... Whenever you talk about grunge music people suddenly think of Nirvana, and their album 'Nevermind', but personally I think Alice In Chains 'Dirt' is a far better album, and I think that any alternative music fan should give this album a listen.
The track list on the back of the album is ... Read review
Alice In Chains were initially tagged with the "grunge" moniker, when in fact their ... more
haunting, ponderous sound was far closer to the progressive rock of Queensryche. Their second albumDirtwas a moody, portentous affair, filled with occasionally inspired...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Alice In Chains were initially tagged with the "grunge" moniker, when in fact their ... more
haunting, ponderous sound was far closer to the progressive rock of Queensryche. Their second albumDirtwas a moody, portentous affair, filled with occasionally inspired...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Alice In Chains were initially tagged with the "grunge" moniker, when in fact their ... more
haunting, ponderous sound was far closer to the progressive rock of Queensryche. Their second album Dirt was a moody, portentous affair, filled with occasionally inspir...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Alice In Chains were initially tagged with the "grunge" moniker, when in fact their ... more
haunting, ponderous sound was far closer to the progressive rock of Queensryche. Their second album Dirt was a moody, portentous affair, filled with occasionally inspir...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 2 to 4 weeks...
Advantages: An Excellent album! Disadvantages: Unnecessary Interlude track messes up the track listing.
...so bad'
Dirt is the title track, and is another joint effort from Cantrell and Staley. The lyrics to this are very depressing/ suicidal, I’ve always imagined its about an ex-girlfriend but the song could me about anyone 'You, you use your talent to dig me under, and cover me with dirt' It shows that words and actions can cause people to crack and is what causes people to commit suicide.
Godsmack is another Layne/ Cantrell ... ...think the key word in the title is 'God', but this song is actually about 'Smack' and it is best summed up from the closing line 'And God's name is smack for some'. This song isn’t trying to encourage drug use though, it is showing the effects of drug abuse.
Hate To Feel is the first song on the album written entirely by Staley, its heard to work out what the song is about, but I would guess from the verse 'I can see, yeah (Wish I ... more
I can honestly say this is one of the greatest albums I have ever listened to. Its such a shame that when I mention the name 'Alice In Chains' to people, the usual reply I get is 'who?' or occasionally the witty comment about a vision someone has in their head from the bands name.
Its fair to say music a lot of new music in the 'alternative' genre is crap, but it is also fair to say that a lot of small bands have great potential and grunge is starting to make a comeback. Whenever you talk about grunge music people suddenly think of Nirvana, and their album 'Nevermind', but personally I think Alice In Chains 'Dirt' is a far better album, and I think that any alternative music fan should give this album a listen.
The track list on the back of the album is actually wrong, because there in an interlude track, so here is the correct track listing incase you buy the album and get confused:
1 Them Bones 2 Dam That River 3 Rain When I Die 4 Sickman 5 Rooster 6 Junkhead 7 Dirt 8 Godsmack 9 Hate To Feel 10 Iron Gland 11 Angry Chair 12 Down In A Hole 13 Would?
My dad managed to get me a copy of this excellent album in the HMV sale for just £5! I would suggest checking HMV, they sometimes have it at this price even when there isn’t a sale on, if the album is priced at more then £10 then it is best trying Ebay (I’ve seen copies going for about £6, sometimes even less!).
The band members of Alice In Chains have been through a lot, and had a lot of personal problems;
Layne Staley, main vocalist (who also plays guitar on this album) died from a drug overdose in 2001.
Jerry Cantrell, main guitarist & lyric writer, and founding member of the band, is still trying to come to terms with the death of Staley. Cantrell has released some awesome solo albums, but is no longer with any of the labels he released his albums with, I hope he finds a new label and releases soon!
Mike Starr, bassist on the album, left the band after this album because of drug troubles, he was replaced by Mike Inez.
Sean Kinney, Drums, has been with the band on all of their releases and worked with Cantrell on some of the tracks on his solo album 'Boggy Depot'.
One of my favourite aspects of the band is their excellent lyrics. A lot of thought has been put into all of there songs, and this is reflected by this excellent album.
Them Bones is the opening track from the album, written by Cantrell, it is about death and feeling so down that you feel dead. That’s enough to put you off, AIC are clever how they deliver the message and to most people this would just seem like a rocking track, its only after you put thought into the lyrics that you see how dark they are. This is true of most of the bands tracks.
