If nothing else, Jane's Addiction sure know how to stretch out the publicity surrounding their impending return. It seems like every few weeks for the past half year the band does something, releases something, announces something, denies something or collaborates on something. There are the secret shows, which always seem to take place at a joint too small for the LA crowds that want to see them, which makes news because there are always lines. Publicity whores? (Navarro? Never …). No, but efficient information machines. This time out: we're talking boxed sets.
This just in from Rhino:
JANE'S ADDICTION FINALLY UNLOCKS THE CABINET
3-CD/1-DVD Boxed Set, A Cabinet Of Curiosities, Offers
Extensive Collection of Never-Before-Heard Demos, Live Performances and
Rarities, Plus Unreleased and Hard-To-Find Videos
Limited Edition Set Available April 21 From Rhino
LOS ANGELES — Jane's Addiction aggressively melded avant-garde, funk,
metal, and punk sounds with raw sexual energy and became an incomparable
force. On April 21, Rhino celebrates the legacy of Jane's Addiction and
unearths A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES; a 3-CD/1-DVD Jane's Addiction boxed set
of demos, live performances and rarities that includes 30 unreleased
tracks. The set will be available from Rhino in stores and at
www.rhino.com in a striking, limited-edition wooden cabinet for a suggested
price of $74.98. A digital version will also be available at all digital
retail outlets. Audiophiles and vinyl geeks take note that on April 18, to
celebrate this year's Record Store Day, Rhino will release 180-gram vinyl
versions of the seminal Jane's albums Nothing's Shocking and Ritual De Lo
Habitual for a suggested price of $17.98 and $24.98 respectively.
The CABINET collection focuses solely on the band's original incarnation of
vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Eric Avery and
drummer Stephen Perkins. Last year, this founding foursome played together
for the first time in 17 years and has since raised eyebrows with a trio of
celebrated secret underground shows in tiny clubs around Los Angeles. Now,
with 43 tracks on CD, A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES offers a comprehensive look
at the band from demo recordings of key tracks from Nothing's Shocking
(1988) and Ritual de lo Habitual (1990) to live recordings of the band
roaring through its best songs onstage.
The set opens with five songs recorded in 1986 during a session at Radio
Tokyo studio in Venice, CA, including an unreleased version of “Jane Says.”
The remaining 12 songs on disc one are unreleased demos from 1987 that
feature futures Jane's classics including “Three Days,” “Ocean Size,”
“Classic Girl,” “Summertime Rolls,” and “Stop!”
The second disc contains more unreleased demos (“Ted, Just Admit It…”)
along with a recording of the band rehearsing “My Time” and a 12″ remix of
“Been Caught Stealing.” The disc also rounds up stray songs from various
compilations (Grateful Dead cover “Ripple,” “Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey”
with Ice-T & Ernie C) as well as rare and unreleased live cuts including
roaring covers of Led Zeppelin's “Whole Lotta Love” and The Stooges' “1970”
as well as the live staple dubbed “Bobhaus,” which features lyrics from Bob
Dylan's “Like A Rolling Stone” sung over the music of Bauhaus' “Burning
From The Inside.”
Jane's Addition made great albums, but it's the band's live shows that
cemented its legacy. All of the darkness, soul, aggression, and musical
zealousness came pouring out night after night as the foursome gelled into
a thunderous and dangerous machine. The third disc features a complete live
show from December 19, 1990. This performance was the second show from the
band's legendary three night run at the Hollywood Palladium and features a
number of fiery, unreleased performances including “Mountain Song,”
“Whores,” and “Ocean Size,” and “Been Caught Stealing.”
The DVD included with A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES begins with Soul Kiss,
previously available only on VHS, which features the video for “Mountain
Song” that was banned by MTV, a video for “City” and candid home movies of
the band. The DVD also brings together six additional music videos as well
as a trio of unreleased 1990 performances taped in Milan for MTV Italy.
The wooden curio cabinet that houses the limited edition set looks like a
shrine to the band made by an adoring fan. The box opens to reveal
recreations of early concert fliers, ticket stubs, a set list and other
memorabilia.
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