• Artist: Guns N’ Roses
• Album: Lies (1988)
• Purchased at: Garage Sale (St. Joseph, Mo) for $1

On the heels of their giant breakthrough debut “Appetite for Destruction” Guns N’ Roses released this double EP to appease fans. It consists of 4 live tracks and 4 new largely acoustic songs. “Patience” became one of the band’s biggest hits and is well known for it’s massive radio play and sappy lyrics. This is long before Axl Rose became the biggest douchebag in rock history and the EP is actually not bad. Sure “Appetite” is better but it has that AC/DC’s “Back In Black” quality of being played so much nobody really ever needs to hear it again.

Other songs like “Used To Love Her” and “One In A Million” are pretty decent if you can ignore the murderous intentions of the first song and the blind, racist hatred contained by the second. Side A has a gem tucked away within its grooves in “Mama Kin.” It’s a cover of an Aerosmith song and it really embodies what was great about Guns N’ Roses for a few months. They were just different enough from bad 80s rock and just similar enough to 70s arena rock to be interesting. Overall this may be the most listenable GN’R release at this point.

For a buck at a yard sale this was an easy pick up. The cover artwork is made to look like a National Enquirer-type magazine to go with the album’s title. It’s ridiculous and over the top but stays consistent with everything that made the band what they were. Even if the album isn’t great it’s a nice addition to your collection.

Rating: C+