one of those killer songs that you'd expect GnR to put out. When I saw them in concert back in '06 and this tune came up, the crowd just erupted. Amazing track with heavy lyrics, heavy guitar, heavy and raw emotion! 5/5
13. Don't Cry (alt. lyrics) - For those with UYI part I, you know this song, Good track, but really I do feel there is no need for the same song to be on a double album of work, alternate lyrics or not. Good song oversll, and a GnR classic. 4.5/5
14. My World - I hated this track at first, but the more I listened, the more it caught my attention. Very heavy, very raw. GnR captured that raw feel that listeners heard on "Appetite" and close out the album on a very, very heavy note!
There you have it, two albums of masterpiece work. Was this the end of the GnR golden era? You be the judge!
Customer Rating:
Summary: About "Chinese Democracy"
Comment: Slash is my guitar hero of all time. Unexpectedly Buckethead is just as great as he is, or even better. Try one of Buckethead's albums, you will fall in love with and finally get addicted to his underestimated talent. Buckethead can play any style as well as guitar god Jeff Beck. "Chinese Democracy" is definitely the best rock album since 1991. It got what the other great rock bands like Metallica, AC/DC, etc. are always missing: beautiful melodies. In fact, Axl's new album is way way better than any Slash or Duff's solo projects. If your religion is rock music, then Axl Rose is your God and his albums is your Bible. Buy more copies of this masterpiece for your family and friends to do them a huge favor!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beauty. Anger. Life. Perfection.
Comment: D. Rausch "myspace.com/rauschofficial has stated my case as his. Please read his review and my comment to it. There is so much to learn. I hope everyone can enjoy this album as much as I have.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic Album
Comment: Honestly, I liked Illusion II more than I liked Illusion I, and I really like the first one. Starting with the epic Civil War, which opens with a very cool soundclip from Cool Hand Luke, and going through until the butt-kicking My World, this one delivers!
Another aspect I love is track 7, Breakdown. On the cassette, it is the finale of side one. Coming in at seven minutes and four seconds in length and featuring a sound clip from the film Vanishing Point, the song is quite epic in it's own right. But, in the context of the CD, it flows fairly well into the following track, Pretty Tied Up. So it sounds great either way.
Features the hits Yesterdays, Knocking on Heaven's Door, Estranged, and You Could Be Mine.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Part 2 of the expansive monolith
Comment: Coming out at the same time as Use Your Illusion I in one of the biggest days in metal history this album contains a swathe of hard rock and metallic styles. For my mind part one is the more metallic and this the more maudlin of the dynamic duo. But as I said it has a range of styles like Civil War which is the sort of thing that a band with expanding horizons would do, numbers like the visceral Get In The Ring, the bouncy though metallic Shotgun Blues and Breakdown (a personal fave) and sicker more cerebral stuff like the sneering disdain in Pretty Tied Up. We also get an industrial sicko in the brief My World which speaks to a certain doom obsessed juvenile brain wave but is certainly no less valid for that.
My reasons for giving this album only four stars - though a very strong four stars mind - is that it has more tunes that to me don't quite work. Tunes like Locomotive is fine but doesn't seem to quite work as well as some of the more cerebral tracks nor work as brilliantly as blasts of hard rockin' metal. So Fin and Estranged leave me utterly unmoved and I didn't really need an alternate set of lyrics to Don't Cry. And why do some bands like Dylan? Much ground is recovered however due to the maudlin aspects of tracks like 14 Years and Yesterdays and the mega song You Could Be Mine. And to think Lars big upped Metallic' songs association with one of those overblown Mission Impossible movies...silly bloke. And while after most of two decades on some cringe factor may be accrued to the band for having a song so closely associated with a movie it was a huge hit (both the track and the movie) at the time and perfectly suited to the collaboration.
And that's about it, if you don't already have this get out from under the rock you've been living under and get this and Use Your Illusion I as soon as possible as they are well produced expansive works that show that focus and talent can achieve good results and if your good enough you can develop your bands sound and take your fanbase with you
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