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Jar of Flies/Sap by: Alice In Chains

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Rating: - The First Album To Truly Scare Me

After producing 2 albums of pure straight out turgid, pain-filled, angsty heavy metal, you could tell something even more sublime was going to land. And nothing this quiet and somber has ever hit quite so hard. Written and recorded in about a week, Jar Of Flies is the Alice In Chains acoustic master-piece.

This is certainly a late night, nothing is right album. For a start, the typical 60's style vocal harmonies on opener, 'Rotten Apple', are even more spine-tingling in this mode and mood than ever, the guitar on highlight, 'Nutshell' is enough to make the most sober mind think twice, and the guitar solo and lyrics can only be called spine-tingling. It's quite unusual that the least-good of the tracks are the singles. 'I Stay Away' and 'No Excuses' are still acoustic master-pieces, but still somewhat lack in comparison to some of the album tracks, despite the lovely string arrangements on 'I Stay Away'...'Whale And Whasp' is a fine example of how to do an instrumental right, and doesn't become boring like some do, while the Jerry Cantrell sung, 'Don't Follow' is one of the main highlights on the CD, not changing the pace but forever changing your mind. The only real change of pace of the entire CD, is the final track, the almost arrogant sounding, 'Swing On This', which is a nice change of pace, although not by much, but it's there to keep the suspense up. And it's certainly full of that. One of the most disturbing records I've ever heard. Close the windows, lock the doors, sit down, don't look at the rain splashed windows and consider everything you could have done differently, but don't forget to flick this on lowly in the background darkness...

Sap, although still an acoustic album is an entirely different kettle of fish. It's not quite as mature and 'all there' as 'Jar Of Flies', but it certainly can I have similar impact. Opener 'Brother' is as low and reflective as anything from JOF, with lyrics that you can tell were written some time ago, due to the 'not quite perfect' Alice In Chains lyrical style, and the fact that these seemed like big demons indeed...'Got Me Wrong' another story of mixed feelings in relationships, is straight from Cantrell's heart and guitar, 'Right Turn' includes Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell adding to this song, but never doing anything for it. This is basically an album that shows where they were, and when you heard Jar Of Flies, you find where they've ended up. And that's one of the premier hard rock bands of the nineties, if not ever, with a rare and successful sensitive side. And that's so very rare and refreshing, that this immediatly becomes an essential purchase, if not one that should be locked away and should only come out on those times where nothing wants to go right.

5 Stars.

Rating: - Another late night.

First, can we please dispense with the "grunge" label. How similar are Pearl Jam and Nirvana? Would you compare Led Zepplin with the Sex Pistols. Grunge only existed as a word to tie together bands with a "Generation X" philosophy. As a musical term, it's fairly redundant.

I bought this double-EP when it first came out and it stayed in my CD player for months.

Contrasting the ferocity of other AIC albums, Jar of Flies shifts the music down several gears. The result is wondrous.

The openers, "Rotten Apple" and "Nutshell" are hypnotic, drawling, brooding spine-tinglers. From the very first time I heard the open bass lick, I was hooked.

And, thanks to the paring down of the guitars, we are finally given Cantrell/Staley's harmonies at their most intimate, most haunting.

As a late-night CD, or one just to put you in that pensive frame of mind, this is perfect.

I must admit, I had drifted away from AIC in recent years (primarily because they'd stopped making music) but was devastated to hear of Layne Staley's death. I immediately went home and listened to Jar of Flies and can think of no better epitaph for the man. A brilliant, moving, echoing record.

Rating: - at their best!

For a band renouned for their heavy grunge sound it is indeed ironic that their best piece of work is this little gem. A mini album and EP together of mostly acoustic much mellower arrangements leave you wondering what they could have achieved if Layne had stayed clean and they strayed more permenantly from the dirgy sound they were famous for.

Rating: - The mellow side of AIC

These two eps are a great example of the range of Alice in Chains and were a completely shock to the cynics who wrote them off as heavy grungers, plain and simple, after Facelift and Dirt. The stuff on Jar Flies is great. The first two tracks are mind-blowing. You have the power-chord fuelled mantra of Rotten Apple, followed immediately by the wistful, forlorn acoustic feel of Nutshell (the version here is probably preferable to the one on Unplugged, due to the difference in power of Layne Staley's vocals between the two albums). No Excuses and I stay Away are also very good and even the instrumental drone of Whale and the Wasp has a certain poignancy to it. I am not so keen on Sap, but Brother is great tune and the other tracks still wipe the floor with a lot of stuff around these days attempting to emulate AIC. Definitely a worthwhile addition to any record collection.

Rating: - Their finest moment indeed

I am a big fan of Alice in Chains and I have and love all their stuff. And this double ep is where they peaked. Before I got this album I knew only some of the songs from the unplugged cd - and they where all my favorites. Highlights are Brother, No Excuses, Got me wrong and Stay away. Jar of flies was be the way the first ep ever to be number one on the billboard chart. Grunge when it is best.

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