I don’t normally do this sort of thing because it’s so time consuming and my inspiration to do so on new releases tends to be mostly absent. Slash‘s solo album was completely the opposite. Since I’ve acquired it with the special issue of Classic Rock, my mind’s been teeming with ideas for a review.

But before I begin, I thought I’d give some background on how much I know and don’t know the artist.

Back in 1991, when the double album Use Your Illusion came out, it took me very little time to become a huge fan of Guns n’Roses. I was 14 and this was my baptising at the altar of Rock n’Roll. A first step in an ongoing discovery in a type of music constantly changing and yet so faithful to its roots. In Gn’R while Axl was the voice of teenage pains, Slash was the man who inspired me to first pick up the guitar and try to be a musician. This too is an ongoing journey and though others have come since to bring me more intense forms of inspiration, Slash remains a rock that keeps rolling like a steamroller shaping new roads.

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