Review Round Up

[cursed male]

NME Review: Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
21 October 2011

A Pop-Wolf in Rock-Sheep Clothing

“We’ve become a big business”, crows 52-year-old frontman Perry Farrell in his inimitable way on ‘Immovable Force’, and while that might be true of Jane’s Addiction, having only produced their fourth album since 1985, they operate with the sort of diligence exercised by Enron before it went bankrupt. No matter: another long-awaited offering finally drops and it’s wonderfully enchanting. Ostensibly Jane’s Addiction are one of the true titans of alternative rock, but ‘The Great Escape Artist’ is a pop-wolf in rock-sheep clothing, laden with the kind of killer songs that kept Duran Duran in cocaine and yachts in the 1980s. Their stock is rallying.

8 / 10

http://www.nme.com/reviews/janes-addiction/12387

[Tyler Durden]

NME Review: Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
21 October 2011

A Pop-Wolf in Rock-Sheep Clothing

“We’ve become a big business”, crows 52-year-old frontman Perry Farrell in his inimitable way on ‘Immovable Force’, and while that might be true of Jane’s Addiction, having only produced their fourth album since 1985, they operate with the sort of diligence exercised by Enron before it went bankrupt. No matter: another long-awaited offering finally drops and it’s wonderfully enchanting. Ostensibly Jane’s Addiction are one of the true titans of alternative rock, but ‘The Great Escape Artist’ is a pop-wolf in rock-sheep clothing, laden with the kind of killer songs that kept Duran Duran in cocaine and yachts in the 1980s. Their stock is rallying.

8 / 10

http://www.nme.com/reviews/janes-addiction/12387

I guess I'm (along with a couple of others here) aren't the only people who think TGEA sounds like Duran Duran. "A pop-wolf in rock-sheep clothing" is very apt...and I don't mean that as an insult; it is what it is.

[Tyler Durden]

NME Review: Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
21 October 2011

A Pop-Wolf in Rock-Sheep Clothing

“We’ve become a big business”, crows 52-year-old frontman Perry Farrell in his inimitable way on ‘Immovable Force’, and while that might be true of Jane’s Addiction, having only produced their fourth album since 1985, they operate with the sort of diligence exercised by Enron before it went bankrupt. No matter: another long-awaited offering finally drops and it’s wonderfully enchanting. Ostensibly Jane’s Addiction are one of the true titans of alternative rock, but ‘The Great Escape Artist’ is a pop-wolf in rock-sheep clothing, laden with the kind of killer songs that kept Duran Duran in cocaine and yachts in the 1980s. Their stock is rallying.

8 / 10

http://www.nme.com/reviews/janes-addiction/12387

I guess I'm (along with a couple of others here) not the only person who thinks TGEA sounds like Duran Duran. "A pop-wolf in rock-sheep clothing" is very apt...and I don't mean that as an insult; it is what it is.

[Japhy]

Not the most in-depth review by the NME but, wow, they scored it an 8... i'm really surprised but then they've gotten more in touch with the "pop" side of things recently so maybe i shouldn't be.

The record is starting to level out for me now... i like 1-3 a lot, very indifferent on 4-6, back in the game on 7 through 10. I love Broken People but wonder if omitting the "rock out" section would have made it a touch more interesting.

Overall, the record with all it's layers, bells and whistles does remind me of the Big Pink album (also produced by Costey) but the difference is that they could transmit most of it live as one of the guys uses a huge synth... i don't see how Janes can do the majority of these live (as per record at least) without something similar. Maybe they could use strings on the "next album" to fill out the sound and then use a small string section live.

[Tyler Durden]

Not the most in-depth review by the NME but, wow, they scored it an 8... i'm really surprised but then they've gotten more in touch with the "pop" side of things recently so maybe i shouldn't be.

The record is starting to level out for me now... i like 1-3 a lot, very indifferent on 4-6, back in the game on 7 through 10. I love Broken People but wonder if omitting the "rock out" section would have made it a touch more interesting.

Overall, the record with all it's layers, bells and whistles does remind me of the Big Pink album (also produced by Costey) but the difference is that they could transmit most of it live as one of the guys uses a huge synth... i don't see how Janes can do the majority of these live (as per record at least) without something similar. Maybe they could use strings on the "next album" to fill out the sound and then use a small string section live.

Kind of funny when you consider that they had a keyboardist with them on the Strays tour but currently don't.

[Japhy]

Not the most in-depth review by the NME but, wow, they scored it an 8... i'm really surprised but then they've gotten more in touch with the "pop" side of things recently so maybe i shouldn't be.

The record is starting to level out for me now... i like 1-3 a lot, very indifferent on 4-6, back in the game on 7 through 10. I love Broken People but wonder if omitting the "rock out" section would have made it a touch more interesting.

Overall, the record with all it's layers, bells and whistles does remind me of the Big Pink album (also produced by Costey) but the difference is that they could transmit most of it live as one of the guys uses a huge synth... i don't see how Janes can do the majority of these live (as per record at least) without something similar. Maybe they could use strings on the "next album" to fill out the sound and then use a small string section live.

Kind of funny when you consider that they had a keyboardist with them on the Strays tour but currently don't.

Absolutely... i was thinking the same. Bizarre isn't it, but then that's this band all over. I just don't see the point in making a record (as much as i like it) that you can't come close to replicating live.

[ESY]

Never stopped the beatles.

[Tyler Durden]

Never stopped the beatles.

Yes it did. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966.

[Japhy]

Never stopped the beatles.

Yes it did. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966.

[ESY]

That's because they made studio albums after that. What Perry's Janes should be doing now.

[Pandemonium]

Kind of funny when you consider that they had a keyboardist with them on the Strays tour but currently don't.

They don't have to pay a laptop loaded with samples and a foot switch a salary like they would some keyboard player.

[Tyler Durden]

Kind of funny when you consider that they had a keyboardist with them on the Strays tour but currently don't.

They don't have to pay a laptop loaded with samples and a foot switch a salary like they would some keyboard player.

[Artemis]

Here's one more review from NOW Toronto in this week's issue. Sounds liek the reviewer reads the board.

NOW Rating N N (5)

Reader's Rating
Disc Review

Jane’s Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
(Capitol)
By Jason Keller

Good on Eric Avery for getting out of Jane’s Addiction when he did. The former bassist and founding member who reluctantly rejoined only to re-quit soon after might have saved this mistake of an album had he stayed. Then again, maybe not; Jane’s are barely a real band any more. They still tour, but when it comes to songwriting they email each other tracks rather than get into a room together, despite the fact that they all live in L.A.

Then there’s the bass issue, which isn’t going away. The remaining members haven’t successfully replaced Avery’s distinct sonic direction, which largely made this band what it is – or was. Duff McKagan joined briefly and co-wrote three of the new album’s tracks. TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek also contributes bass parts, though nothing of note creatively. Meanwhile, session man Chris Chaney is invisible.

A few times they get it right, like on Irresistible Force and Broken People. Sadly, Jane’s Addiction lost the fire ages ago and are now sleepwalking through the ashes.

Top track: Broken People

[Kajicat]

So, when is someone going to take all of the positive reviews (4/5, 8/10, 5/5, etc.) and post them in the "Reception" section of the Wikipedia entry for TGEA...?

Or we could only post the negative reviews, especially that F rating given from A.V. Club.

[chaos]

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/mu ... he-great1/

Music Review: Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist
Author: Jordan Richardson — Published: Nov 09, 2011 at 7:39 am

The Great Escape Artist is Jane’s Addiction’s fourth studio album. For a band that’s been in and out and in and out and in and out of business since 1988’s Nothing Shocking, four albums may even seem like a stretch. Yet here it is, complete with frontman Perry Farrell’s insistence on moving forward and the band’s revolving door of members settling down long enough to record something.

The seed for The Great Escape Artist was planted in 2010 just after Eric Avery’s departure. A number of musicians came in and out of the Jane’s Addiction fold during the process of writing the record, with Duff McKagan sticking around for nine months and TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek joining the band on bass. Former Jane’s bassist Chris Chaney also got his feet wet along the road.

The band considers the process of growth and change as necessary, for it put Jane’s Addiction on the road to right where it needed to be. This record is the culmination of that process, apparently, but it lacks central focus and a sense of identity.
Jane’s is happily vigorous from the outset, leading with “Underground.” The track is packed with impressive effects and a solid riff from guitarist Dave Navarro. Noises shoot through, punching holes in the mix as Farrell hikes through the song’s anthemic yet distorted chorus.

