ALICE IN CHAINS — Jar Of Flies (review)

ALICE IN CHAINS — Jar Of Flies album cover EP · 1994 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Pekka
Following the Dirt world tour Alice in Chains did what they had done between their last two albums: holed up in the studio with acoustic guitars and a couple of other gadgets to have some pressure-free fun. The seven songs eventually released as Jar of Flies were composed and recorded during one seven day session in late 1993.

Exactly like the Sap EP two years previously, the material on Jar of Flies is composed and built on acoustic instruments and flavored by electric spices. The band had switched their bassist Mike, sacking Starr and hiring Inez, and the newcomer starts contributing right away having co-written four of the seven songs. Much like Iron Maiden's introduction of Nicko McBrain on Piece of Mind, AiC introduces Mike Inez with the brilliant bass pattern starting Rotten Apple. On top of his acoustic bass Jerry Cantrell adds his talk box guitar and while that seems like an unnatural pair in the end Rotten Apple is one of AiC's finest pieces ever.

And not the only good one here. The next three tracks Nutshell, I Stay Away with its great string arrangement and No Excuses with a quirky drum pattern by Sean Kinney are all top notch pieces of work. After them the quality drops a bit, but the beautiful instrumental - the only one they've ever recorded - Whale & Wasp and the half-Jerry half-Layne sung Don't Follow are solid pieces both. The closer I-might-look-like-shit-but-I'm-OK-so-leave-me-be groove piece Swing on This doesn't really fit among the other more subdued songs and is quite a disappointing closer after such a great string of songs. Not bad at all, just a bit too different and not quite as good.

One of my favourite EPs ever and an important counterpart to their heavier electric albums. Absolutely recommendable.
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