Dam That River is also written by Cantrell, and has a guitar-wheeling and hard drumming intro, this is one of the tracks best played loud. Again if you look into the lyrics you will see this song has nothing to do with a river or a dam, that’s just one interpretation of it. It is actually about a conflict between two people.
Rain When I Die is written by the whole band, and is about an old relationship, but to someone who couldn’t car what the lyrics are about, this has a great loud chorus which you will enjoy.
Sickman. This track experiments with a wide range of bizarre guitar sounds and is written by Cantrell and Staley. It is about feeling sick inside, as if you feel insane, but if you know your insane then surely you aren’t? I would advise looking through the lyric booklet/poster with the album the first time you listen to the CD. 'What the hell am I/ Leper from inside/ Inside Wall of peace/ Dirty and diseased'.
Rooster is a powerful track. I asked a friend who is into the new manufactured rap/metal to listen to it and he said it was awful. This reassured me that it is an excellent track, but who needs reassuring? Its starts of very calm and breaks into heavy moments. It is about Jerry Cantrell’s father, Jerry Cantrell Snr AKA 'The Rooster', and his time in the Vietnam war. Staley sings as if he was Cantrell’s father in the War thinking to himself. I’ve seen some of the video to this track which features war footage and it is very sickening. This is an awesome track, and one which will make you think about how shit war really is.
Junkhead is written by both Cantrell and Staley and is about drug abuse. Unlike artists like Eminem and Linkin Park, these guys actually do write from experience and don’t make it up. One of my favourite verses in the whole album comes from this song 'Seems so sick to the hypocrite norm/ Running their boring drills/ But we are an elite race of our own/ The stoners, junkies and freaks'. Another favourite line from his track is 'If you let yourself go and opened your mind, you’d be doing like me, And it aint so bad'
Dirt is the title track, and is another joint effort from Cantrell and Staley. The lyrics to this are very depressing/ suicidal, I’ve always imagined its about an ex-girlfriend but the song could me about anyone 'You, you use your talent to dig me under, and cover me with dirt' It shows that words and actions can cause people to crack and is what causes people to commit suicide.
Godsmack is another Layne/ Cantrell track and another drug-related song. At first you would think the key word in the title is 'God', but this song is actually about 'Smack' and it is best summed up from the closing line 'And God's name is smack for some'. This song isn’t trying to encourage drug use though, it is showing the effects of drug abuse.
Hate To Feel is the first song on the album written entirely by Staley, its heard to work out what the song is about, but I would guess from the verse 'I can see, yeah (Wish I couldn’t see at all)/ I can feel, yeah (Wish I couldn’t feel at all)/ Hate to see (wish I couldn’t see at all)/ Hate to feel (wish I couldn’t feel at all)' that this song is about not being happy about the world around you.
The next track, Iron Gland, is the interlude track which messes up the track listing and is an unnecessary addition to the album. It isn’t a song, just a weird laugh and I don’t think they should have bothered including it on the album.
Angry Chair is the only other track (other than Hate To Feel) written entirely by Staley, and you’ll enjoy this track when it gets into the main chorus, the vocals are hard hitting at first, but are softer in the main chorus.
My favourite track of the album is Down In A Hole, one of my favourite songs, the vocals are calm, even when they get louder. Its about feeling small and one of my favourite lines of the song is 'I'd like to fly, but my wings have been so denied'. Written entirely by Cantrell, this is an excellent song, even if your not a fan of this kind of music its worth borrowing the album and listening to this track!
Would? Every album has to come to an end, and this is a good track to end with. In the UK this is one of the few tracks still getting played on MTV2, and also there only song to get into the top 20 chart in the UK.
Four tracks from this album have got into the UK Top 40;
Would? #19 Them Bones #26 Angry Chair #33 Down In A Hole #36
The album was released in 1992, but I don’t think the songs have aged, I prefer them to all the new bands on the alternative scene at the moment.
Released back in 1992, Alice in Chains' second full length 'Dirt' is a brilliantly-executed mix of grunge, alt rock and metal, bolstered by warm acoustic passages and bluesy/classic rock guitar solos. The self-pitying lyrics deal with the issues of severe drug addiction, painful relationships, and feelings of worthlessness and resignation, and whilst they do on occasion slip into cliché they still manage to come across as disarmingly honest and emotionally ... ...an overdose in his apartment a decade later following years of steadily declining health, making the album seem incredibly poignant as Layne tries to come to terms with his addiction and the premature death that he seems to view as being inevitable. Every song on the album has its own unique sense of character, and there is inventiveness present throughout, the songs leaping from crushing, doomy black-sabbath like riffs one minute to rock ballad-like ...
