Track Listing

Disc One

Review

The last offering from the original Guns N' Roses (including the few replacements) was released to less of a fanfare,more like a damp squib to a listening public many of whom hadn't been around ten years previously when Guns ruled the world and including many who were yet wouldn't admit to it. Guns N' Roses have been the victim of a horrendous backlash amongst rock fans, tarred with the same brush as '80's contemparies Poisin, Motley Crue and Skid Row, Guns have become the band that no self respecting rock fan, in this alternative age, will admit to having liked. The big hair and penchant for ridiculously over the top peformance and lifestyles have came to haunt these bands and completely overshadow their musical influence and legacy. Guns N' Roses, in particular, have been most cruelly lumped into this degradation, most undeservedly, as it was they and not Nirvana who put the boot into the big hair metal scene and brought the lot crashing down in the late '80's, before grunge was even considered by the music press. Live Era as a commercial product suffered immensely from this, poor marketing and promotion in turn led to poor sales which, when considering the quality on the album, makes it seem such a missed opportunity to convert this generation to rock's true heroes, as Aerosmith did with their re-invention and resurgence in the '80's.
As a double album it's nigh on flawless, all the old classics (Paradise City, Sweet Child O' Mine) and some suitably raucous rockers (Nightrain, You Could Be Mine) show the band the way true fans want to remember them, in full flight, entertaining the masses in a way only true genius can. The 3 minute piano intro to November Rain and the full horn section (and the rest) on Move To The City help show how out of control the tours got when the big time became the massive time but as a retrospective it makes us more thankful for what we have and so sorry for what we could have had.

Review by Alan Hylands

Axl Rose is either the biggest recluse since Greta Garbo or a more shrewd manipulator of the media than P.T. Barnum and Michael Jackson put together. How else to account for the fact that a guy who hasn't been seen or heard from in six years ends up on the cover of  Spin  magazine with a headline that reads "What the world needs now is Axl Rose"?The reclusive side of Rose may indeed be real, and does seem to be, but the dude knows how to work it, too. Case in point, the release of this two-CD live set, recorded over a six-year period. 
  This material was obviously available at any time, so why wait until now to unleash it? Perhaps to whet fans' appetite for the long-awaited new Guns' album, reportedly due next year (though we'll believe that when we see it. Fans of Boston probably said the same thing many times). 
  If the point in unveiling this collection now was indeed to remind fans of the potency of G N' R, then it serves its purpose well. The blistering "Welcome to the Jungle," the bluesy "Used to Love Her," the ballads "Patience" and "Don't Cry," and the poignant rocker "Sweet Child o' Mine" all serve to remind us that Guns N' Roses was on the threshold of being the world's greatest hard rock band in the early '90s. 
  If the revamped band (only Axl remains from the lineup on the CD) can match the passion and power of the '87-'93 era G N' R, then maybe Spin was right. Even if he can't save the world, he's gotta be able to help what is now called hard rock. And for starters, I vote for a four-corners "Celebrity Deathmatch" in which Axl stomps the hell out of Fred Durst, Marilyn Manson, and Jonathan Davis.

Review from www.cdnow.com