Strays
i bought the new Jane's Addiction today. i wanted it to be good SO badly, i almost resigned myself not to listen to it at all BUT.... they are one of my favorites so yeah....
The album is *good*
not groundbreaking good. not earth shattering good. not the first two albums good. but solid. It's a lot like watching Terminator 3. A third one really wasn't needed because the first two stood on their own. they pushed the boundaries of film for the time and made lots of people money and famous. Going into it, you felt like things could either be good or just flesh crawling bad..... and it was solid. it wasn't a huge movie and it really wasn't trying to be. but it was entertaining. Strays is like that. there's some real signature Jane's riffs in there and Perry Ferrell sounds like he never stopped. Sometimes actually carrying a song through the weaker moments. the material is also, surprisingly, very aggressive. the first track, True Nature, sounds almost punkish/metal. but ultimately, like i had predicted before it came out, the material is somewhat weak, especially in the bass lines. Eric Avery (Jane's old and original bassist who opted out of all the reunion bullshit due to long running tensions with Ferrell)was a great bassist who wrote a majority of their stronger songs. w/o him there, you can feel the emptiness of the low end, even though Jane's new bassist, Chris Chaney, does an admirable job. It's just not funky and lacks soul in some parts. Overall, i hope to see Jane's put out another record maybe they can build on the momentum and produce some stronger stuff.
3.75 stars out of 5.
i also hope the Jane's Addiction fans buy this too. It's not that bad!
The album is *good*
not groundbreaking good. not earth shattering good. not the first two albums good. but solid. It's a lot like watching Terminator 3. A third one really wasn't needed because the first two stood on their own. they pushed the boundaries of film for the time and made lots of people money and famous. Going into it, you felt like things could either be good or just flesh crawling bad..... and it was solid. it wasn't a huge movie and it really wasn't trying to be. but it was entertaining. Strays is like that. there's some real signature Jane's riffs in there and Perry Ferrell sounds like he never stopped. Sometimes actually carrying a song through the weaker moments. the material is also, surprisingly, very aggressive. the first track, True Nature, sounds almost punkish/metal. but ultimately, like i had predicted before it came out, the material is somewhat weak, especially in the bass lines. Eric Avery (Jane's old and original bassist who opted out of all the reunion bullshit due to long running tensions with Ferrell)was a great bassist who wrote a majority of their stronger songs. w/o him there, you can feel the emptiness of the low end, even though Jane's new bassist, Chris Chaney, does an admirable job. It's just not funky and lacks soul in some parts. Overall, i hope to see Jane's put out another record maybe they can build on the momentum and produce some stronger stuff.
3.75 stars out of 5.
i also hope the Jane's Addiction fans buy this too. It's not that bad!