| The Roots of Guns N' Roses | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Compilation album by | |
| Released | June 22, 2004 |
| Recorded | January 1984 [1] |
| Genre | Glam metal [2] |
| Length | 58:57 |
| Label | Cleopatra |
| Producer | Chris Weber |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
The Roots of Guns N' Roses is a compilation album containing old songs of Hollywood Rose. It was released on June 22, 2004, by Deadline Music (Cleopatra Records).
The album was produced by Chris Weber, the band's ex-guitarist. Cleopatra records bought the five tracks from Weber, who originally paid for the recordings in 1984. It contains three sets of five demos: the first five are original versions, the following five have been remixed by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke, and the last five have been remixed by Fred Coury, the drummer of Cinderella, who took part in a tour with Guns N' Roses when Steven Adler broke his wrist.
The "Shadow of Your Love" and "Reckless Life" remixes by Gilby Clarke were recorded with the first guitarist of Guns N' Roses, Tracii Guns.
The songs "Anything Goes" and "Reckless Life" were later recorded again by Guns N' Roses. They were released on the albums Appetite for Destruction and G N' R Lies , respectively.
Slash, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, together with Axl Rose, Chris Weber and Izzy Stradlin, were credited as the composers of "Anything Goes", "Shadow of Your Love" and "Reckless Life". These songs were originally performed by Hollywood Rose and were only later played by Guns N' Roses. In fact, when Rose, Weber and Stradlin composed these songs, they were not yet in touch with Slash, McKagan or Adler.
On January 18, 2005, the Japanese version was released by Sony, together with a bonus DVD.
Before the album's release in June 2004, Rose sued the record label Cleopatra Records for "trademark infringement, violation of rights in his name and likeness, and for unfair competition", and filed a motion to block the release. However, a judge denied the motion and the album was released. [3]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Killing Time" (Original demo version) | Chris Weber, Axl Rose | 3:39 |
| 2. | "Anything Goes" (Original demo version) | Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Weber | 5:07 |
| 3. | "Rocker" (Original demo version) | Weber, Rose | 3:50 |
| 4. | "Shadow of Your Love" (Original demo version) | Rose, Stradlin, Paul Tobias | 2:58 |
| 5. | "Reckless Life" (Original demo version) | Rose, Stradlin | 4:40 |
| 6. | "Killing Time" (Gilby Clarke remix) | Weber, Rose | 3:28 |
| 7. | "Anything Goes" (Gilby Clarke remix) | Rose, Stradlin, Weber | 4:55 |
| 8. | "Rocker" (Gilby Clarke remix) | Weber, Rose | 3:35 |
| 9. | "Shadow of Your Love" (Gilby Clarke remix) | Rose, Stradlin, Tobias | 2:47 |
| 10. | "Reckless Life" (Gilby Clarke remix) | Rose, Stradlin | 4:41 |
| 11. | "Killing Time" (Fred Coury remix) | Weber, Rose | 3:26 |
| 12. | "Anything Goes" (Fred Coury remix) | Rose, Stradlin, Weber | 4:31 |
| 13. | "Rocker" (Fred Coury remix) | Weber, Rose | 3:34 |
| 14. | "Shadow of Your Love" (Fred Coury remix) | Rose, Stradlin | 3:00 |
| 15. | "Reckless Life" (Fred Coury remix) | Rose, Stradlin | 4:46 |
Saul Hudson, known professionally as Slash, is a British-American musician who serves as the lead guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Slash has received critical acclaim and is considered one of the greatest guitarists in history.
Jeffrey Dean Isbell, best known as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and backing vocalist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded four studio albums and left at the height of their fame in 1991.
Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide is an EP by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on December 16, 1986, on the UZI Suicide record label. When referred to by band members, they have simply called the EP Live Like a Suicide. The record itself was reportedly limited to only 10,000 copies, released only in vinyl and cassette formats.
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the band in 2016, following their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Gilbert J.Clarke is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. He had a three-year tenure as the rhythm guitarist of Guns N' Roses, replacing Izzy Stradlin in 1991 during the Use Your Illusion Tour, and also featured on "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993). Following this, Clarke went on to forge a solo career as well playing guitar with Slash's Snakepit, Kat Men, Heart, Nancy Sinatra, Kathy Valentine, MC5 and forming his own group Rock Star Supernova with members of Metallica and Mötley Crüe.
