Jane's Addiction - Strays

Thu 5th Feb, 2004 in Music Reviews

Thirteen years is a long time between studio albums, and it’s a risky venture. You’ll get accused of selling out, going soft, being out of touch with current tastes, but if it works you’ll get more praise than you ever did at your peak.

Just recently many people were astonished at the last New Order release, Get Ready, eight years since their last offering. Admittedly Republic wasn’t a success, and it had been a long while since New Order had released something as breathtaking as Jane’s Ritual De Lo Habitual. But the thing about Jane’s Addiction is that they never really left us. Dave Navarro? He’s the guy who played in the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a while, and (some would say) sadly appeared as a session musician for both Alanis Morrisette and P Diddy. And then there was Porno for Pyros, the Perry Farrell offshoot that pretty much was Jane’s Addiction. Not to mention the reunion tour they had 1997, and again at the Big Day Out 2003. These guys have always been around but they’ve just stayed out of the studio.

Finally, they have returned to recording, with bassist Chris Chaney replacing original member Eric Avery. They’ve been busy over the past thirteen years, but between doing drugs, rehab and many side projects, these guys have been writing songs. Strays is the result.

True Nature is the album’s opener. Perry Farrell rips into it with his trademarked ‘Here we go’ beginning to the album, and Navarro pulls out a riff that could only be described as a rip-snorter. The listener is at first awestruck, then compelled to effeminately strut around the room like Farrell would if he were singing in your bedroom. Unfortunately, as good as the song is, it hardly sets the tone for the album.

At track 3, we get Just Because, a track that is most reminiscent of older Jane’s Addiction; messy yet accomplished guitar work and the lilting, fragile voice of Perry Farrell. It’s a great song and a perfect single.

Other than that, we are left with a collection of songs that show promise, but deliver little. Price I Pay is a fun song, heralding the ‘with pleasure comes pain’ theme of the Ritual days. Wrong Girl retains a lot of the old jam sound Jane’s Addiction had, with a funky guitar line, and improvised vocals.

Ultimately Strays is an album that sounds like it has been written over thirteen years. It doesn’t have the off the hook jams nor does it have the poetry spoken from the streets that the old albums had. Where are the songs about poignant thought in the shower whilst pissing on yourself? Where is the 10 minute epic about the social ramifications of threesomes? No song comes close.

While both Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual De Lo Habitual sound like they have been written by a bunch of over-sexed junkies, Strays sounds like it has been written by over-worked rockstars.

That is not to say it is a bad album. It delivers more than most washed up dinosaur bands have in the past, and more than critics would have expected. It has worked. True Nature and Just Because have achieved airplay, people in their 20’s are singing along to Jane Says again, and 14 year olds are discovering a band whose back catalogue will mean so much to them. The band is not a laughing stock. And if this album means that they may be touring again sometime in the near future, then it can’t be bad at all.