My parents were deeply concerned with my obsession for rock and heavy metal. I always got that eye roll and that “I pray he grows out of this” look. Although I had a little support for my music, I was never heavily encouraged to further pursue a life in music while growing up. Sounds to some maybe a bit childish? I don’t know. ![]() For I was on a true pilgrimage to finally walk on the same ground as some of my heroes. In fact, with exception to the rock n roll of the late 60s and the 1970s, the 90s were the greatest decade for music.Įach block through Seattle that I walked down, I had the music in my head. I will never forget the first few months I heard the incredible music that came out of this city in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I couldn’t help but smile the entire trip because it was proof, it was the “nail in the coffin”, to my argument that I am indeed still a kid. To give you all some context first, let me start with a story.Īs I was strolling through the streets of Seattle, Washington in February 2022, my first visit ever to the city overlooking Puget Sound, I was just overcome with so many emotions. I feel very passionate about this album because not many people I know talk about it. Dirt is kind of scattershot, but it has more good songs than bad and several of their biggest hits.Listen to an audio version of this review by Greg Their self-titled album has studio versions of Heaven Beside You and Over Now and is a pretty solid album in its own right. It's a weird joke and not really funny, but it's also a very honest moment between friends having a laugh.įurther Listening: Jar Of Flies is the studio almost-an-album where they messed around with writing almost exclusively on acoustic guitars, and it produced two incredible songs: I Stay Away and No Excuses. Bassist Mike Inez played a few bars of Enter Sandman which Staley introduced as an L.L. Metallica were in the audience and had just cut their hair short, so the band poked fun at them. The vocals on the chorus of Heaven Beside You sound out of key, and the guitar solo just doesn't land right. And then there are the little improvisational moments, like Cantrell riffing before they play their last song. It's not captured on the album, but if you watch the DVD of the concert, they stop Sludge Factory and start it over because Staley flubs a lyric. The performance is rough, but there's an honesty to it that I find compelling. Songs like Over Now, Down In A Hole, and Rooster really benefit from this rendering. Hearing these songs rendered acoustically takes away the buzzing vocals and crunching guitars and strips the songs down to their core melodic elements and simple Staley/Cantrell harmonies. Their sound was defined by the way Staley's nasal vocals were layered over top of each other and against Cantrell's throaty baritone. I love Alice In Chains, and part of what I love about this album is that it is part greatest hits collection, part heavy metal deconstruction, and part swan song for Layne Staley. Writer and co-singer Jerry Cantrell would start a successful solo career, and the band would reform with new singer William DuVall in 2006. They would put on their last performance with Staley in July of that year, after which he would disappear into his addiction and eventually die of an overdose in 2002. This performance was recorded in April of 1996. They'd broken up for six months and been plagued by singer Layne Staley's heroin habit. 1995 had seen the release of Alice In Chains, but they didn't do anything else that year. They hadn't performed in 2 and a half years. ![]() Alice In Chains had pretty much run their course when they put on this concert.
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