Guns N Roses - Spaghetti Incident
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Free Music Notes for Spaghetti Incident
Free Music Review: Underrated!
Hit: 4 Stars
I have to admit that while I was immensely in love with Guns N' Roses' music when I was first introduced to them back in 1992 (as a pre-teen, when their _Use Your Illusion_ albums were garnering attention), the love transmutated into strong ambivalence *very* shortly afterwards. And in the decade-plus since then, the ambivalence still remains: the one half of me thought this band had some real talent; Slash was an excellent guitarist, and Axl had a voice with attitude. Their music was *very* primal and visceral, and the perfect music to listen to if you wanted to blow off some steam, or if you just wanted to get energized. It was balls-to-the-walls gutsy, dirty rock n' roll in the vein of The Rolling Stones or Aerosmith, but (arguably) a bit more extreme than both bands. On the other hand, I found the excessive whining, ranting and profanity used by Axl and co., to be nothing more than childish exercises in vulgarity, just for the sake of vulgarity, although some of it was good for comical value; some of it sure made me laugh (and btw, I'm not offended by profanity, but in much of Guns N' Roses' output, this aspect just got a little old and predictable *real* fast.)
To this day, anytime I listen to a Guns N' Roses album, these exact thoughts and feelings (listed above) run through me.
With that said, I own both of their ambitious and diverse _Use Your Illusion_ albums, and I love those more than the raw musings found on _Appetite For Destruction_. Which brings us to 1993's _The Spaghetti Incident?_; an album consisting *solely* of cover versions to many punk anthems of the day. For my money, the cover of classic soul group The Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You" is probably the most interesting and impressive on here: rarely would you expect Guns N' Roses to cover an R&B/Soul song. For them to cover it quite well is even *less* expected. Yet, how they pull it off is quite a testament to the talent these guys had. My other favorites are the cover of The Damned's "New Rose" (where Duff McKagan references Joe Jackson at the very beginning of the song), Soundgarden's "Big Dumb Sex," Nazareth's "Hair Of The Dog" (where we hear a reference to the main riff of The Beatles' "Day Tripper" at the end of the track), and the furious (and hilarious) profanity-soaked cover of Fear's "I Don't Care About You."
Yet, the album doesn't end there: there is a hidden track which is a cover of a Charles Manson song. Some have said that the addition of a song from aforementioned notorious figure was a publicity stunt: something to try to boost the band's diminishing popularity and sales figures. I wouldn't be surprised in the least, if there were any truth to this.
The band says in the liner notes to find and listen to the original versions of each of the songs they covered on this outing. Indeed, I'd recommend the same thing; many of the originals are amazing in their own right (if not more interesting than the cover versions here.) Recommended.
Free Music Review: Please don't feed the critics
Hit: 4 Stars
It's easy to see why THE SPAGHETTI INCIDENT? was almost universally trashed by critics upon its release in 1993. First of all, Guns N' Roses was no longer "cool." The Pacific Northwest grunge music genre (Nirvana, Pearl Jam) was taking hold of the rock world. Axl's antics had become infamous. Izzy Stradlin had left, the band's internal crumbling had made the headlines and frankly after the "disappointment" of the Use Your Illusion records, even fans were starting to tune out at this point. It's sort of sad looking at the inside cover of the Spaghetti CD and literally being able to _read_ the band's failure - it's like they know they're about to die and even the booklet is depressing.
That said, the album is very good. Like most of Guns N' Roses' earlier songs it takes multiple listens - when I first heard "November Rain," for example, I didn't care for it much. Now, it's one of my favorite songs. Ditto "Sweet Child".
SPAGHETTI is understandably underrated but that doesn't necessarily mean it's justified. If people had actually been opening their ears in '93 they'd have realized that Gn'R was trying some really daring stuff with this CD - and at the same time returning to their blues-rock roots that they had abandoned (for the most part) for the overblown "Illusion" double bill. Apart from GET IN THE RING and SHOTGUN BLUES, "Illusion" I & II was mostly softer/harder rock with modernized stuff (like violins and background singers).
SPAGHETTI INCIDENT is punk rock/blues with covers of little-known songs such as "Down on the Farm" (which features Axl doing a great British slang) and "Human Being" (which, for my money, is one of Gn'Rs' best songs of all time - loud, fast, with a great rhythm).
This is not to say SPAGHETTI is flawless. Of 12 songs many are short (with the whole CD clocking in at just over an hour) and a few are mere filler - HAIR OF THE DOG and ATTITUDE simply being loud and obnoxious.
However this does contain two classics (included in the Greatest Hits collection) - Since I Don't Have You and Ain't it Fun. For my money the former of the two is a bit better but both have attitude and rhythm and an infectious style. Axl's voice is very interesting here and he challenges himself more than he has before with a variety of punk/rock/blues songs that all contain different styles.
