Saturday 18 April 2009

JANE’S ADDICTION – MOUNTAIN SONG (WARNERS)


JANE’S ADDICTION – MOUNTAIN SONG (WARNERS)

It was thanks to Perry Farrell’s unique sounding vocal delivery that it was always possible to spot a Jane’s Addiction song from a mile off. After the waterfall like opening of Farrell falling down and delivering his announcement yell Dave Navarro takes over playing through the storm as if her were revving the largest engine fuelled with napalm.

Re-released to coincide with Record Store Day (and probably the song’s appearance on Guitar Hero 4) you always felt that the timing of Jane’s Addiction was just too early and after the huge contribution (and investment) that they made with Lollapalooza and the creation of the monster version of alternative rock that exploded with Nirvana, geographically the gods were not smiling on them as they missed out on the Seattle rush.

Lifted from “Nothing’s Shocking” I still swear today that the influence of this record is far more reaching than people remember, realise or acknowledge. At school I seldom made friends with people in the year above me but as I wore my favourite Mudhoney wrestler t-shirt the lank haired greaser in a Jane’s Addiction shirt in the year above always gave me the thumbs up and nod of approval.

Compared to their alternative rock counterparts Jane’s Addiction were pretty clean in comparison. Navarro’s playing is incredible and there is no doubting his talent or credentials as the guitar on this single is relentless and grandiose all at the same time, which with hindsight may have meant they were just too well polished to be cool from the indie standpoint of the alternative nation and then with Farrell’s vocals and general appearance they were just too weird for the metal crowd. As I said bad timing and bad positioning.

Thesaurus moment: midst.

Jane’s Addiction
Warner Records

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