Burning_Darkness 06.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Dirt - Alice In Chains
Advantages: Lots of good songs Disadvantages: Depressing and sometimes not very musical
This is one of those albums that is just simply good. When it was given to me by a friend on the first couple of listens it was nothing special, but once I listened to it enough times it was appreciable. Now it is one of my favourite albums. It is one of the slightly less well know of the "Seattle 4" grunge grorups but is nevertheless a good one. It has far more melodic choruses than theire counterpart Nirvana yet still somehow manages to be hard, ... ...good although slightly unusual american voice that gives the impression that he has had somekind of operatic training, from listening to the tremolo in the song "God Smack". This shows some of their originality. The music is very drug orientated and quite depressing. My parents were quite shocked when they heard the line "I want you to kill me" in the song "dirt". However, dispite this, or even because of this if you like your music depressing, it ...
unclebenson 09.03.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Dirt - Alice In Chains
"Dirt" was Alice in Chains' breakthrough album. Prior to this they had been more of a glam metal band as can be seen on their first album "Facelift". "Dirt" brought a marked change in direction and with it worldwide acclaim, due in no small part to the grunge "phenomenon" that was occurring at the time.
"Dirt" is gloomy, heavy, slick and well, dirty. It's no coincidence that the title of the album is itself a direct reference to heroin, which maligned ... ...it stand apart from most of its contemporaries is that every song is a gem, with "Down in a Hole" and "Would?" being my personal favourites. After this album the band took another sharp left turn, dealing in murkier and murkier territory and losing some of their mainstream appeal (althouh none of their artistic credibility) but this is the moment for which mot people will remember them. The album is well worth buying, particularly if you are a fan ...
bagoproverbial 27.11.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Dirt - Alice In Chains
Advantages: Layne Staley was able to give us this wonderful music before he passed on Disadvantages: Layne Staley is no longer alive
Alice in Chains is my favorite group hands down. This album is excellent. I love the masculinity of Layne Staley's and Jerry Cantrell's voices coupled with the dark melodic sound of each song. These guys are both super talented musicians, as well as the other two members of the band. The harmonies created by Layne's and Jerry's voices are absolutely amazing. They really compliment each other as well as make a perfect accompaniment to the music. While ...
chartreused 11.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Dirt - Alice In Chains
Advantages: A classic as far as grunge is concerned, a lot better than their other stuff Disadvantages: Unpleasantly dark at times, some definite fillers
Never been much of a grunge man, me, but Alice In Chains are much more rockin' than their peers. If Pearl Jam are the Led Zeppelin of the grunge world (drawn out, pretentious, overated), and Nirvana are Jimi Hendrix (copiously talented, druggy, tragically ended), then Alice In Chains are surely Black Sabbath, with a much dirtier and more rock sound than the punk-esque stylings of Nirvana. This is a pretty difficult album, with unflinching tales of ... ...songs. A band of very talented musicians, the vocals are deep and throaty (and are actual singing as opposed to croaking), with some excellent, ghostly harmonies throughout. And while the visceral rock of "them bones" and "dam that river" are satisfying enough, Alice In Chains have really sublime moments when they step off the pedal for brooding, dark songs like the frankly amazing twosome of "dirt" and grunge-anthem "would?". It's tracks like these ...
barknee 13.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Dirt - Alice In Chains
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Quality and consistency...
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Advantages: Last chance to hear Layne, Heaven Beside You Disadvantages: Some songs are stretched rather thin
This was the final release for the band before Layne Staleys untimely, but ultimately expected death. After wrestling for years with Heroin addiction, Layne ultimately succumbed and passed away, but not without leaving one last reminder of his majesterial voice.
Even though this collection of songs isnt up to par with their classic 'Dirt', their is enough evidence here that AliceinChains could have continued to scale the heights only if Layne could have fought off the demon. Songs such as 'Grind' and 'Heaven Beside You' are amongst the strongest the band have ever recorded (the latter being one of the bands most successful single releases)
The almost industrial 'Again' is the hardest thing the band ever recorded, chopping riffs back up with a solid wall of drums, Laynes wail covering everything
There are weaknesses. Some ...
