Use Your Illusion Remasters....

Boromedic

Roundwound said:

I love UYI which hold a special place in my heart as the albums that steered me into rock music as a 10/ 11 year old. At that age, I heard UYI before finding AFD.

To some degree, with the ballads and majesty, they round off and give a fuller picture of what GnR really were. Axl apparently wrote November Rain as a 19 year old and composed the orchestral parts (played on a synthesiser originally). They are also the albums that introduced me properly to exquisite guitar tone and the Les Paul, with the melodic solos on November Rain, Estranged and Don’t Cry among several others.

That said, I agree with the OP that the remixed November Rain isn’t an obvious improvement. But Im still giving serious thought to shelling out £250 for the collectors set with the Blu Ray concert.

Honestly mate, so have I!! If you want it and can get it then do, they're still great albums and I love em. I just wish they wouldn't mess with them so much

DefaultM

Once went to a meal out wearing my Guns N Roses shirt and someone started talking to me about them. He asked what I thought the best album was, and when I said AFD he sort of snorted at me as though I was clueless and said "er no, Use Your Illusion... Part 2" and turned away from me. 

I didn't really understand because the question he asked wasn't "which is better UYI 1 or 2?"

Roundwound

Listened to UY1 & 2 back to back in the car today on a long drive. Can’t comment on remix fidelity because car speakers/ car noise. I will say that there’s not a song on either album that I dislike…although I could leave “My World” at the end of UYI2. They all add something from various angles and most of the deeper cuts have excellent rock guitar rhythm and lead guitar in them (Garden of Eden, Bad Obsession, Don’t Damn Me, Locomotive etc). I really disagree with those saying it should have been edited down to 1 album.

As a body of work, taking both albums together, I probably do have a preference for UYI over AFD. 30 years later, still phenomenal music. I’ve ventured far and wide with musical tastes since but these albums to my ears have aged very, very well.

DefaultM

I listened to UYI on cassette more than any other GnR album as a teenager, so much so I got bored and moved on to other stuff. 
When I got the CDs years later I put part 1 on and didn't recognise most of it and didn't like it.
Confused I went back to my tape and it seems what I'd done was borrow them both from the library and made a 90 minute mix of both albums, mainly UYI 2. Then I listened to it walking to school every day for years, to the point I convinced my brain thats how it was intended to be, and the actual albums sound weird now.

LPManic

Someone has now put the full two hour 1991 Ritz gig on YouTube. Amazing stuff. Izzy was the man. Great vocals and a cool as fuck DC Les Paul Junior. Great show. I do love the cheesy songs, especially Pretty Tied Up and Bad Obsession.

mrkb

DefaultM said:

I listened to UYI on cassette more than any other GnR album as a teenager, so much so I got bored and moved on to other stuff. 
When I got the CDs years later I put part 1 on and didn't recognise most of it and didn't like it.
Confused I went back to my tape and it seems what I'd done was borrow them both from the library and made a 90 minute mix of both albums, mainly UYI 2. Then I listened to it walking to school every day for years, to the point I convinced my brain thats how it was intended to be, and the actual albums sound weird now.

I did the same with Appetite, Rocket Queen didn’t fit on  one side of a C90 (which you could normally fit 46-47 minutes on), so I didn’t realise it was on that album until years later.

beed84

mrkb said:

DefaultM said:

I listened to UYI on cassette more than any other GnR album as a teenager, so much so I got bored and moved on to other stuff. 
When I got the CDs years later I put part 1 on and didn't recognise most of it and didn't like it.
Confused I went back to my tape and it seems what I'd done was borrow them both from the library and made a 90 minute mix of both albums, mainly UYI 2. Then I listened to it walking to school every day for years, to the point I convinced my brain thats how it was intended to be, and the actual albums sound weird now.

I did the same with Appetite, Rocket Queen didn’t fit on  one side of a C90 (which you could normally fit 46-47 minutes on), so I didn’t realise it was on that album until years later.

Ouch. Rocket Queen is arguably the best song the album! 

Creed_Clicks

I think the copy I had, Rocket Queen might have cut out, or was it Metallica AJFA, with only the start of Dyer's Eve.

Boromedic

AJFA is over 65 minutes so you'd only get to part of Frayed Ends before it stopped, not quite as far as Dyers

Roundwound

LPManic said:

Someone has now put the full two hour 1991 Ritz gig on YouTube. Amazing stuff. Izzy was the man. Great vocals and a cool as fuck DC Les Paul Junior. Great show. I do love the cheesy songs, especially Pretty Tied Up and Bad Obsession.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up

Kultschar

Downloaded Ultra version on Apple Music last night.    Man not listened in full for many years.   Remember wearing out both Tokyo VHS tapes

I do think there are some
stinkers on here mind that have not aged well - I think making one album between the two might of made a classic.    

Forgot how great Izzys vocals were and the wah solos on Civil War always sounds cool as hell.  Always loved Double Talking Jive live - awesome riffs. 

November Rain has been redone with an orchestra???   To me it sounds more artificial then the original from memory - weird!!