Alice in Chains - Facelift Vinyl LP Soundgarden Nirvana

	€		21
	$		24

ALICE IN CHAINS – FACELIFT VINY LP - 1990

CBS 467201 1 | CB 291

Condition: VG

Review In 1990, Alice in Chains released their first LP entitled Facelift. The second track of the album called Man in the Box was their first hit and is THE song that made them famous. Although AIC are reputed as being members of the whole Seattle grunge scene, their debut is more of a hardrock/ metal album. In fact, when I bought this a little more than two years ago, I had never heard of the band and after listening to this I thought that they were a metal band. Grunge was the last thing I would of thought of. The riffs are heavy, the mood is dark, and the slower songs seem hauntingly despairing. If this album were a color, it would indubitably be black. Now comes the questions: Sure one can say that about many albums. But is the album good? Is the darkness convincing? Or is this album merely the output of young men trying to be poetic and emotional sounding to seem like a deep and serious band?" I would say: Yes, this is one hell of an album, and empty darkness clouds my mind when I listen to it."

As of now, I am somewhat of a fan of Alice in Chains and have or have heard all their albums and EPs. This album is definitely very different from any of their later work. Although, most of their songs have a melancholy feel to them, the songs on this album seriously make you feel like you are submerged in darkness. I would describe the general feel as a mix of anger, deep reflection, and sadness. Indeed, I believe this is their darkest album. Yet, this darkness all comes from the music. The lyrics, although not the most joyful ever, don‘t seem to be as sad as the one‘s on Dirt or on their self titled one. There is no title track but the song that most represents the album as a whole (by its name and not necessarily by its content) is Sea of Sorrow. Moreover, I think the color of the album color represents it very well. It is black in the background, with fiery red in the corners and in the center, there is a dude getting his face messed up. (Just look at the picture at the beginning of the review). But the overall sound isn‘t just dark, plain and simple. The darkness has a wonderful and inviting charm that makes you want to hear more. Therefore, I find this album quite easy to listen to all the way through in one sitting.

Alice in Chains has their share of heavy riffs (The intro to Them Bones, the Intro to Grind, the main riff in Sludge Factory) but the riffs on this album seem more metal. This might be because Grunge hadn‘t really exploded in popularity yet and metal was still relatively it". In fact, some songs, like Put you Down or Man in The box, sound straight out of the 1980s. Yet, Jerry Cantrell doesn‘t do any shreddy 1980s style solos which gives the songs a fresh new edge (Not that shreddy 1980s solos aren‘t cool). His solo‘s are melodic, sometimes more or less fast, but they are short. The songs are visibly focused on the ability of the band as a whole and not merely on the guitarist. Indeed, it is uncommon that a metal/ hardrock/ grunge band isn‘t either guitar oriented or vocal oriented.

The vocal work on this album, like on many AIC albums, is quite interesting. In some songs, Layne sings in a unique raspy manner that I can‘t quite explain (like in I can‘t Remember) and in others (like Confusion) he tries to sound more melodic. In addition, Jerry Cantrell sings backing vocals in almost every song. He has a much smoother voice than Layne so when he does the backing vocals the result is a hauntingly melodic echo to Layne‘s signature voice. Jerry‘s vocals definitely add depth to the vocal work; they make it seem more complete.

The rhythm section is very present at all times. You can hear almost all of Mike Starr‘s bass fills, and hear that Sean Kinney‘s drum work is top notch. Also, it doesn‘t overpower the other instruments. Everything is perfectly balanced. In addition, it is not only present but it is quite good too. Mike plays very nice sounding bass lines that go beyond mere root riding and Sean plays some nice fills in almost every song. The rhythm section highlight would probably be the almost out of place, funky sounding track called I know Something (‘Bout you).

All in all, Facelift is twelve convincingly dark sounding tracks that are heavy and melodic. All the instruments are top notch and everything sounds great. Yet, the one down side is that except for maybe two songs (the funky I know Something (bout you) and the slightly upbeat Sunshine), the mood doesn‘t really change. Those who like diversity on albums will not be satisfied here. Its not that every song sounds the same, its just that every song has the same dark atmosphere. I recommend this for anyone who likes metal or anyone who likes rock or grunge because although it is less grungy than later Alice in Chains albums, it still has some elements that will later be considered characteristic of grunge.

