Review: Alice In Chains-Black Gives Way To Blue

Make no mistake about it, grunge is not back. It has been 12 years since we heard anything from Alice in Chains. 12 long years full of box sets, greatest hits packages and waiting for the inevitable end of Layne Staley. The death of their legendary vocalist in 2002, came as a shock but no surprise to many and finally managed to stop them in their tracks(pun intended). Yet guitarist/vocalist/lyricist Jerry Cantrell still had music in him and went on to release 2 relatively well received solo albums during and after the drugged out demise of Staley: Boggy Depot in 1998 and Degradation Trip in 2002. The AIC fans seemed content with what was left, knowing that replacing Layne was an impossible task.

Flash forward to 2009 and their immensely hyped new album Black Gives Way To Blue and the permanent addition of "new singer" William DuVall to the band. DuVall is a talented singer who has actually been a part of AIC since a reunion tour in 2006. His vocals loom around the same register as Staley, but he certainly isn't a clone.. The problem may or may not be the effectiveness of his presence. Let me explain.. I was really hoping to love this album. It has many of Alice In Chains circa 1993 checkpoints covered, the bulky heaviness, the roomy sustained riffs, the acoustic curveball, the layers of vocals,etc. That is all good, super flannel-riffic, even. The problem lays in the overthinking of the ideas behind what made AIC great.

First of all, Mr. Duvall is barely there. He takes the lead vocal on only ONE complete song out of 11, the brooding "Last of My Kind". His clear role is back-up singer on this album, which is loaded with over- abundant stretches of doubled or tripled up vocal tracks. This is an AIC trademark, but here it seems like too much of a crutch on songs like the current radio hit "Check My Brain" which has not one verse or even a word without a doubled up/harmony vocal. This is a Jerry record, as well it should be. So many fans hardly realize that Jerry sang a co-lead on many of the AIC classics, and he more than holds his own here, especially on the mildly acoustic "Your Decision" and the ode to Layne/album ending title track, with guest piano provided by Sir Elton John.

To my surprise, the tempo of this album churns cautiously in a second gear- like gloomy cruise control through bummed -out burly riffs and  Sean Kinney's reverb drenched drums. This seemed a bit calculated as well: yes they do sound like themselves, even dated in places but some songs drag on like shelved out-takes from the "Tripod" album. I could have used an 8 cylinder jolt like Sickman or Them Bones in places where I was left floating out in the slow lane of riffdom.

I guess I'm just glad to have most of Alice in Chains back making music, even though they have tripped over their own emotional decisions in more places than not on this album. I hope they cure the Layne legacy blues  on the next record, un-"chain" Mr. Duvall, and turn up the octane in places where there will be no ghosts.

6 out of 10 horns up.

My ABCs

My son Hudson has already mastered them...those 26 letters that exist to make up every word and name. It's a little too late to use this code I came up with to help him along, but maybe you can try with your own rugrats after everything else has failed and you feel like returning to hard liquor, but you're too cool to buy Hooked on Phonics.

A is for Angus.
B is for Beck.
C is for Chris.
D is for Duane.
E is for Elton.
F is for Freddy.
G is for Geddy.
H is for Hendrix.
I is for Iggy.
J is for Joni.
K is for Kurt.
L is for Layne.
M is for Mick.
N is for Neil.
O is for Ozzy.
P is for Paul.
Q is for Queens.
R is for Robert.
S is for Sting.
T is for Townshend.
U is for U2.
V is for Van.
W is for Waters.
X is in Texas.
Y is for Yorke.
Z is for Zimmerman.

You can format it for yourselves, make a game out of it..use LPs as flash cards.  And the whole world will be a better place. Think of what 26 letters can do.....soon enough, your kids will ditch hard arithmetic for hard rock.

Rock and Roll Hall of Lame Nominees Announced

It's that time of year again: The 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees have been announced and just like clockwork, I'm on it.

On it like flies on feces, which is what the ROCK and ROLL Hall of Fame has turned into. Its bad enough that the actual building is in Cleveland. I can't wait to pack the family in the car or greyhound bus and shlepp to Cleveland to see the Run DMC , Earth Wind and Fire and Percy Sledge exhibits. Most of Ohio reeks anyway...Kent State, The Reds, The Indians,Columbus....talk about a fly-over state.... and now we're faced with possibly having to put up with seeing KISS, ABBA, LL COOL J and DONNA SUMMER. Excuse me while I fire off with some verbal diarrhea.......


Don't we as rightful Rock and Roll afficionados have a right to be appalled that the dungheap with make-up known as Kiss is a nominee? Did Kiss really DO anything influential (besides steal an idea from Alice Cooper, add glitter,blood and greasepaint to 4 mugs that could freeze time with their ugliness,and shill until Satan emptied his pockets?!!) The only one with a smidgen of talent in that band was Ace Freheley and he had to drink himself silly to put up with the likes of Demonic Squirrel Head and  Swishy Star Man. I have so many people in my life who name drop Kiss as an influence, and there are countless others in the rock general public. I throw out a big "WHY?" to you all. Kiss are a living, breathing mockery of the genre and always will be, even after their 11th greatest hits package goes on sale.

