Live Era '87-'93

CD1
Nightrain
Mr. Brownstone
It's So Easy
Welcome To The Jungle
Dust N' Bones
My Michelle
You're Crazy
Used To Love Her
Patience
It's Alright
November Rain
Coma

CD2
Out Ta Get Me
Pretty Tied Up
Yesterdays
Move To The City
You Could Be Mine
Rocket Queen
Sweet Child O' Mine
Knockin' On Heavens Door
Don't Cry
Estranged
Paradise City

Additional Information: The album is dedicated to the memory of Joni Abbot, West Arkeen, Todd Crew, Shannon Hoon, David Kehrer and Howard King.

Notable mentions in the thank you list: West Arkeen, Amy and Stuart Bailey, Sean Beavan, Critter, Adam Day, Dave Dominguez, Tim Doyle, Craig Duswalt, Earl Gabbidon, Doug Goldstein, Shannon Hoon, Billy Howerdel, Paul huge, Robert John, David Kehrer, Gene Kirkland, Dave Lank, Beta Labeis, Mike & Tom Mayhue, McKagan famil, Chris Pitman, Lisa Reed, The Reed family, Andy Wallace, Tom Zutaut

Recording Info

Other songs considered: Several, probably including "The Godfather Theme", "So Fine", "Civil War", "Live And Let Die" and other songs the band performed live.

Equipment used: Unknown

The Cover

The cover feature flyers from old Guns N' Roses concerts - as well as from some pre-GnR concerts. Simple, basic - and good?

The design is made by Kevin Reagan and Matthew Lindauer and the pictures used are taken by Marc Canter, Robert John, Gene Kirkland and Jack Lue.

In Their Own Words

Axl: We recorded every single show we did, and we've talked for a long time about compiling something out of that, I have no idea, but then again, it could sound like crap. We don't know. Coz we haven't had the time to go back and listen to everything yet.

Slash: The live record was cool. It was one of those things that came out of nowhere and I got involved with it because, regardless of any kind of, you know, rumoured animosity having to do with myself and the Guns guys, that's still my family, that's where I came from. So when I heard that that was going to happen, I got into the whole mixing of it and all that kind of stuff. I was surprised we were as good a band as we were! I was sort of amazed! But it's a really good honest representation of our shows. That's like about as in-your-face, blatant fucking Guns N' Roses as it gets. There's no fixes, no fucking bullshit.

Duff: Me and Andy Wallace were in the studio and mixed the album every day in last August. He is great. Slash called me up and asked me how the sound is like, because he was busy working on his record.

Slash: It's the best fuckin' live record released in years. I think the last good live album I heard was Aerosmith's Live! Bootleg [1978]. Not many bands put out live records anymore. When I first got into listening to rock & roll before I even started playing guitar, I used to buy live records because I couldn't afford to purchase a band's entire catalog. I figured the best way to hear a band would be through a live album. So Live Era '87-'93 was really important to me. I really didn't know we were even that good a band until I heard the live stuff.

Matt: As far as the live records I played 21 out of 23 songs on those as well. Axl was pissed at me for leaving [Matt was really fired - The Blues] and took my credit away on the album. That hurt me more than you know. I went through alot with that band on the road and otherwise. So i don't think i deserved that.

Slash: I was there for the whole thing. A lot of people think (it's) over-produced, or over-mixed; that's what I heard. No, that's what the band sounded like. I was surprised, I didn't know the band was that good!

Album Reviews

Allmusic.com
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

(2,5/5) The double-disc Live: Era '87-'93 was designed to do two things — satiate diehard fans longing for old-school G N' R, while clearing decks for a new studio album. It sounds good in theory, yet it suffers from in its execution, since it relies on tapes "recorded across the universe between 1987 and 1993." That's not what G N' R fans want — they want the band in its nervy late-'80s prime, when it seemed like they could self-destruct at any second. Live: Era offers the polar opposite with slick, professional tracks that sound pieced together from various performances. Axl's vocals are not only distant — as though they were sung in a booth, separate from the band — but also amazingly mannered, sounding for all the world as if they were redone in the studio. Meanwhile, the band's performances are either brushed up or heavily edited, so it's impossible to tell if any of this was recorded during Appetite-era shows. Certainly, much of this derives from the Illusions tour: there are backing vocals, horns, and just what every fan wants — lots and lots of Dizzy Reed. And if that isn't indicative of Axl's mindset, there is the priceless moment on "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," when he shrieks "Gimme some reggae!" and the band collapses in a sunsplash groove. So, this is heavy on Axl pretensions and short on pure, brutal rock & roll. At its best, it may come closer to vintage G N' R than the Illusions did, but the missing ingredients are all too apparent, and in this context, their absence is all the more painful.

Highlights: "Nightrain", "It's So Easy", "Dust N' Bones", "Out Ta Get Me", "Yesterdays", "Move To The City"