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Artist: Guns N' Roses

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Guns N' Roses Homepage

CD Title: Use Your Illusion II

 

Category: Glam/Hard Rock

Year: 1991

Label: Geffen

Catalog Number: GEFD-24420

Personnel

Axl Rose vocals
Slash guitars
Duff McKagan bass
Izzy Stradlin rhythm guitar
Matt Sorum drums
Dizzy Reed keyboards
Steven Adler drums on "Civil War"

Tracks

1.	Civil War
2.	Fourteen Years
3.	Yesterdays
4.	Knockin' On Heaven's Door			Cover: Bob Dylan
5.	Get In The Ring
6.	Shotgun Blues
7.	Breakdown
8.	Pretty Tied Up
9.	Locomotive
10.	So Fine
11.	Estranged
12.	You Could Be Mine
13.	Don't Cry (Alt Lyrics)
14.	My World

If you see any errors or omissions in the CD information shown above, either in the musician credits or song listings (cover song credits, live tracks, etc.), please post them in the corrections section of the Heavy Harmonies forum/message board.

The music discographies on this site are works in progress. If you notice that a particular Guns N' Roses CD release or compilation is missing from the list above, please submit that CD using the CD submission page. The ultimate goal is to make the discographies here at Heavy Harmonies as complete as possible. Even if it is an obscure greatest-hits or live compilation CD, we want to add it to the site. Please only submit official CD releases; no bootlegs or cassette-only or LP-only releases.

EPs and CD-singles from Guns N' Roses are also welcome to be added, as long as they are at least 4 songs in length.

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Existing comments about this CD

From: Monkeynuts	Date: April 21, 2001 at 9:33
I loved Appetite but I'm sorry I find this album to be an absolute pile of crap. They could have taken the best from both UYI 1 and 2 to make a half decent album but decided to rip off the public with two half baked ones. The cover versions are a joke and the only tracks worth mentioning are Locamotive and Don't Cry (2 versions ... please !!!)

From: Stu	Date: June 13, 2001 at 23:29
Tracks I like on this: 1,2,3,6,8,9,11,13. Thats 8 out of 14. I think MonkeyNuts comment is correct. Track 5 and 14 should have been deleted...

From: Mike S.	Date: June 23, 2001 at 17:59
Ok.. Whatever those guys are talking about is dead wrong. UYI 2 is an amazing album. I like it more than Appetite as a matter of fact.

From: LA LA LA Boy	Date: October 9, 2001 at 20:07
Track 5 is really great, Mr. STUpid!

From: LA LA LA Boy	Date: October 9, 2001 at 20:17
Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13! Get in the Ring roxxxxx!

From: LA LA LA Boy	Date: October 9, 2001 at 20:18
Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13! Get in the Ring roxxxxx!

From: Rockhead	Date: October 11, 2001 at 19:47
They could have made 1 average cd out of both of these poor cd's. Over half the songs on both are just to fill the empty space.

From: joe	Date: December 14, 2001 at 0:52
I don't like 5 and 14 but I still like this album, it contrasts well with Illusion 1 with longer songs. Its a different animal to your usual short rock songs but its an album that grows. Your have to give it chance and it still rates 9 out of 10 so it can't be that bad. Its still above most rock albums for me.

From: koogles	Date: January 3, 2002 at 7:49
Bloated and ambitious, had GnR combined the best tracks from Use Your Illusions I and II, they would have had a second masterpiece on their hands. As it stands, you have two good albums instead of one great one.

From: Kim	Date: January 18, 2002 at 15:30
If they had choosen the best tracks from both albums, they might have come up with some fairly good stuff,but instead they kept filling the albums with crap and crap and more crap. The albums has its moments though. When I first heard them I was very excited, but these two albums completely turned me offfffffffffffff. K.V

From: Lullä Milanese	Date: February 24, 2002 at 9:45
I think 8 is a great grade for this album. Well, we have excellent songs like Civil War, Get In The Ring, Pretty Tied Up, Estranged (Perfect), You Could Be Mine and Don't Cry (I prefer this version than the UYI1's) And I agree, I think that GNR should have put all the good tracks together and make a "b-side album" with the rest. We'd have an excellent album and a very cool "B-side" album.

