It is amazing to someone like me, who has never had to deal with the pressures and emotional outpourings that no doubt comes as a part of being a ‘rock star’, that a band who has reached a pinnacle rarely seen in the music industry, that have ascended the mountain to the top of the world, who are lauded by music fans of all genre persuasions, can suddenly find themselves halted by a brick wall that no one saw coming. Well, probably apart from the band members themselves. And this, in a small way, is what occurred with Alice in Chains following the release of their studio EP “Jar of Flies” at the beginning of 1994. The seven track, 30 minute EP went to number one of the US and New Zealand album charts, number 2 in Australia and number 4 in the UK, not only proving that they could write and record those amazing heavy metal and grunge alternative albums that they had done with “Facelift” and “Dirt”, but they could also change things up a little and get just as many sales and plaudits for their work. And then... the building of consequences began to fall in on itself. Layne Staley entered rehab for his heroin addiction, and Sean Kinney was struggling with alcoholism. A tour to support Metallica through the middle of 1994 has been scheduled, and yet as it became clear that the band could not perform at the levels required through the arising problems created by this, the band cancelled their scheduled dates at the inconvenient time of a day before the tour was to begin. A statement was released to confirm the band would not be playing live for the foreseeable future due to health issues, and the band stopped communicating with the press. And rumours of the end of the band, and the speculation on Layne’s health, began in earnest.
With the band in limbo, other projects came to light for various reasons. Layne became involved in another project which became known as the band Mad Season, put together by Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCreedy and fellow rehab attendee John Baker Saunders. Both were looking to stay on the straight and narrow, and McCreedy brought in Layne to join the project, ostensibly hoping that being around fellow recovering addicts would help him stay clean as well. They released an album called “Above” in March 1995, and during this period there was a general thought running through the music media that this spelled the death knell for Alice in Chains. For his part, Jerry had been considering the idea of a solo project, but was more annoyed about the speculation of Alice in Chains. At his home studio he had been rejoined by Mike Inez, and had invited other musicians to come and write and record with him, apparently in the hope of luring back the two absent members to rejoin the band as a whole, but if that didn’t work to indeed move forward with his solo project. By January 1995 Kinney had returned to write material with Cantrell and Inez. Staley had agreed to return to begin work on a new album, though that had to be done on his schedule rather than the rest of the band. They chose a studio that was close to where Layne was living so that he was comfortable and could come to the studio when he felt able to. As it turned out, this was often in the early hours of the morning when no one else apart from his appointed production assistant Sam Hofstedt was to be ready to assist. Between April and August of 1995, the slow and somewhat painful process of composing and recording Alice in Chains’ third studio album took place, with Cantrell and Kinney jamming into rhythms that then brought Inez into the picture. The demos would be sent to Layne to compose the lyrics, and he would then come to the studio to experiment with his vocals when everyone else had left for the day and evening. It was a slow process, with Layne’s addiction slowing progress to crawling speed. Eventually over 25 songs were written, of which 12 were chosen for the album itself, the finished project which was given the self-titled moniker of “Alice in Chains” and released for the world to sample and give their decision on whether it had all been worth it.
From the opening track of “Grind” the album has immediately ground – or grind, if you will – itself into a slow tempo groove. Jerry’s guitar riff is masterful, winding itself into a wonderfully moody tone, and the combination of his and Layne’s vocals is a joy, even as Jerry himself takes the lead vocal himself. It is one of three songs where Jerry takes the lead vocal, and one of two where he has the sole writing credit. The moody channelling of the song immediately sets the mood for the remainder of the album. This follows with “Brush Away”, with Layne expressing his own frustrations with expectations that are put on him that he feels are perhaps unnecessary. His conceptions, and those of others, don’t always marry up which drives the song. The rhythm of this track works well with Layne’s lyrics and vocal delivery.
“Sludge Factory” perfectly describes the music on this song, the guitar and drums flow like slow moving sludge, a molasses-slow spilling out of the speakers. Once you know the story of the completion of the album, that the record company rang Layne to congratulate him on an award and then give him an ultimatum to complete the vocals in nine days, you can listen to the lyrics and go... “oooohhh... THAT’S what he means!” It’s blindingly obvious at that point as to what he is referencing in the song. “Heaven Beside You” is Jerry’s song with Mike, and his second where he provides the lead vocal on the track. Written about the loss of his girlfriend of seven years over what he calls ‘life’ but what was probably infidelity, his vocal line here provides an upbeat mood to the track despite its lyrical content, and his solo through the middle also acts as a spirit raiser.
Layne’s single contribution to music on the album is next in “Head Creeps” and comes with arguably the heaviest riff of the album as well. Layne’s lyrics here come from the conundrum swirling in his mind, and there is lot to try and unpack from them. The whole song feels and sounds like it is coming from the untamed monster in his head that continues to insist on the drug he was taking, though whether it comes from the sated part or the demanded part is not overly clear. “Again” follows a similar path, another Layne heroin anthem as such, with music solely by Jerry in this instance, which brings a bit more of the standard Alice in Chains feel to the track musically. This allows Layne to chant on throughout and allow the riff and drums to carry the song until he is ready to express himself. The result is one of the brightest songs on the album musically if not lyrically, one that rings a punch to the middle of the album. “Shame in You” drops back to a melancholy sounding track, matched by Layne’s vocals and lyrics which speak again of not only his own drug use but that of his former partner, the difficulty they had in being together with dependent addictions. It is not only a sad but prophetic song, given how both would ultimately meet their fate. “God Am” tends to riff off of that feeling as well, with Layne talking directly to god or a god, saying: “Dear God, how have you been, then? I'm not fine, fuck pretending, All of this death you're sending, Best throw some free heart mending”. Musically it holds that tone once again, applying the morbidity in perfect clumps to drag the most from the song. Layne has taken the tone of the past two tracks music, which he was no doubt given to write his lyrics to, and found the subject matter that fits to those tones, and done it as well as he always did.
