Review Round Up

[Larry B.]

Track by track review from musicradar.com

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... wed-505832

More like a track by track blowjob...

[Warped]

So anything against blowjobs?

[Jasper]

So if we're to read the writing on the wall, so to speak, they could have looked to either side of that poster for influence to a "new sound" and both would have been excellent choices.

But, of course, they went with U2 for inspiration.

*siiiiigh*

Listen to the fucking album or shut up.

[leviticus]

Hey Everyone!!!! Sonny's review is up.

[a headless shell]

Sonny without the board is the equivalent of Satellite Party

[leviticus]

Hey Everyone!!!! Sonny's review is up.

You know, I like Sonny and I'm grateful for his support of my website and for giving us a place to screw around for 8 years or whatever... But his attitude in reviewing the album and in claiming that his opinion is the only right opinion and that one day he will be proven right... It's a very arrogant statement, an arrogant review that I resent. I'm 95% sure I will continue to hold this album to a much higher regard than Strays. I am very happy with this effort and his review seems to exist only to undermine it.

[creep]

sonny has always been arrogant and bitter.

[Warped]

I couldn't even read that all. Wow, dude, chill, get laid, drunk whatever.

[NYRexall]

So if we're to read the writing on the wall, so to speak, they could have looked to either side of that poster for influence to a "new sound" and both would have been excellent choices.

But, of course, they went with U2 for inspiration.

*siiiiigh*

Listen to the fucking album or shut up.

You wanna settle this like men? Post your work address and I'll meet you on the corner in five minutes.

We'll listen to the album together.

[Japhy]

Seriously Sonny, what a fucking prick you've turned out to be. That "review" is the most bitter piece of writing i've seen in a long time.

I honestly don't expect everyone to like the new record, but to hate it to the degree of that summary is just fake wah-wah bullshit. Time to grow up and move on.

[Larry B.]

I don't think Sonny was too off in his review

I'd just disagree on the Sitek bit... I have no idea why that guy is supposed to be "super hip", but at least he managed/helped to get this guys to record an at-least-decent album without tearing themselves apart.

I also disagree on his album ranking, but that's just a matter of personal taste.

And I completely agree on the one thing: Jane's Addiction is dead. I respect this album, but it's a ghost band.

[Japhy]

it's more the way it was written mate. You've aired similar views all week but it's not been as in your face as that review. I completely appreciate that the dude handled a lot of shit and it must still sting that Perry clearly disliked him personally, but i don't think the review would have been any different whatever it sounded like.

Plus you're Larry B and, your love for U2 aside, i enjoy your posts so i occasionally respect your comments!

[Bandit72]

your love for U2 aside

[Larry B.]

Plus you're Larry B and, your love for U2 aside, i enjoy your posts so i occasionally respect your comments!

[tcrock]

I couldn't even read that all. Wow, dude, chill, get laid, drunk whatever.

I think you're onto something here.


bitter is an understatement........

[tcrock]

I don't think Sonny was too off in his review

I'd just disagree on the Sitek bit... I have no idea why that guy is supposed to be "super hip", but at least he managed/helped to get this guys to record an at-least-decent album without tearing themselves apart.

I also disagree on his album ranking, but that's just a matter of personal taste.

And I completely agree on the one thing: Jane's Addiction is dead. I respect this album, but it's a ghost band.

no, you're idea of what Janes Addiction was is dead.

[cursed male]

Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
13 October 2011

I credit Jane’s Addiction for renewing my love of rock in the late 80s. Like a lot hair metal wanksters around ’88 and ’89, rock music started to bore me profoundly. Seriously, after being saturated with AOR radio and curly cue metal for nearly a decade, a dude would get to think there was nothing new under the sun. Fortunately 1988 saw the release of the groundbreaking Jane’s Addiction studio debut Nothing’s Shocking. (This was right on the heels of Love and Rocket’s Earth, Sun, Moon, which got a lot of airplay in the Dallas area and helped Jane’s Addiction out since they toured together.)

Nothing’s Shocking lasted about a year in my Camaro’s cassette deck until its magnetic goodness spewed out of the tape player like it was disembowelled. I bought another copy immediately and put it through the same torture. What was happening to me was I started to truly appreciate Perry Ferrall’s and Dave Navarro’s psychedelic take on modern rock. What seemed like forever passed before Ritual de lo habitual came out and I truly then embraced the new modern rock movement. Sure, early on bands like The Cure and INXS influenced me, but Jane’s Addiction have a special place in my own personal life soundtrack.

