Customer Reviews

G N R Lies

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Comprised of a previously released EP and 4 new acoustic tracks, Lies succeeded in recasting GN'R into a band with more depth (and, unfortunately, venom) than any other L.A. group. The first half, the "live" tracks, (actually studio with overdubbed crowd noises) is a nice snapshot of the band's embryonic period but nothing more-they hadn't yet developed their memorable style. The 4 acoustic songs are the heart of the record-the lovely, generous "Patience" sets a gentle mood, but the rest of the record is unremittingly dark. "Used to Love Her" is simply a cruel (and old) joke set to a countryfied shuffle. A smouldering "You're Crazy" is superior to the version on "Appetite", displaying the paranoia and selfishness of the song more successfully. But it's the scabrous "One In a Million" that defines this album. Murky and ominous, it presents a picture of a character (who may or may not be Axl) as he came to the big city and confronted his hatred of others and, ultimately, himself. Even more disturbingly, the song ends without a resolution-the hate remains, the demons fought to a draw, no winners. Like the rest of the album, it's an exorcism of raw emotion. Not easy to listen to, but extraordinarily powerful. It showed no other band could have shaped such ugly dramas into such compelling music.

I am a huge fan of Guns N'Roses (see my slobbering review of "Appetite for Destruction") and I regret the fact that they imploded just as they had reached their creative peak. Here's a nice little snapshop of an L.A. hair metal band (with a 'tude) coming up through the ranks, kicking butt and taking names as they went along.

"Reckless Life", like the entire A side (I still think of this as a cassette tape) was first released on the unattainable "Live! Like a Suicide EP". The song just tears your nuts out. There's some classic Axl wailing and a classic Slash guitar solo. "Nice Boys" is a Rose Tattoo cover and it's not bad. Kind of rough around the edges. "Move to the City" is another cover but I can't remember who wrote the original. "Mama Kin" is also a decent cover of an Aerosmith classic. This is pretty standard stuff - one original song and 3 covers. But then we get to the B side. There's some budding song-writing talent here with the gentle "Patience", with it's whistling intro and acoustic guitars. "Used to Love Her" is a hilarious country-ish song about killing and burying your girlfriend in the backyard. "You're Crazy" would end up on the "Appetite for Destruction" album, amped and speeded up. But this version is superior. "One in a Million" is a controversial song but perhaps one of the Gunners best slow songs. In my opinion, these are the only Guns albums you need to own.

"Appetite for Destruction"

"Lies"

I am writing this message , for the people who might have clicked on a "GN'R LIES" , that might have a very high price next to it.It could be the price is for the limited MFSL 24 K Gold Ultra Disc/original Master Recording.If you are a GN'R obsessed fan , that might be for you , but if you are just looking for the regular CD , you can find much cheaper here at Amazon on another GN'R LIES icon , if you keep looking!

As for the songs , I am an avid fan , but looking at a perspective , of what I thought of "LIES" when I first heard it , I was not impressed with the "Live Like a Suicide" stuff (Mamakin,Reckless Life,etc)at first , but it eventually grew on me , and now I would recommend to any fan.I love the acoustic stuff on here the best , and even though the lyrics might cross the line with some people , the overall songs are a great listen.I like "Used to Love Her" , "One in a Million" along with "Patience" as well.Great sing alongs,that give you great escape.

After the unbelievable phenomenon that was AFD, GNR came straight out of left field with this album that was actually 2 EP's in one. The first side, 4 songs culled from mid-80's live performances off an EP titled Live Like a Suicide, is the perfect precursor to AFD. "Reckless Life" and "Nice Boys", in particular, slam you from the get-go.

The second side, and the most controversial , could be titled GNR Unplugged, as the boys ditch the electrics for acoustics on 3 new songs. "Patience" is a sweet and soft ballad, maybe even the slow counterpart to "Think about You" lyrically. Then the subject matter opens up several cans of worms at once. "Used to Love Her", performed as a jangly folkish rave-up, includes the incendiary line "I used to love her/But I had to kill her." Obviously, there really isn't anything funny about killing your lover and putting her "six feet under." But in the context of many rap albums that came out since then, it seems almost tame. NWA took the line that GNR drew in the sand and destroyed it, with songs such as "To Kill a Hooker" and "One Less B****." (Note: NWA became one of Axl's fave groups after that). Even Hendrix's cover of "Hey Joe" touches on this material as well. There obviously is a thin line between "gritty storyteller" and "misogynist". as Axl says in the song, "Take it for what it is."

The album then moves to GNR covering itself, but with a twist. They take "You're Crazy", originally a fevered punkish romp of paranoia on AFD, and give it some slow acoustic funk on Lies. This version sounds almost like a plea rather than a rant, and it works wonderfully. You wonder what "Mr. Brownstone" or "Welcome to the Jungle" would sound like if they had given those songs the same treatment.

