Instead, the band booked ten days at the London Bridge Studio in Seattle. Jerry Cantrell had apparently made sone assurances that the band would have planned out some tracks before they entered the studio, but this was not the case. What they did have was a desire to do something different from what they had been doing, and also find out what their new bandmate had to offer. Drummer Sean Kinney was quoted as saying, "After playing loud music for a year, we'd come home and the last thing we wanted to do was crank up the amps right away. That stuff was written on buses and whenever we had downtime. We did “Jar of Flies” to see how it was to record with Mike Inez. We just went into the studio with no songs written, to check out the chemistry. It all fell into place. The sounds and the tones were really good. We thought it would be a waste not to put that material out."
Lead vocalist Layne Staley was quoted "we just wanted to go into the studio for a few days with our acoustic guitars and see what happened. We never really planned on the music we made at that time to be released. But the record label heard it and they really liked it. For us, it was just the experience of four guys getting together in the studio and making some music."
According to the band, they decided to record in analogue rather than using Pro Tools as Layne felt that it suited the band’s sound better, especially with the acoustic feel of the songs being written, and that the tracks were generally recorded in just one or two takes. While the album’s sessions sometimes stretched to 18 hours per day, the actual recording was completed within seven days, compiling seven tracks that are often considered a continuation of the sound the band had followed for their previous EP, 1992’s “Sap”.
“Rotting Apple” is a lengthy drawn out track that is both intriguing and slightly overdrawn, depending on your mood. It has that wonderful combining of the harmony vocals throughout, Jerry’s bluesy solo that closes out the song, and a slow slightly slowed tempo through the course of the song. To me it has always been at odds at what the rest of the EP offers, a different shade from the rest of the songs that are compiled here. It is followed by the far superior “Nutshell”, highlighted by Layne’s amazing solo vocal that still sends shudders down the spine. Sean’s terrific timekeeping drumming sits perfectly with the wonderful acoustic bass tone Mike Inez plays in this song, the bass that showcases for the first time his beautiful feel for the instrument. I love how it sounds in this song, it is mixed in sensationally. Then you have Jerry’s perfect guitaring over the top, including the solo piece in the middle. This is where the mood of the album sits best.
Having said that, the mix of both styles of the first two tracks comes next in the super song “I Stay Away”, a combination of the calm and cooling acoustic and the more electric, with Layne’s vocals coming in more demanding and circumspect. Then comes the chorus, with Layne’s just brilliant vocal line, fleshed out by the violins which are so unexpected when you first hear the song, but are such a vital element of what makes this song so heartfelt, combined with Jerry’s sensational guitar riff as well. If you are looking for the kind of song that you would think would be unexpectedly so un-Alice in Chains and yet combine all of their best elements at the same time, it would be this one.
Perhaps the piece-de resistance is “No Excuses”, one of the bands finest songs. Sean Kinney’s drumming on this track is so perfectly formed. It is Stewart Copeland-like in its intricacy and perfection within the track itself. Above everything else in this song that is also so fantastic, Sean’s drums for me are still what steals the limelight. Here again though is the perfect example of Mike’s bassline, that is mixed so wonderfully high into the mix because it is so important as a part of the song. Glorious in its perceived simplicity it makes the song so terrific. Then, leaving aside even Jerry’s guitar that is so important here, the harmony vocals of he and Layne are just majestic, soaring throughout the roof of the song and reminding us all of just how amazing they were together. Of everything Alice in Chains has done over the course of their career, and of all the heavy and fast and emotional tracks they have written and performed, this song remains at the very top of the tree for me. Magnificent.
The instrumental of “Whale & Wasp” follows, and is then surpassed by “Don’t Follow”, opening with those harmony vocals together again accompanied by the harmonica, another surprising turn on an album full of them. The interchange of lead vocals also brings a different feel to the song. The EP then concludes with “Swing on This”, which starts out in a blues and swing style before combining the more typical Alice in Chains style in the chorus section.
I remember when this came out, and there was a big push behind it. It was after the tour to promote the “Dirt” album, an album I absolutely adored. I didn’t get it immediately, as at that time I was unemployed and had zero disposable income, but I was told by friends who had it how awesome it was. And when they played it to me, I remember being quite disappointed. I didn’t want acoustic based tracks and slower introspective material. I wanted “Facelift” and “Dirt” and all the power and energy and rage that they had offered me. So “Jar of Flies” didn’t stack up for me, and as it turned out I didn’t get this EP until after the following full length album, which had also been a disappointment to me.
So I got this at a time when my life had been in full turmoil but was returning to some sort of normality and happiness, and was pretty much at the same point that the band’s “MTV Unplugged” video had been on rotation on MTV. And I noticed a couple of songs that were a bit familiar but that I didn’t have on CD, and they of course were on “Jar of Flies”. So I went out and bought it, and began playing it. And it was then, more that two years after its initial release, that I ‘got’ the album and the music it contained. That I played it over and over, and it fit in with my mood.
Since that time, there hasn’t ever been a question about how good this EP is. Yes, it does offer a different perspectives to each of the four members abilities on their instruments, and all of them showcase how good they are. To be able to make their less raucous outbursts sound just as good as their high energy tunes is a remarkable achievement, and here on “Jar of Flies” they do that in the best possible way. Listening to this over the past week both in the car and here in the Metal Cavern has been an amazing experience. The vocals from Layne and Jerry, Jerry’s brilliant guitaring, the beautiful bass lines from Mike, and Sean’s syncopated amazing drum patterns are all framed for all time on this EP. Just freaking brilliant.
This arguably closed out the greatest era of Alice in Chains. One more album came with Layne before his untimely passing, and they have done admirable work upon their reformation with Willam DuVall, but for pure unadulterated ferocity combined with the sublime, “Jar of Flies” is where the story concludes. And there is no better way to prove it that with this song.
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