In spite of the band’s tumultuous history of drug addiction and revolving door bassists, you can’t deny the creative prowess of Jane’s Addiction. Like many of rock’s great bands, sometimes the people who can’t get along make some of the best music, for example, Faith No More, Fleetwood Mac, and The Doors. I put Jane’s Addiction firmly in the camp of all-time great rock bands who love/hate each other.

Enter The Great Escape. My first few listens had me jaw agape and turning it up a little louder as each track started. The Great Escape is a sensational blend of familiar Jane’s Addiction experimentation, modern song writing, and a scattered impressions of the band’s many influences.

Let’s discuss Perry Farrell for a moment. His iconic voice is really the core of Jane’s Addiction’s sound. Listening to Farrell in the opener, “Underground”, is like hearing a familiar old friend. Farrell is almost the album’s Master of Ceremonies. Very rarely in the recordings do I hear Farrell push himself hard into his upper registers, but in each track he is spot on, completely appropriate for for the mood. The best example of his deft vocal skills are in “Irresistible Force (Met The Immovable Object)”.

Naturally, Dave Navarro’s guitar work is evident from the start. One thing I’ve always like about Navarro is the guy knows how to play without showboating. In The Great Escape Artist Navarro has taken the path of 80s rock minimalism by channeling The Edge and Robert Smith in many of the tracks. If you were heard “Curiosity Kills”, “I’ll Hit You Back”, or “Broken People” piped over department store speakers you might mistake them for U2 tracks. But the Jane’s Addiction stamp is clearly evident on all of these tracks and the tracks have multiple layers you will notice after several listens.

One nice thing about a band who only records every few years in between break-ups is that they actually have time in between to write songs alone and together. I hear elements of Navarro’s surreal writing and arrangements in “Curiosity Kills”, “Twisted Tales”, and “Ultimate Reason”; these tracks made me immediately think of his solo album Trust No One. Several bassists contributed to the album, but Chris Chaney finally settled in, who was previously in Jane’s Addiction and in Navarro’s side project, The Panic Channel along with Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins. As a result, I hear The Panic Channel in a few of the tracks, too. Naturally, Farrell brings Porno for Pyros to the table as well.

As this is Jane’s Addiction’s fourth exceptional album, I’m inclined to hope the band tours, hates each other all over again, breaks up, writes, and makes a fifth record the same way. After 23 years, Jane’s Addiction comes full circle back to the 80s but still sound fresh, relevant, and influential. Excellent.

Our rating: 5 / 5

http://thenewreview.net/reviews/janes-a ... ape-artist

[Kajicat]

So if we're to read the writing on the wall, so to speak, they could have looked to either side of that poster for influence to a "new sound" and both would have been excellent choices.

But, of course, they went with U2 for inspiration.

*siiiiigh*

Listen to the fucking album or shut up.

You wanna settle this like men? Post your work address and I'll meet you on the corner in five minutes.

We'll listen to the album together.

Don't mind Jasper, he can be a real dick.

[Jasper]

So if we're to read the writing on the wall, so to speak, they could have looked to either side of that poster for influence to a "new sound" and both would have been excellent choices.

But, of course, they went with U2 for inspiration.

*siiiiigh*

Listen to the fucking album or shut up.

You wanna settle this like men? Post your work address and I'll meet you on the corner in five minutes.

We'll listen to the album together.

Don't mind Jasper, he can be a real dick.

I already know NYRexall, and we don't have an interpersonal conflict. Can you please stop stalking me? kthxbye

[guysmiley]

Jasper is one of the few smart people here, be kind to him. Oh..........and go START YOUR OWN BANDS!

[CaseyContrarian]

Jasper is one of the few smart people here, be kind to him. Oh..........and go START YOUR OWN BANDS!

Jasper is very smart. But I'm pretty sure I'm smarter.

[guysmiley]

Jasper is one of the few smart people here, be kind to him. Oh..........and go START YOUR OWN BANDS!

Jasper is very smart. But I'm pretty sure I'm smarter.

I'm excited to learn from you.

