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Track List
01) We Die Young
02) Man in the Box
03) Sea of Sorrow
04) Bleed the Freak
05) I Can't Remember
06) Love, Hate, Love
07) It Ain't Like That
08) Sunshine
09) Put You Down
10) Confusion
11) I Know Somethin (Bout You)
12) Real Thing
01) We Die Young
02) Man in the Box
03) Sea of Sorrow
04) Bleed the Freak
05) I Can't Remember
06) Love, Hate, Love
07) It Ain't Like That
08) Sunshine
09) Put You Down
10) Confusion
11) I Know Somethin (Bout You)
12) Real Thing
2:32
4:46
5:49
4:01
3:42
6:27
4:37
4:44
3:16
5:44
4:21
4:03
Data Complete
90%
Total Rating
90%Total Rating
(1 users)
Back Cover
CD Art
3D Case
3D Thumb
3D Flat
3D Face
3D Spine
First Released
1990
Alternative Metal
Gritty
Rock/Pop
---
Medium
Album
400,000 copies
Album Description
Available in:
Facelift is the debut studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains. The album was released on August 21, 1990. The album was the first grunge album to be certified platinum and has gone on to be certified double-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of two million copies in the United States. Local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of the band at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank studio in Washington, police shut down the studio during the biggest marijuana raid in the history of the state. The final demo was named The Treehouse Tapes, and found its way to the music managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed the Seattle-based band Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed on the demo to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes (a 1988 demo tape sold by the band at shows), Ienner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989.
User Album Review
God fucking damn I love this album, man. So much so that I find it hard to express in coherent sentences just what it is that makes me return to this album again and again (and again and again and again ad infinitum). In fact, my entire review could just read: YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!!11
But that wouldn't be very descriptive now, would it? I think that the best way to describe this album for me would be something which is a sum far greater than that of its parts. The whole thing exudes a certain charisma and character which, in my ears, makes it infinitely interesting and an opus which just resonates strongly with me. Literally every song on here contributes something to the overall appeal of Facelift
The show is stolen here by two guys, really, and it's the most obvious two: Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell. Staley is at his peak here, delivering a performance of raw feeling and boundless energy which explain easily why he's one of my favourite vocalists of all time. Throughout the album, he simply elevates the songs to a level above what the band would ever reach again (and it's not as if their discography is littered with terrible albums). But while Staley is the most obvious asset to this album, the very soul of Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell, works away for 54 minutes providing us with his own inimitable style based on straight-up metallic riffage ("We Die Young") and sludgy, weirdly melodic sections (like, every song, but I guess I'd highlight "Sunshine," "Man in the Box," "Real Thing" (more metallic) and maybe "Confusion")
Musically, Facelift is probably classifiable as riffy, grungy alt-metal (not an attractive sound I know), which does not begin to do this justice, not the least for the depth and breadth of emotions and sounds here on display here, from the sinister rockers ("Love Hate Love", "Bleed the Freak") to the bleak acoustic tunes ("I Can't Remember") and the oddly engaging, slower, almost wistful songs ("Sunshine", "Confusion"). There's also funk ("I Know Somethin' ('Bout You)"), probably a holdover from Cantrell and Staley's days in the same funk band, which feels nowhere near as out of place as it should do on this, serving to highlight how well it flows together.
It's difficult to highlight individual tracks here for praise, since they're all so damn good. Opener "We Die Young" is simply one of the best songs of all time. Period. No arguments. In fact, I have constructed a shrine in my living room for the sole purpose of giving praise to this 152 seconds of pure, unadulterated brilliance. Third track "Sea of Sorrow" also fills me with a strong urge to don garments made solely of flannel, sunglasses and gain a drug addiction just to appreciate this track to the level it needs to be appreciated at. A song like "Love, Hate, Love" also manages to contain more atmosphere in 6-and-a-half gloriously foreboding minutes than atmospheric black metal bands have packed into their entire careers (of note are Layne's genuinely chilling wails during the second half of the song).