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People should stop breeding naive thoughts and brooding upon them, for it tarnishes the sonic of a record and categorization does it no betterment either. When common folk stop listening to the innate complexity, themes, and start paying attention to the scene a certain band belongs to, it destroys the endeavor, the individuality and the mindset of both the listeners and more than them, of the band itself. Some seminal bands that developed a sound that was fuzzy, murky, spoke of gloom and distress, and totally native to a certain place called Seattle, went ahead to be followed and predecessors of a soon-to-be cult, grunge. What Green River, Screaming Trees, and more diversely speaking Mudhoney, culminated in, formed a cult that though exploded, also caused a few implosions as repercussions. A certain heavy metal band, with a name that recited S&M, which had not the faintest idea what this cult was about, and just inclined to play metal without categorization, came up with a record.
The record, Facelift.
And the band, Alice In Chains.

Fueled by the intense and powerful larynx of Layne Staley, a unique guitar technique of Cantrell, and probably the best bass-playing on any heavy metal album, this album was though a stylized music native to Alice In Chains, but defined pretty much how grunge should be done. The band does it on its own but was regarded as a cash-in on the thumping Seattle scene, a reason that helped them get instant success though. The album starts off with the track : We Die Young, also their single from an EP they released and which had immense success as a single over radio, until it went viral with this record hitting this markets. A track on which, probably there is a balance achieved in terms of everything that makes a record belong with heavy metal. I consider the world music scene pretty unlucky for Layne died at such an age, for he could have done so much more. His deep, hurt voice moves the ears and the guitar-work facilitates the process. The Alice In Chains philosophy was simple, exhibit brilliance on every instrument, but once the voice that sings comes to the microphone, do it much more for it is much more important. 'Dirt' marks Alice In Chains shunning their sound and their ideology and turning more to acoustics and accepting grunge calls and donning it on.

From the definitive grunge track, 'It Ain't Like That' to a creative afflatus achieved in the solo of 'Man In The Box', the album propels you every time you give it an ear. The background tricks by Staley, and the incredible bass support by Starr, everything is just right on just every song. Just once that I thought they lost me was when 'Sea Of Sorrow' starts, and it does rather loosely. Turns out to be a brilliantly done song, after all. Cha-ching. Another song worth a noble mention is 'Bleed The Freak', which after 'Real Thing' is my favorite song off the record. Everything on this album is just the perfect blend of aggression, frustration, and subtlety. The riffs are almost hypnotic, well paced and tremendously catchy for a heavy metal band. They complement Layne in perfect accord, as if they're almost letting him come on to the sound, which he does rather beautifully. I may be biased in this aspect, for I think Staley's vocal talent is almost too good to be true. The little noises he does while the music rips, the dual vocals with Jerry, and the symbiosis and co-existence with Kinney on every composition is rather horrendous, for it is actually true.

Talking about Cantrell, Starr and Kinney now, I sincerely don't believe there has been an album with better bass-playing than this one, all for a man lost in the shadows and disbelief, Mike Starr. Soon to be replaced by Inez, he maybe outdid himself and all other bass-players that existed in his time. Minus the bass on this album, the compositions are just bland and hollow, and it's imperative to say that the whole album was kind of loosely centered on the idea of bass-playing. Solos are vivid, some diverse, others not that much. Believe me, for once these are not even the highlight of the album, not even as much as Kinney's drumming. The riffs and progressions though, vital to any band, suck up all the limelight. It's almost like Layne and Cantrell work together as a machine with one central thinking system, for there is such a beautiful blend of both their elements in the music and not to mention again, incorporated in the powerful bass of Starr. Kinney's drumming is intense at times, particularly in the last track, where he almost blasts the music away. The song, 'Real Thing' dealing with frustration, drugs and much more is my pick from the album, and has the perfect bass-playing and some worth-mentioning guitar-work along with the wah-wah, but the cynosure being the notes hit in the vocals and the lyrical theme. Such vocal excellence is hard to miss, and if you have somehow, that's just sad.

Firstly, the band wasn't grunge at all, for they didn't even know what it was, and the whole scene's sound was pretty collaborative in a sense. Secondly, such an album you should have as an original. I have, and it makes me proud. If you think Jar Of Flies is Alice's best work, you are better suited to flower rock rather than heavy metal. Away with you! Facelift is Seattle's grand opening to the world, and Alice In Chains' more-than-promising debut, a legacy they left along with Dirt. In Staley's own words:
"Sexual chocolate, baby!"

Tracklisting:

?  We Die Young

?  Man in the Box

?  Sea of Sorrow

?  Bleed the Freak

?  I Can't Remember

?  Love, Hate, Love

?  It Ain't Like Thats

?  Sunshine

?  Put You Down

?  Confusion

?  I Know Somethin' ('Bout You)s

?  Real Thing

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