Jane's Addiction Album: “Ritual de lo Habitual”

If you listen to bands like Nickelback, Puddle Of Mudd, and Staind, chances are two things are the case: a), you're a complete lame-o and you need to stop letting mainstream radio tell you what to think, and b), you've never heard "Ritual de lo Habitual." This is yet another of those albums that I regret not having gotten a lot sooner. Long before the bands mentioned above were making the genre look bad with their manufactured angst and laughably tedious songs, Jane's addiction were playing music that made the term "alternative rock" mean something. If you've just heard the uber-catchy hit "Been Caught Stealing," you've only heard the beginning of what the guys achieved here, as this album displays virtually limitless amounts of talent and creativity. In the singular vocalist Perry Farrell and staggeringly underrated guitarist Dave Navarro, Jane's addiction were led by doubtless one of the great one-two punches of our time. Dave's searing riffs and blazing solos are the kind that get stuck in your head for days after you hear them, and Perry's demented wail remains distinctive and instantly recognizable to this day.

What's most impressive about "Ritual de lo Habitual" is that its nine tracks are basically split into two different, if equally great, albums. The album starts out with five hard-driving rock songs with a psychedelic feel, equal measures explosive, trippy, and funky. "No One's Leaving" and "Been Caught Stealing" are the obvious standouts among this first batch of songs, but each one displays the band's own mix of manic, frenetic energy; intricate songwriting; and astounding technical skill. These songs have the sound of a group of guys who truly enjoy what they're doing, a commodity that's becoming increasingly rare in today's mainstream climate.

It's after "Been Caught Stealing" that the band throws a series of changeups, showing a commitment to diversity and experimentation that truly separates the artists from the hacks. The last four songs on this album are typically slower and quieter than their predecessors, but by no means lacking in power or craftsmanship. You've got to respect a band that would follow up a string of hard rock songs with the mountainous epic "Three Days," the slow-burning "Then She Did..." and "Classic Girl," and the captivating, Eastern-tinged "Of Course."

Unfortunately, history hasn't been quite as kind to this album as it was to the likes of "Ten" or "Nevermind." I don't think it gets the recognition it deserves as one of alternative's defining moments, but discerning fans should be able to appreciate its greatness pretty quickly. "Ritual de lo Habitual" gets my highest recommendation.

Blazing their way out of the decadent-yet-copycat LA rock/metal scene of the late ‘80s, Jane’s Addiction cut a perplexing figure in the era of phoffed hair and cheesy chord-riffs, unabashedly defining neo ‘art-metal’ and gleefully defying standard conventions on their way to the top. The appeal of Jane’s was, on the surface, a paradoxical one: Perry Farrell’s shrill howl and junkie frame coupled with Stephen Perkin’s tribal drum technique added an exotic mystique to Dave Navarro’s epic guitar workouts and Eric A’s booming, melodic bass. How could frantic heavy metal chords—-the red meat staple of middle-American angst-—be threaded with lyrics about pigs wallowing in blissful Zen and the search for a God who, I paraphrase, didn’t seem to be there at all? Yet they did. And Jane’s influence was multi-fold, far shadowing their more popular peers: in the span of two albums they foretold the sludge-despair of grunge by a few years while stirring in a heady dose of sunny enthusiasm that the coffee-drenched Seattle sound unfortunately lacked. Jane’s rocked, pure and simple, a mix of equal parts intellectual seeking and adrenaline release.

Ritual de lo Habitual is their best album, a hallucinatory epic that conjures images of neon-lit bordellos and crash pads, of needle fever, of the search for redemption through whatever means necessary. Like so many other great albums by great bands—including The Wall, the White Album, Who’s Next—Ritual was conceived and crafted in a difficult period for the band, with them right on the verge of implosion…yet from this tension was gleaned the best playing and compositions these individual players had come up with yet (and since). But enough ramblings; on with the music:

Ritual begins with a subversive Spanish "we love your children" prelude, an appropriate lull before the kickstart roar of 'Stop,' all heavy chords and culture-allusion-lyrics molding a breathtaking climax. 'No One’s Leaving' shreds into the stop-gap void that follows. Coming off a tad pretentious, this song is not one of Jane’s best by any means, but the rumbling bass roll and Cliff-Notes Nietzsche musings of 'Ain’t No Right' immediately rectifies the situation. “Ain’t no wrong now, ain’t no right,” Perry announces, “there’s only pleasure and pain”—the theme song of the Lost City if there ever was one; a dark negation of the Beach Boys ideal and comparable to the shimmering 'Hotel California' muse from a previous generation. 'Obvious' is a drifting shout-out to all those backstabbers and parasites the band undoubtedly encountered in their long tenure through the Cali club circuit: “I’ve worked my fingers to the bone and I won’t let you stop me goin’ up”—ironic, considering the band’s future, but effective nonetheless. Then the stutter of 'Been Caught Stealin’' reminds us that life shouldn’t always be taken serious, and to jokingly prove it stitch criminal mischief into the Top 40. Thus ends the fast and furious side of Ritual. Artiness and introspection follow, the self-indulgent genius that listeners will either passionately love or ardently despise, depending on perspective and individual experience.

