Way back in the day, when Guns N' Roses was still a relatively new band, they had released four albums of original material (sort of) and one of covers. Appetite For Destruction was the first album they released, and I owned. This was followed by the band's release of Lies, which was either the last album I picked up from the band, or it may have been the second last. I'm not really sure if I owned this album before or after Spaghetti Incident. I do know I owned both Illusions before Lies, though. In fact I know I was in grade nine, and heard this album for the first time by borrowing it from a buddy by the name of Ryan Mason. Actually it was also Ryan that helped introduce me to Pink Floyd as well, but that's another story.
Lies is really cool if you remember to keep certain things in perspective. The first thing to remember is that this is a "stall for time album". After Appetite For Destruction came out G'N'R exploded into the stratosphere. This led to drummer Steve Adler becoming a completely useless heroine junky. Something that's been well documented on the reality series Celebrity Rehab. In the meantime the band had to release something before they disappeared from the spotlight forever.
So, out comes Lies which is made up of two sections. There's side one (or 1986) which has four live tracks, and side two (or 1988) which has four accoustic numbers. I also make sure to specify sides as well as sections, because this was Guns N' Roses last album recorded with vinyl in mind.
This is one of those albums that can barely be considered a real album. It only passes the EP marker by about five minutes, which is my first complaint. The second complaint would come easier if I were listening to the vinyl or cassette instead of the CD. Which is, that the sides aren't balanced. The live half is also around five minutes shorter than the accoustic side. If this were a cassette that would mean extra rewinding or fast forwarding to cue up side two. That annoyed the shit out of me with other albums. They should have stuffed one more live track on here, for time balance, instead of track balance.
The album opens with Reckless Life. Which is the first of four songs to appear on here, that were actually on the EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, which was considered more of demo than an actual album. This is an okay track, but not one that I go out of my way to listen to. However, it's a great kick off to the album.
Nice Boys is a cover from a band called Rose Tattoo. Once again, it's a decent enough song, but not exactly my thing. I do enjoy it a bit more than Reckless Life though.
Move To The City is where this album begins for me, but I have to say that I like the live version of this track on Live Era '87-'93 much better. This sadly sounds like the demo that it is. I really would have liked to have heard a real studio recording of this track, but there's something to be said about songs that are "only live tracks".
Guns N' Roses started off as the next Aerosmith, and you can hear that on the three tracks that lead up to the cover of Mama Kin. I even think there's a sweet little taste of irony in the fact that the sound quality on this recording is just about as shitty as the original Aerosmith recording. That's made even funnier by the fact that this may be one of Aerosmith's best songs ever released. It's just got great boogie, and energy.
The second half of the album borders between snooze-fest, humour, and blissful ignorance. If you are a woman you'd probably want to include romantic in there as well.
The lead off track on the studio tracks is Patience. I can't stand this song. It's slow, boring, and lacks any real passion. It pretty much sounds like Slash and Izzy just riffing around on some accoustics while Axel tries to seduce some imaginary woman, more likely his ego, through an overly reverbed microphone. This song is meant purely for the ladies, and the guys trying to get the ladies. I, on the other hand, try to pretend this song doesn't exsist. The music is great, but the lyrics are so fucking typically boring. If you need that much fucking patience I would suggest a shot gun to get things moving. Or better yet, they should have cut this song down by at least two minutes, and get rid of all of Axel's extra whining into the mic, like some type of little bitch.
The most popular story about Used To Love Her is that it's about Axel's dog that had died. When you go by that story, this song isn't as much fun as it sounds. If you go by the alternate version of the story, which is Izzy wrote this as a joke after hearing some whiny ballad on the radio, this song is much more fun. My theory is that this was written while Axel was recording the lyrics to Patience, and Izzy was really taking a shot at the red headed devil.
I'm not sure why they opted to put an accosutic version of You're Crazy on this album. It was only an okay song to start with, and while I do enjoy this accosutic adapation I'm neither here nor there about skipping it. I think of it more as background music.
I will forever defend the lyrical choices within One In A Million, which is technically more offensive than Get In The Ring, especially by today's standards. "Yes I needed some time to get away / I needed some peace of mind / Some peace of mind that'll stay / So I thumbed it. Now it's six in L.A. / Maybe a greyhound could be my way / Police and niggers, that's right / Get outta my way / Don't need to buy none of your / Gold chains today / Now don't need no bracelets / Clamped in front of my back / Just need my ticket 'till then / Won't you cut me some slack / You're one in a million / Yeah that's what you are / You're one in a million babe / You're a shooting star / Maybe some day we'll see you / Before you make us cry / You know we tried to reach you / But you were much to high. / Much too high... / Much too high... / Much too high.../ Immigrants and faggots / They make no sense to me / They come to our country / And think they'll do as they please / Like start some mini-Iran / Or spread some fucking disease / And they talk so many God damn ways / It's all Greek to me / Well some say I'm lazy / And others say that's just me / Some say I'm crazy / I guess I'll always be / But it's been such a long time / Since I knew right from wrong / It's all the means to and end I'm / I keep it moving along / Hey, hey, hey, yeah / You're one in a million / You're a shooting star / You're one in a million babe / You know that you are / Maybe some day we'll see you / Before you make us cry / You know we tried to reach you / But you were much to high / Much too high / Much too high / Radicals and racists / Don't point your finger at me / I'm a small town white boy / Just tryin' to make ends meet / Don't need your religion / Don't watch that much TV / Just makin' my livin' baby / Well that's enough for me / You're one in a million / Yeah that's what you are / You're one in a million babe / You're a shooting star / Maybe some day we'll see you / Before you make us cry / You know we tried to reach you / But you were much too high / Much too high / Much too high". This is one of those songs that it brutal and honest, and straight from the streets. Axel Rose was himself a nigger in every way except for being of African American (by the way stupidest, most racist term I have ever heard and if you ask me I'll explain why), he even pointed it out in the very last verse "I'm a small town white boy / Just tryin' to make ends meet". This shows his ignorance (stupidity) and poverty, both of which are automatically associated with being a nigger. Oh, and when you are signed to a major record label you are also their slave. So, when you take all this into context it has a much different feel than the general public would have you believe. In fact I could break down this entire song to show that anyone actually pointing fingers at this song clearly has no real brain power, and missed the greater meaning.
As for the use of the word faggot, well that was a word of the time, and I do find that one offensive. If I were to personally sing this song today it's the only word I would change in the song, and I would change it to queers instead. Which I find offensive that homosexuals use to describe themselves, because most gay people are not in fact queer. (Once again I'll gladly explain my position on this one too, if asked.)
All in all this isn't a bad album. It's a crappy follow up to Appetite, but it's a great time buyer album, and a fun album for fans, but that's about it. In fact to this day I'm still personally debating which is a worse album, this one or Spaghetti Incident.
6/10 - content
6/10 - production
6/10 - personal bias
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