Friday 5 August 2011

GUEST SPOT - # 8 - GIVE ME A GUITAR!! - Alice In Chains - "No Excuses"




Alice In Chains - "No Excuses" (1994)

This week's GMAG is brought to you by our Guest Spot nerd Neo. So what is your choice Neo? The red pill or the blue pill? Red? Okay...........ROCK!!


I remember reading the post that SFW did for Eddie Vedder's "Can't Keep" in Tracks of The Week 26/06/11, and I thought to myself, "Yeah! Pearl Jam & Nirvana were definitely 2 great bands I loved and I bought all their stuff." For me though, Alice In Chains were my favourite artists of the Grunge scene. They were heavier at times than the other 2, with great songs like Angry Chair & Them Bones from their Dirt album.

I think it was when I bought the compilation CD of Jar Of Flies & Sap which was originally 2 separate EP’s that I decided who were top of my pile. The songs on this CD are all acoustic based and No Excuses is the standout track for me. I like everything about the song, from the opening drumming to the great harmonising of the two singers. Unfortunately Layne Staley died of a drug overdose in 2002 after years of battling against addiction. In fact, the 1995 single Grind alludes to rumours that he had died with the opening lines “In the darkest hole, you'd be well advised not to plan my funeral before the body dies”.

They never split up officially and in 2009 came back with a great new album, Black Gives Way To Blue with a new singer replacing Staley. As a bonus, here's also a track from side project, Mad Season, that Layne Staley formed with Mike McCready of Pearl Jam called "I'm Above".  Anyway that’s enough from me.... Enjoy.


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GUEST SPOT - # 8 - GIVE ME A GUITAR!! - Alice In Chains - "No Excuses"
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5 comments

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5 August 2011 at 23:51

Great song. I really love Alice In Chains, they are totally under rated in my book. They've got some cool album covers too!

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sfw
6 August 2011 at 09:02

Great band, Ryan Adams does a cracking version of Nutshell & Down in a hole.

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6 August 2011 at 09:22

Sfw - I'll have to check them out, as covers is my middle name.
I didn't mention in the post, but they like Pearl Jam & Nirvana before them recorded and released an MTV Unplugged session which is pretty awesome.
As for Mad Season, Mark Lanergan also sang some vocals on the album Above and became lead singer at some gigs after Layne left

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6 August 2011 at 10:02

Not that familiar with them, but where have I been, that is a great track,great energy, purpose, will get that 'old engine' on the case immediately.

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