Kettle Whistle

Album Review

According to alterna-rock legend, Jane's Addiction was the band responsible for laying the groundwork of the alternative rock explosion in the early '90s, but like most legends, that's half true and half lie. Jane's was instrumental in making alternative rock accessible to the metal audience, mainly because they were essentially a metal band with neo-psychedelic, neo-prog pretensions — two genres that have always appealed to metal and hard rock audiences. Nothing confirms that fact like Kettle Whistle, an odds and ends collection of live tracks, demos, alternate takes, and new tracks recorded by a "relapsed" Jane's featuring all the original members minus Eric Avery, who is replaced by Flea. Listening to Kettle Whistle, Jane's Addiction sounds more like an adventurous metal band than an alternative band, and that's not because the mainstream has changed — it's because that the elapsed time has given a perspective on their sound. Above all, the live tracks capture both the power and the transcendence of Jane's Addiction's live performances.