The arena rock sound courses through most of the record and the tracks come refined with a substantial quantity of studio polish. It’s perhaps a fitting sound for a rock band looking to find its way yet again, but The Great Escape Artist lacks the unprotected passion of previous albums. As such, the songs rarely connect emotionally.

Take the chopped-up lead single “End to the Lies.” The track packs thunderous bass and a hefty dosage of reverb-infused effects, but Farrell’s puerile lyrics leave a lot to be desired. “You talk about me so much that I think that you’re in love with me,” he sings, apparently directing his flaccid acrimony at Avery. “Yeah, it’s true. You do. You’re busted!”

Another problem is that Jane’s Addiction seems to have tried to make a Muse record and wound up making a subpar U2 record. This struggle with identity is obvious throughout most of the disc’s 40 or so minutes, with the last song (“Words Right Out of My Mouth”) finally seizing the band’s eccentric, frenzied bravura a moment or two too late.

But comparisons to Bono and the boys are hard to avoid so long as tracks like “Curiosity Kills” are present. Sounding like an Achtung Baby reject, the track really hits its Irish gait when Navarro breaks out an Edge-style guitar solo toward the end.

“Twisted Tales” finds Farrell aping Bono, while “Broken People” and “Irresistible Force (Met the Immovable Object)” provoke dreams of the 360° Tour. It’s only when Jane’s steps out to actually devise something moderately fresh, like the hip electronica of “Splash a Little Water On It,” that we get the sense this California band still knows who it is.

The colourful personalities in Jane’s Addiction have always been quite robust, careening to ill-fated points of destruction and division at times. Sadly, The Great Escape Artist contains very little of that brash temperament and, as a result, is one of the band’s most uninteresting outings to date.

[Larry B.]

Spot on

[Hokahey]

They get buried by the weight of their prior greatness. Taken as an album by a different band, TGEA is a decent record, and that's more than I hoped for.

[Tyler Durden]

They get buried by the weight of their prior greatness. Taken as an album by a different band, TGEA is a decent record, and that's more than I hoped for.

I would describe it as a decent album as well. That being said...with an ENORMOUS amount of music at our disposal (thanks to the internet), a "decent" album just isn't something worth spending much time listening to.

[Jasper]

Spot on

I don't really think so. For one thing, this guy seems unable to detect various influences, so he just goes wild with a really obvious name - U2. Then he derides or ignores what I'd say are most of the best songs, and praises my least favorites.

[CaseyContrarian]

Spot on

I don't really think so. For one thing, this guy seems unable to detect various influences, so he just goes wild with a really obvious name - U2. Then he derides or ignores what I'd say are most of the best songs, and praises my least favorites.

Also, he can't write for shit. Which seems to be a recurring theme.

[Jasper]

ALLMUSIC review
http://allmusic.com/album/the-great-esc ... t-r2250598

TGEA got 3.5 stars (Strays got 3 stars)

Taking their sweet time to bounce back from the indifferent reception to their 2003 reunion Strays, Jane's Addiction reemerges eight years later with The Great Escape Artist, an album that draws a direct connection to the group's murkier, dramatic moments. Part of this return to the mystic could be due to TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek manning bass for the majority of the album, but his artful spaciness is grounded by numerous songwriting collaborations with Guns N' Roses Duff McKagan, thereby offering a tidy encapsulation of Jane's Addiction's yin and yang: whenever they threaten to float too far off into space, they're pulled back to earth by a heavy dose of Sunset Strip sleaze. This tension had urgency in the '80s, now it’s delivered with finesse, enough so that the whole of The Great Escape Artist appears to favor spaciness even when guitars are grinding out metallic grease. Frankly, the shift toward the ethereal is a welcome relief after the clean lines and bright L.A. sun of Strays, an album that emphasized rock over art. Here, the preference is reversed and the group reaps some benefits, often touching upon the dark, boundless exotica of Nothing's Shocking yet managing to avoid desperation; instead of re-creating sounds, they've recaptured the vibe, which is enough to keep The Great Escape Artist absorbing even when it begins to drift.