And now to the flashpoint finale, "One in a Million," a six-minute power ballad that name-checks "Police and n*****rs" and "immigrants and f****ts" (no, not fascists) on its way to describing the new world of L.A. through the eyes of a Midwestern immigrant fresh off a Greyhound, Axl himself. Again, gritty storyteller or vicious fascist? Has Axl changed the way he sees the world since then? Only he can answer that. But he shouldn't have to. Has Ice Cube changed his opinion of Korean shop owners or white devils? He shouldn't have to answer that. Art is art for arts sake.

Great second record.

In between APPETITE and the dual ILLUSIONS Gn'R brought out this album that featured two of their most famous songs - Patience and One in a Million, the latter of which sparked a wave of controvery due to its lyrics, specifically: "Immigrants and faggots \ They make no sense to me \ They come to our country \ And think they'll do as they please" etc...along with racial slurs and other angry lyrics.

But I think it's one of their best songs and people were too eager to jump on the bandwagon without actually _listening_ to what this song is about. Like always many people are just way too happy to find something to pick apart - One in a Million is lyrically and rhythmically one of Gn'R's greatest hits and no doubt had there not been such a wave of controversy surrounding its release, it would have been featured on the Greatest Hits collection. It's a very dark and different song for Axl but with an acoustic overtone - I love it.

Also included is I Used to Love Her, which I enjoy but have never really loved very much as I can't listen to it over and over again. And frankly the lyrics never sat well with me even if Axl is talking about killing his dog - as someone else mentioned the rhythm is too upbeat. That said, it's still a really good song and something I like to listen to once in a while. (Velvet Revolver also did a really good live cover of it.)

Mama Kin (cover of Aerosmith's version) is a great song and although a bit rough at first [...] you get used to it and the beat is really great and bluesy. This is the type of stuff that should have been used as the "filler" on the Illusion records instead of some of the overblown stuff they put on there.

Overall this is a really great CD as each song on the disc is worth listening to, and more than a few are wonderful and Gn'R classics. If you're just starting to listen to Gn'R I only advise you to listen to Patience and then store this CD away for later - once you've been through Appetite, take this out again and play it...chances are you'll really love it.

This album is worth it for "One in a Million" alone, that is one of the greatest G n R songs ever.

its also got "Patience" "Used to Love her", "Reckless Life", "Move to the City"...........you cant go wrong BUY IT!

I was in high school when AFD came out - it was a revolutionary album. Suddenly even spoiled preppies found hard rock cool. I bought the follow-up, G N'R Lies, when I was in the military back in 1990. Although I was into heavier music at the time, I immediately took a liking to the four acoustic songs and I played them almost exclusively, rarely playing side one. As the one reviewer below mentioned, I too wish this whole album would've been acoustic. To this day, I consider G N'R Lies, side 2, to be one of my favorite album sides ever. The four songs just flow together perfectly, always leaving me wanting more. I would've paid full price for just the acoustic songs on this album. It's now fourteen years later, and although some of it may be sentimental, I can still sit back and enjoy these great acoustic arrangements. -1 star for side one, which never really grew on me.

This album exemplifies this band's talent. You Have 4 classic rockers including the cover of Aerosmith's Mama Kin. It is rumored that the "live" tracks are just studio tracks with dubbed in crowd noise, but that is only a rumor since it is unproven. The 4 "acoustic" tracks are not even acoustic, except on Patience, but are still very powerful for being mellow. Patience is a great ballad, but not their strongest work on this album by far.{anyone who finds a ballad as the top song on a Guns album is not really a true Guns fan, and more like a billboard top 40 fan instead} The next track is Used to Love Her and is a great song because of it's truth of how women can make men feel, and it's funny to boot. You're crazy was a marvelous remake of the Appetite classic. They slowed it down and made it bluesy, which, in my opinion is the way this song was meant to be. Then you have One in a Million. By far the album's best and most powerful song...if you're not easily offended. Axl was a country boy from Indiana, and this song shows his views on the jungle known as Los Angeles. Give this album a try and you won't be disappointed.

While Guns N' Roses debut album "Appetite for Destruction" (1987) initially failed to make a major impact, over the course of a few months, with singles like "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Sweet Child `O Mine," almost overnight, Guns N' Roses became the biggest band on the planet.

To capitalize on the band's success, Geffen re-released Guns N' Roses first release, the "Live like a Suicide" (1986) EP along with four new recordings. Together, these eight songs made up Guns N' Roses second album "GN'R Lies" (1988).

