strays vs. the great escape artist

[panicparty]

On TGEA the songs suck and there's not one intense, ugly, dangerous moment on the whole thing.

I think there's one - about a minute into the foreskin song, Dave throws down a some guitar that, to me, sounds angry, ugly, savage even. Probably reading way, way too much into it because of the song context, but every time I hear it I think about Dave feeling angry or betrayed by a former close friend he feels let him down, and expressing it through his fingers rather than via a stoned rant on a radio show. It's only a few seconds, but every time I hear it, it gives me that "shivers" feeling you can get from classic Jane's. Nothing on Strays has ever given me that.

Not sure I'd claim that TGEA is Jane's Addiction's finest work, but I'm coming to the view that it may be Dave Navarro's creative high point, bearing in mind that he joined Jane's with a good part of the canon already written (if not fully formed). It seems very, very clear to me that at least one member of the band was very much bothered about making TGEA as good as it could be, and if Eric's brief rapprochement with the band achieved anything, maybe it got Dave closer to the musical spirit of "1.0" Jane's than he was around the time of Strays...

[stonevibe]

Sorry.

But both of those albums are terrible.

[tubro]

strays, although, in a sad foreshadow of what was to come, by the time it actually came out they had pretty much wrecked it. but the demos, and the pre-release show i saw at irving plaza, rang very true to me as a continuation of what was then still an act packed with vibe and legacy. TGEA has its moments too but the truth is that, once in a blue moon, i have an urge to listen to Strays or a Strays era show, while i don't think i've listened to TGEA more than once or twice.

[bman]

TGEA and the TGEA Tour were much better than Strays and that Strays tour.

[Hype]

TGEA and the TGEA Tour were much better than Strays and that Strays tour.

Yeah but Perry's voice wasn't. And that was already an issue back in 2003.

[Pandemonium]

TGEA and the TGEA Tour were much better than Strays and that Strays tour.

Um, no.

[Matz]

+ 1 you know you're preferring tuned down Janes, right?! Plus Dave was a cooler guitar player then

[Hokahey]

TGEA and the TGEA Tour were much better than Strays and that Strays tour.

We can debate which album was better all day, but if anyone wants to say Strays Lolla was better than Theater of the Escapist...well....they'd be wrong.

Glitzy outdoor-shed jane's versus grittier theater Jane's. Hmmm

[bman]

Strays Lolla was SOOOO frikking bad. And I was front row. That tour seemed like the band wasn't really tight at all. Half assed shows and you could tell they fucking hated eachother. It seemed so fake. TGEA tour, especially the first leg, was really good and they seemed like a real band. And Perry wasn't totally glam like 2003.

[Pandemonium]

TGEA and the TGEA Tour were much better than Strays and that Strays tour.

We can debate which album was better all day, but if anyone wants to say Strays Lolla was better than Theater of the Escapist...well....they'd be wrong.

Glitzy outdoor-shed jane's versus grittier theater Jane's. Hmmm

The pre-Strays NYE show at the end of '02, meh though it was, was overall a better show then the TGEA show I saw almost exactly a decade later at the same venue (The Wiltern). Probably my biggest bitch when comparing the two tours is I can only stand one song off TGEA while I like several songs off Strays, thus sitting through some of the TGEA dreck they played this past tour like Splash a Little Water complete with actor dork in the background really brought the show down for me.

[Matz]

Splash is probably the worst Jane's song of all time, it's embarrassing

[Hype]

Splash is probably the worst Jane's song of all time, it's embarrassing

It makes the "Teddy Ruxpin Theme Song" feel of "To Match the Sun" look like it never existed. I don't know when the hell they became an incredibly boring adult contemporary ripoff of innumerable worse bands, but man... that song is like something Enya and Bono would collaborate on... fucking brainmeltingly stupid.

I can't vote on this thread's poll though. I dislike both albums about equally, in that I don't have any desire to listen to them, ever (even though with both I definitely tried to like them, listening just to see if the songs got better over time. They did not.).

[Noonesshocking]

Splash is probably the worst Jane's song of all time, it's embarrassing

It really is impossibly bad. Especially those fucking lyrics.

[Artemis]

I think Broken People is on par with Splash. When TGEA first came out I liked Broken People now, but now I furrow my brow and scrunch up my nose when I hear it.

