Alice In Chains - Unplugged
Performance 
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Alice In Chains - Unplugged
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In 1996, Alice In Chains decided to emerge from a three year hiatus by performing on the MTV Unplugged show. The band was at the pinnacle of their popularity, after having recently released the light, acoustic EP Jar Of Flies, and then the very dark and heavy Alice In Chains album. The band did not tour after releasing Alice In Chains, probably due to lead singer Layne Staley's fondness for the smack and Jack, and his inability to stand up for more than five minutes at a time. Success and money sure seem to be a hard demons for some people to deal with. Go figure. The show began with guitarist Jerry Cantrell alone on the stage nervously strumming the intro to Nutshell (nervous that his lead vocalist might not be able to find his chair), as the other band members casually walked out and took their seats one at a time. Staley wanders out last and receives an appreciative applause from the crowd. The stage lighting at this point consisted of mostly candles and lava lamps - just how I used to mood light my bedroom back in 1980 while cranking Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy. This created the perfect moody atmosphere for the slow, brooding sound of the first two songs. Staley looked like a man who was clearly losing the battle with his drug addiction. Unfortunately, time later proved this to be true. He was meek and frail looking, but his voice was still in surprisingly excellent form that night. His lead vocals and harmonizing with Cantrell were very impressive on most songs, considering he was obviously high. Then again, wasn't all of the best music ever created done by guys who were high? Of course it was. Cantrell is an underrated vocalist, as well, who impressively demonstrates how much he adds to their vocal arrangements. Staley messed up the lyrics a couple of times, and even had to start over during one song. This only added to the charm of the performance. Scott Olsen sits in with the band on acoustic guitar and gives the songs some added fullness. Some hard rock songs transfer well to acoustic arrangements, and others attempts are simply disastrous. Alice In Chains skillfully transformed many of their heavier songs into dynamic acoustic versions, like "Rooster", and others didn't fare so well, like "Sludge Factory". Several of their best songs were already originally acoustic arrangements, such as the hits "No Excuses" and "Heaven Beside You", and these songs sounded even better in this live setting. The Dolby 5.1 surround sound quality was awesome, and the mix was perfect. The camera work was also right on. No annoying rapid changes between camera angles. The producer simply allowed you to soak in the performance without any annoying distractions. The subdued stage lighting, which enhanced the candle and lava lamp light, created the perfect atmosphere to complement the dark and depressing tone of most of these songs. The best performances of the night were "Down In The Hole" and "Rooster". These heavy duty grunge-rock opuses went over beautifully in their new, tight and emotionally charged acoustic performances. The fact that Staley was actually living out his heroin addiction inspired lyrics right in front of us, didn't exactly hurt the emotional impact of these songs either. Most of the other songs were already recorded as acoustic arrangements on their two acoustic EPs Sap and Jar Of Flies, so these versions weren't much of a stretch. The real challenge would have been to play some heavier songs such as "We Die Young", or "Dam That River". It didn't exactly work that great with "Sludge Factory" and "Frogs" though. They introduced one brand new song this night, "The Killer Is Me", which would have fit perfectly on the Jars Of Flies EP. The song wasn't bad, but pales in comparison to some of the other classics here. Alice in Chains Unplugged is definitely one of the best of the MTV Unplugged performances by a rock band that has been released on video. Some people hate this format, some people love it. I really miss MTV Unplugged and wish that they would resurrect it - or at least release more DVDs of some of the great past performances. Unfortunately, Unplugged was the last performance of this great band, and lead singer, ever captured on video. Don't miss it. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - February 2004 |
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Running Time: 73 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - October 1999 |