It’s been a big month for “November Rain” and not just because the calendar turned over from October earlier this week. As the music video for Guns N’ Roses hit approaches 2 billion views on YouTube, the band shared a previously announced, reworked version of the 1991 track.
The new version of “November Rain” features accompaniment from a 50-piece orchestra that keeps true to the rock ballad, while also beautifully enhancing its big crescendo moment. The song is part of the upcoming 30th anniversary box set of Use Your Illusion I & II.
The new arrangement was assembled by Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson, who collaborated with Grammy-winning film/TV composer Christopher Lennertz to flesh out the orchestral accompaniment. “The new 2022 version is the same performance as the original, and mixed faithfully to the established version, but with newly recorded orchestration replacing the sampled sounds used at the time,” Wilson wrote on Twitter.
Out on Nov. 11, the Use Your Illusion I & II boxed sets are available from Guns N’ Roses’ merch site. There are a few variations available, including a standard four-LP set all the way up to a 12-LP and Blu-Ray edition with 63 previously unreleased tracks, concert films, a hardcover book, and other collectible trinkets.
