Tudo certo. Nada resolvido.

Chill Mario 2023 ver.

It’s National Mario Day! So I decided to recreate a piece from 2019_Chill Mario. Not only added more details and also made the vibes more warmer by adjusting the palette. Hope you enjoy it!

IG:https://www.instagram.com/pixeljeff_design/

Nuka-Cola

Guns n’ Roses: Use Your Illusion II (1991)

Call it ego, call it excess, call it madness, or call it heightened self-awareness to the fact that their mercurial chemistry was doomed to explode and incinerate before too long, but Guns n’ Roses’ had some major cojones, thrusting out two double albums on the same day in Use Your Illusion I and II.

Unless I’m mistaken, not since the four Kiss solo LPs, released (and then promptly returned) in 1978, had a heavy rock band dared to unleash so much product in one fell swoop (but this time fans kept their copies).

Especially of UYI2, which I’ve always felt was the stronger, grander of the pair, not least for starting with the true classic “Civil War” – possibly the deepest song Gn’R ever penned, and also arguably their very best tune not found on Appetite for Destruction.

At least that was my conclusion when I ranked every last Gn’R song for Ultimate Classic Rock, also heaping praise upon the likes of “Estranged” (based on Axl’s recent separation from Erin Everly – abject misery never sounded so darn good), “Locomotive (Complicity)” (a never-ending Slash groove, with Axl motor-mouthing to his heart’s content), and “Pretty Tied Up” (the last Izzy song created in the Appetite aesthetic).

Stradlin’ also reached his Stones-worshipping peak with “14 Years,” Duff delivered his finest copyright in the heartfelt Johnny Thunders tribute, “So Fine,” and Axl’s bipolar talents swerved with frightening ease from the tender “Yesterdays” to the combative “Get in the Ring,” taking worthy pit stops in between via first single “You Could Be Mine” and the oft-forgotten epic, “Breakdown.”

So, I guess if I were to grossly oversimplify the two Illusion albums, I’d say that, UYI2 simply had to be that much MORE preposterous than UYI1 … reaching for the sky and everything it could possibly achieve while Guns n’ Roses were still, scarcely keeping it together.

Deep Purple: Burn (1974)

Although it shook the band’s fan base to its core, the acrimonious departure of vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover served to rejuvenate Deep Purple ahead of 1974’s aptly named Burn, which is turning 45 today.

Unquestionably superior to the Mk. II lineup’s previous effort, Who Do We Think We Are, Burn even threatened to unseat 1972’s Machine Head (it’s arguably more consistent through and through) and 1970’s In Rock as the best Deep Purple album of them all!

The phenomenal title track ignites an almost perfect set (only instrumental closer, “A 200,” falls flat), actually challenging the seminal “Highway Star” for the honor of best opener to any Purple LP, while showcasing the always impressive drumming of Ian Paice. 

Up next, the simple but unforgettable intro to “Might Just Take Your Life,” remains one of organist Jon Lord’s signature moments, and the downright nasty “Lay Down, Stay Down” careens wildly between starts and stops, leading into a fantastic Ritchie Blackmore guitar solo.

Moving right along: “What’s Going on Here,” while rarely (if ever) considered for latter-day greatest hits sets, was about as good a single as Purple ever wrote, “You Fool No One” was compelling for its sheer intensity, and “Sail Away” signaled the band’s funkier direction on imminent LPs.

And, in an interesting twist, rarely attempted by any band before or since, new recruits David Coverdale (vocals) and Glenn Hughes (bass and vocals) traded lines on virtually every one of these songs – an enviable tag team, as both possessed incredible pipes. 

The lone exception to this arrangement being Burn’s fantastic, slow-boiling blues “Mistreated,” which captured a command performance from Coverdale, so nuanced and devastating that it would remain his trademark showstopper well into his subsequent career with Whitesnake.

Like the vast majority of Burn this song’s greatness qualifies it for the highest echelons of hard rock achievement, and therefore makes this album an essential item in the discography of any self-respecting heavy music fan.

p.s. – Some of these words originate in my All-Music Guide review of Deep Purple’s Burn.