Jane's Addiction (album)

Jane's Addiction
Live album by Jane's Addiction
Released May 15, 1987
Recorded 1987 at The Edge Studio in Los Angeles, California
January 26, 1987 at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California
Genre Alternative metal, alternative rock
Length 39:08
Label Triple X
Producer Mark Linett and Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction chronology

Jane's Addiction
(1987)		 Nothing's Shocking
(1988)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [2]
Select [3]

Jane's Addiction, also known as Triple-X or XXX, is the debut studio album by Jane's Addiction. The band opted to record their debut album live in an attempt to better capture the energy they were known for. The album's basic tracks were recorded live at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles on January 26, 1987, with additional overdubs and corrections added at The Edge Studio in Los Angeles, including an audience applause dub from a Los Lobos concert.[4]

Music

The basic tracks for the album were recorded live over a single night in Los Angeles with additional recording and overdubs done later, in studio. Many of the songs from the album would later be re-recorded for other releases. Of the band-written songs on the album, only four ("Trip Away," "1%," "I Would For You," and "My Time") have not been re-recorded and re-released, although an alternate studio demo cut of "I Would For You" was released on the 1991 compilation album Live and Rare. This version was recorded in 1986, however, and predates the Jane's Addiction album.[5]

The songs "Jane Says" and "Pigs in Zen" were both re-recorded in 1988 and released on Nothing's Shocking, the band's major label debut and follow up to Jane's Addiction. "Whores" and "Chip Away" were re-recorded in 2009 by a reunited Jane's Addiction for release on the NINJA EP, a collaboration with Nine Inch Nails to help promote the joint NINJA tour.

The album included two cover songs: "Rock & Roll" by The Velvet Underground, and "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones, although the latter was titled "Sympathy" on the album.

At least one other song, "Slow Divers," was recorded for the album but left off for unknown reasons. "Slow Divers" would eventually be released ten years later on the band's 1997 out-take/alternate cut/live & new track compilation album Kettle Whistle.

There were no singles released from Jane's Addiction.

Packaging

Jane's Addiction is notable for having quite a large number of packaging variations in existence. There are at least four distinct variations of the CD artwork, and seven variations of the vinyl.[6]

The variations all deal with actual disc color and art; the album cover and liner notes remain consistent across all variations in most cases. The very first CD pressing of the album, which is just a standard silver disc with track names and other info in black typeface, contains a typo in the track list on the disc itself; "Pigs in Zen" is listed as "Pigs in Ten." This typo was corrected on all subsequent pressings.

Later versions of the CD album include a blue colored disc with rounded, stylized text for the tracklist as well as a version that has the actual cover artwork silkscreened on the disc itself.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins, except where noted. 

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Trip Away"    3:34
2. "Whores"    4:04
3. "Pigs in Zen"    4:54
4. "1%"    3:31
5. "I Would for You"    3:52
6. "My Time"    3:32
7. "Jane Says"    4:52
8. "Rock n Roll" (Velvet Underground cover)Lou Reed 4:03
9. "Sympathy" (Rolling Stones cover)Keith Richards, Mick Jagger 5:25
10. "Chip Away"    2:43
Total length:
 46:31

Personnel

Jane's Addiction
Recording personnel
Additional personnel

Reception

"Here is proof that Jane's Addiction surpassed puberty before they came of age," wrote Nick Griffiths in a review of a CD reissue for Select. "Jane's Addiction is sex, obsession, tortured-soul food – a rape of the senses. It's no Immaculate Conception, but it's immaculate."[8]

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone Album Guide
  3. ↑ Select, March 1991'
  4. ↑ Brendan Mullen (14 Mar 2006). Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction. Da Capo Press. p. 121. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "Jane's Addiction Discography". JanesAddiction.org. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  6. ↑ "Jane's Addiction Discography". JanesAddiction.org. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Brendan Mullen (14 Mar 2006). Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction. Da Capo Press. p. ix. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  8. ↑ Select, March 1991