'Three Days' is Perry Farrell’s masterpiece, a song he will probably never top…but what a way to go out. Composed in five sections, this epic about a Ménage a Trios begins slow and strings-laced, an acoustic prologue of hints and insinuations; before you know it Perkin’s low-thunder rhythms are glinting with the lightning grace of Navarro’s skillful chops. Thrash hammering takes over in the second half, sundering the beauty of before. The last breakdown, complete with inarticulate hurrahs and searing solos, winds the song into a sweaty, glorious finale. From this sound and fury chimes in a lone acoustic guitar, soon accompanied by orchestrated sweeps; in this, 'Then She Did,' Perry gets personal about departed lovers with blue veins and a mother who used to take him out “strolling through the garbage.” The eastern-tinged 'Of Course' gives us a mournful violin and wink-wink lyrics about childhood games: “one must eat the other”—then reverses the sexual intent with Ritual’s beautiful farewell 'Classic Girl.' “You know for us, these are the days,” Perry sings, reminding the youth of a fractured dream not to dwell to hard on life’s heartaches; that time slips away all too quickly. Grasp the glimmer while you can.

As great as NOTHING'S SHOCKING is, Jane's really pulled out all the stops on this one. I'd have to say this is their best effort and truly one of the greatest albums ever. Balls-to-the-wall rockin' combined with highly innovative songwriting, this album is appealing to alt-rock, hard-core and the heaviest heavy metal fans alike.

"Stop!" - knocks me on my ass every time with those whirlwind guitars. I love the female spoken intro in Spanish - someone told me she says something like "We are not born of this earth . . ." (wish I spoke Spanish) *****

"No One's Leaving" - another killer - "I don't care who plays as long as the game is on." Perry's voice is truly like no other's. It may be too grating for some, an aquired taste for others, but I love it. It's very expressive and as scratchy as it is, he can still hit the right notes. *****

"Ain't No Right" - love the spacey "My sex and my drugs and my rock n roll" intro . . . then that hyperkinetic bass comes in before the song blasts off into the stratosphere. When it comes to rockin' hard, it's tough to beat the first three songs on this album. *****

"Obvious" - unusual sort of art-rocker with a jangly piano hammering away. A fitting tribute to closed-minded morons who can't contain their bigotry and contempt for people a little different from themselves. ****

"Been Caught Stealing" - the one you've probably heard over and over if you've been reduced to listening to corporate rock radio (which will surely become obsolete in the not too distant future). A really fun song about the joys of stealing. My dog always gets exited when she hears the barker at the beginning. *****

"Three Days" - a towering epic over 10 minutes long. It's a masterpiece that starts off really creepy and takes you to fantastic heights. *****

"Then She Did . . ." - another extended song and another masterpiece. Absolutely majestic and compelling. Gorgeous orchestral accompaniment. There's even a great jazz piano there in the middle too. *****

"Three Days" and "Then She Did . . ." are the album's centerpieces. They really transport the listener to places far beyond your typical rock music. A big thanks to D.I. "djcrowley" for his insight on these 2 songs. I had some idea what they were about but you were very enlightening. It makes perfect sense that "Then She Did . . ." was originally titled "Then She Died."

"Of Course" - strange Middle-Eastern flavored song with trippy violin. ****

"Classic Girl" - really is a classic. It's a really sweet song. *****

Someone once said that Jane's was popular because they managed to combine the hit-me-in-the-crotch riffage so adored by metalheads with the cerebral shoegazing of the alterna crowd. Whatever the case may be, here's an album that hits all the emotional notes.

The first half IS hard rock. Energy pumping classics like Stop! and of course Been Caught Stealing manage to be visceral, interesting, unique, and most of all fun.

The second half is slow and epic and gorgeous. It starts with Three Days (which is the song that will be playing when I arrive at the pearly gates) and ends with the most beautiful song ever recorded, Classic Girl. And in between, healthy mixes of Indian rhythms, melodic bass lines, and atmospheric guitars take you places that you've never been, and quite frankly, will never see again.

Maestro Perry Farrell (peripheral?) once said that if you're an artist and you reach #1, then you're doing something wrong. The artist is there to challenge the audience, not pacify them. I don't know if they ever reached #1 with this, but even if they did, I don't see how they could be doing anything else but.

I bought this 2 LP (180 gram vinyl set) hoping to discover new treasures within the music of Ritual de lo Habitual. However, the hack mix and mastering job on this 2 LP set is appallingly bad! It's uninspiringly flat; no life whatsoever!!! All of the nuance from the high-end portion of the mix is all but gone! What happened to the cymbals? The syllables from the vocals? The coiled wire of the bass strings? It sounds like an AM radio mix with some low end! Terrible. Don't buy this, stick with the CD.