“So Close” is the shortest, sharpest song on the album, one that does draw comparisons to earlier work. “Nothin’ Song” is... just that. Lyrically, it is a song about nothing. Well, not exactly. Layne was obviously in the studio after everyone else had gone home, trying to compose lyrics to the song they were trying to record, and he just literally came up with what was happening at that time. This drags on for 5:40, which just seems like an extravagance, doesn’t it? But hey, what would I know about song writing. That doesn’t even compare to “Frogs”, which at 8:18 in the longest song by the band to this point in time. Cantrell, Inez and Kinney have again provided this morbidly slow musically tracked monster, one that Layne takes literally and begins to openly question everything around him. Many fans openly praise this song as one of the best on the album. It then slowly morphs into the final track on the album, “Over Now”, Jerry’s third composed song on the album that he also sings lead vocals on. Lyrically Jerry stands and openly questions his bandmates: "Could you stand right here, look me straight in the eye and say that it's over now?" According to Jerry, when he actually did this, they could not. Once again, despite the lyrical matter being discussed, the song is upbeat with Jerry’s vocals, and the faster pace and wonderful guitar melody of the track make this a terrific conclusion to the album.
As I have mentioned on a couple of recent episodes, I bought five albums on a trip to Utopia Records at this time that had all been released within a month of each other, and listened to them all in one hit. This album was one of those, and in a very eclectic mix it was one of the ones I was both looking forward to and also dreading. I just didn’t know what to expect from this album when I bought it. The stories through the music magazines had been painting a grim picture of the band at that time, and I was concerned about what kind of direction the music might be trending. When “Jar of Flies” had been released I had enjoyed it to a point, but I really wanted another album like “Dirt”, heavy and raucous, not an album like “Jar of Flies”, which was good and all, but not what I was looking for at that time.
So yes, it was another of those albums that were overly prevalent during the mid-1990's, ones where I wasn’t sure what direction the band was heading with its music given the changing times. But, given that Alice in Chains was a part of the reinvention of the music scene at that time, surely they would continue to be at the top of their game, and the riders of the wave.
I bought the album, and I listened to it, along with those other four albums. And... my opinion of it at the time, from late 1995 through into 1996 was... it was ok. It’s no “Dirt”, and its no “Facelift” ... but what the hell is? And there’s the danger right there, I wanted those albums, and I was comparing this album to those, and that in itself is a rookie mistake, because how likely is it that this album could compare to those two? But what has always gotten me with this album is that this is truly mournful, where the harmonising vocals of Layne and Jerry aren’t giving us an uplifting response. In the past, even despite what the lyrics might be saying or the music might be describing, there is a joy about those tracks that is undeniable. Here on this self-titled opus, the majority of the tracks just hibernate in a fashion that makes it very hard to pull out of a downward spiral mood listening to them. There are a couple of obvious exceptions on the album, but mostly it SOUNDS to me like a funeral. And I get that so many people love and adore this album, those around me included. But for me the difference comes from lyrics that are now cynical rather than introspective, down in the mouth rather than angsty, and a whole characterisation of the music as being drawn down into the mire rather than those of the past that were like they were positively trying to pull themselves out of that mire. That the direction of positivity has changed. Rather than a joyous experience which is what I get listening to the two albums and two EPs prior to 1995, this album just leaves me ambivalent.
So to the past week or so, preparing to write and record this podcast episode. Preparing mostly to feel the wrath from you, my most valued constant listeners, who I feel will have a different take on this album than I do. And I place my CD in my stereo and press play, and prepare to see what I can ascertain from the album on this period of constant rotation. And I guess it is no surprise that I find that my thoughts have not really changed that much. It has been good to listen to the album again. The music has floated around the house, and it has boomed ever so slightly too loud in my office corridor at work. And the same flaws I have always heard from this album are still prevalent to me today. The same reasons I was unable to completely enjoy this album 30 years ago haven’t changed significantly in that time. And though I have enjoyed the process, I won’t be disappointed to see the CD return back to the shelves. My appreciation for the album has not changed, I can still appreciate the way the album was made, the things that Layne and Jerry sing about, the way the songs have been drawn in both of those respects. It just doesn’t and hasn’t grabbed me like their other material does.
One of the things that most definitely helped cruel this album for more was to occur a few months later, when Alice in Chains performed on MTV’s Unplugged program, and then releasing the DVD and album of that performance. That album is really one of the most incredible things one could ever hear and see, and in comparison to their third studio album, it leaves it in its wake. Every version of tracks from this album in that performance are better, which at least shows there is a strength in the tracks here, but perhaps they needed that live environment to get the best out of them. In any case, the band stagnated from this point due to Layne’s inability to perform live, something that would extend until his untimely demise a few years later. And while this album continues to be lauded by fans and critics alike 30 years after its release, for myself, it is an album of promise that never quite developed into what I had hoped it would.
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