1056. Guns n' Roses / G N' R Lies [EP]. 1988. 4/5

When this was first released I felt an aversion to buying it, and as a result didn't really give it a good listen until a few years later. Why? Well there was really only the reason that I wanted to be different from the crowd. G N' R Lies came out at a time when, in Australia at least, Appetite for Destruction was still really only beginning to take hold of the listening public so it was popular to enjoy Guns n' Roses as a mainstream act. When this EP came out, with it mixture of live and acoustic songs, those jumping on the bandwagon grabbed it with glee and as a result I felt an aversion to liking it for fear that I would be lumped in with this popular music seeking crowd. Yes, the age of youth was upon me, however stupid that does appear in retrospect.

The opening four tracks are all in a faux-live setting and made up the original EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide released by the band prior to the arrival of Appetite For Destruction. There are two songs from the band that Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose originally formed which eventually morphed into Guns n’ Roses. Those two songs are “Reckless Life” and “Move to the City”, and both are upbeat and fast paced songs that hint at the style of songs that was to come from the band. “Nice Boys” is a cover of an old Rose Tattoo song, and the band does a great version here, losing none of the original attitude. The fourth and final song here is an Aerosmith cover called “Mama Kin” which is the weakest of the four songs but is still a vast improvement on the original. Which wouldn’t be hard for most Aerosmith songs.
The four remaining songs are all performed acoustically and predated what was to become a glut of similar releases, driven in part by this release. It led to the hit single “Patience” which found itself on heavy radio rotation around the world, and in itself pushed other bands such as Extreme and Mr Big to release their own big selling acoustic numbers. This then led to the popular MTV Unplugged program that brought together whole sets of bands numbers played acoustically. Here of course there was only one actually released song that go this treatment, being “Your Crazy” which was faster and much more electric on the Appetite for Destruction album. “Patience” was the only single released, while both “Used to Love Her” and “One in a Million” are great sounding songs with lots of energy and performed with gusto.
The fact that "Patience" was such a hit mad me even more withdrawn from this release when it first came out. I wasn't a fan of the hit machine, which is what these acoustic tracks became, and led to so many hard rock and metal bands seeking to 'sell out' and perform songs just for radio exposure. It really stopped me actually buying into this album until the mid-1990's, at which point I discovered the great material that lay within, and not for the first time wondered why I was so stupid in the early years to deprive myself of this because of 'music fashion'

As an accompanying piece with their debut album, this stacks up well. It kept the band well and truly in the public’s hearing. It’s a short sharp jab in the ribs and serves its purpose well. It may not be a go-to album on many occasions, but when you get around to it you remember just what made it so special.

Rating: "She's buried right in my backyard". 4/5