From: vtomaz

Date: March 1, 2002 at 12:50

Guys, you dont know nothing. For year 1991, when so many good albums came out, was this and first album peace of art. All songs in both albums are so different and so unic, all perfect in concerts and if you dont know stories about this albums, I can ttell you that this is sound that band wanted to record for them self, for their souls and not for label companies. I listen to both albums for 500+ times and after 11 years this is still the best collection !!!!

From: jz

Date: March 5, 2002 at 17:17

how many more people are going to say "if they had used the best tracks from both albums...........". Fact is different people like different songs from the two albums and it is always better to have a choice of 30 songs rather than 15 even if you don't like some of them. it would be almost sacreligous to cut out half of the songs. there are only about 7 out of the 30 songs that i don't really like.

From: Rockforever

Date: June 26, 2002 at 19:50

One of the things that most annoys me is reading supposed GNR fans slag off the Illusion albums.The band quite rightly branched out musically,they had to grow.It is true that tracks 5 and 14 are crap (although get in the ring has a good guitar riff),but this album is excellent.Civil War,Locomotive and the absolutely amazing Estranged find the band in epic mode,while there are more straightahead rockers too(You could be mine, shotgunblues,pretty tied up).Great playing,great writing.Great record.

From: MR???	Date: July 11, 2002 at 23:23
ROCKEROS MARICONES!!

From: MR.!!!	Date: August 10, 2002 at 0:41
MAS MARICONES SON LAS BANDAS QUE TU OYES COMO NSYNC O RICKY MARTIN.

From: Baris

Date: September 13, 2002 at 8:34

For me both "Use Your Illusion" albums unfortunately fall far behind the "Appetite..". No matter there are two CDs, even if there would be ten, "Use Your Illusion" is a GNR MEDIOCRE. It's like they are telling their fans "Hey, get these two and don't bother us anymore!". Whatever how this is marketed I miss the first fantastic album and it was once-in-a-life-time stuff. Sorry friends, releasing two stuffs with indefinite number of songs at once doesn't necessarily mean GREATNESS or MASTERPIECE

From: Buster	Date: October 16, 2002 at 22:45
Well I reckon the first few tracks are great but the album runs out of steam big time once it hits track 5. Only track 12 saves it from there. Having said that, those first four tracks are way cool. Way, WAY cool.

From: MALLORCAīS ROCK	Date: December 30, 2002 at 13:40
Si hubiesen hecho un solo cd con las mejores canciones tal vez hubiesen igualado al Appetite pero entre los dos hay una serie de temas que para mi sobran. eso si vaya pedazo de temas contienen los dos.

From: MALLORCAīS ROCK	Date: December 30, 2002 at 13:41
Si hubiesen hecho un solo cd con las mejores canciones tal vez hubiesen igualado al Appetite pero entre los dos hay una serie de temas que para mi sobran. eso si vaya pedazo de temas contienen los dos.

From: slashh	Date: March 1, 2003 at 18:38
you guys suck. this is the album gn'r did 4 themselves (as vtomaz said) and not for the label. and choosing oly 14 songs?-FUCK they recorded fuckin'150 songs and took out only the best of them-MASTERPIECESok, my world suxx(axl was a jerk even then:>)

From: Great Dane	Date: April 24, 2003 at 19:16
This is fairly ok.

From: sylvain	Date: April 25, 2003 at 18:05
'Appetite for destruction' is a masterpiece, this one is a shame, very very bad

From: steve	Date: May 14, 2003 at 16:01
my favorite band, i liked this one but not as good of even close to Appetite

From: Metal Health	Date: May 24, 2003 at 18:19
this is a very good album...its not a "LA Street" album like Appetite, but its awesome...ok, My World sucks, but Estranged is PERFECT

From: gubi

Date: July 15, 2003 at 12:51

Wyh you guys "Appetite is much better; this is crap"??? Appetite was great for it's time. It changed rock 'n roll, but these two albums are absolutely marvellous. It's incredible that every single song is on its own, every song is unicue, except a couple of them maiby. So fucking creative and well-arranged, except for the "dirty" guitars. Not like all other albums, that've got all the songs on a line, here every song is compeletely different from the others, and very melodic and powerful. It is

From: gubi	Date: July 15, 2003 at 12:52
...not strange that the ILLUSION TOUR was the greatest abd biggest world tour ever done.