In conclusion, regardless of your thoughts on the grunge movement as a whole, Alice in Chains' debut LP is a monument to be worshiped and hailed for all time. I mean, this is Ozzy fucking Osbourne's 2nd favourite metal album of all time - what more could you possibly want?* Dive in.
*aside, of course, from Ozzy Osbourne's favourite metal album of all time.
SOURCE: https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Alice_in_Chains/Facelift/3958/
External Album Reviews
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User Comments
Available in:
Facelift is the debut studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains. The album was released on August 21, 1990. The album was the first grunge album to be certified platinum and has gone on to be certified double-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of two million copies in the United States. Local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of the band at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank studio in Washington, police shut down the studio during the biggest marijuana raid in the history of the state. The final demo was named The Treehouse Tapes, and found its way to the music managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed the Seattle-based band Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed on the demo to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes (a 1988 demo tape sold by the band at shows), Ienner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989.
User Album Review
God fucking damn I love this album, man. So much so that I find it hard to express in coherent sentences just what it is that makes me return to this album again and again (and again and again and again ad infinitum). In fact, my entire review could just read: YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!!11
But that wouldn't be very descriptive now, would it? I think that the best way to describe this album for me would be something which is a sum far greater than that of its parts. The whole thing exudes a certain charisma and character which, in my ears, makes it infinitely interesting and an opus which just resonates strongly with me. Literally every song on here contributes something to the overall appeal of Facelift
The show is stolen here by two guys, really, and it's the most obvious two: Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell. Staley is at his peak here, delivering a performance of raw feeling and boundless energy which explain easily why he's one of my favourite vocalists of all time. Throughout the album, he simply elevates the songs to a level above what the band would ever reach again (and it's not as if their discography is littered with terrible albums). But while Staley is the most obvious asset to this album, the very soul of Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell, works away for 54 minutes providing us with his own inimitable style based on straight-up metallic riffage ("We Die Young") and sludgy, weirdly melodic sections (like, every song, but I guess I'd highlight "Sunshine," "Man in the Box," "Real Thing" (more metallic) and maybe "Confusion")
Musically, Facelift is probably classifiable as riffy, grungy alt-metal (not an attractive sound I know), which does not begin to do this justice, not the least for the depth and breadth of emotions and sounds here on display here, from the sinister rockers ("Love Hate Love", "Bleed the Freak") to the bleak acoustic tunes ("I Can't Remember") and the oddly engaging, slower, almost wistful songs ("Sunshine", "Confusion"). There's also funk ("I Know Somethin' ('Bout You)"), probably a holdover from Cantrell and Staley's days in the same funk band, which feels nowhere near as out of place as it should do on this, serving to highlight how well it flows together.
It's difficult to highlight individual tracks here for praise, since they're all so damn good. Opener "We Die Young" is simply one of the best songs of all time. Period. No arguments. In fact, I have constructed a shrine in my living room for the sole purpose of giving praise to this 152 seconds of pure, unadulterated brilliance. Third track "Sea of Sorrow" also fills me with a strong urge to don garments made solely of flannel, sunglasses and gain a drug addiction just to appreciate this track to the level it needs to be appreciated at. A song like "Love, Hate, Love" also manages to contain more atmosphere in 6-and-a-half gloriously foreboding minutes than atmospheric black metal bands have packed into their entire careers (of note are Layne's genuinely chilling wails during the second half of the song).
In conclusion, regardless of your thoughts on the grunge movement as a whole, Alice in Chains' debut LP is a monument to be worshiped and hailed for all time. I mean, this is Ozzy fucking Osbourne's 2nd favourite metal album of all time - what more could you possibly want?* Dive in.
*aside, of course, from Ozzy Osbourne's favourite metal album of all time.
SOURCE: https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Alice_in_Chains/Facelift/3958/
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