Overall it's easy to see why this was trashed when it came out - but the critics were really blind to the pros of this album. After they seemed to disappoint a lot of fans with the commercialized Use Your Illusions Gn'R tried to return to their roots with SPAGHETTI - and I think they succeeded rather well.
Just listen to "Human Being" a few times and see if you can't start getting into it.
Free Music Review: Pretty good, but not Guns N`Roses
Hit: 4 Stars
I have to admit, back when this album was released, I was in the midst of my Guns N`Roses craze, and before this was released, I thought it would be their "Next" Album just like Use Your Illusion I and II(Which are two of the best albums ever). I was pretty surprised though, when I got it, that it didnt sound like Guns N`Roses anymore. Little did I know back then that it wasnt actually their music, but covers of old classic Rock and Punk songs. So, when I got it, I played it to death, and I actually liked it pretty much, but it really didnt feel like the Guns N`Roses I had grown to love on Use Your Illusion. This is, for some, a blessing, for others, a Curse.
Gone is the epic and grand sound, replaced with dirty fast punk influenced rock. Its the type that you could hear traces of in a few songs on Use Your Illusion I, but that was in minority. However, one cannot blame Guns N`Roses for not sounding like them, it was after all coversongs, and what they did, was make it sound great. They did succeed making the old songs sound fascinatingly good, and the album is very good overall.
Absolute Standouts are the Radio Hit and personal favorite "Ain`t It Fun", the heavy thunderous "Black Leather", the fun "Down on the Farm", the fast "Attitude" and "I dont care about you". Good old songs like "Hair of the Dog" and "Since I dont have you" are covered nicely, and the original artists would be proud that a band like Guns N`Roses honored their music.
Unfortunately, it wasnt the album many had hoped for, and while the band had some hugely successful concerts afterwards, it marked the end of the band. Ending it with Coma would have been ten times better, but "I dont care about you" is also a nice way to show that Guns N`Roses always was about being themselves, and not caring about others. It was part of what made them one of the biggest bands in History. They had soul. They had Guts. They made the best Hard Rock ever. They walked their way, they became kings of Hard Rock and they became legends.
Free Music Review: GNRs Worst Entry Is Still Enjoyable
Hit: 4 Stars
The last studio album released by Guns n' Roses seemed to have everything missing when it came out, as Izzy Stradlin' had left the band, every track found on the album is a cover, and the music is punk rock. This being true, it was understandable that alot of Guns n' Roses fans would want to avoid this album, expecting it to be far different from the Illusion albums, GNR Lies, and Appetite For Destruction.
Although, it is distinctly different in sound, it still offers some very heavy, energetic and exciting punk rock tunes that many GNR fans can appreciate. If you are a fan of punk rock, this album is a great buy because it gives covers of some classic punk rock groups and artists and gives a poweful, more alternative look at punk rock music with generally heavier guitar riffs.
The album kicks off into the delicate, beautiful power ballad, Since I don't have you which is the single off the album. This song has a great flow to it, with an impressive lyrical delivery which never leaves you bored with the song. To follow the first track, Guns n' Roses leaps into the heavier stuff, first with New Rose, and then with the heavy, evil lyrics and riffs of Down on the Farm. As the album moves on, we hear GNR stay fairly consistent with their punk rock selections, despite having a few tracks being weaker than others, in my mind most notably Black Leather.
To conclude, I would highly recommend this album to any punk rock fan, since the crew made some excellent choices for the proper songs to cover, and for the most part, gave very strong musical deliveries of each of them. As for Guns n' Roses fans, I myself am a huge fan of their music and am fond of this album, so it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a try.
Free Music Review: GN'R go punk!
Hit: 4 Stars
Just recently purchased this album and listened to it all the way through.
Good points:
Slash still remains fairly strong with the solos
Duff surprisingly sings alot more this time, he too is a great singer
Some decent songs like New Rose, Black leather, hair of the dog etc
Bad points:
No Izzy this time, Gilby Clarke stands in for him, Don't get me wrong Gilby is also a great guitarist but he's just not the same as Izzy.
No original GN'R material
They show their punkier side this time which isn't exactly what guns were previously about.
Overall this album isn't too bad. The best description I can give is that they seem to have covered a selection of punk songs and made it sound more like GN'R. Punk fans will love this album. You have to really appreciate punk to like this album, I have nothing against punk but its not what I am into as much as rock or metal. If you want to know what it sounds like then try and imagine 'Get in the ring' type tracks 12 times. The thing with this album is that it doesnt seem to be the GN'R that everyone knew and loved in the previous days. I personally think GN'R were pretty much over after the use your illusion tours. I am a huge fan of the band, but when you have their previous albums you will find it is the most disappointing album. If you already have their classic albums and don't have this then its up to you-take my advice if you like. But if you are new to Guns, just make sure you steer clear of this album for now, and just get Appetite and the illusion albums first.