From: John	Date: August 14, 2003 at 13:55
'Get In The Ring' is the dumbest song ever recorded and officially sold to the public. 'Civil War' is brilliant. 'Estranged' is brillianter. 'Yesterdays' and 'Breakdown' are simply stunning looks at life. Good record.

From: RR-Finland

Date: September 2, 2003 at 14:28

I think Get In The Ring is hilarious! I understand these guys anger and dislike to press. "Use Your.." albums biggest problem is what we have already readed from these comments above. They are over 70 minutes long and tracks arenīt so similar with together, like those were in "Appetite". Ups and downs, furious anger and love ballads. Somebody might find 3 good track from this one and then somebody likes every tune like they are. I donīt like all these tracks now, but everyday is a different day.

From: karolis	Date: September 29, 2003 at 10:16
this is the best albus i have ever heard.

From: glammetalfan	Date: October 29, 2003 at 16:43
i still think tih is an extremley good albun, no matter what (except for my world of course)....better than the first album..

From: John	Date: April 16, 2004 at 10:58
Don't like some of the songs? Do what I did. Take the ones you like best and make your own compilation. And don't take "Get In The Ring" seriously--it was an obvious "f--k off" message to people who had made them angry. As for "My World", it sounds like something from the alternative movement of 1993-95...ahead of their time? 1,2,8 and 12 are just brilliant, as good as anything on Appetite.

From:	Date: April 30, 2004 at 11:38
Also great. Get in the ring is amazing.

From: jack	Date: May 19, 2004 at 6:47
From my point of view, civil war is the best songs from this album with perfectly good lyrics and guitar execution. Get in the ring and shotgun blues are top metal songs. So fine is a version of the mckagan classic which is equally breathtaking. Slash in my opinion is simply the top 5 guitarist of all time! But the same cannot be said of Axl's voice though!

From: Rockhead	Date: May 19, 2004 at 9:18
Slash-Top 5 guitarist of all time? What about Hendrix, Blackmore, Lynch, Rhoads, Van Halen, Satriani, Vai, Ry Cooder, Page, Paul Kossoff, Clapton, Nugent, Frank Marino, Schon, Santana. Even Bratta,Timmons,Kulick and Wylde give Slash a run for his money. I think your statement lacks merit

From: TIM	Date: May 19, 2004 at 10:44
I disagree. He's entitled to his opinion. I like the ones you mentioned, but consider some top 10 intead of 5. I like SRV, Morse, Cropper, and some others you didn't mentione. Anyones' opinion of who is top 5 is opinion, not a fact. I don't believe technicality has anything to do with it either. It's more creative ability and passion IMO.

From: Rockhead	Date: May 19, 2004 at 11:45
Hey Tim-I was merely making a point-the others you mentioned are also worthy of mention, I just ran out of space.

From: Big Papa K	Date: June 26, 2004 at 23:53
The better of the two Illusion albums. We all know that "My World" and "Get In The Ring" are useless, but the rest is fantastic. This version contains the better rock songs ("You Could Be Mine" and "Shotgun Blues"). 9/10

From: jack

Date: July 19, 2004 at 6:25

I heard lots of people saying Gun N Roses and the other hair metal band are not metal,they are just hard rock! Well,i might be wrong(99%) on these but this is just my 'not-important' opinion. IN my book,Hard rock are bands like foreigner,rainbow,reo speedwagon,marillion,cheap trick,zz top,queen,journey,deep purple etc. Bands like GNR,cinderella, ratt,defleppard,bon jovi,van halen,tesla,dokken,poison,white lion etc may not be in the same genre(melodic,sleaze,glam) but they are all METAL band.

From: jack	Date: July 19, 2004 at 6:30
And in my book,korn and all the other so called 'nu-metal' band are not metal,not even hard rock. They will never be a metal band! A plastic band maybe. Long live 80's hard rock and 80's metal!'Fight for the living,fighting the world'...metal is our religion!Death to false(nu)metal!

