Jane's Addiction "Strays" (665 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.25 on 9 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by wing nut <wing_nut74.at.yahoo.com> (View user info) at 2003-08-12 12:32:17 EDT
I just began listening to the new Jane's Addiction album "Strays".
JA was probably the most influential band in my life. They came at a time when I was just beginning to sniff out music, that wasn't force fed to me through the radio. I remember the first time I heard "Nothing's Shocking". The only song I could distinguish was "Jane Says". The rest of the album was so abstract from anything I had heard that it took 3 or 4 times before I began to hear the melodies that were hidden under the distortion and nasal reverb and flanged guitar. Every song on that album held the top spot as the best song on the album, at on time or another. After I had consumed "Nothings Shocking", I found out they had an album before that, the self titled Jane's Addiction or some call "XXX". That album still gives me goose-bumps; so raw, intense and beautiful in a most chaotic way. Then "1%" and "I Would" hit me, and I would never hear music the same again. "Sympathy For The Devil" would spark my interest in older music and allow me to realize that just because my parents had listened to it, didn't mean that it sucked.
I then got to see them live. They played in a hall at SDSU. I saw things that night that turned me upside down. I watched as a long lanky genius whine and scream in front of a band that was a million miles away from anything I had ever been exposed to in my then 16 years.
By the time Ritual came out, you could tell that something wasn't right. As an album on its own, it was incredible. The polished, higher end recordings didn't translate as well for me. This was a great album, but only a good Jane's Addiction album.
The band disintegrated.
Porno for Pyro's was something I could listen to, tolerate. On the other hand the Dave Navarro Red Hot Chilli Peppers experiment was just sad.
Well Jane's has now re-grouped. This album is not breaking any new ground. This album is almost like finding tracks that were lost from other albums. It is a familiar sound that is refreshing to hear again. They do try to update a little but for the most part it always falls back to the old Jane's formula, and it works. If this album is your first taste of Jane's you won't like it, if grew up with them, you may not like the album song for song, but you will like the flood of memories you get when you hear that distorted flange petal start to rise and fall under Perry's nasal whine. The album on it's own leaves something to be desired but it is a soild effort that i will be listening to for a long time to come.
User Reviews
Submitted by Rokinroj (user info) at 2003-08-12 20:23:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for saying you "consumed" an album. That is the only way to experience music is to consume it. Awesome post!
Rokinroj
Submitted by acrog (user info) at 2003-08-12 15:19:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I have that
Submitted by wing_nut74 (user info) at 2003-08-12 14:47:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
the Gift was the craziest thing i had ever seen!
Submitted by streetpunk (user info) at 2003-08-12 14:45:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked PFP pretty well. Actually, I only heard the song "Pets" but I loved it. Jane's addiction was pretty good. We used to rent gift in highschool and watch it all the time. It was pretty funny.
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2003-08-12 14:15:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Nice, I have been meaning to check it out.
I saw JA in 2001 and they are great live.
Submitted by acrog (user info) at 2003-08-12 13:37:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Back in the day, Jane's changed the way I listened to music(as did FUGAZI, NIRVANA, and KYUSS later)
Nothing Shocking did the same thing to me. A friend let me borrow it one day, I listened to it and it confused me. It sounded like NOTHING I had ever heard. It took a few listens all the way through to get into it, but I got into it in a big way.
Then Ritual blew me away.
I remember going to the pool hall and ALWAYS putting "3 Days" on the jukebox firstly because that song is hypnotic and I love it and secondly because it is 12 minutes long and I got more bang for my quarter.
PFP sucked. I tried to like it to no avail.
Not impressed with the new stuff.
They are still doing their thing, but what was inovative 10 years ago is commonplace now.
As a band, it is better to break up when your successful and be remembered as always being great, than it is fizzle out and be remembered as being washed up.
Bands should break up before they suck.
I hope this is not the path that Jane's is taking, but that looks like like it.
Submitted by itchy (user info) at 2003-08-12 12:50:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Ah, a kindred soul.
I used to think that Perry was god. I got my first college "A" for a descriptive essay I wrote about seeing Janes at the first Lollapalooza (ever subsequent one sucked). The power and emotion that Janes could convey to a listener has not yet been matched. When they broke up, I was crushed. And yet, I took a certain pride in their break-up. I could look at the Rolling Stones and say, "Man, that is just pathetic. You know who got it right? Jane's Addition. Three GREAT albums and out. No looking back. No regrets."
They moved on. I did not pursue Porno for Pyros because they just sucked. Perry without Dave just doesn't cut it. Without Dave, Perry just sounds like a pussy. "Kettle Whistle" made me nervous. I was doubtful of the motives, and even though I like Flea, I'm not sure he fit in. Just like Dave didn't quite fit in with the Chilis.
I have not yet purchased "Strays" and I don't know if I will. I have been abused by too many bands selling out. Most notably the Chili Peppers. (Although "One hot minute" was a pretty good Janes Addiction tribute album.) I am afraid that this is just an attempt to refocus attention on one of the most influential, but rarely mentioned anymore, bands of all time. Kind of a, "hey, remember us?" I am also troubled that Anthony Avery did not come back. Janes bass lines are what really kick you in the head, even if you don't realize it (see: Mountain Song, and Stop!)
Oh, also, 1% and I would are my favorites from XXX too. Weird.
Submitted by lucid (user info) at 2003-08-12 12:41:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I haven't bothered to listen to the new album. I heard a cut on the radio and it was pretty watered down/stale.
Pigs in Zen and Summertime Rolls say it all for that band. That album was amazing and had they stayed on drugs and continued to want to kill eachother they could've kept creating great music.
Too bad they grew up.
Submitted by Snipa (user info) at 2003-08-12 12:35:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
They suck