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

Guns N’ Roses debut album “Appetite for Destruction” had been a slow burner across most of the world. It was really 12 months after it was released before it finally began to take traction and began to sell in the millions worldwide. And because of this slow burn, the release of this EP came as somewhat of a surprise. Under normal circumstances, 17 months after an album’s release was probably a good time frame to come in with this album. Three singles had been released in that time frame, including “Sweet Child O’ Mine” which had come out five months prior to this. However, two further singles from that first album were still to come months after this release, with “Paradise City” being the big seller of them. Indeed, there was only one single released from this EP, and that wouldn’t be until April the following year, a few months after “Paradise City” had stormed the charts itself.
All of this combined to add some confusion to what the band and/or the record company was trying to achieve. And perhaps it was just simply that neither was aware of how this movement in popularity was gathering. Could either have guessed the success that “Paradise City” received when it was released, some 18 months after the album had first been put out? If they had, would they have delayed the release of “Lies” purely from a financial point of view? Or did the release of “Lies” when it was, riding the wave of the still-building Guns N’ Roses fanbase, allow it to not only get sales at that time, but more six months later, when the single release of “Patience” also went ballistic on the back of the success of “Paradise City”, and then poured more money into the coffers with those people then rushing out to purchase “Lies” as well? Whatever reason you come up with, it turned out to be a pretty profitable time for the band and their moguls.

The opening four tracks are all in a faux-live setting and made up the original EP “Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide”, which was released by the band prior to the arrival of “Appetite for Destruction”, with the release limited to just 10,000 copies. There are two songs from the band Hollywood Rose that Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose originally formed which eventually morphed into Guns n’ Roses, and had all members apart from Duff McKagan in at one time or another. 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 got this treatment, being “Your Crazy” which was faster and much more electric on the “Appetite for Destruction” album. This version was apparently more in the realm of the way they wanted the song to sound, which to me is ‘crazy’ (pun intended I guess) because the faster version is much better. “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. There is some degree of controversy over “One in a Million” in particular, with the use of some words that are taboo in describing racism and homophobia, and it is a shame that they overshadow what is a terrific tune and a song that is played superbly by the band in this instance.

As an accompanying piece with their debut album, "Lies” still stacks up well. With their continued growing popularity, this kept the band well and truly in the public’s hearing alongside their debut album. 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. The combination of live sounding tracks and the acoustic based tracks actually works well as an EP, and combines both sides of the band in a terrific way.
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, the reason turned out to be 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 in the throes of taking hold of the listening public, so it was actually the ’in-thing’ to enjoy Guns n' Roses as a mainstream act. When this EP came out, and with it the 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. And it is. The fact that "Patience" was such a hit made me withdraw even more 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'. In the end, I had again been the one to suffer through my own desire to ‘not fit in’. Idiot.
Everything about this album still holds up today. I have had this going around for a few times a day for the last few weeks, and I haven’t gotten sick of it yet. The popularity of this album then bled into the soon to be released “Use Your Illusion” albums, as Guns N’ Roses continued, if only for a short glimmer of time, to rule the music world in all genres.