Hollywood Rose--The Roots of Guns N Roses
Packaging--
The good:
The album comes with a cardboard slipcase over the jewel case. These are nice aesthetically, but serve no point really. The booklet has a couple old flyers and photos along with an essay written by the band's old manager. Something very interesting--they have a setlist from 1984 with "Back Off Bitch"...it's a shame there's no demo version of that on here.
The bad:
No problems here. With something like this, I'm happy to have a booklet at all.
The music:
The good:
Okay, so it's "Hollywood Rose" but this is really a set of old GNR Demos. And, yes there are 15 tracks, but they're the same five songs repeated three times with different mixes. And no, "Rocker" is not the AC/DC song and "Killing Time" is not the Sweet Savage song. If you like early GNR--Live Like A Suicide/Appetite, then plain and simple, you need to pick this up. With the exception of the refrain, "Anything Goes" is practically a different song...very different feel all around, different lyrics, and a far more frantic sound rather than the bluesy Appetite version. "Shadow of Your Love" is far more raw than the later b-side version GNR put out. "Reckless Life" is far more angry and raw as well.
As far as the three mixes...I find them to be quite interesting. The original has some sound issues that one would expect from a 20 year old recording...the guitars just don't sound as sharp as they should, and the bass and drums are buried. These problems are fixed on the remixes...they just pack a much larger punch, better sound all around, a stronger bass sound, louder guitar when needed...in other words they remixed it with modern technology. What makes them interesting is how all three versions actually sound different. I prefer Fred Coury's as the drum's are louder in the mix, the bass is more distinct, the backing vocals are more like an alternate main vocal track, and there are some guitar effects you don't hear on the others. Gilby seems to favor the guitars which is cool, that may have to do with Tracii Guns having some overdubs on his version.
Three mixes aren't exactly "necessary" but if nothing else, this shows you what three different people's "ears" hear in the mixing room. I wish more bands put out their old demos like this. Imagine Maiden's "Soundhouse Tapes" with three different people's ideas for how it should sound. That would be the release of the year.
The bad--
My only complaint is that there are a few other demos floating around on bootlegs...I wish they would've been included, but with bootlegs you never really know what you have, so they may not have been "Hollywood Rose."
Recap�
If you are a Guns N Roses fan, you should own this. If you enjoy Appetite for Destruction, then this is a good purchase. If you hate GNR, this won't sell you.
Review by Chris