Steven Adler is an American musician. He is the former drummer and co-songwriter of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s.
Hollywood Rose was an American glam metal group formed in June 1983. They are best known as the precursor for what would eventually become Guns N' Roses. The group was founded by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber, while they were aided during live shows by Rick Marrs, Andre Troxx, Daniel "DJ" Nicolson, Johnny Kreis and Steve Darrow. Rose, Stradlin and Weber, along with Kreis and Nicolson, recorded a five-song demo on January 1984. However, after a number of lineup changes, which includes Weber, Kreis and Nicolson being replaced by Slash and Steven Adler as well the departure of Stradlin, the group disbanded the same year.
L.A. Guns are an American glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns, Phil Lewis, Ace Von Johnson, Johnny Martin, Adam Hamilton and Shawn Duncan. The first incarnation of the group was formed by Tracii Guns and Rob Gardner in 1983 and merged with fellow Los Angeles group Hollywood Rose to form Guns N' Roses in March 1985. After only a brief tenure in that band, Guns reformed L.A. Guns with a new lineup, consisting of Paul Black, Mick Cripps, Robert Stoddard, and Nickey Alexander. Black would soon be replaced by former Girl singer Phil Lewis while former Faster Pussycat bassist Kelly Nickels was added to the group. Later, Alexander would be replaced by former W.A.S.P. drummer Steve Riley with this being known as the "classic lineup" of L.A. Guns. They achieved moderate chart success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, the group went through numerous lineup changes and failed to regain mainstream attention.
Tracy Irving Richard Ulrich, known professionally as Tracii Guns, is an American guitarist best known as the co-founder of glam metal group L.A. Guns, as well as the supergroups Brides of Destruction and Contraband. He was also a founding member of Guns N' Roses, but left shortly afterwards and was replaced by guitarist Slash.
"Paradise City" is a song by the American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on their debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987). Released as a single in January 1989, it is the only song on the album to feature a synthesizer. The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100—becoming the band's third single to reach the Top 10—and number six on the UK Singles Chart. It also topped the Irish Singles Chart, their first of three singles to do so.
Live Era '87–'93 is a double live album by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released on November 23, 1999. The record was the first official Guns N' Roses release since "The Spaghetti Incident?" released on the same day 6 years prior in 1993. Guitarist Slash notes that the album is "not pretty and there are a lot of mistakes, but this is Guns N' Roses, not the fucking Mahavishnu Orchestra. It's as honest as it gets."
Ole Beich was a Danish musician best known as the bass guitarist for the original lineups of L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses.
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in March 1985 when local bands Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns merged. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic lineup" consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. The current lineup consists of Rose, Slash, McKagan, guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese.
Road Crew was an American garage band from Los Angeles, formed in late 1983. The band consisted of future Guns N' Roses members Slash, Steven Adler and Duff McKagan. They auditioned a number of singers while writing material. However they disbanded the same year with no releases.
"Nightrain" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses. The song is a tribute to an infamous brand of cheap Californian fortified wine, Night Train Express, which was extremely popular with the band during their early days because of its low price and high alcohol content. The title is spelled differently, omitting a T and removing the space, making a portmanteau of the two words.
"Think About You" is a song by the American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on the band's debut studio album, Appetite for Destruction (1987). Although credited to the group, the song was primarily composed by rhythm guitarist, Izzy Stradlin, who also plays lead guitar on it.
Christopher Garrison Weber is an American musician best known as the guitarist and founder of the groups U.P.O. and Hollywood Rose. With U.P.O., he released two albums, No Pleasantries (2000) and The Heavy (2004), while the Hollywood Rose demos, recorded in 1984, were released in 2004 titled The Roots of Guns N' Roses.
Robert Gardner is an American musician best known as the drummer for the original lineups of L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses, and was also the backup drummer for Hollywood Rose.
"Shadow of Your Love" is a song by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, originally released as a B-side in 1987. It was later released in an alternate take as a single in 2018, which entered at 31 on the Mainstream Rock chart in its May 12, 2018 edition, and peaked at No. 5 the week of June 23 the same year. It would later be included in the 2020 re-issue of the band's Greatest Hits album.
it appears that this very patchy, very belated, but nevertheless fascinating article of L.A. hair metal history will remain available to enthusiasts of the genre for the time being
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