Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion III (1991)

The 'Use Your Illusion' albums represent a turning point in the sound of Guns N' Roses, as although the band did not abandon the aggressive hard-rock sound it had become known for with 1987's 'Appetite For Destruction', 'Use Your Illusion I' demonstrated a more diverse sound, incorporating elements of blues, classical music, heavy metal, punk rock, and classic rock and roll. This is exemplified by the use of piano on several tracks by singer Axl Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed. Another factor in the different sound compared to the band's earlier work is the addition of former The Cult drummer Matt Sorum, who replaced Steven Adler, after he was fired from the group due to his heroin addiction. Besides the stylistic differences, another new aspect in 'Use Your Illusion I' was longer songs, with the epic ballad 'November Rain' clocking in at nearly nine minutes, and 'Coma' being more than 10 minutes long. A few songs were even sung by other members of the band, with Izzy Stradlin taking lead vocals on 'Dust N' Bones', 'You Ain't The First', 'Double Talkin' Jive', and '14 Years', while 'So Fine' was sung by Duff McKagan. The band had some difficulty achieving the final sound they wanted, and after mixing 21 tracks with engineer/producer Bob Clearmountain, the band decided to scrap the mixes and start from scratch with engineer Bill Price of Sex Pistols fame. Released at midnight on 17 September 1991, the albums were among the most anticipated in rock history, although despite expectations of sales reaching the likes of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' or Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The U.S.A.', they ultimately underperformed domestically, but were still commercially successful enough to become the first albums by one band or artist to enter the US charts at the number one and two spots.

Reception to 'Use Your Illusion I' was mainly positive, and it is regarded as the heavier-sounding album of the two, due in part to the influence of Izzy Stradlin, although some critics bemoaned the amount of filler on the record, while 'Use Your Illusion II' was the slightly more popular of the two, selling a record 770,000 copies in its first week, against 'Use Your Illusion I's first-week sales of 685,000. Both albums have covers courtesy of Estonian-American artist Mark Kostabi, which consists of a detail from Raphael's painting 'The School of Athens', with each using a different colour scheme for the same picture. Because they were recording songs for two albums at the same time, they over-estimated how much material would be needed, and so after the final track-listings were finalised there were a number of tracks left over, which have leaked inline over the years. There are currently enough reasonable recordings out there to compile a third album in the series, and so here is 'Use Your Illusion III' to complete the trilogy. 'Sentimental Movie' features a Slash vocal, 'Cornshucker' was written and demoed by Steve Adler, while 'The Plague' was originally just a 54 second snippet, but it's been remixed by Youtuber 5agge into a full length song by adding in segments of other tracks, and as it sounded pretty good I've included it here. 

Track listing

01 Ain't Goin' Down
02 Just Another Sunday
03 Bring It Back Home
04 Crash Diet
05 Too Fast To Live
06 Shallow
07 The Plague
08 Sentimental Movie
09 Cornshucker

10 Too Much Too Soon
11 It Tastes Good, Don't It

'The Plague' audio sources:
'The Plague' (1986)
'Welcome To The Jungle' (1987)
'Ain't Going Down' (1990-1991)
'Back Off Bitch' (1991)
'Down On The Farm' (1993)

Guns N' Roses - P.R.L. (2000)

One of the tracks that Guns N' Roses recorded during the early sessions for 'Chinese Democracy' was titled 'P.R.L.', and for some time no-one really knew what this stood for, with suggestions including Please respect...life? Peace, respect, love? People really low? Practice, rough, love? But perhaps in keeping with the Chinese theme of the eventual release, the general consensus is that it stands for Legend Red Panda backwards, and although this might stretch credulity a bit, fans have accepted this and used it to design covers featuring the animal, for an album entitled 'Legend Of The Red Panda'. I didn't really like any of them so have designed my own for this second volume of outtakes from the 'Chinese Democracy' sessions, and once again it's a mix of vocal takes and instrumentals, with 'Going Down' being sung by Tommy Stinson, and I've included 'Oh My God', from the 'End Of Days' soundtrack, as it was recorded during the same time period as the other tracks.  

