Alice in Chains – Greatest Hits

Artist: Alice in Chains

Title: Greatest Hits

Label: Columbia

Rating: 6/10

I wish Alice In Chains would make peace and release some new material, because these greatest hits and box sets are becoming an extreme tease to an old diehard like myself. We have seen the release of a box set (Nothing Safe – The Best Of Box Set), shortly after another best of and b-sides record (Music Bank), a live record (Live), and now a weak greatest hits package with a DVD shortly to follow. Greatest Hits is a disappointment because the material has been re-circulated way too much. I understand the label and management wants to prolong AIC’s career, but the label might as well have repacked Dirt, renamed the record, gave it a new cover, and tried to fool us. Furthermore, of all the Seattle bands, AIC possibly had more potential long-term talent than their rock-n-roll neighbor buddies. The record label should not be wasting their money on releasing this album; their funds and focus should be spent more wisely on getting Layne Stanley healthy.

Enough bitterness. Greatest Hits is solid homage to what made Alice In Chains a great heavy rock band. “Man In The Box” is the song that started it all for AIC and was a key song in fueling the grunge movement back in the early ’90’s. Shockingly, this is the only song off their gold status ’90 full-length debut, Facelift. Missing from Greatest Hits are the deeper cuts such as “We Die Young” and “Love Hate Love” that made Facelift a smashing debut. The record is set up in chronological order of their releases and, deservedly so, Dirt eats up a good number of minutes. Dirt propelled the band into the national spot in ’92 with singles and videos for “Rooster”, “Angry Chair”, and “Would?” topping the charts around the world. Jerry Cantrell came into his own on Dirt as his guitar playing skills received comparisons to the great Eddie Van Halen because of his incredible guitar tone and timeless solos. Greatest Hits winds down with the last of songs we heard from the group, “Heaven Besides You” and “Again” from their last studio record, Alice In Chains.

Although the band has not officially announced if they will break up or continue at this point in time, they seem to be maintaining a well-paced release schedule to keep people interested and speculating on their return. It would be a shame for a band with so much talent to throw in the towel and become another VH1 special.

+sarzyniak