He barely moves at all, and appears to be reading his lyrics off a music stand, Michael Stipe-style. In video footage from the Unplugged broadcast, Staley sits slumped on a stool, downcast eyes mostly shielded behind a pair of dark sunglasses, hands clasped in his lap or hanging at his sides. Staley then offers a friendly, vaguely Southern-accented word of welcome to the audience as the band launches into the comparatively upbeat “No Excuses” ( Jar of Flies), the harrowing “Sludge Factory” ( Alice in Chains) and the searing self-flagellating psycho-drama of “Down in a Hole,” off 1992’s career high LP, Dirt. The album begins with a moody two-song suite of Staley’s “Nutshell” (from the 1994 EP Jar of Flies) and Cantrell’s “Brother” (off the 1992 EP Sap), a foreboding rolling-fog ballad of loss sliced through by an itchy, serpentine guitar hook. But you wouldn’t know the band was in such dire straits by the performances delivered on the powerful 13-song set (10 of which made the final broadcast.) Featuring Staley on lead vocals, singer/guitarist Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Inez, drummer Sean Kinney, and second guitarist Scott Olson, the AIC that shows up on Unplugged is a tight, well-practiced unit with no weak links, seemingly eager to shake off the heavy metal sludge of their studio recordings. Staley’s contributions on the self-titled LP sound literally telephoned in, or even excavated from some long-forgotten crypt.)Īfter Unplugged the original, Staley-fronted version of AIC was basically kaput. The group hadn’t performed live together in nearly three years, and their last studio record, 1995’s (underrated) Alice in Chains, had been largely recorded without Staley-perpetually battling addiction-actually present in the studio. But what I really want to talk about right now is Alice in Chains and their frontman Layne Staley-an arguably more tragic figure than even Cobain, whose turn on MTV’s signature acoustic concert program was no less haunted by the crescent-moon shadow of the Grim Reaper’s scythe poised irrevocably over his pink-hued head.īy the time the Seattle band made it to the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Majestic Theater to record their Unplugged set on April 11, 1996, they were pretty much spent. That 1994 unplugged set, of course, looms large in ‘90s alt-rock history, released just seven month’s after Cobain’s April 1994 shotgun suicide and standing-for all intents and purposes-as the epochal Seattle power trio’s final will and testament.
That should be obvious from both the title of the article and lead image, but chances are you still started humming “About a Girl” and picturing Kurt Cobain’s bizarre pistachio-colored grannie sweater, regardless. Stands with their best.MTV Unplugged, Alice in Chains (1996, Columbia)įirst things first: this is not a blog about Nirvana’s Unplugged in New York. His sickness almost makes this album an even greater accomplishment. This is Alice at the height of their powers, despite the well-known fact that Layne was in bad shape for this show, and the taping turned into an all day affair when he could not get it together (see Sludge Factory). As for heavier Alice jams, Jerry Cantrell is a master of minor keys and unexpected chord changes, making Unplugged a chance to hear musicality that might have been obscured by the original production. Heaven Beside You and Over Now were stripped-down in original form, lending both to the Unplugged format. Sap and Jar showcases songs that are as great without turning it up to "11" - complex songwriting, signature countermelodies, and how about Ann Wilson and Chris Cornell? Here, Unplugged front loads a killer set with tracks from Sap (Brother, Got Me Wrong) and Jar (Nutshell, No Excuses), in the way they were meant to be heard, in an intimate setting, exactly as they were written and recorded.
ALICE IN CHAINS MTV UNPLUGGED CODE
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