The 1997 Relapse tour which three of the four members of Jane's Addiction in vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, and drummer Stephen Perkins was a hit with fans though it wasn't the entire original line-up. Taking over for original bassist Eric Avery, who turned down the invitation due to various reasons, was Navarro's band mate from the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Flea. The tour ended in 1998 with Navarro having his own relapse with drugs that led to him being fired from the Chili Peppers. With Navarro in recovery and working on a solo project, Farrell and Perkins each delved into their own solo projects. In 2001, both Farrell and Navarro released solo albums as the two along with Perkins toured once again as Jane's Addiction. With Eric Avery refusing another invitation and Flea unavailable, Farrell brought in his old Pornos for Pyros bassist Martyn LeNoble to fill the gap.

The 2001 tour was a success as it prompted the band to record once again as Jane's Addiction. For the third studio album, the band turned to the legendary Bob Ezrin who was famous for his work with Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Pink Floyd. During the recording of the album which went on for a year, Martyn LeNoble left the band following a dispute with Farrell as he was replaced by former Alanis Morrisette touring bassist Chris Chaney. Though LeNoble managed to write a majority of the album, Farrell, Ezrin, and co-producer Brian Virtue ended up replacing LeNoble's parts for Chaney to contribute. The result would be the band's third studio album entitled Strays.

Produced by Bob Ezrin and Brian Virtue, Strays is an album filled with rocking tunes that features Perry Farrell's screeching, wailing high-pitch vocals, Stephen Perkins' pummeling drum performance, and Dave Navarro's virtuoso guitar work. Filling in for original bassist Eric Avery is Chris Chaney who helps provide the melodic bass groove. Featuring Farrell's mystical, esoteric lyrics, the songs are written by the trio of Farrell, Navarro, and Perkins with Chaney, Martyn LeNoble, session keyboardist Aaron Embry, and producer Bob Ezrin. The album is filled with anthemic rockers and upbeat songs, it lacks the atmospheric vibe of Nothing's Shocking and the exotic feel of Ritual de Lo Habitual. Despite its performance, Strays is an album that is decent but lacks the richness of their previous studio albums in place of a clean sound and willingness to be relevant with the bands of the day.

The album opener and second single True Nature begins with chugging distortions for a blazing, hard rocker with pounding bass lines, mid-tempo beats, and driving guitars. With Perry Farrell's screeching vocals and esoteric lyrics, the song has a chugging drive that features Dave Navarro's blazing, sliding guitars with soft, tingling pianos in the background. While lyrically, the song is good as is the performance, it's a song that is often overshadowed by its pristine, layered production that does too much to make it sound like today's rock. The title track is a rocker that opens with a swooning, melodic bass line with washy guitars and Farrell's calm, high-pitch vocals. With Stephen Perkins' rumbling, hard-hitting drums, taking charge with Navarro's charging guitars. It's a song that features some excellent performances in the instrumentation along with Navarro's wailing guitar. Despite some production issues in which things are polished to a fault, it's performance along with Farrell's mystical lyrics make up for its shortcomings.

The first single Just Because is a blazing rocker with Navarro's wailing guitar riffs, pounding bass lines, and pummeling drums from Stephen Perkins. With Farrell's heroic vocals and sexually-driven lyrics, it's a song that has all of the hallmarks of a rocking song. Even as its pristine, crisp production manages to work to play up to its energy and performance which includes Navarro's virtuoso guitar playing. Price I Pay opens with Navarro's swooning, melodic arpeggio guitar chimes with Chris Chaney's melodic-grooving bass lines. With Farrell's soothing vocals and evocative lyrics, the song starts out as an atmospheric track only to go into a vibrant, pummeling rocker with charging riffs and Farrell's screeching vocals. Yet, it's shift from atmospheric to a full-on rocker makes the song unspectacular as it includes some programmed beats with Farrell singing some lyrics that are described as average on his part.

The Riches arrives with swift, washy riffs for an upbeat rocker with groove-laden bass lines and Farrell's weird, descriptive lyrics and high-pitch vocals. With its swirling guitar sounds with its pummeling drums and pristine production, the song has a nice performance but it's another song that doesn't really have anything spectacular due to its structure where it tries to be atmospheric as well as its overly-polished production. Superhero, the theme song from the HBO TV series Entourage, is a blistering rocker with hard-pounding beats, growling guitars, thundering bass lines and Farrell's fast-talking vocals. With its stylish, heroic lyrics, it's a song that really stands out for its performance and exuberance that includes Navarro's wailing guitar solo. Wrong Girl opens with a funky riff from Navarro for a vibrant, mid-tempo funk that features a nice bass groove and a smooth, bouncy beat. With Farrell's screeching vocals with lyrics about a bad girl, it's a decent song but not great since the band is not a funk band while they try to do such much to a song that isn't needed.

