''Beautiful Disease'' is an unreleased solo album by

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

bassist

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the b ...

which was slated to be released as his second solo album in 1999. However, it was shelved after a merger between McKagan's parent label Polygram and Universal, and McKagan lost the rights to release it.

Overview

The album was recorded through 1998 in Duff McKagan's home studio with all the instruments and vocals on the album provided by McKagan himself, with the addition of guests like Mike Bordin,

Michael Barragan Plexi was an American gothic noise rock band consisting of Michael Angelos (vocals, songwriting, bass), Michael Barragan (guitar, Echoplex, Moog) and Norm Block (drums, percussion). Formed in 1993, their original name was Godseed. Their soun ...

, Abe Laboriel Jr. and ex-

members Slash and

Izzy Stradlin Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), known professionally as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and backing vocalist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he re ...

. ''Beautiful Disease'' included new versions of the songs " Seattlehead" and "Mezz" that were previously featured on releases of Duff McKagan's previous bands, Neurotic Outsiders and 10 Minute Warning respectively. The album was supposed to be released on Duff McKagan's birthday February 5, 1999. The promotional campaign for the album was started by

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

with promo copies being distributed. During the same time a merger between Polygram and Universal occurred and Geffen was merged with

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

into Interscope and McKagan's album was among others that was shelved. Nevertheless, McKagan went on tour in support of the album putting up a band with Dez Cadena of Black Flag,

Taz Bentley Patrick Bentley, better known as Taz or The Taz, is an American rock and roll drummer. He got his start as a founding member of the local Dallas punk band, The Assassins, and is probably best known for his work with The Reverend Horton Heat, ...

of the Burden Brothers and

of Plexi. During the tour McKagan came up with the idea to release a live album that would include the unreleased material. This resulted in Loaded's '' Episode 1999: Live'' live album that featured six songs from ''Beautiful Disease'': "Seattlehead", "Superman", "Shinin' Down", "Missing You", "Then and Now" and "Mezz". The songs "Seattlehead", "Superman", and "Then and Now" were eventually re-recorded and released on Loaded's debut studio album '' Dark Days''. In 2023, McKagan's manager managed to acquire the rights and master tapes to ''Beautiful Disease'', leading to the inclusion of a new mix of "Hope" (with newly recorded vocals) on McKagan's 2023 album ''Lighthouse'', including the original performances from Slash and Abe Laboriel Jr. Despite McKagan now being in possession of the original album again, no mention has been made of an official release of the original record.

Track listing

All songs written by Duff McKagan, except where noted. #" Seattlehead" – 4:17 #"Who's to Blame" – 2:06 #"Superman" – 3:12 #"Song for Beverly" – 4:33 #"Put You Back" (Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin) – 3:24 #"Shinin' Down" (Al Bloch) – 2:54 #"Missing You" (Duff McKagan, Michael Barragan) – 4:52 #"Hope" – 4:32 #"Holiday" (Al Bloch) – 2:22 #"Then and Now" (Duff McKagan, Paul Solger) – 4:10 #"Rain" – 4:17 #"Beautiful Disease" (Duff McKagan, Eddie Hewlett) – 2:43 #"Mezz" – 4:42

Personnel

Studio personnel

– vocals, bass guitar, guitar, drums

Additional personnel

* Slash – lead guitar on "Hope" and "Mezz" *

– rhythm guitar on "Put You Back" * Mike Bordin – drums *

– rhythm guitar on "Missing You", "Who's to Blame" and "Then and Now", Moog Prodigy on "Missing You" * Norm Block – drums on "Missing You", "Who's to Blame" and "Then and Now"

References

{{Authority control Duff McKagan albums Unreleased albums