Pros: Vibrant west coast music from a very eccentric junky. Great rock album.
Cons: Perry is insane (+or-)
The Bottom Line: This is great music to surf to. I live inland but I'd suspect that surfing would go well with music and heroin. I don't do heroin either. I'll just listen.
pugslyaddams's Full Review: Ritual De Lo Habitual by Jane's Addiction
I was first introduced to Jane's Addiction by way of the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. The remix of Ted Just Admit It sent me scrounging for Jane's material, first through Nothing's Shocking then to Ritual. Ritual De Lo Habitual is nothing if not unique. It is definitely a Perry Farrel project yet it stands almost alone in my mind.
There is one mangled crutch that my mind uses to reference this album. I have watched Perry's movie Gift. This movie starts off with Perry giving a lecture on the lessons of buying dope. His first rule involves not wearing a dress, then he proceeds to illustrate his point by trying to do so with some very sceptical black people. This movie makes certain parts of the album come alive with bizarre mental imagery. Certain songs like Three Days have haunting foreshadowing once the film plays out. Some people will think it's romantic, Perry does. Most people will find it rather perverse or atleast abnormal like the cops in the climax.
Still I've rambled on and haven't even told you why I love this album so much. There are nine tracks ranging in length from three minutes to 10:45s. These songs are fairly long on average usually including a rather heavy dosage of jamming.
Been Caught Stealing was the most radio friendly of the nine. It deserves to be played. I love the dogs barking samples and the surfy riff. It kind of reminds me of Stone Roses on California(in Perry's case by direct introvenous injection.) Anyone can bop along to a song that has a mantra of "if I want something, I don't want to pay for it." It features one of Dave Navarro's guitar riffs which I can admit often blaze into an inferno of cheese.
Following Been Caught Stealing is the epic Three Days. Satrting off with Perry talking it builds with a great bass line and some superb drumming. Perry wails off with some cross pollenation of political/religious philosophy and sexual overtones. Dave Navarro hits his peak with a scorching solo that is every bit as intriguing as Perry's personal psychosis. Three Days goes from soft and sweet to Eighties hard rock and back again.
My favourite track on the album is the second last song Of Course. This song has some weird middle eastern quality and some violins. It's orchaestration is beautiful, flowing with Perry's long vocalizations. The lyrics are somewhat of an enigma. Some kind of lesson has been learned about slapping oneself in the face. This song is oh so psychadelic. I've probably tripped to this album more times than any album other than Beck's Mellow Gold.
Perry's voice is sometimes incredibly beautiful but can be grating and somewhat like a dentist's drill at times. Whether that's pleasurable or not to you I cannot decide but it is definitely a high intensity experience.
The copy of the album I have has a white background and Article 1 of the constitution. On the back side is a small manifesto on "Hitler's syphilis-ridden dreams." Perry's nuts but he has a point worth considering. Fans of all sorts can find something in these surfy sounds.
The album ends with a song called Classic Girl. It's quite a good song to ease down the album. It's a lot softer and still carries on the attitude of the album, holding a difficult ground quite easily. The final sound is a whispered "goodnight" from Perry.
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