Slash and burn: former Gunner’s solo album scorches

SLASH / Apocalyptic Love (Universal)

MUSIC fans may well wonder why a band like Guns N’ Roses gets inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, when the lineup that made them famous hasn’t played together in roughly 20 years.

Then you hear what just one of them can do on an album like Apocalyptic Love.

Founding GNR guitarist Slash’s riffs and solos are as nimble as ever, and crackle with the energy of a musician still out to top everything he’s done before.

Slash’s second solo album kicks into high gear with “Standing in the Sun,” a melodic thumper full of the electric boogie that made GNR classic “Paradise City” such a crowd-pleaser. “Halo” boils over with sharp hooks and blistering lead guitar, and “We Will Roam” chugs along with radio-friendly riffs and an anthemic chorus.

Duff knows his stuff

Duff McKagan’s Loaded / The Taking (Armoury/Eagle Rock)

It’s not easy to live down multi-platinum success, but every former member of Guns N’ Roses has to do it.

Seattle native and founding GNR bassist Duff McKagan has given it his best shot over the years, forming Loaded in 1999 and joining fellow ex-Gunners Matt Sorum and Slash in Velvet Revolver in 2004. Fans that have followed him from project to project will be pleased to know The Taking is actually good.

Rough life makes for a great read

I’m not always keen on rock biographies. Some, like The Dirt, which tells the sordid story of Mötley Crüe, is a great if at times unbelievable read. Others, like Two Sides to Every Glory, which chronicles AC/DC’s rise and then ignores most what happened after 1990, leave something to be desired.  And I’ll always have a soft spot for Hammer of the Gods, even though I think all the surviving members of Led Zeppelin have disavowed it.

As a sometime book reviewer for the Winnipeg Free Press, I occasionally get to write about a book like this — the autobiography of Guns ‘N’ Roses founding member Duff McKagan.

The following is republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 5, 2011 J7

Guns N’ Roses bassist rocks autobiography

Even a rock star can feel like a dork.

Guns N’ Roses co-founder and bassist Duff McKagan opens his self-deprecating memoir with his daughter’s 13th birthday party. While trying to stay out of sight so as not to embarrass her by his mere presence, he surprises two partygoers sneaking a kiss.

“My mind rushes through a checklist… of things I was doing at this same age,” he writes: boozing, smoking pot, dropping acid, snorting cocaine, stealing cars, having sex. These kids are just kissing.

Embarrassed, he mutters a quick, “Sorry,” and ducks back into the house.