http://xiola.org/post/11388801597/under ... here-we-go
sonny wrote:
underground: “here we go!” oh, no “here we go!”? ok. this is the best track on the record. if i had to compare this, i’d compare this track to red hot chili pepper’s dave navarro era. it’s erratic, it’s herky jerky, but somehow perry makes a decent melody in small spots. the “i try to find some love…” is great. sounds a little more like a porno for pyros melody to me, but it’s all perry. his voice is light and feminine. i’m skipping ahead a little, but i would’ve taken the breakdown part of “splash a little water on it” and put it in here, instead of the last minute of dave wanking and repeating the chorus.
end to the lies: you’ve heard this one. this is a strong track. i know perry thinks he is being clever with his bathroom lyrics. specifically the line “you were the fore skin, i was the real head”. here’s a clue, eric avery and xiola.org (that’s who this song is about, in case you didn’t know) never wanted to be the leader, he only wanted jane’s addiction to stay a special band. so perry could’ve been the entire dick and balls, and the rest of the band and his fans the pubic hairs for all we care. as long as you stay the course. so yeah, this song is a great musically. and even the melody is good, but the weird al yankovic lyrics just KILL this song. so pretend perry is singing “enter the eyes”, maybe. (one plus, they can play this one live, without a backing track)
curiosity kills: you just know this one’s gonna suck. this fucker is a dance track from perryetty transformed into a jane’s addiction track. so sad. just move this track right next to that copy of “applause for you”. it doesn’t belong here. i can’t believe this shit.
irresistible force: i hate the spoken part at the beginning. you’ve heard this one, i’m sure and i think most like it. the lyrics could’ve been so good considering the subject of the title. the verse and chorus barely match up here. it’s such a huge jump into that chorus, there should’ve been a different structure to this song. it’s almost like they got this great big U2 chorus and couldn’t figure out to what to do with it. i like dave’s solo here, although it’s really just the melody, it fits.
i’ll hit you back: dude, what is this drum beat? is stephen even on this track? i think i have this drum track sample on Garageband. this feels like another perry track that the band was forced to make. ugh, why? i’ve never heard a lyric sound so forced as “i’ll hit you back”. it’s a great phrase, but if it doesn’t fit, just leave it. don’t force this shit. this might be the second worst jane’s addiction track i’ve ever heard.
twisted tales: isn’t this a p!nk song? is linda perry writing songs for jane’s addiction now? i suppose this is another perry track. i don’t like it. i realize it has a catchy section there, but it’s two lines of decent melody and not much else. this has to be a perryetty track. ugh.
ultimate reason: can ya feel duff on this one? hard rock bullshit. is dave playing this track or did duff play guitar and bass? go ahead, go listen to duff’s band loaded… i’ll wait… if this doesn’t sound just like them, then i’m crazy. and i got nothing against Duff, he seems like a great guy and he’s obviously smart for bailing on this piece of shit.
splash a little water on it: i just knew this was gonna be a short “thank you boys” track, with no significance. the title sounds like a song for toddlers on nick jr. and believe me i know those songs and they are all better than this. this is so painful. the guitar sounds like coldplay and again stephen seems absent here. it could be anyone or any machine on drums here. as i said previously the breakdown on this song is great and the real jane’s addiction would’ve recognized it and put this on the end of another great piece of music. the truth is perry from ‘89 would’ve stitched this breakdown to underground’s butt and we’d have had one amazing track. as is, this is the WORST JANE’S ADDICTION SONG EVA!
Broken People: i gotta admit, i had hoped this song was about me. etty’s pet name for the website i use to run was “broken people with broken dreams”. the few people who heard this song when Duff was still in the band called this song dark like old Jane’s Addiction. what blasphemy. who are these people and how can they be trusted? this is an ‘80’s winger or warrant or slaughterhouse leftover at best. perry ‘89 would’ve laughed at this track 10 seconds in and turned it off at 20 seconds.
