How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Good
Value for Money
Advantages:
Quality tracks with excellent music & lyrics .
Disadvantages:
Its a 7 track EP, so make sure youre not paying album price for it .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
First of all, if you haven’t heard any Alice in Chains stuff before, I wouldn’t start with this EP. Although it is excellent, the band have taken a different approach to what they do on their albums, and I would start with either 1992's 'Dirt' or their 1996 Self-titled album as they are longer and offer a better introduction to the band.
At the point of Jar of Flies' release, Alice In Chains were already huge. They had released two EP's 'We Die Young' and 'Sap' and had released two huge albums 'Facelift' and 'Dirt'. They had toured with bands such as Megadeath, Slayer and Ozzy Osborne and had a number of videos playing on MTV. Despite the success, the band were having problems.
Bassist Mike Starr was having drug troubles, and the pressure of touring had got too much for him so he had to leave AIC. He was replaced by ex-ozzy bassist Mike Inez, and after touring they went into the studio to record Jar Of Flies, the first recording with Mike Inez in the line-up.
Jar Of Flies was originally released together with an earlier EP 'Sap', but was later released on its own. It is probably cheaper if your bought the double EP set rather than buying them individually.
The Jar OF Flies EP has 7 tracks. One of these tracks, 'Whale & Wasp', is purely instrumental, and shows what the band are capable of with some awesome guitaring. Two singles were released off the EP, 'No Excuses' & 'I Stay Away', these are both very catchy tracks and No Excuses is one of my favourite tracks from the EP. The whole EP is different from the bands previous work, they take more of an acoustic approach, and this is one of their calmer releases! The track 'Don’t Follow' is very effective because Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell split the vocals in half, Cantrell singing the first half of the song and Staley singing the second half. As well as the usual guitaring and drumming, violins, Cellos and a harmonica is used on the EP.
One of the most memorable tracks of the EP is Layne Staley’s haunting song NUTTSHELL, this track was recently covered by Adema on their EP. Written 8 years before Staley’s drug-overdose death this track is an important track in the bands history, with the eerie verse;
'And yet I fight, and yet I fight, this battle all alone. No one to cry to, no place to call home'.
This EP is a must have for all Alice in Chains fans.
More details
How does it rate alongside the competition
Outstanding
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Good
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