Everybody's Friend is an acoustic track with Navarro accompanying Farrell's calm vocals but with some unimaginative lyrics about a guy who is a friend to everyone. With a sliding electric guitar solo from Navarro and a swooning keyboard in the background along with some string arrangements. With a vibrant groove coming along, it's a song that isn't great due to its lyrics and very clean production. Suffer Some is a vibrant rocker with melodic-grooving bass lines, Perkins' warbling drums with some polyrhythmic beats, and Navarro's driving guitar. With Farrell's screeching vocals, it's a song that has a memorable groove with Navarro's wailing guitar and Farrell's dark vocals. Though its production seems to try to do a lot with its pristine sound with a backing chorus to add some flavor to the song. The performance of the band does manage to make up for the production's shortcomings.

Hypersonic is a blazing rocker with fast-hitting drums that are accompanied by swirling electronic sounds and charging guitars. With Farrell's calm, high-pitch vocals, the song plays up to its namesake with Farrell's weird, descriptive lyrics, the song has an atmospheric break but its hindered by its clean production, electronic backgrounds, and structure as the band tries to retain some of the art-rock sound of the past. The album closer To Match The Sun is a swooning, ethereal rocker with heavy bass lines, hollow keyboard melodies, and Farrell's haunting vocals. Then it becomes a smooth, charging rocker with driving guitar riffs and a slow, bouncy drum fill. Yet, it's a song that tries to do too much that includes a string accompaniment later on along with Farrell's worldly, angry lyrics. With Navarro's wailing guitar solo, it's a song that has its moments but nothing to keep it together.

When it was released in July of 2003, reaction from both fans and critics were mixed. While reviews were good, many felt the album strayed way too far from the band's sound of their previous albums. Fans also felt the same way complaining about Bob Ezrin's production being way too clean and sounding like every other rock album out there. In many respect, the fans were right because it's an album that sounded like every rock album that was coming out of the time. Jane's Addiction were known for being original with many having a hard time in figuring what they sounded like. With Strays, it's a record in which the band tried to be like every other rock band and the result is sub-par with some good moments.

Another issue that fans had along with ex-bassist Martyn LeNoble, who was fired mid-way through the album was what Bob Ezrin wanted for the record. LeNoble understood that Jane's Addiction was an art-rock band as Ezrin wanted to make them into a real, straight-ahead rock band. That was another problem fans had since LeNoble claimed that Ezrin never really understood the band with their previous albums. Another issue that many felt with the record which was true was that as a record, it's a rock record. The real question is that is Strays a true Jane's Addiction album? Not really. You have three key elements to the band and sound in Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, and Stephen Perkins. What is missing? Eric Avery.

Chris Chaney is no doubt, an excellent bass player who can play grooves and melodies throughout the songs. It's just that Avery's presence on record is missing since his bass playing is very unique to what the band had envisioned. At the same time, Avery's bass playing isn't a very conventional style to what is expected in rock music. Avery's missing presence on Strays clearly makes the record as an adequate, good record but not a true Jane's Addiction album in comparison to the work that the band had created from 1986-1991.

Following its release, the band went on tour again but tension over venues, festivals, and other issues was plaguing the band again. Even as Perry Farrell began to focus on rebuilding the Lollapalooza festival for 2004, which was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. In 2004, the band broke up for the second time as Dave Navarro said that its break-up was due to the same reasons the band broke-up back in 1991. With Navarro on the media spotlight for several TV shows and such while forming a band with Stephen Perkins, Chris Chaney, and vocalist Steve Isaacs on the band the Panic Channel. Farrell rebuild Lollapalooza as a one-time festival to be held at Grant Park in Chicago from 2005-2011 as a two-day festival. It was around the same time Farrell formed a new project called the Satellite Party with Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. In 2006, a best-of compilation entitled Up from the Catacombs was released featuring the band's greatest hits.

Strays is a good though somewhat average album from Jane's Addiction. Despite a couple of great songs in Just Because and Superhero, it's a record that sounds average to a lot of the mainstream rock albums of the day. Particularly with Bob Ezrin's polished yet uninspiring production that takes away the adventurous and eccentricities the band had in the past. Along with Eric Avery's missing presence, it's a record that has a few moments but it's not a true Jane's Addiction. In the end, for a record that has some moment and rocks. Strays is that kind of record though it's just average for Jane's Addiction whose best work was in the past.

Jane's Addiction Reviews: Jane's Addiction (live) - Nothing's Shocking - Ritual de lo Habitual - Kettle Whistle - NINJA 2009 Tour Sampler EP - A Cabinet of Curiosities - NIN/Jane's Addiction/Street Sweeper Social Club-5/10/09, Atlanta, GA-Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving