Customer Reviews

Jane's Addiction

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

the review calls the cover version of Sympathy for the Devil "dubious." dubious nothing. Perry Farrell makes a better devil than Mick Jagger any day. the segue from Rock 'n Roll to Sympathy might be the best moment on the album.

yes, it's a live performance, recorded at the Roxy in LA, I believe, but they did some studio overdubbing so that the sound quality does not suffer. besides... Jane's is, above all, a live band. their recordings are great, but live play is where they really deliver.

only two of the songs on this album are recorded on the studio albums (Pigs in Zen and Jane Says). there are some high-quality songs here that you need to hear to understand the full Jane's Addiction vibe. Whores and Trip Away, especially, are old-time fan favorites that the more discerning Jane's fan looks forward to at a live show. Chip Away, a raging, percussive exercise in drum thunder and spooky downtempo vocals, is the song they used to close the show during their 2001 tour, and that one brings down the house.

it's an interesting look into the band's raw and gritty club days. it's not as immediately accessible as their other work, but it certainly grows on you over time. this album won't have the broad appeal that the two later studio albums did, but it's a must-have for any Jane's fan. if you own Ritual de lo Habitual and Nothing's Shocking, and you really enjoyed them, pick this one up. if you don't own any Jane's, I'd definitely suggest you get Nothing's Shocking or Ritual first.

I discovered Jane's with their album Nothing's Shocking and it changed my life. I was a devout metalhead at that time and was a huge fan of Metallica( that was the glory days of Metallica). Jane's slowly but surely became my favorite band. I bought this album somtime around 1989 I believe. I love this album it is a really raw sounding record and it shows how powerful the band was at that time. The song that became my favorite and was the main reason I bought the album was the cover of Sympathy for the Devil. Jane's made that song seem very eerie more so than The Stones ever did. Jane's made me realize that music should make you experience the feelings and emotions in the songs. They turned me from a metalhead to an alternative fan for life. Maybe I am being too sentimental or just reacting like most people as they get older but I miss the way the bands were during the years of 1988 till about 1997. Music was fun to me then and I was always discovering new bands to listen to. I find myself going back to listen to my older cd's now and rediscovering all this great music now because I just don't see that many amazing new bands anymore.

Jane's Addiction had the gall and attitude to release their very first EP as a live album. That alone should tell you where this disc is coming from. Unlike what the Editorial would make you think, theres nothing punk about Janes, they've always been the red, raw underbelly of a bizarre experiment with Glam Rock and Psychedelia, and there is no better way to hear them than this live, no coverups or touch ups gem.

I personally tend to HATE live discs as they sound like that bunch of garbage the Hendrix estate has been putting out that were no more than cheap bootlegs, but this disc is nothing of the sort. The first few times I heard this, I had no clue it was live, I thought they were adding crowd sounds to give it a feel, and there isn't much of that. The performance is phenominal, and the mix is amazingly consistent for live disc.

If you love Janes and you don't have this one yet, buy it now. You can kick yourself later.

I understand that the new Jane's Album is fantastic for what it is...but ahh why the caveat? Live, Shocking and Ritual, that's why! Listen to this album to hear Jane's for what they truly were. The glory of down and dirty rock neo-punk, an orgy for the ears. It oozes a dirty sexuality that you fear but cannot ignore. This disk has it all. Ladies and Gentlemen this is it. The real thing. When you realize that this is recorded in 1986-1987 you will understand how ahead these guys really were. Bring

Back Eric Avery!!!!!

We're all pushed out of the womb several times in life. The first when we enter this world (thanks mom!) The second push comes as a teenager you become aware of a world so vast, and so beyond your imagination that for a moment you are suspended in incomprehensible confusion and rage and devotion and ideas and it didn't matter if you were a maladjusted teen jerk-off or a hardcore punk, but a dreadded guy in a dress and big yellow micky mouse gloves is kissing his lead guitarist as sound and light and drop dead class A freak babes and an overwhelming sense of revolution bombs your brain and you realize that everything had suddenly changed forever. For hundreds of thousands of kids around the world in the late 80's, Janes was right there pushing and pulling us out of our wombs into new lives. And ... those mickey mouse gloves were freaky.

