Alice_in_Chains

I'm rewriting this opening paragraph because the original one was woefully out of date and inaccurate. First of all, Layne Staley is now dead. What a stupid career move that was...someone should have told him, you've gotta die AT THE PEAK of your career to gain rock immortality, not years after your band has technically dissolved, along with your style of music! Think Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, etc. -- even that no-talent spook Aaliyah guaranteed herself a "Behind the Music" episode simply by being an up-and-comer who boarded the wrong plane. And second, AIC did *not* start out as a grunge band. In the late 80's, they were a generic hair-metal band, complete with the leather & chains image, as evidenced by an early demo I recently uncovered, as well as the original video for "We Die Young" (which makes the rounds on VH1 Classic occasionally.)

Alice in Chains also has two songs on the Last Action Hero soundtrack.

"Facelift"

  1. "We Die Young" (2:31)
  2. "Man in the Box" (4:45)
  3. "Sea of Sorrow" (5:48)
  4. "Bleed the Freak" (4:01)
  5. "I Can't Remember" (3:42)
  6. "Love, Hate, Love" (6:26)
  7. "It Ain't Like That" (4:37)
  8. "Sunshine" (4:44)
  9. "Put You Down" (3:15)
  10. "Confusion" (5:43)
  11. "I Know Somethin (Bout You)" (4:20)
  12. "Real Thing" (4:03)

I was never impressed with this album and haven't listened to it much. "Man in the Box" is a classic though. I'll never forget seeing two religious nuts on TV going apeshit over the lines "Jesus Christ...Deny your maker." Talk about taking lines out of context! (And did they play that song at Layne's funeral? LOL...that joke still cracks me up.)

"Dirt"

  1. "Them Bones" (2:29)
  2. "Dam That River" (3:09)
  3. "Rain When I Die" (6:01)
  4. "Sick Man" (5:29)
  5. "Rooster" (6:15)
  6. "Junkhead" (5:09)
  7. "Dirt" (5:16)
  8. "Godsmack" (3:50)
  9. "Iron Gland"--unlisted (0:43)
  10. "Hate to Feel" (5:16)
  11. "Angry Chair" (4:47)
  12. "Down in a Hole" (5:37)
  13. "Would?" (3:26)

A much improved work over their debut effort. The sound is loud, dischordant & grungy. "Would?" was also on the Singles movie soundtrack, which featured the band playing at a Seattle club. Hmm, looks like this one's got a song called "Down in a Hole"....oh lordy, this stuff just writes itself. :) :)

"Iron Gland" is a short noise track that features Tom Araya of Slayer on vocals, if you can call it that. It's not listed on the album (although Araya does appear in the credits), however the song is featured on their box set AND greatest hits album!! Imagine that.

"Alice in Chains"

  1. "Grind" (4:45)
  2. "Brush Away" (3:22)
  3. "Sludge Factory" (7:12)
  4. "Heaven Beside You" (5:27)
  5. "Head Creeps" (6:28)
  6. "Again" (4:05)
  7. "Shame in You" (5:35)
  8. "God Am" (4:08)
  9. "So Close" (2:45)
  10. "Nothin' Song" (5:40)
  11. "Frogs" (8:18)
  12. "Over Now" (7:03)

Never could figure out why some bands name their 3rd, 4th, or 15th album after themselves, which is usually the style for debut albums...no matter, this is Alice in Chains at their finest. Each song is distinct and original ("progressive grunge", if you like) although I do tend to forget which song is which, since none of the titles match the lyrics...

The reason it took so long to reach my collection, however, is because I had a tape of it from a friend, I saw it commonly in the used bins, and was waiting for it to drop below $8.99. Finally, when exchanging a defective CD, I quickly browsed through and this was the first one I ran across that I wanted.


Previous Band Back to Index Next Band