JANE’S ADDICTION
Strays
The Jane’s Addiction record titled “Nothing’s Shocking” seems to turned and snapped at the very band that released it. 2003 is certainly not 88, nor 91 for all that matter. Nowadays it’s much more difficult to catch people by surprise like they did back in those early days when they first came on the scene. Maybe “influential” is not the most adequate word, the truth is that their revolutionary sound was never truly reflected in the bands that followed them. That said, nobody, absolutely nobody, was left unmoved by “Nothing’s Shocking” and the follow up “Ritual de lo Habitual”. Bands like Fishbone, Living Colour, Faith No More, etc jumped on the Jane’s Addiction crossover bandwagon, but they never managed to achieve their intensity and richness of sound. Then Perry Farrell went off to host the Lollapalooza Festival and Stephen Perkins and Dave Navarro went off to perfect their musicianship, the first one with drummer Mike Watt and the second became a Chilli Pepper. The last one, Eric Avery, disappeared. The years have gone since those heady days, 13 to be exact, and they still have all they used to: radical rhythm changes, funky bits, big heavy guitars and Farrell’s incredible voice. Yep, it’s all there, but there’s still something missing. Maybe we’re not the same kids we were or maybe the world is different to the way it was back then.
FAMILY
Un Soplo Al Corazon
The life of the group Family was a bit like that of a mosquito: short but with plenty of sting. Fellow musicians Alaska and Nacho Cano heaped praise on this great record when it was originally released ten years back. The 1993 album by the group from Donostia showed the more playful and innocent side of pop. Ever since there has been no shortage of bands who have tried to emulate the type of songs they came up with, but most of them haven’t been able to achieve that naïf touch, they’ve broken the one rule you can’t break in pop: never bore the listener. There’s no need to go on for more than three minutes. If you can’t say what you want in three minutes, then it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to do it at all, even if you have more time. They learnt their craft from New Order, The Cure and the rest and this is easily heard in the fourteen intelligent songs that make up the album. Family’s only album has only but improved with time and that’s why, ten years on, “Un Soplo En El Corazon” has been released in its original form. It certainly doesn’t need any extras.
