Guns N' Roses Live Era '87-'93 CD

The six years these performances represent include all lineups of the band until it broke under the weight of Axl Rose's temper and ego. Guns' unflinchingly rebellious music addressed life on the streets and among the band's most incendiary material were songs about the school of hard knocks ("Welcome to the Jungle"), drugs ("Mr. Brownstone"), and mortality ("Dust n' Bones"). The only time this dangerous edge became worrisome was when the band cut "I Used to Love Her," a catchy number that attracted the ire of many people because of its flip treatment of abuse in a relationship.

Much of G N' R's oeuvre may have been fueled by the snarling guitars of Slash and Izzy Stradlin (and later Gilby Clarke), but later songs were impressive epics swept up in passion, including the larger-than-life "November Rain" and the lesser-known but equally impressive "Estranged." Beneath the tattoos and snarls, Guns N' Roses also had a more sensitive side that can be heard on the bittersweet "Yesterdays" and this package's only previously unreleased number, the transformation of Black Sabbath's "It's Alright" into a piano-driven solo piece sang and played by Axl Rose.

There was a time that Guns N' Roses seemed like the most vital band in rock & roll -- or maybe that's just the hype talking. There certainly was a time when the L.A. quintet seemed raw, rude, even dangerous -- especially when compared to such righteous rockers as U2 or R.E.M. There was something refreshing about a band that could provoke everything from devotion to hatred, especially since both sides were equally correct. There hadn't been a hard rock band this raw or talented in years, and they were given added weight by Axl Rose's primal rage, the sound of confused, frustrated white trash vying for his piece of the pie. He occasionally slipped into misogyny, bigotry, and pure violence (most notoriously on "One in a Million," where he somehow manage

Recorded live between 1987 and 1993.

Engineers include: Chuck Reed, Bryan Golder, Eric Caudieux.

Audio Mixer: Andy Wallace.

Recording information: 1987-1993.

Photographers: Marc Canter; Jack Lue; Gene Kirkland; Robert John.

The double-disc Live: Era '87-'93 was designed to do two things -- satiate die-hard fans longing for old-school GNR and clear the decks for a new studio album. It sounds good in theory, yet it suffers in execution, since it relies on tapes "recorded across the universe between 1987 and 1993." That's not what GNR fans want -- they want the band in its nervy late-'80s prime, when it seemed like they could self-destruct at any second. Live: Era '87-'93 offers the polar opposite with slick, professional tracks that sound pieced together from various performances. Axl's vocals are not only distant -- as though they were sung in a booth, separate from the band -- but also amazingly mannered, sounding for all the world as if they were redone in the studio. Meanwhile, the band's performances are either brushed up or heavily edited, so it's impossible to tell if any of this was recorded during Appetite-era shows. Certainly, much of this derives from the Illusions tour: there are backing vocals, horns, and just what every fan wants -- lots and lots of Dizzy Reed. And if that isn't indicative of Axl's mindset, there is the priceless moment on "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," when he shrieks "Gimme some reggae!" and the band collapses in a sunsplash groove. So, this is heavy on Axl pretensions and short on pure, brutal rock & roll. At its best, however, it does come closer to vintage GNR than the Illusions did. [Live: Era '87-'93 was also released in a "clean" version, containing no profanities or vulgarities.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Guns N' Roses: W. Axl Rose (vocals); Slash, Izzy Stradlin (guitar); Dizzy Reed (keyboards); Duff McKagan (bass); Steven Adler (drums).

Additional personnel: Gilby Clarke (guitar); Matt Sorum (drums); Teddy Zig Zag Anoreadis, Roberta Freeman, Tracey Amos, Cece Worrall, Anne King, Lisa Maxwell.Rolling Stone (1/20/00, p.56) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...visceral evidence of a time when Guns n' Roses ruled the Earth and every show was 'A Rock N Roll Bash Where Everyone's Smashed'."
Q (1/00, p.138) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...leans on the more credible hellfire days of 1987's APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION and 1989's G'N'R LIES....tightly wound moshpit napalm as 'Nightrain', 'Welcome To The Jungle', and 'Mr Brownstone'..."
CMJ (12/27/99, p.22) - "...an orgy of raunchy, sweaty, ferocious rock....proves that Guns N' Roses, at its peak, actually lived up to its still-snowballing legend..."
Mojo (Publisher) (1/00, p.98) - "...captures the raw, heady rush of their zenith with goosebump-raising live versions of classics 'Nightrain', 'Mr. Brownstone', and 'Welcome To The Jungle'....a surprisingly welcome whiff of patchouli..."