Album of the weekend

Guns and Roses-Use Your Illusion II

The sequel to the 5 star Use Your Illusion I, the blue album (called blue because the album artwork is :: gasp :: blue as opposed to red for the first) is a rock album with a strong blues influence. It's still rock, and it's still heavy-but many of the songs sound very bluesy. This album, like Use Your Illusion I, is a rock classic that really shows how good Guns and Roses was-even if it was for only a short time.

Much like Axl Rose, this album is a little bi-polar. Songs like "Get in the Ring", "Pretty Tied Up" and "You Could be Mine" are energetic, loud and fast-while songs like "Don't Cry", "Estranged" and "Yesterdays" are sad and can be total downers. "So Fine" is the most blues based song and it's a hidden gem. One of my favorite songs by Guns and Roses. "My World" is a bad song and I'm not sure what the band was trying to get at by recording it. It's not even "good weird" or "unique weird". It's just outright bad. Given that it's Guns and Roses, I'm sure that drugs were involved while writing, recording, producing and agreeing to put it on the record.

Guns and Roses is rightfully considered one of the best hair bands and one of the best rock bands of all time. They are often talked about for their decadent lifestyle - but you need to get by that. Their music is fantastic.