The Roots of Guns N' Roses [IMPORT]

Hollywood Rose

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 6, 2009)
• Original Release Date: June 1, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Music Brokers Arg
• ASIN: B000RP2GEG
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #432,865 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
It's one of L.A. rock's dirty little secrets: The big-haired, neo-glam '80s metal revival that culminated in Guns N' Roses briefly taking over the world was also--with apologies to the "Silverlake scene"--arguably the city's last truly thriving grassroots club movement. This collection of demos by early Hollywood metal scene fixture Hollywood Rose revolves around the presence of two ambitious, recently transplanted Hoosiers--guitarist Jeff Isabelle and vocalist William Bailey, soon to be better known as GNR's Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose, respectively. Fans of the star-crossed metal superstars will welcome a raw early version of Appetite for Destruction's "Anything Goes," a chance to hear Axl's distinctive shriek in mid-evolution, and Izzy's churning, bluesy riffing, even if HR's energized punk-metal merely toys with the decadence and insanity that would eventually swallow GNR whole. Original GNR manager Vicki Hamilton offers up some personal insights, too. But there's also a downside: The disc only contains five 16-track demos, padded out by lovably executed, if largely disposable, remixes by latter-day Gunner Gilbey Clarke and Cinderella's Fred Coury, featuring a few new overdubs by fellow Hollywood glam-metal fixture Tracii Guns. --Jerry McCulley --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description
No other decade in the history of civilization symbolized the glamorous, sleazy, over-the-top party rock lifestyle like the 1980s! No band on earth represents said excess better than the legendary Guns N' Roses. This collection of rare demo tracks from Axl, Izzy & crew has long been rumored to be the holy grail of glam rock - the genesis of screams & riffs that would eventually evolve into the most massive offering of the period - the mighty 'Appetite!' Now, with the help of Rose alum, Chris Weber, fans & collectors can own these mythic, raw (yet surprisingly well recorded) demos of this pre-G N'R band for the first time ever on CD! As an added bonus, the songs are polished with a modern production compliments of former Gunner Gilby Clarke, Cinderella skinsman, Fred Coury & the man who brought the Guns to Guns N' Roses...Tracii Guns! ROCK ON! --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must Have For Any Guns N' Roses Fans..., July 22, 2004

By	"The Woj" (Downers Grove, IL) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Roots of Guns N' Roses (Audio CD)

Yes, these songs are "demos", yes there is no Slash, and yes Axl's screams on several tracks border on Yoko Ono territory, but they also flat out rock. The album starts with the five orignal "Hollywood Rose" demo tracks, followed by the same 5 tracks remixed by Izzy's replacement Gilby Clarke (how ironic is that?) with some Tracii Guns guitar overdubs on a few tracks and finally the 5 tracks are given over to Cinderella drummer Fred Coury who tightens up the sound and adds some killer double bass drumming. The last five "Coury mixed" tracks are the best. They sound like they could have easily come from the "Appetite For Destruction" sessions. Axl's vocals throughout are very "raw" and at times a little "off" key; but hey, this is rock n' roll.
Axl's attitude, snears and "presence" more than make up for any of his vocal limitations on these very underproduced recordings. Even on these very raw tracks, there is something in Axl's voice that forces you to sit up and take notice. Let's not forget Stradlin. Izzy is one hell of a guitar player. His rhythm and riff work on these tracks are in the classic G N'R, hard rock-punk mode. Lastly, even though there is no Slash, the lead guitarist here is no slouch. His leads and fills are better than most metal players of the day. Heck, these songs are 10 times better than the professional produced, commerical realeased metal from the same era.
"Roots Of Guns N" Roses" is worth purchasing for the last five tracks alone. They will invite repeated listenings by even the most critical G N'R fans, like me.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Reality Check, April 6, 2006

By	ID - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Roots of Guns N' Roses (Audio CD)

First off, if anyone says (or reviews) this as a great album, or better than Guns N' Roses, they are either delusional, glam-hair metal fanatics... or Tracii Guns.

Just based on the material I would rate this 2 and a half stars. The songs are demos and were written by a bunch of kids (I think Axl was 17 or 18 at the time) who were just learning how to write music. But the songs also show the origins of one of the most brilliant albums in history: Appetite For Destruction.

Killing Time - The song is mediocre, but it really shows where Axl and Izzy were headed.

Anything Goes - This actually surprised me. This was the weakest song on AFD but I actually dig the punk flavor here. I have no idea why the producer of AFD (Mike Clink) decided to slow it down into an Aerosmith wannabe. I'm more impressed with the song now.

Rocker - This song follows in the same punk-metal style of the others, but it comes across as almost a Judas Priest tribute song; the chorus makes me cringe.

Shadow Of Your Love - A song that's been floating around for a while. It would eventually be turned into Reckless Life.

Reckless Life - True Guns fans know this song. This is just a blue print of what it would become. Still interesting to hear it in its conception stage, which GNR would later record and release on Lies

All in all, not a great record and it was just a way for a few guys to make money off the GNR name. But more than anything else you can hear a very young singer flashing signs of what will become the most distinct voice in Rock N Roll. And you see two tragic/genius/anomalies just finding their songwriting skills. If you love Guns N' Roses its worth having. Even if its just for nostalgia.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back To The Future, June 27, 2004

By	Arthur D. Autrey "artfromtex" (Haltom City, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Roots of Guns N' Roses (Audio CD)

What a great pickup this CD was. Hearing the three songs that GNR eventually would record(Reckless Life, Anything Goes, Shadow Of Your Love) in their original form is so cool for any GNR Fan. It gives a real perspective on just how great that Appettite line-up was. The drummer on the original recording didn't have a good sense of how to bring out the dynamics of the song. But even with the sub-par drumming you can tell that Axl and Izzy had something. These songs don't sound like the other hairbands that were on the Strip at the time. You can hear the Punk, the anger in Axl's voice. There's also some metal sounding stuff. The song "Rocker" sounds like a Judas Priest closet classic. It's really cool to hear the metal side of Axl.
As for the 2 sets of remixes, both are cool. The original demos are extremely rough, and it's nice to hear them cleaned up. And Fred Coury fixes the drum track himself so you can actually hear it the way Axl and co. were probably hearing it in their head when they wrote it.
The liner notes are superb. It's like GNR 101. If you like GNR, and have all their albums, you gotta get this or your collection is woefully incomplete.