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Dear Jerry,
I have always been a fan of yours since the days of Alice in Chains. I fell in love with "Dirt", the wonderful vocal harmonies you and the late Layne knew how to weave into that unique and morbid sound tapestry, enriched by your classy guitar work: special both when you plunged the blade with surgical and intense riffs, and when you made the air rarefied with soft chords. I'd like to fly but my wings have been so denied.
Once it was clear that Alice in Chains would not come back, I followed your solo career with enthusiasm, in search of those unforgettable sensations. I appreciated both "Boggy Depot" and "Degradation Trip" a lot, especially the latter. Perhaps because I was moved by its release just a few months after Layne's sad passing, powerful tracks like "Castaway" or "Hellbound" and melancholic ballads in the style of Jar of Flies like "Solitude" or the funereal "Gone" took up a large space in my playlist that summer.
I know your solo albums weren't very successful, and I believe that must have saddened you a lot. What can you do, my old friend: mala tempora currunt. But let me give you some advice, as an old friend. Your place in rock history was secured with Alice in Chains, and I believe the royalties from those albums aren't bad either. Can you explain who made you reform the band without your dear friend Layne? Wasn't the reunion for a few concerts enough: now I read that you will record a new Unplugged (as in: let's scrape the bottom of the barrel...) and that - hear hear - you'll try to produce new material too! Especially you who in this album sang "Chalking up my dead friends / and loved ones long gone"..... I beg you Jerry: stop this crazy ride while you still can. Here they come to snuff the Rooster....
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
04 Angel Eyes (04:44)
Homely, thick in mind, never listen
Worn, tired, siren drawn, tunnel vision
Don't forget this chance only live once
Sprung, hypnotized by light, had to get some
Get it all
She said I forgive you
Don't regret our time
You've got to move on love
Angel eyes
Four years and still I dream
Agonize
Such beauty not since seen
Bow down, piper leading, you were one
Hungry, took the prize, then you got dumb
Don't live out your life like a sad song
Sprung, hypnotized by light, had to get some
Get it all
She said I forgive you
You must too or die
You've got to let me go
Angel eyes
Four years and still I dream
Agonize
Such beauty not since seen
Angel eyes
Your face is all I see
Agonize
Forever haunting me
05 Solitude (04:00)
Written by Jerry Cantrell
There's no out, downside up for good
No light, reflection understood
Had to try, perversion satisfied
Insane...so, I indulge the beast awhile
When hurting yourself feels right
And there's nothing familiar in sight
Take the time to pull the weeds
Choking flowers in your life
Or seal your doom
Cold transparent blue
Locked inside a room
In solitude
There's no flesh, my own ghost awaits
Unclean, defiled, hallucinatory state
Lust, sloth, not my only sins
It's just how, when it's time, on a degradation trip...yeah
When hurting yourself feels right
Long gone the will to fight
Take the time to pull the weeds choking flowers in your life
Or seal your doom
Cold transparent blue
Locked inside a room
In solitude
Insanity takes you
So black it's untrue
So black it's untrue
07 Hellbound (06:46)
Written by Jerry Cantrell
Going down a last act scene
Curtain call begin bowing
Self-appointed abuse king
Hellbound, that's my belief
Black eat white, cassette thrill
Whatever come, eat your fill
Choke on bones, flowing stream long filled
The truth is to some degree we all steal
Hellbound
Come 'round
Hellbound
Going way down
Justified, a self-made man
All I do is what I can
Edges sharpened, blasted sand
Bizarre, devoted fan
Black eat white, cassette thrill
Whatever come, eat your fill
Choke on bones, flowing theme blown still
The truth is to some degree we all steal
Hellbound
Come 'round
Hellbound
Going to stay down
Warshington (yes, he actually spells it this way...), a fish belly rust
Sad chapter read last page first
Black eat white, cassette thrill
Whatever come, eat your fill
Choke on bones, flowing dream now killed
The truth is to some degree we all steal
Hellbound
Come 'round
Hellbound
Going way down
09 Castaway (04:58)
Written by Jerry Cantrell
Day break, wind is blowing strong
No escape, caught on a reef in the storm
Castaway, licking his cracked lips sore
Patient, waits, hoping the rats reach the shore...yeah...yeah
Yesterday, seems a lifetime now
Remembering those he left and how
Out in space laughing at all below
Island stage, plays to his thoughts and ego...yeah...yeah
Dusk fall, fading sun no fire light
Memories amplify his plight
Gathering, searching for shelter above
Feel the sting, choking on hoarded love...yeah...yeah
Thin, cold, tired...castaway
11 Chemical Tribe (06:35)
Should I live so long
To see 'em dropping bombs
Hope I have you near
Check out what comes after here...what comes after here
Generation turned a chemical tribe
Don't really care if we live or die
Generation turned a chemical tribe
Been sold out and it's no surprise
Let the black odds roll
Why we can't tell
Ball inside
Roll me over is this hell...is this hell?
Generation turned a chemical tribe
Don't really care if we live or die
Generation turned a chemical tribe
Been sold out I can't tell you why
No last supper rite
Bitchslapped 'fore you reached the table
Born in ending times
Leaning more toward Cain than Abel
No last supper rite
Bitchslapped 'fore you reached the table
Born in ending times
Possibly more truth than fable
Generation turned a chemical tribe
Generation turned a chemical tribe
Generation turned a chemical tribe
Generation turned a chemical tribe
Been sold out let me say goodbye
No last supper rite
Bitchslapped 'fore you reached the table
Born in ending times
Leaning more toward Cain than Abel
No last supper rite
Bitchslapped 'fore you reached the table
Born in ending times
Possibly more truth than fable
No last supper rite
Bitchslapped 'fore you reached the table
Born in ending times
Leaning more toward Cain than Abel
Bitchslapped 'fore you reached the table
Could it be more truth than fable?
13 Locked On (05:37)
Everything you heard I did and maybe then some ok
Does it make you happy and now is it out of the way?
Everything you heard I done and probably then some ok
Does it really matter of course I took it all the way
What more can I say
Locked on--what's the deal?
Faded rock star, push and needle
You don't know, well that's alright
You do your thing, I'll live my life
Every word you read is true, baby I won't deny
Don't you push me over, I ain't even finished my ride
Every word you read is true and maybe that is a lie
Strap session closing and I'm a-going out of my mind
What more can I say
Locked on--what's the deal?
Falling rock star, push and needle
You don't know, well that's alright
You do your thing, I'll live my life
Locked on--what's the deal?
Faded rock star, push and needle
You don't know, well that's alright
You do your thing, I'll live my life
Every song I wrote I meant what I said at the time
Yeah I spent some time looking death right in the eye
Every song I wrote I captured a fragment of time
Dying a little bit makes you appreciate life
Nothing more to say
Locked on--what's the deal?
Faded rock star, push and needle
You don't know, well that's alright
You do your thing, I'll live my life
Locked on--what's the deal?
Falling rock star, push and needle
You don't know, well that's alright
You do your thing, I'll live my life
Locked on
Locked on
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Other reviews
By Black Creep
"Degradation Trip rediscovers much darker atmospheres, and manages to deliver that psychological weight which has become a trademark of AIC."
"It is absolutely worth discovering for those who do not know it, or reevaluating for those who have hastily judged it poorly."