From: Metal Jay	Date: August 3, 2004 at 19:30
In one of the earlier postings I saw someone say say take the best of both I and II and make a compilation. Funny, the CD I have is a compilation of I and II. I have never seen it anywhere else. Am I missing something? The cover is half the blue and purple and half the yellow and red. It's just called "Use Your Illusion" Any Ideas?

From: Propane	Date: December 2, 2004 at 18:31
Absolutely right about this one running out of steam. The boys should have sobered up, gone to counseling and come back fresh before trying this out again. Either that, or switch substances.

From: kix	Date: December 23, 2004 at 19:49
Some great songs here such as dont cry, you could be mine etc, good album.

From: Geoff	Date: February 16, 2005 at 4:25
Unfortunately it's mostly the hits I like here. 'Civil war' is a killer tune, as is 'You could be mine', 'Knockin on heaven's door' still pleases me, 'Pretty tied up' is a cool rocker, 'Estranged' has some beautiful guitar and 'Don't cry' is a lovely ballad. I don't have the attention span for a lot of this, but it's a good disc.

From: Dale

Date: February 22, 2005 at 20:02

In 2005, its been "14 Years" since I've listened to this album in a house that I've owned 100%. Been renting for the past 14 years. Hence the connection. On to the Cd...when both Illusions came out in 91', I got this one first since it was recommended by most folks as the better album at the time. A bit heavy on epics which were good when they were good (Estranged & Civil War) or drawn out with filler. Looking back now, Illusion 1 is the better of the two lots of heavier tracks.

From: onin	Date: February 25, 2005 at 3:41
second only to appetite.

From: cort	Date: April 6, 2005 at 18:50
Better than Illusion 1,but that isn't saying much!Compared to appetite it is trashcan material!Horrid follow up to Appetite!!They lost the hard rocking sound.Kind of worth it.

From: Lovedrive	Date: March 15, 2006 at 11:27
De este me encantan Estranged, 14 years, You could be mine y Get in the ring. Como dicen x ahi arriba, si juntamos lo mejor de los dos Use Y.I. nos sale un disco perfecto

From: mauricio

Date: May 15, 2006 at 12:55

hi-from COSTARICA,la verdad es que GUNS N ROSES nunca fueron de mis favoritos,en mi pais suenan hasta la saciedad y eso marea ya que hay cientos grupos de rock melodico mejores que GUNS N ROSES,con respecto al disco hubiesen echo de los 2 volumenes uno solo.ya que entre los dos hay muchas canciones de RELLENO.en conclusion en mi pais dicen que es el mejor grupo de rock HAHAHAHA.son una banda escandalo un grupo de mucha imagen pero poca musica.debieron plasmar bien sus ideas al hacer este disco.

From: Scrounger	Date: July 22, 2008 at 12:12
...An utter mess, don't think they had any idea who they were or what they were doin' with this one, sef-indulgent hanoi-rip-off garbage.

From: metalmaniac777

Date: February 20, 2010 at 14:56

Some folks seem to feel the band should be marched in front of a firing squad and their bodies riddled with bullets for releasing this album, but it's not THAT bad. Okay, yeah, who am I kidding--it's pretty bad. That said, it is slightly redeemed by the presence of "Civil War," one of my all-time favorite GNR songs and one that I can play over and over again without getting tired of it. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is also good, but aside from those two tracks, there's nothing on here I can't live without, and certainly nothing that matches the raw, street-fueled power of their legendary debut. Back then, Axl & company welcomed us to the jungle and we thanked them for it; for their follow-up, they proved that our belief in their ability to create another killer album was nothing more than an illusion.

From: rockhardrock	Date: January 22, 2011 at 17:39
no other record rocked more than their debut.but still this one has its rocking moments, a bit less than uyi part one but who cares. my faves: you could be mine, estranged, civil war, yesterdays, pretty tied up and knockin' on heaven's door.

From: hair metal again	Date: May 17, 2012 at 1:14
hard rock masterpiece by GUNS N ROSES back in 91 and i think that after all those years you still see how unique this one is and the great songs that are included!you might not like the change of sound but GNR show how good songwriters and musicians are!ALL the songs are great and this is a must !