Advantages: Technically superb group of musicians Disadvantages: Sometimes difficult to get into
, the hidden track on Sap. In my eyes, Jar of Flies was the stronger of the two albums, as well as having a couple more tracks on it.
From here I bought a best of collection, featuring ten tracks taken from the bands three main albums, Facelift, Dirt and AliceinChains.
This is a much more accurate sample of the Alice sound, featuring softer songs such as Heaven Beside You and Rooster, but also heavier, darker songs such as Them Bones and Angry Chair. I would recommend this album as a good starting point. If you prefer the softer songs, then buy Jar of Flies/Sap and MTV Unplugged. If the heavier, darker songs are more your style, then I would recommend you buy Dirt, then Facelift, then AliceinChains.
The MTV Unplugged album is an interesting one. It takes a lot of Alice songs which lend themselves to such an acoustic show easily (Rooster ...
Advantages: There are no bad tracks Disadvantages: None
chorus and great guitar work. A very passionate song.
"Remember" - is a more traditional rock track.
"Deny Me" - starts with a very jangly guitar, reminiscent of "Dirt" era AliceInChains. It then gets heavier and more metal with another sing along chorus. Fabulous!
"Something Real" - Very melodic and really shows off the bands diversity.
"Say You Will" - upbeat, bouncy rock track.
"Love Hate Game" - Chugging guitar, catchy chorus. A perfect metal track.
"Obsession" - one of my favourites. A very passionate song in a similar style to "Suffering". Melodic, haunting, beautiful. The perfect ending to a very near perfect rock album.
Sadly this was SOiL's last album with vocalist Ryan McCombs and they have since recruited a new vocalist AJ.
The band line up for this album:
Ryan McCombs - vocals
Shaun Glass - Guitar ...
Product Information for "Dirt - Alice In Chains" »
Product details
Title
Dirt
Performer
Alice In Chains
Genre
Rock & Pop
Sub Genre
Grunge
Release Date
10/12/2001
Recomended Retail Price
8.99 GBP
Original Release Year
1992
Label / Distributor
Columbia / Sony Music/Arvato Services
Engineer
Bryan Carlstrom
Producer
Dave Jerden; Alice In Chains
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
5099747233029
Catalogue Number
4723302
Additional notes
Album Notes
Alice In Chains: Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell (vocals, guitar); Michael Starr (bass); Sean Kinney (drums). Additional personnel: Tom Araya (background vocals). Recorded in 1992. Brutal and hard but exciting and surprisingly melodic, DIRT made Alice In Chains national stars in 1992 after being around the Seattle alternative rock scene for many years. They produce a blindingly together sound, with the bass of Mike Starr able to switch between following the bass drum beat and cloning Jerry Cantrell's guitar note for note, albeit a few octaves lower. They have such polish that they are often reminiscent of the heyday of Led Zeppelin. Lyrically they plow the familiar angst furrow with tracks such as 'Junkhead', 'Sickman' and 'God Smack'. Equally satisfying are 'Them Bones' and 'Rooster', which saw them start in a direction that led to Jar Of Flies two years later.
Album Reviews
Entertainment Weekly (10/16/92, p.76) - "...The pain and insight that went into these 12 songs make Alice In Chains shine above and beyond most of its Seattle neighbors..." - Rating: A Spin (11/92, p.114) - Recommended - "...There's a brutal, though troubling, honesty in the lyrics...as a means of cutting yourself open and letting the listener look inside, Alice In Chains has certainly spit out a mouthful..." Q (2/02, p.120) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...DIRT's layered harmonies and fashionable nihilism transformed AIC from sludge metal also-rans to short-lived stars of the post-grunge landscape..." Vox (12/92, p.63) - 8 - Very Good - "...At their best guitarist Jerry Cantrell's towering riffs and singer Layne Staley's impassioned caterwaul make for a dramatic, vital dose of New Metal..." Alternative Press (3/93, p.40) - "...a big leap forward from 1990's FACELIFT. Where the latter was buried deep under water, DIRT surfs with abandon..."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Them Bones
2.
Dam That River
3.
Rain When I Die
4.
Sick Man
5.
Rooster
6.
Junkhead
7.
Dirt
8.
God Smack
9.
Hate To Feel
10.
Angry Chair
11.
Down In A Hole
12.
Would
13.
Would?
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