Guns N' Roses – Use Your Illusion I

Good sounding version; money well spent: recommended. Nothing to compare to though.

Here we have a great sounding Europian / German original pressing. The sound is fresh, punchy, airy and crispy.

For some reason, after listening to this album over 34 years, it's now I realize how incredible the drums sound across both I and II. I don't know if that's a commentary on this particular pressing or just my lack of attention to how Matt Sorum sounds on these albums, but I can't think of rock drums ever sounding better to me.

I when I was in a band when I was 17 and my drummer, who was 27 at the time and decent, told me Sorum kind of sucked as a drummer. That always stuck with me. After all these years, I don't know wtf he was talking about. Sorum was an incredible drummer. It's entirely possible in my mind that Steven Adler couldn't have done as well. Sorum might've been the PERFECT drummer for these records. Anyway.

Also, a little further on these pressings. They're exceptional. I don't know what I could complain about and that's rare. Sound is totally on-point. Yes, digital... BUT... cut by Joe Nino-Hernes at Sterling and pressed super well by Optimal. Fantastic pressings of both I and II. Now, if Chad at AP wanted to press UHQRs of these from tape, I certainly wouldn't object.

I wanna work as an editor for record companies.. since when has 'dEAD hORSE' been 'Dead Horses'??

Bought this and Use Your Illusion II sealed - both US originals. Certainly not the "quietest audiophile" vinyl out there - but with this material, who cares. Killer sounding records. Hopefully you don't have neighbors!

I’m happy to report my copy had no defects or scratches and looks great. Surface noise is very quiet on my 2M Bronze and can only hear a little between tracks. There is some whooshing between tracks as well. I cannot comment on sound quality as this is my only copy.

November Rain is the best song on the album. This song opens with a soft, but too long, melodic introduction spanning well over a minute. “Let’s just get on with it”, I thought to myself at least twice before Axel‘s vocals began. Unfortunately, Axel’s voice is unsuited to the style of this ballad. To his credit, he is on key and does a good job with his phrasing. But Axel’s strength is singing with strength, fueled by anger or ion, and aggressive guitars and drums. November Rain has none of that. Don’t get me wrong, I know slow rock ballads can be well done. Think of the Who’s Getting In Tune.

The instrumentals and backing vocals are what really stand out in November Rain. The playing is tight and vocals haunting. It is the end of the song, without Axle’s singing, that makes the it worth a listen. In closing, this song is far from their best, barely in the top 10. Sadly, however, November Rain is the best song on the album.

Got fooled when buying “first ever remaster from the original analog tapes”. As usual it was actually mastered from digital files as many reviewers have noted. You can stream the hi res files if you don’t want to waste your money on this. The sound itself is decent, a little sterile, nothing special.

Haha, got this among 100 other records from the neighbor. Had this on cassette and cd, was a big fan 12yr old.
Took a trip down memory lane. I immediately noticed how good this sounds and then turned up vol. i mean.. HUGE, OPEN, DETAILED, PUNCHY, CRISP and VERY DYNAMIC (on EVERY level) WOW so much fun to listen to. Unfortunately not my cup of tea anymore, but what a nice job they did with this release.
Will play this again✌️

I have a version with the following Matrix:
[Universal logo] 4244152 22 A00.
Instead of "15 A00" it have "22 A00" that I didn't see here.... Someone could help?