Words Right out of my Mouth: crazy perry at the beginning, that’s gotta be good. immediately i think this sounds like some mike watt from old. if it weren’t so produced, if the lyrics weren’t the weakest part (again) this could be played right next to trip away or stop! and you likely wouldn’t go get a beer.
perry: eric avery, unfortunately was right i think. perry’s new insulated life has taken away what was special. i’d like to give all that credit to eric or casey even, but it wouldn’t be fair. perry was an amazing artist once. everything he touched turned to gold. who knows what happened? i’d like to blame something.
i really just think perry isn’t what he once was, but his inflated ego will not allow him to realize this. it’s ok to deteriorate over time. all artist do. great artist adjust. perry’s voice isn’t the same either, he seems to talk/sing his way through a lot of the verses. this is a lazy way to do things. there are glimpses of old perry here and there, you’ll know it right away, when you hear it. there was a time i wished perry would change the direction of jane’s addiction and in turn himself. now, i just realize he may not be able to, and it makes me a little sad about his future.
dave: i think dave looks the best on this album. the good songs, sound like dave navarro solo tracks with perry guesting on vocals. dave put in some hard work here and who can blame him? he’s chose his horse. he allowed perry free reign on the cover (mistake), he even gave perry a co producer credit on an album it was clear dave spent more time on. maybe perry gets an automatic co produce on everything he works on, i’m not sure. dave loses no ground here, he only looks like the guitar maniac he is. if there is a mold for the alternative hard rock guitar guy, dave navarro is it.
stephen: stephen shines here and there, but i can’t help but think he did what he was told and didn’t have a lot of time to work on his part of these songs. go listen to any album other than the panic channel or infectious grooves featuring stephen perkins. you don’t ask stephen to come play like chad smith, which is what he is doing here. perkins needs to be perkins.
sitek: dave sitek, you should be ashamed for even starting this bullshit. fuck off, with yr own band. TV on the Radio is a great band. you only hurt yrself and jane’s addiction by rehearsing with these guys. this isn’t a side project, this isn’t a commercial jingle, this is the mighty jane’s addiction. when you lead them to believe this is good shit, they believed you. you should apologize to the band and me personally. the fucking band is dead now, are ya happy?
Duff: i can’t blame him for leaving. considering his contributions here, he could taken those exact songs to loaded and they wouldn’t sound any different. i’m sure he was hoping for some magic, when it’s clear the 3 left are just the pretty faces.
cover: that cover is shit. yeah, perry made it. but come on… perry spent days/weeks on those first 3 covers. he put every bit of himself in those covers. he ached over those covers. you can’t sit at yr kitchen table and hope to get the same level of artistry in a few evenings. i personally think The Panic Channel’s cover kills this one, all day long.
final thoughts: i said “you are gonna fucking love this record” when describing strays. i don’t feel even close to that excitement about this material. strays is better than this record and i know right now people wanna say “at least it’s better than strays”. time will show that i’m right about this one and i’ll leave it at that. (go ahead, go listen to strays, it’s not fresh to the ears, but it’s better)
this record suffers from the same overproduced sound that strays did. which is gonna make it tough to play some of these new tracks live. i expect to hear “underground” and “word right out of my mouth” in the set soon. those two tracks will translate great live. i wouldn’t play them to close to the greats like “mountain song” or “three days” or you might remind watching fans how big a difference there really is between the greatest songs and the middle of the road songs.
other than ‘Underground’ there isn’t one song here that i want to listen to again. there are songs from The Panic Channel and Satellite Party that are better than the other 9 songs on this album. this album will fade from memory very quick.
now, to be honest, if this was my friend’s record i’d be much kinder. i suspect this is the problem with Jane’s Addiction. there are too many friends of the band telling them how bad ass they still are. so go ahead and ignore this one fan or troll, which ever moniker you choose. after all it’s easier to dismiss me and what i’m saying, than to face facts. Jane’s Addiction is Dead. that band yr selling now, is just a shell of what once was.
ranking: so where does this album fall in the album charts of jane’s addiction? i’m gonna have to recreate my list in order of greatness.
1. Nothing’s Shocking
2. Ritual de lo Habitual
3. Triple X
4. Porno for Pyros
5. Deconstruction
6. Good God’s Urge
7. Polar Bear - Why Something Instead of Nothing?
8. Psi Com
9. Strays
10. Eric Avery - Help Wanted
11. Spread
12. The Great Escape Artist
13. The Panic Channel - One
14. Banyan - Anytime At All
15. Perry Farrell - Song yet to be Sung
16. Satellite Party
17. Banyan
18. Dave Navarro - Trust No One