Double Talkin’ Jive – Guns N’ Roses

Been listing to a lot of GNR this week, started off with Appetite For Destruction as my album of choice for the gym and the binge just spiralled out of control from there.

Appetite is of course one of the best Rock albums of the last 30 years, an album of riffs, groove and pure sleaziness. My favourite track off that album has always been Mr Brownstone, that riff is just monster in my opinion and the lyrics which are basically about a day in the life of Slash and Izzy Stradlin when they were in the grip of a Heroin addiction provide a good cautionary tale. Not that you should really need one when it comes to Heroin!

So there we go, I started with Appetite, had that on a few times and then I thought I’d continue the binge with the Use Your Illusion albums. Now, I’ve always proffered II to I, mainly because I love Civil War, Estranged and You Could Be Mine, and for some reason I had this idea the the first record was mostly filler stuff. This time though I thought nope, I’m going to give the first record some love.

So I’m listening to it on the way to work and I’m thinking this is actually a much better record than I remembered (I’m going to put my original attitude down to youthful ignorance). Apart from the obvious tracks of Live and Let Die and November Rain, there really are some great tracks on the album, Coma and Back Off Bitch struck a chord, but the one that really got me was Double Talkin’ Jive.

How had I not realised what tune this track is? That riff is dirty, it’s dark and full of menace and the lyrics are just the same. Axel Roses delivery is understated, which is a nice change and the phase effect on the vocals really works well. The solo at the end from Slash is pure quality and the acoustic outro really makes the song stand out.

I’m sure hardcore GNR fans will role their eyes if they read this and think “duh” but once again I discovered something new this week and found a new appreciation for an album that for years I had dismissed.

Featured Image taken from http://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion/ – Interesting to see that album II won the poll on this article!

Double Talkin’ Jive – Live from Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia 

Double Talkin’ Jive – Written By Izzy Stradlin featuring on Use Your Illusion I released by Geffen in 1991