Jar of Flies EP (30th Anniversary Reissue)

Jar of Flies EP (30th Anniversary Reissue)

Columbia/Legacy

April 16, 2024
Web Exclusive

By Frank Valish

For all the grunge and swagger in his catalog, Jar of flies may be Alice in Chains' defining work. Following his breakthrough album tour, Dirt, Alice in Chains returned to the studio, anxious to escape the noise, and ended up redefining their legacy in the process. Both written and recorded in a week (let that sink in – the band didn't have any songs finished, everything was composed and recorded on the fly). And what four-time platinum-certified Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney and Mike Inez thought about rethinking what '90s grunge could represent.

One might point to Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York as the definitive landmark in redefining grunge, but time may have forgotten that Alice in Chains got there first. Jar of flies was released on January 25, 1994. Nirvana's unplugged performance was not released until November 1 of that year. Not to mention this Jar of flies it was the second time Alice in Chains had approached such an aural conceit. Over seven months ago Dirthe did the same with the Undermine EP, an acoustic masterpiece that took a left turn from the band's previous material. Just until his time Jar of fliesthe band was worldwide, superstar.

Reissued now, 30 years later, Jar of flies hits with the same immediacy as in 1994. From “Rotten Apple” to “Nutshell,” his instrumental-backed “I Stay Away,” “No Excuses,” Cantrell's instrumental “Whale & Wasp,” the iconic 'Don' t Follow', and the idiosyncratic closer 'Swing on This', there's no fat on it Jar of flies. Seven songs, created on the spot and blasted out into the universe just four months after being recorded, the EP is a testament to how a band at the absolute peak of their powers could pull off their face and not just destroy the status quo, but extends its reach into the stratosphere at the same time. Grunge would never be the same. (www.aliceinchains.com)

Author Rating: 8/10