alice in chains c/d

new song is kinda boring but not terrible. is this really going to be a single? can't imagine people will care too much.

i can't the vocals on AIC songs

Can't resist?

the new song is really unmemorable

oops, can't *stand*

Man there was no reason for that to be seven minutes long by anyone's standards

hah im already fighting with ppl about this over on doomed forever

Just listening to Sap for the first time in years. It's disarmingly lovely.

it is. Much superior to jar of flies.

Agreed. There's something a bit ponderous about JoF.

i still have my sap import cd that i traipsed around glasgow looking for in 1992. (found it in 23rd precinct when it still had the rock bit downstairs)

so the new one huh. thoughts?

getting ridiculously good reviews across the board. pretty excited to hear it. the non-layne issue doesnt bother me a bit; jerry wrote most of the songs in the first place and the death of a band member shouldn't mean the others have to give up their livelihood to appease the lamer fans

yeah, the press is solid so far. my thoughts on the single that was posted upthread are a little mixed. while it exhibits some classic AIC elements and the odd thumping riff for good measure, it seems like a bit of a pastiche. we have a whole lot of different sections thrown into the mix that don't work particularly well together and it really seems that they've laboured and laboured to get those harmonies sounding like vintage-era AIC. end result is that they sound over-studied, whereas on previous outings they were both natural and key to the band's sound. this repetition of choruses and unimaginative song structuring is also erring dangerously close to the stuff on JC's solo albums. mind you, these are early days and i'll have a more concerted opinion once i've heard the album in full.

When Baroness start doing Alice in Chains harmonies on "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" it breaks the overall feel of the album, and it's the one downer on the otherwise wicked ace Blue Record. But it does make me curious as to how much of Dirt I'd like after more than a decade of ignoring it.

I have weird reservations about the new album that aren't really very logical. We saw them live last year, and I was okay with that. Lead dude sounded great, cool to see Jerry and the boys still playing, I enjoyed the show a lot. But an album just makes it too...official. I listened to a couple of tracks and it just feels wrong. Maybe I'm being too much of a chick about it. But I don't feel right about an Alice In Chains ALBUM with no Layne.

its not AIC in my eyes and never will me. the arguments about maiden,ac/dc etc dont hold up as they didnt split up saying they couldnt go on then reform 10 years later as the guitarists solo career had failed. He shouldnt be using the name after all this time. Its purely about money and is disgusting.

and feeling that way does not make fans lame no matter how many times someone says it.

I went through all this bunk with INXS, though that was much worse, new singer every six months, everyone from Terrence Trent D'arby to Jon Stevens. I get that the band wants to play, but c'mon. To be fair, the INXS thing was far far worse in execution because it was flat out bad and 100% ill-advised. The new AIC singer is good, I'll give him that, and I don't feel comfortable accusing Jerry and the guys of doing this solely for cash. They created the music too, and Jerry was always a driving force creatively, musically, and his harmony is part of that AIC sound. I respect them wanting to continue...I just don't like it. I feel the same way about AC/DC. They've been successful with Brian and I respect them for finding away to continue. I just love Bon and don't feel right about Brian...and I don't know if I ever will.

they shouldnt be using the name. They didnt replace layne at the time because they knew noone could and the fans wouldnt accept it. So why do it now*?
*for the money

Just read that Elton John plays piano on the title track!

I do like the droney main riff on Check My Brain. Not a bad chorus either.

it's not a horrible album and there are definitely some glimpses of what made AIC a truly great band. surprising really as i was beginning to suspect that JC had lost the plot together. i guess the best thing i can say about it is that i'm likely to spend some time listening to it in the coming weeks. and that's far more than i was anticipating.

'your decision' is a surprisingly good slower number, which is nice news given how wary i was of anything that might approach the "ballad"-realm here. hell, 'when the sun rose again' reminds me of the halcyon days of sap. 'check my brain' is also ripe. love that dirty, atonal riff that runs through it as chap mentioned. otherwise, 'last of my kind' and 'acid bubble' have nice moments amidst the requisite passages of dirge. basically i'm grateful to hear anything as innocuous as a decent riff on these tracks.

'lesson learned' reveals itself to have the best chorus here after a fairly tepid verse. i actually kind of have that one stuck in my head.

I've been listening to the streams of the new one someone's put on YouTube. Mostly seems kind of dull.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31a6HQUrAz0

Forgot how much I used to love their unplugged album.

RIP bassist Mike Starr

sad...his appearance on Celebrity Rehab was pretty harrowing and it's a real bummer that the band's drug problems went beyond Layne

Oh ffs. :(.

RIP

I wish there was something better. AIC were just a band I didn't follow, but they were of my time, and I saw them when they were a club opening act (for Iggy) and it sucks. A reminder that redemption doesn't always come.

RIP

not a huge fan but i heard "Jar of Flies" at a record store while browsing the other day, sounded surprisingly great

was informed after pasting a jar of flies youtube on my facebook today that mike inez was apparently the bassist on that album.

dirt was a fantastic album as well, though. pretty miserable story though.

Mike quit/was sacked after Dirt.

he was cool and i always liked his playing. r.i.p.

I was reading the wikipedia entry for 'Got me wrong' and happily saw this:

Ned Raggett of Allmusic said that the song "went a long way towards showing how Alice in Chains could work as effectively at low(er) volume as at high" and that "it's almost one of the warmest and most inspiring things the band had yet recorded — musically, at least."[2]

ned otm

So jerry cantrell is currently involved in a very heated twitter beef with......har mar superstar

haha wow

new single "Hollow" is pretty solid vintage AIC-sounding stuff

I still haven't been able to listen to new AiC. I don't feel like it's invalid that they continued, but this band was so important to me growing up, and my enjoyment of them was so closely attached to Layne, that seeing that name attached with someone else still rubs me the wrong way.

I'm sure when I eventually listen to the material I'll think it's solid material, but haven't done it yet.

Or I guess jerry is heated and har mar is just amazed

Also jerry is totally a homophobic d bag surprise surprise

@JerryFCantrell
@HarMarSuperstar Stop talking shit about my wife! Go back to the gays where you belong !

well that's seriously disappointing

i have to admit that instead of outright calling the guy gay saying "Go back to the gays where you belong" is really, really funny to me

his daughter going "Yo @twitter. Can you do something about this idiot sending me constant jealous comments about my dad" and "Hey @twitter this one is stalking me" is hilarious too

that would be awesome if you could tweet everyone on Twitter simultaneously just by "@twitter"

that's actually a direct line to the powers that be at Twitter

@HarMarSuperstar
Layne Staley is tweet dissing me from the grave.

@StLayneStaley
- @HarMarSuperstar YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE MONEY TO PAY WHORES! YOU DON'T HAVE A PENIS

oh is it? I guess I haven't Twittered enough to know that...it is still pretty LOL tho.

omg @ the 'you don't have a penis'

haha i was kidding