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"Grunge," ugly word. What is "grunge" and what isn't? Bleach? Then also Nevermind? And what about Soundgarden? And after that? Dirt, they say it is. It was cool to say "I listen to grunge music," and dad making a face, "what the hell is 'this grunge'?" Come on, dad, you're old, you don't understand, go back to listening to Genesis... And you filled your mouth with terms learned after hours of reading Rumore and the like on school benches. Then one day your trusted dealer goes "Hey, there's a new Alice album out, are you interested?" Of course, damn it, they're grunge, of course I'm interested! And besides, it's an EP, it's cheap (there wasn't emule back in the day...).
But something doesn't add up... you're enveloped by the disorienting and distorted melody of "Rotten Apple," you've traveled with the notes of "Nutshell"... and you think something's wrong, that here the much-acclaimed grunge has little or nothing to do with it... and meanwhile, you've crossed the sparkling rock of "I Stay Away" and "No Excuses," let yourself slowly slide into the dreamy progression of "Whale And Wasp," been blinded by the clear beauty of "Don't Follow," and after "Swing On This" you realize you can no longer live without these gems.
You curse Alice for limiting themselves to an EP and you put the album back in the player, listen to it again in one breath, and only some distorted echo of the word "grunge" remains in your head, buried under thirty minutes of amazing music.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Rotten Apple (06:59)
Hey ah na na
Innocence is over
Over
Hey ah na na
Ignorance is spoken
Spoken
Confidence is broken
Broken
Sustenance is stolen
Stolen
Arrogance is potent
What I see is unreal
I've written my own part
Eat of the apple, so young
I'm crawling back to start
Hey ah na na
A romance is fallen
Fallen
I repent tomorrow
Tomorrow
Is suspended my sorrow
Sorrow
Recommend you borrow
Borrow
02 Nutshell (04:19)
We chase misprinted lies
We face the path of time
And yet I fight
And yet I fight
This battle all alone
No one to cry to
No place to call home
Oooh...Oooh...
Oooh...Oooh...
My gift of self is raped
My privacy is raked
And yet I find
And yet I find
Repeating in my head
If I can't be my own
I'd feel better dead
Oooh...Oooh...
Oooh...Oooh...
03 I Stay Away (04:14)
Yeah, hey yeah
I want to travel south this year
Won't prevent safe passage here
Why you act crazy, not an act maybe
So close a lady, shifty eyes shady
Yeah, hey yeah
Tears that soak a callous heart
Why you act frightened, I am enlightened
Your weakness builds me, so someday you'll see
I stay away!
Why you act crazy, not an act maybe
So close a lady, shifty eyes shady
I stay away!
I stay away!
I stay away!
I stay away!
04 No Excuses (04:16)
It's all right
There comes a time
Got no patience
To search for peace of mind
Layin' low
Wanna take it slow
No more hiding
Or disguising truths I've sold
Everyday
Something hits me all so cold
Ya find me sittin' by myself
No excuses that I know
It's okay
Had a bad day
Hands are bruised from
Breakin' rocks all day
Drained and blue
I bleed for you
Ya think it's funny
Well you're drownin' in it too
Everyday
Something hits me all so cold
Find me sittin' by myself
No excuses that I know
Yeah, it's fine
Walk down the line
Leave our rain
A cold trade for warm sunshine
You my friend
I will defend
And if we change
Well I love you anyway
Everyday
Something hits me all so cold
Ya find me sittin' by myself
No excuses that I know
07 Swing on This (04:05)
Mother said come home
Father said come home
Sisters said come home
So my friends said come home
I said
Let me be, I'm alright
Can't you see, I'm just
Fine
Little skinny, okay
I'm asleep anyway
Then I heard a voice
Said "son you have a
choice"
I then slapped my face
Let me be, I'm okay
I'm awake anyway
It's too bright over there
I can shift, cannot steer
So I drive them away
For a while, then I stay
Little skinny, okay
I'm awake, anyway
Now I have to go home
Do as, when in Rome
Let me be, I'm alright
Can't you see, I'm just
Fine
Little skinny, okay
I'm asleep anyway
Let me be, I'm okay
I'm awake, anyway
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Other reviews
By AndJusticeForAll
7 songs, 7 emotions.
'No Excuses' I find no words to define it other than a great song.
By Bluice
Layne Stanley’s voice, expressive and very sweet, throws in everyone’s face the private pain that slowly crumbles him from the inside.
Their acoustic and intimate side is worth as much as or perhaps more than their Metal-Grunge component.
By andre'79
"'Nutshell,' the track that all, guitarists or not, would dream of writing at least once in their lives."
"Jar of Flies, an apparently ordinary cassette, is one of those 'proofs' that cannot leave anyone indifferent. Authentic and heartbreaking confession."
By danass
"A song that is alone worth the entire discography of Alice In Chains."
"Jar of Flies is undoubtedly one of the best musical products of the 90s, a monumental work but at the same time so experimental and different from the classic tone of Alice in Chains."