From: edwithmj

Date: May 17, 2012 at 16:25

Hit and miss - mostly miss. Like the first Use Your Illusion album it has a few great songs and a ton of filler. For some reason, they went all folky after their monstrous sleaze metal debut and it just sounds pretentious. Civil War is a bad opener. I play it I have to put up with that bloody quote from Cool Hand Luke and that stupid quip that tries to be clever "what's so civil about war anyway?" oooh how hard hitting. How did a good band release this crap that belongs in a Live Aid concert? Fourteen years is filler tripe. Yesterdays is OKish but I can live without it. Knockin' on Heaven's Door is a good cover and my favourite. It's the only reson to own this. Get in the Ring is promising but fails to deliver. Shotgun Blues is another comedy song and is boring. Breakdown is OK. Pretty Tied Up has a sitar: nuff said. Locomotive is another great song here. So Fine tries to be a ballad but...

From: edwithmj

Date: May 17, 2012 at 16:33

...is extremely bland and immensely skippable. I can't even remember how Estranged goes. You Could Be Mine was for some reason a major hit. I think it was because it was on the T2 soundtrack because it's average hard rock at best and avoidable. Don't Cry (Alt Lyrics) is completely unnecessary. The original has better lyrics and this version just seems like a receptacle for the verses and lyrics that weren't used in the original. My World is some sort of industrial metal rip off with Axl putting on some stupid evil voice. At least I think it's this. My record is 30 seconds before I skip it because it's so bloody awful. Why couldn't we have another excellent sleaze metal album about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll? Why this folky, preachy, pseudo-political crap? Get it for the two good 'uns and avoid the rest. Both UYI albums could easily have been condensed into one but they obviously were riding the wave of their original still which is why both sold so many. Bleh.

From: Doghouse Reilly

Date: May 19, 2012 at 18:20

Edwithmj: "You Could Be Mine" got to be such a big hit because of thee amount of hype surrounding Guns n' Roses at the time. They were truly one of THE biggest bands in the world in 1991, and we had heard nothing from them since GnR Lies save two songs from movie soundtracks (one of them a cover) the year before. Nobody knew what to expect, but Appetite had been so huge, and the band was talking about a double, or a box set, or who knew what. There was just so much hysteria surrounding this band, it's easy to forget that, or not know it if you were too young. And here came the first single, "You Could Be Mine," the band (or more likely the label) wisely choosing the song that, of all thirty, is probably closest to the Appetite sound. This video was inescapable on MTV in the summer of '91. In any case, this disc is less consistent than its counterpart, but in some ways, the highs are higher, but also the lows are lower. Personally, I think "Civil War" is the band's best post-Appetite so

From: Doghouse Reilly

Date: May 19, 2012 at 18:24

... song, movie samples or not. But then "Estranged" is over nine minutes of pure, hookless, meandering torture, that not even a good Slash solo can save (and they even made a fucking video for it, although I don't remember radio every playing it). My picks from this disc, again not skipping any of the singles: "Civil War," "Yesterdays," "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," "Shotgun Blues," "Pretty Tied Up," "Locomotive," and "You Could Be Mine." Put those together with the seven I picked from the first album, sequence them to your liking, and you'tve got an 80/100.

From: titothetitan	Date: October 19, 2017 at 15:42
As the case of 'I', there are too many boring songs with a bad production (even for the 80's). They should have picked up the best songs of each album and released only one. Can't understand the success.

From: Doghouse Reilly

Date: October 20, 2017 at 17:01

According to Stephen Davis's book Watch You Bleed, "You Could Be Mine" nearly wound up on Appetite For Destruction, but was left off because it didn't fit with the rest of the songs? I find that a bit hard to believe, since the lyrical perspective seems to be more in line with later Axl (and perhaps directed at Erin Everly, after she stopped being his "sweet child"). Also, with so much GnR bootleg/demo material floating around, you would think there'd be an early version of the song, but I can find none. Davis litters the book with many minor errors, so I can only assume he meant to say "Don't Cry" and didn't catch it, since we know for a fact that was one of the band's earliest songs.

From: dany69	Date: March 11, 2022 at 22:27
Can't Find Some Words HOW That Was Real,,,,,Pure,,,,Marshall Amps,,Gibson Guitars On Your Face,,That Is What I Call MUSIC,,,,

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