"Live Like a Suicide" had been released one year before "Appetite" as a way for Geffen to introduce Guns N' Roses to the public. Although it was released under the "Uzi Suicide" label, that was just a front for Geffen. It was thought that if the EP had been released under an indie label it might have given the band added street cred. And while "Live Like a Suicide" is supposed to be a live album, that's not really the case. Crowd noise was added to the recordings, to which singer Axl Rose would later decry as "contrived."

While "Live Like a Suicide" or "side A" of "GN'R Lies" isn't as powerful as AFD, these are still great songs. While they may not have been recorded in front of an audience, they still have a live sound as they don't sound overproduced or have a lot over overdubs. Hopefully, however, one day "GN'R Lies" will be re-released without the faux crowd noise.

The opening "Reckless Life," featuring Rose's mightily signature wail and Slash's signature screeching solos, can be seen as a precursor to "Welcome to the Jungle." Rose Tattoo's "Nice Boys" is another fine hard-rocker and follows nicely. An early GN'R classic and the best song on "Live Like a Suicide," the groove-laden swagger of "Move to the City" has a clear element of vintage Aerosmith. A cover of Aerosmith's "Mamma Kin" is good, if not great.

The second half of "GN'R Lies" consists of four new acoustic recordings, demonstrating early on how versatile GN'R were. The Izzy Stradlin penned "Patience" is just plain terrific. A gorgeous balled, it's not overdone or overly sentimental, yet shows a sensitive side to the band none-the-less. "Used to Love Her" a song about killing your wife/girlfriend is one of the band's more misunderstood songs. As Rose states in "Live Era" (1999) while introducing the song, it's just a joke, a fantasy.

The country-esque "Your Crazy" is an acoustic version of the same song released a year before on "Appetite." While the "fast" AFD version of "Your Crazy" is probably the album's weakest song, the slower version on "GN'R Lies" is one of GN'R best recordings.

Guns N' Roses most controversial song, "One in a Million" closes out the album. This is the song that Axl Rose/Guns N' Roses detractors single-out when they refer to either Rose or Guns N' Roses as racist and/or homophobic. Listening to the song, it's easy to see why the song generated a storm of controversy upon its release. However, to simply condemn Rose and GN'R would be simplistic and a knee-jerk reaction.

Does "One in a Million" have racist, xenophobic and homophobic undertones? Yes. Is Axl Rose a white supremacist that hates gays? No. Essentially, the song is a gritty, honest confessional taken from the perspective of an ignorant young man who has grown up in Indiana his whole life, and upon arriving to LA, has negative experiences with blacks and gays. It's a song from the perspective of how Rose felt at the time and it doesn't reflect his current world-view.

Overall, GN'R's "Appetite For Destruction" and "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II" (both 1991) may be more satisfying than "GN'R Lies" but this album still contains many gems and is overall a great collection of songs. This CD is also recommended for fans that didn't care for the more artistic leanings of "Use Your Illusion" but like the rawness of AFD.

"Lies" ultimately crushed Guns n' Roses popularity with the critics, and do to controversy divided fans down the middle. Nevertheless, this is a very strong, genuine and at times sophisticated album, while also keeping a very hard-edged style of rock on Side One. It is clear from this sophomore release that the Guns wouldn't care what critics think, and go about music in their own manner.

Side One opens with a fierce, hard rocking "Reckless Life" which generally carries a powerful energy through its lyrics and speedy guitar riffs. "Nice Boys" continues this high paced energy on the album with Rose delivering lightening fast lyrics effectively. "Mama Kin" is classic live Guns, a proficient cover-song with a very strong guitar riff. "Move To The City" is a typical GNR live standard, and boasts another model riff and raspy vocal from Axl. Although perhaps "Appetite For Destruction" displays more rock angst and righteousness, there is no denying that this is GNR rock at its best.

Side Two comes across as a very strong-minded, firm approach at passionate music. Although it's criticized for being pretentious, it does feature some beautiful and genuine tunes. "Patience" is an obvious attempt at widespread popularity, however it is certainly a wonderful song. "You're Crazy" is without question a superior version in it's slower paced style on this album. Axl also gives a lower pitched and ultimately better vocal. "Used To Love Her" is a folk rockabilly type song, with the Guns making it as clear as possible that this song is not to be taken seriously. Of course, critics still weren't amused. "One In A Million" may be the highlight of the album, and the controversial lyrics shattered any chance it had to be considered a great song. The previous reviewer made a clear statement to claim that this song is not an angry call to "faggots", "immigrants" and "n-ggers", but rather an study into the life of a racist. The guitar strumming is astonishing.

Overall, this is a great album from the GNR crew, however the reason I will knock off half a star is because of the length, a mere 34 minutes, and the fact that "Lies" in my opinion does slightly pale in comparison to "Appetite" and the Illusions. Still, recommended for GNR fans, and I highly suggest you to try and buy it cheap!