A song that sounds pretty good to me now is Twisted Tales. I just listened to it after not hearing it since TGEA came out. Did they ever do this one live? I don't think so.

[clickie]

I like Splash. I like the chorus and the way the song builds up to it towards the end. .To enjoy any of Strays or TGEA you should probably imagine them as an entirely different band.

[clickie]

I also like how sincere Perry sounds singing that song. I dont own TGEA but if thats one of the weakest songs i'll buy it. Irresistible Force is such a dead end song that goes nowhere.

[Pandemonium]

A song that sounds pretty good to me now is Twisted Tales. I just listened to it after not hearing it since TGEA came out. Did they ever do this one live? I don't think so.

They played Twisted Tales about half the shows through the last tour. Here's one of the better live clips:



I was surprised to find they also played Broken People - looking at this clip, I can see why it was rarely played:

[sinep]

what the fuck?

why is old man christmas wandering around on stage?

[Hokahey]

I like Splash quite a bit. And IF is as musically janes as anything theyve done post ritual.

[Warped]

Strays - i listened to it a lot during the last months.
I can listen to that album without skipping track after track. The only one i skip is Superhero which is the worst Janes song ever. I love True Nature, Just because, Everybody's friend, Price I pay and To match the sun.
I also love Dave's heavier guitar sound on this album.

TGEA - haven't listend to it for quite some time.
Could be so much better considering the snippets we had the pleasure to listen to before the final product came out.
Nice and moody guitar work which i love too. Lyrics kill it for me. I love ETTL for the music, it's a great melody. Still my fave is Splash followed by Underground and Twisted Tales, Irresistable Force. I hate Broken people, Words, Ultimate reason.

So my vote goes to Strays. Here we go

[sonny]

this may have been addressed but the easiest way for me to describe the differences in strays & the great escape artist is:

Strays is dave at the helm

the great escape artist is post satellite party perry at the helm.

obviously that's a simplification. i really think after going through various bass players/writing partners dave and perk were just ready to do whatever perry wanted to make a record. they put their flavor here and there, but didn't put up much fight when there were disagreements.

with strays i feel like perry just let dave, perk, & ezrin put out the rock record we got.

even the covers reflect this, with dave and perk as tall, if not taller, than perry in the strays cover photo. and perry trying to imagine himself as a young kid again, with the great escape artist.


the great escape artist shows perry can still write a good tune or two, but has mostly lost his great lyric abilities long ago. he has no one to push him, and no one to drive him to make good art. any art is suddenly good enough because it has perry farrell's name on it. the name is good enough to sell practically anything they want to put out as music. or at least sell some.

the great escape artist sounds half done to me. like no one cared to finish the beginnings of songs perry brought in, which is where we are with jane's addiction. no one cares anymore, not even the band.

[Essence_Smith]

I think we're all looking at anything post Strays with a different set of eyes now...people have kinda lost hope. I like the recorded version of Twisted...Underground is ok too...I still like hearing Perry's voice...but the songs themselves sound like they weren't written by the same band that wrote Ritual and could have been done by any modern rock band. Very stylized, slick and uninspired...Strays has some flourishes that make it remind us a little of the original incarnation, but ummm yeah those reviews were pretty on point. Dudes are just going through the motions and they know it too...

[JOEinPHX]

I would disagree with sonny.

Dave clearly made both those albums. He got his "rock god" out on Strays, and went into his more textural spacy stuff on TGEA, but they were both written by him.

In fact Dave was the one who commented on DM that he would spend all day at the studio turning knobs until someone came in and told him to stop, and we all know Perry just did his vocals in his home studio with Etty.

Both albums are Dave's albums.

[bman]

I actually like the tuned down live version of Just Because now much more than the Strays version.

[Hokahey]

I would disagree with sonny.

Dave clearly made both those albums. He got his "rock god" out on Strays, and went into his more textural spacy stuff on TGEA, but they were both written by him.

In fact Dave was the one who commented on DM that he would spend all day at the studio turning knobs until someone came in and told him to stop, and we all know Perry just did his vocals in his home studio with Etty.

Both albums are Dave's albums.

Except we know Perry brought in Underground as a mostly finished tune. Interestingly it's the best song on the album.

As much as I think Sonny is a goon I agree with his assessment.