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2007, five long years have passed since Layne Staley's death... Heroin had decided to take another hero from the '90s away from us, after Kurt Cobain and Jeff Buckley (though for different reasons!) left us "orphaned" and without points of reference. Layne had long been tormented by the specter of addiction, so much so that "Dirt" became almost a concept on the subject..
1999, one of Alice In Chains'best of albums is released, "Nothing Safe"; fans hope, in vain, for a new beginning because after the self-titled 1995 album, the band hadn't entered the studio again: the last releases were the "MTV Unplugged" (1996), with a thin, tormented Layne wearing sunglasses, yet still able to enchant with his distinctive voice, and a promising solo debut for Cantrell, "Boggy Depot" (1998).
Almost twenty years have passed, and here we are looking back nostalgically at the days of "Facelift," when the night before recording, the band slept outside the studio on their instrument cases for fear of hateful theft... One of the bands most opposed by the purists of what was defined as "grunge," accused of being too far from punk and too focused on financial gain, shows, in reality, an enviable artistic and thematic consistency, as well as rare technical prowess among Seattle bands, winning them legions of fans devoted to the word of the fallen angel Layne.
The collection spans all the albums released, offering very well-known hits alternated with demos and live tracks: "We Die Young" is made grittier than the "metallic" album version and the live of "Rooster", recorded in 1996, carries a melodramatic and powerful charge that makes the excellent "Dirt" version pale in comparison, and "Got Me Wrong", taken from the famous acoustic live with Layne's and Jerry's voices chasing and supporting each other. The only true unreleased track is "Get Born Again", hypnotic and massive, but lacking the incisiveness that characterizes other band gems. To the fans' delight, the splendid "Down In A Hole" is included, a ballad of undeniable melody and lyricism "dedicated" to the increasingly evident plunge into the clutches of drugs, the monumental "Man In The Box", a black-Sabbath-like ride with a dual-vocal chorus of great melodic impact where the high note on the word "Jesus Christ" moves and makes the heart leap, and the famed "Would?", perhaps their most known composition thanks to the extremely catchy chorus. The ironmaiden-esque solo of "Them Bones", historical first track of "Dirt", strikes like a slash and accompanies the hypnotic, compelling, and delightful "Angry Chair". Then appear "Grind", "Again" and "What The Hell Have I", but the true core of the work is represented by the initial tracks that allow us to grasp something of the band's soul and also enable latecomers to appreciate the beauty of the impact between Cantrell's guitar and Layne's warrior voice. Missing is the beautiful "Heaven Beside You," which alone would have been worth the purchase, but the album is undoubtedly recommendable and almost essential for anyone who does not own at least "Dirt".
Layne, how much we miss you too...
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