Pop quiz: You’ve just released your first full-length album, and
\nhave some members of the press (as well as fans) proclaiming you
\nthe next kings of the Seattle scene. Do you: a) Put out another
\nalbum as soon as possible, even if it’s not your best work, b) take
\nsome additional time to write a killer album and run the risk of
\nhaving the fans forget who you are, or c) slam on the brakes and
\nrelease an EP of music that keeps you in the public’s eye, but is
\nmade up of music your fans wouldn’t be expecting?<\/p>\n
Time’s up. If you’re Alice In Chains, the answer was “c” – or
\nSap<\/i>, as it’s better known. If fans were expecting a
\ncrunch-fest on this four-song release (really five, but we’ll get
\nto that shortly), then they were in for the shock of their lives.
\nBut what this release did, besides keep them in the eyes of the
\nrecord-buying public, was to expand their musical horizons – and it
\nworked.<\/p>\n
Layne Staley and crew decided to break tradition and dare to
\nexplore their acoustic side – an experiment that is a lot more fun
\nthan it would sound like on the outside back in 1992. The opening
\ntrack “Brother” starts the journey into a different dimension of
\nAlice In Chains’s music. Jerry Cantrell’s mastery of the guitar and
\nthe wonderfully bizarre sounds he can squeeze out of it guarantees
\nthat the band’s unique flavor isn’t lost on the acoustic
\nsetting.<\/p>\n
“Got Me Wrong” is the best-known track from
\nSap<\/i>, and it does re-introduce the electric guitar to the
\nalbum. However, the importance isn’t placed on the electric work
\nnecessarily (although it is featured in the choruses). Instead, the
\ntexture that its interplay with the acoustic backbone creates is
\nwhat’s special about it.<\/p>\n
“Right Turn” is almost like an alternative campfire sing-along,
\none whose power builds as the song continues. Likewise, “Am I
\nInside” is a tasty way to “conclude” this all-too-brief album… or
\nis it?<\/p>\n
Just when you think that things are winding down on
\nSap<\/i>, the uncredited fifth track (which I think is called
\n“Love Song”) kicks in. While it has some challenging musical
\nportions, it mostly is just the band farting around and cursing in
\nthe background. It is a strange addition to this album, and it is
\nnot necessarily one I enjoyed this time around when I listened to
\nit.
\nSap<\/i> was an experiment in the lab, to be sure, but I really
\ndidn’t need to hear what happened when the band drank the remaining
\nchemicals.<\/p>\n
\nSap<\/i> was a prelude to Alice In Chains’s next full-length work<\/p>\n
Dirt<\/i>, and it also served to pave the way for
\nJar Of Flies<\/i>, which would further investigate the band’s
\nacoustic side. (Had
\nJar Of Flies<\/i> come first, I don’t think Alice In Chains’s
\nfans would have been ready to take that album to number one; by the
\ntime it did hit the shelves, we were prepared for it.)<\/p>\n
\nSap<\/i> is still a worthwhile album to search out, and is a nice
\nway to pass a short amount of time – even with the arranged
\nstupidity that closes out the album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5937],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36205","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-alice-in-chains","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36205"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}