[CaseyContrarian]

Jasper is one of the few smart people here, be kind to him. Oh..........and go START YOUR OWN BANDS!

Jasper is very smart. But I'm pretty sure I'm smarter.

I'm excited to learn from you.

Even if you're being sarcastic, right back atcha.

[cursed male]

Drowned in Sound Review: Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
14 October 2011

Let’s get this out of the way early on: ultimately, Jane’s Addiction are a band still living off the outrageously high quality of their early releases. And here, early means 20 years ago. While 2003’s Strays demonstrated that these guys could still play loud rock music in their late thirties-forties, it didn’t really prove much else. So here we are, a few more bassists down the line (original bass player Eric Avery, TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, Duff “Guns N’ Roses” McKagan and now back to session whiz Chris Chaney), several, let’s face it, nostalgia-fuelled tours to pay the bills and, now, the band’s fourth studio album proper. Indeed, at this stage of the game, nothing could be more shocking (ahem) than a twenty-first-century success story from the LA troubadours.

Fortunately, initial impressions are good: producer Rich Costey has done a superb job here, expertly balancing the spaced-out with the rock-out, while the presence of Dave Sitek on the album’s opening tracks lends a dark, dirty groove which brings a much-needed sense of vitality to a band who have, up to now, primarily been performing decades-old material. A few instrumental and lyrical cues also seem to have been taken from old pal Trent Reznor as tracks like ‘End to the Lies’ and ‘Curiosity Kills’ possess the same destructive swagger as With Teeth-era Nine Inch Nails. Further to this end, guitar lothario Dave Navarro largely eschews his usual overexuberant soloing, instead taking a backseat in order to fully embrace electronic aspects; ‘Twisted Tales’, in particular, furthers Jane’s desire, or perhaps need, to push themselves into relatively new sonic territories, but thankfully avoiding the "Muse and Radiohead" comparisons which frontman Perry Farrell had previously predicted.

Of course, all these new-fangled technological advances mean nothing if the songwriting isn’t up to standard. In this regard, The Great Escape Artist is highly reminiscent of Strays in that it steadfastly sticks to one particular vibe which wears thin by the album’s close. ‘Underground’ is an undeniably colossal opener but once we reach ‘Ultimate Reason’s, by now tired, bass-heavy antics and Farrell’s overextended plant metaphor and dubious gender stereotyping ("you’ve got to treat her like a flower man / women need time to recover") in ‘Splash a Little Water on It’, ear fatigue begins to set in and attention wanders. In particular, the album’s closing tracks are both odd choices as ‘Broken People’s melancholy potential is soon shot down by an over-cooked full-band presence, while ‘Words Right Out of My Mouth’ is a nod to the past, but it’s one that requires far too much effort to appear natural.

Although the production goes some way to recapturing the atmosphere of the band’s early work, it can’t mask the fact that these compositions still don’t encompass the same daring inventiveness which this group of musicians once held so dear; like Strays, this is fairly middle-of-the-road material, this time dressed up with the odd synth here and there. Bands often say that there’s no point in rehashing the past, but if you cannot match it in terms of composition or artistic credibility, it becomes extremely difficult to forget it. Get past the fact that it was made by the same band who once spearheaded the Nineties alt. rock scene and The Great Escape Artist is a solid enough rock record. However, considering the lead-up to Jane’s latest release, this is a somewhat underwhelming effort, once again pushing any idea of recapturing that lost magic even further towards the back of their cabinet of curiosities.

6 / 10

http://drownedinsound.com/releases/1658 ... ws/4143772

[cursed male]

The Independent Review: Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
14 October 2011

They may talk it up as a brave new step forward, but their first album in over eight years can't really be viewed as other than a retrograde move for Jane's Addiction.

Their spiky, iconoclastic sound used to sit uneasily alongside more mainstream rock, but here there's a distinct shift towards the bombastic stadium mode of such as Muse. In places, they even sound like U2, particularly when the charging riff of "Curiosity Kills" hits its stride. The involvement of TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek has introduced Goth and psychedelic synthscapes alongside Dave Navarro's shrill, fizzing guitar riffs, the elements circling each other like caged beasts on tracks like "Twisted Tales" and "Underground", two of several songs here yet again featuring Perry Farrell's tributes to (his own) outsidership.

Download This: Underground, Twisted Tales

2 / 5

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 70093.html