Track listing

01 P.R.L.  
02 Eye On You  
03 Going Down  
04 Mustache  
05 Oh My God  
06 Shadow Of Your Love  
07 Quicksong  
08 Zodiac 13  
09 The Blues ('Street Of Dreams' demo) 
10 There Was A Time (demo)

Guns N' Roses - 2000 Intentions (2000)

'Chinese Democracy' was the sixth studio album from Guns N' Roses, released on November 23, 2008, and it was their first studio album since the 1993 covers album 'The Spaghetti Incident?', and their first album of original studio material since 'Use Your Illusion' I and II came out in 1991. It languished in development hell for eight years, delayed by personnel and legal problems, label interference, and the perfectionism of vocalist Axl Rose, and it was the first Guns N' Roses album without Izzy Stradlin, Slash, and Duff McKagan. After the Use Your Illusion Tour ended in 1993, Guns N' Roses spent several years rehearsing ideas for a new album, but several members left following creative and personal differences with Rose, and no music was released. In 1998, Rose, keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarists Paul Tobias and Robin Finck, drummer Josh Freese, bassist Tommy Stinson and multi-instrumentalist Chris Pitman began writing and recording new songs, originally intended for a 1999 release. The album was recorded and rerecorded, and delayed multiple times, while the line-up shifted numerous times, incorporating guitarists Buckethead, Richard Fortus, and Bumblefoot and drummers Brain and Frank Ferrer. The band recorded over 50 songs, intending to release multiple albums, but with costs reportedly exceeding $13 million ($21 million in todays terms), it became the most expensive rock album ever produced. 

'Chinese Democracy' missed it original release date of March 2007, eventually appearing in November 2008, but when it arrived it received generally favourable reviews, achieved international chart success, and sold over one million copies in Europe. Writing and recording had begun in 1994, but most of the material was scrapped, as Rose had become obsessed with electronica and industrial rock, particularly the work of Nine Inch Nails, and wanted Guns N' Roses to move towards a more contemporary musical direction. Other members did not agree, causing a rift, and Slash left in 1996 following creative differences with Rose, being replaced in January 1997 by former Nine Inch Nails touring guitarist Robin Finck. Duff McKagan, who had recently become a father, left in August 1997, frustrated with the lack of progress, and more line-up changes followed, so that by early 1998, Guns N' Roses comprised Rose on vocals, Stinson on bass, Freese on drums, Finck on lead guitar, Tobias on rhythm guitar, and Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman on keyboards. By mid-1999, Guns N' Roses had recorded over 30 songs, and the album was tentatively titled '2000 Intentions'. In November 1999 they released their first original song in eight years, with the industrial metal song 'Oh My God' featuring in the film 'End Of Days', although it received mixed reviews from critics. In early 2000 the album was nearly complete, but after Rose hired Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker to replace original producer Sean Beavan, he was persuaded to do re-recording work on the entire album.

 In February 2001, Jimmy Iovine, the head of Geffen Records, asked Tom Zutaut, whom the label had fired two years previously, to help Guns N' Roses complete 'Chinese Democracy'. Zutaut estimated that Guns N' Roses had 50 or 60 songs in development, and he went through each with Rose, trying to decide which were worth finishing, and during his time with the band they completed versions of 'The Blues', 'Madagascar', 'Chinese Democracy' and 'Atlas Shrugged'. In November 2002 it was announced that the album would be released by June 2003 and that there were only "a few odds and ends left to do", but by mid-2003, Guns N' Roses had reportedly started rerecording the re-named 'Chinese Democracy' again, and by 2004 Geffen had removed 'Chinese Democracy' from its release schedule and withdrawn funding, stating that it was now Rose's obligation to fund and complete the album. Rose held listening parties in several New York bars in 2006, showcasing ten new songs, and in October Rolling Stone said the album had a firm release date of 21 November 2006. Rose recorded the final vocal tracks in January 2007, and mixing had begun, with a planned release date of Christmas 2007, but in January 2008, rumours arose that 'Chinese Democracy' had been handed to Geffen but was delayed because the label and Rose could not agree on the marketing, and it was finally released on 23 November 2008. 

By the time 'Chinese Democracy' was released, only three of the 14 songs had not been leaked or played live, and this continued after its release, with around 120 demos leaking online in 2019. Apparently Zutaut had allowed a storage unit containing 19 CDs of recordings to expire, its contents were auctioned off, and the winner sold them to a fan, who circulated them online. Some tracks had been completed, with 'Atlas Shrugged', featuring Brian May on guitar, being cut at the last second because of CD playing-time constraints, while other songs mentioned by those involved in the recording that did not make the final album include 'Oklahoma', 'Thyme', 'The General', 'Elvis Presley And The Monster Of Soul', 'Leave Me Alone', 'Ides Of March', 'Silkworms', 'Down By The Ocean', 'Zodiac', 'Quick Song' and 'We Were Lying'. In the first of two posts from the band I've collected some of the best recordings from the leaked tracks, posted here under their original title of '2000 Intentions'. 

Track listing

01 Madagascar (demo)

02 Atlas Shrugged  

03 Perhaps 

04 Shankler's Revenge (instrumental)

05 Chinese Democracy (demo)

06 Prostitute (demo) 

07 Tonto 

08 State Of Grace 

09 Catcher In The Rye (demo)

10 Real Doll.com 

11 Silkworms