How about LL COOL J? What the fuck??? Even rappers don't think he's a good rapper. He's more known for his abs and his horrific sitcoms, right? LL COOL J a nominee and no RUSH, ROXY MUSIC, T REX, BAD CO., BIG STAR, THE CARS, DIRE STRAITS, YES, MC5, HUMBLE PIE, JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN????!!!!!!!

ABBA and DONNA SUMMER?????!!  FUCK, Lets just hang a disco ball from the entrance and hand out coke spoons to the kiddies with admission why dont we??? I dig the occasional disco song while I'm weedwacking with the ipod on but there is NO PLACE FOR IT or HIP HOP in the RNRHOF!

No J.J. CALE, JETHRO TULL, JOURNEY, JOE JACKSON or THE JAM...but DONNA SUMMER gets nominated. And thats just the Js!!!

Love to love ya, Jann, baby!

What a divine comedy.  They did get a few nominees right with The Stooges(again), Genesis(should have been in years ago) and the great songwriter Darlene Love.

Instead of the obligatory obscure doo-wop group this year we get the Hollies and the Chantels.

Bring out the wheelchairs........rock off.

Wifey Meets an Icon

My lovely wife is in Los Angeles for a second week while I am at home, kicking back and taking names, sharing a few cold ones with my son....beer/milk and watching all of the season premieres while downing a hearty amount of carbs (pretzels/goldfish).

Wifey calls me last night during a deep sleep.My dream about fighting androids in the near future (along side R2D2) that look like a cross between Perez Hilton/Jabba the Hut would have to wait..she's 3 hours back and this can only mean she has a celebrity sighting that she just can't wait to spill about or she's past the two drink minimum at one of the hotspots out there, read:(WAYYY past) and wants to toot her horn about it.

This time it happened to be the first choice. Apparently while dining with her creative team at a Moroccan eatery called The Little Door, she was seated at the table directly next to Radiohead frontman and all around legend Thom Yorke!! Unable to keep her mind on the kibbutzing at hand at her own table, she calls me to gloat and giggle like a starstruck girly all hopped up on the spectacle of it all. Wifey is a huge music fan...and would definitely be my 3rd or 4th choice for a lifeline on a game show circuit if need be....

I thought it would end there and congratulated her in a fog of broken REM and got back to being on the frontline with the coolest droid of all....but as it goes I got another call...this time she says: I JUST MET THOM YORKE! to which I say :Hmmnsnatfasticshh!

She said she and a co-worker followed him to the bathroom(stalker)..waited for him to come out(eww,superstalker)and proceeded to tell him how much his music has meant to her over the years( OK,bumped down to thankful superfan), introduced herself and shook his hand. He was very gracious, thanked her for her praise,there was probably an odd silent pause because of his shyness and then her coworker exclaimed "We love what you're doing, don't ever stop!" to which he replied in a very English way, "I believe I will have to someday."(or something like that) and they parted.

I say Way To Go, Wifey! She handled it perfectly. I wouldn't have done it any differently except maybe to tell him that the song No Surprises really did change my life,babbling about it being my anthem while he crept further away inch by inch while I fawned on him and called him a game changer. Of course I never would have approached him or the likes of Macca or Robert Plant w/o being perfectly fitted with the trendiest pair of adult Depends that LA could provide. You have to be prepared for everything.

I assume she'll call me tonight with a story about Rikki Lake cutting in line in front of her at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf or seeing Ryan Seacrest shuffling out the back door of a Chippendales show in Burbank. I'll be waiting.

Hovering Over an Empty Sea

Looking down across some scorched out valley
blink
on second glance 'tis the post dusk view of a suburban street
my own.

Moments connected in a rugby scrum of thought processes
fawned over
gutted like a deer
swinging from garage rafters
exhaustion cold cocked from the shadows

expiration date read months from now
dendrites collapse and disintegrate
the fireworks of bloodvessels
Lull is the 9th layer
Wet blanket of rainbows
collective of communities all hiding
behind white noise of whining children
morning zoos
copy machine collates
sweating it out in the stalls
crying it out without a sound.
Packing years into a bad mood
vaulting forward into
magnetic backtracking
fishing for clues you already have
while
hovering over an empty sea.
found by the virus
shunned by the chorus
ousted out of a few hours ago
when I was fab.

This is all midtempo
from here on in
cram in a lesson
flush out a grin.

unvisited islands of beautiful banish
speaking in tongues of self preserved planets
a potential of task
mastering minutiae
gash/past
suture/future.