Recently, I’ve been going through my shelves and crates and checking out some of the music that I’ve picked up but haven’t listened to yet. Generally, I try to write about things when they are still “relevant”, so to speak. In other words, while it’s still new, or in the case of unofficial releases, while they are still around for purchase. Many of those types of releases are made by fans or very small companies and in limited numbers. When they sell out, they can get pretty difficult to find and expensive to buy. Many of the records I have in que have been there for almost a year. Some of them I just haven’t been in the mood to listen to yet, and others I have been sort of saving for special occasions. The Legendary Tokyo Night box set has been one of those.
As you can probably tell by all the photos, this is one beast of a vinyl box set. It was originally released by Soundcraft Records about a year or so ago, and you can still find this one for semi-decent prices floating around on the market. It’s available in three different color pressings of red, blue and yellow, and there is also a version that has grey artwork and black discs. When I bought mine, only yellow was available, so that’s what I got. There is some very cool marbling to the discs. Two of them have a bit of black mixed with the yellow, and the other two have a bit of green.
Right away, collectors will notice that this release is a little bit different due to its unusual style of packaging. This 4 LP set comes in a “pizza box” style container that houses the discs, booklet, posters and trinkets that are included. Each box is placed into an outer plastic sleeve, complete with a colored numbered sticker that corresponds to the color of the discs. It’s been officially stated that there are only 400 of these worldwide, so 100 of each color. It’s been a while since I’ve seen anything but yellow sets, but I have to admit I am happy with how mine looks.
As far as the posters go, there is a giant Use Your Illusion World Tour one, and then smaller, handbill type ones for the Tour Book and Tokyo specifically. These prints, especially the larger one, are totally suitable to actually hang up since they are excellent quality. They’re made of the same material you would find on printed items in officially released sets, so I think this is a really cool extra. The trinkets, on the other hand, seem to be a bit of a bootlegger’s joke. These are various GNR items you might be familiar with, including a diecast car and a “November Rain” cassette tape. The problem is, they are all photos of the items printed on heavy stock cardboard. Personally, I got a kick out of them and think they add a cool unofficial touch to the set.
My favorite extra in The Legendary Tokyo Night is certainly the booklet. Most of the time, booklets included in bootleg releases are only there to say they are included. In other words, they are usually just a folded, printed picture offering no additional or useful information about the recording. Thankfully, that’s not the case here. This booklet is LP size and includes a great write-up on the tour and information on the full band lineup for the performance. Complete with color photos and all the dates of the tour, this is one extra you’ll want to take some time out to read.
The records themselves came to me nice and flat in very high-quality printed sleeves. Each sleeve is numbered I-IV and has crisp and clear artwork complete with full track listings on the back. In the photos, you can see that there are plastic outer sleeves on the jackets, but I added those myself. If you get some of the tighter fitting size, they will fit inside the pizza box without a problem. I also ended up putting all the paper extras in a cheap, resealable outer jacket which also fits into the closed box. Honestly, Soundcraft didn’t skimp on anything here. The wax itself is high quality, and try as I might, I was unable to find any visible defects on my copy. I will say that the end of each side is very “crunchy” sounding, but that’s not really abnormal, even with some official releases. None of it is present during the music. The pressing itself is very quiet, and the audio quality is pristine.
If you have never heard this performance before, you really are in for a treat. In my opinion, this is the best live GNR show that’s available, even if the band is missing two of its original members. Apparently, by this time, Izzy had gotten clean, and didn’t want to risk relapsing and maybe not finishing the tour alive. After all, GNR may really have been the wildest and most self-destructive rock band in history.
Live Recording – Tokyo Dome – Tokyo, Japan (Third Night) 22nd February, 1992
A1 Nightrain
A2 Mr. Brownstone
A3 Live and Let Die
A4 It’s So Easy
A5 Bad Obsession
B1 Attitude
B2 Pretty Tied Up
B3 Welcome to the Jungle
B4 Don’t Cry
C1 Double Talkin’ Jive
C2 Civil War
C3 Wild Horses
D1 Patience
D2 You Could Be Mine
D3 November Rain
E1 Band Introduction, Drum solo, Guitar solo
E2 The Godfather Theme, Sail Away Sweet Sister (Intro)
E3 Sweet Child O’ Mine
F1 So Fine
F2 Rocket Queen
F3 Move To The City
G1 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
G2 Estranged
H1 Paradise City
Bonus Trax
H2 Crash Diet (unedited)
H3 Bring It Back Home (unedited)
H4 Just Another Sunday (unedited)
Band Lineup:
Axl Rose: Lead Vocals
Slash: Lead Guitar
Duff McKagan: Bass
Matt Sorum: Drums
Dizzy Reed: Keyboards
Gilby Clarke: Rhythm Guitar
The show includes all the favorite tunes from Appetite For Destruction as well as the Use Your Illusion numbers and some great covers. Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” is an obvious standout, and if you pay attention, you might even hear a little bit of Pink Floyd before probably the most incredible live version of “Paradise City” ever recorded. Honestly, this is some really great stuff. I won’t go through this massive concert song by song, but if you like GNR, you know what you’re getting into. Once again, the sound quality itself is on another level not only for an unofficial album, but by any standard.
In addition to the complete show, you’ll also be getting some “Bonus Trax” at the end of Side H. These songs are a little bit rough (and use a drum machine instead of a live drummer), but they are actually pretty good. Definitely a cool and worthy bonus to round out this already high value set.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m rating The Legendary Tokyo Night a solid 10/10 on production value and another easy 10/10 on sound quality. I guess it’s possible you might get a bad copy, but I have nothing to complain about here. Many times, I end up listening to a record once, putting it back on the shelf and forgetting about it. That won’t be the case with this one. If you love the studio versions of AFD and UYI, I think this is something you will listen to often. The fact that it’s finally available on vinyl for a reasonable price and in top quality is the icing on the cake. As I mentioned before, copies of this are still floating around, but there’s no way they’ll be available forever. Pick one up and enjoy!