Some people were drawn to the genere-crashing sound. Tribal. Metal. Dub. Freaked out f'ed up echo wah solo madness. I was drawn to the poet warrior side of this band. "Chip Away" gets a little maligned in these reviews and it was by far the masterpiece on this record that pushed me out into this world for he second time. It was the crushing power of the drums (played on a mic'd up ice chest live) and the lyrics. God help us those lyrics.

CHIP AWAY
I chip away
Cause I'm not ok
So I
I chip away
Poked a hole right into myself
And inside I found someone
Who said I was O.K.
Still I don't feel easy

On this tree
Among the blossoms
Caustically
I am the thorn
Close my eyes to take up spare time
I wish I just
Could be where the crowd goes
With the crowd
They must be going somewhere

Up from the catacombs
I ran into the angel again
He took the high road
And I took the low road
We both were dirty faces
We both were dirty faces

I don't
I don't
I don't
Don't feel easy
I don't
I don't
I don't
Don't feel easy

Mad poet warriors. No one, now or then, wrote lyrics like that. Now the album sounds like a document of an era. Like a Son House album, an old Dylan record, or the Wailers at their prime. So much has passed since it's introduction that it now seems revolutionary for different reasons than it did at the time, but it's a revolution none the less. Props to mom for the first birth and Perry for the second. I've got to remember to send him a mother's day card.

This is a wonderful album. Its a bit raw and unpolished but that's what makes it so great. This is Jane's Addiction's debut album and it's a live album. The only thing left to say is that this album hinted at the greatness that Nothings Shocking achieved. Check it out. You will be glad you did.

Jane's Addiction is the only band I know who released a live debut album. Any other band would run too great a risk doing that. Not Jane's. They already had an incredible live reputation by 1987.

Particularly the first 5 songs on this live CD prove how good Jane's Addiction already were back then. The interplay of Perry's echoed vocals and Dave's juicy, voluminous guitar playing cause an eargasm, no more no less.
Compared to the band's 1988 studio debut "Nothing's Shocking", however, this is just an embryo. Later, as we know, it would grow into a voluptuous, beautiful girl.

Not every song works as well as the opener "Trip away" or the conscious, street-smart "Whores" and "1%". The covers of "Sympathy for the devil" by Rolling Stones and "Rock'n'roll" by Lou Reed don't leave any impression- these songs were only played for this record and didn't belong to the band's repertoire.

This album features 2 early versions of Jane's Addiction classics "Jane says" and "Pigs in zen", the best song ever written about pigs with a spoken part not featured on "Nothing's Shocking": "The pig is led to the slaughter/This he says is the price some pay for a simple life". Perry's lyrics- deep and insightful as on any Jane's Addiction album.

4 recommending stars for this ear-blowing live disc

I've buy this album in 1988 and i was 14 at this time. During that period i was a singer and guitar player in a metal band. Guys, this album have change my mind totally! I don't like to put the bands in a genre, but if you want to do this, this is pure alternative. As u can see, i wrote from Italy, my english is not so good, and in my Country alternative rock is known at the mass since 1994-95. After this period all the people i know have this cd in their collection! You can't lose it!

This CD is amazing. I heard it one hot summer when I was in High school and now I listen to it before I go to my college classes. Jane's renditon of "Sympathy (for the devil)" must make the Stones proud, it is my fave track. "I would" is incredibly sweet and intense, the whole CD is terrific. I recomend this to everyone, Perry Farell is the best!!

Their other albums might have gotten more attention, but this debut from "Jane's Addiction" is just as good as the next two. In some ways it's better. The big difference is that this is live, and has a much more raw feel, and captures their sound before they got more popular. A much younger "Perry Farrell" adds alot to the music with his unique voice, and "Dave Navarro" plays guitar better than he possibly does today. Plus some absolute classic songs are on here, like "Trip Away", "Whores", "I Would For You", "My Time", and of course "Jane Says". There's also great covers of the "Stones" and "Velvet Underground". Anyone new to this should be greatly impressed, and any major fan will find this as essential as any other album.