Strays
From Free net encyclopedia
- This article is about the album. For the areas of open land in York and Harrogate see Strays of York.
Strays is Jane's Addiction's third studio album. It was released on July 22, 2003, and was the only album the band released when they reformed with Chris Chaney on bass.
It was their first new album since Ritual de lo Habitual, which was released in 1990. The song "Just Because" was nominated for the Grammy Awards in 2004.
The album has mixed opinions amongst Jane's Addiction's dedicated fan-base. Many did not welcome the more "hard-rock" edge that dominated the sound of this guitar-orientated album. Fans tend to blame producer Bob Ezrin for this heavier sound. Many Jane's fans do believe this to be a good album in it's own right. Compared to previous albums Ritual de lo Habitual and Nothing's Shocking, however, the majority feel it is a weaker effort with no mysterious and magical beauty that dominated the older albums.
The song "Superhero" is used during the opening credits of the HBO series Entourage.
Contents |
Track listing
- "True Nature" - 3:49 (Perry Farrell/Dave Navarro/Stephen Perkins/Bob Ezrin/Martyn LeNoble)
- "Strays" - 4:32 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin/Arron Embry/David J)
- "Just Because" - 3:51 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin/Chris Chaney)
- "Price I Pay" - 5:27 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin/Chaney)
- "The Riches" - 5:44 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin/Embry/LeNoble)
- "Superhero" - 3:58 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin/Embry)
- "Wrong Girl" - 4:32 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin/Chaney)
- "Everybody's Friend" - 3:18 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin)
- "Suffer Some" - 4:14 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/LeNoble/Ezrin)
- "Hypersonic" - 3:32 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin/LeNoble)
- "To Match The Sun" - 5:25 (Farrell/Navarro/Perkins/Ezrin/LeNoble)
Singles released
- "Just Because"
- "True Nature"
Personnel
Band line-up during recording
- Perry Farrell - vocals, programming
- Dave Navarro - guitars, piano
- Stephen Perkins - drums, percussion
- Chris Chaney - bass, piano
Producers
- Bob Ezrin
- Brian Virtue
Engineers
- Brian Virtue
- James Murray (additional engineering)
- Alex Gibson (additional engineering)
Assistant Engineers
- Brian Humphrey
- Alex Uychocde
Mixing
- Bob Ezrin
- Brian Virtue
Additional musicians
- Aaron Embry - keyboards, kalimba
- Zack Ray - keyboards
- Joe Bishara - programming
- Brian Virtue - programming
- Bob Ezrin - additional keyboards, percussion
- Scott Page - saxophones
- John Shanks - mandolin
- Mike Finnegan - organ
- Brenden Hawkins - additional programming
- James Murray - additional programming
- Kim Hill - backing vocals
- Dionna Brooks-Jackson - backing vocals
Orchestral arrangements
- Leanna Sterios
- Bon Ezrin
Mastering
- Brian "Big Bass" Gardener
Selected quotes
- Stephen Perkins: It all started (around March or April 2002) with Bob Ezrin producing a Porno for Pyros track for the movie Dark Blues...an incredible song called "Streets of Fire" which was just epic. That segued into the Strays project.
- Perry Farrell: Working with Bob Ezrin on Strays meant a lot because I knew that Dave loved Pink Floyd's The Wall, which Ezrin produced. Dave learned The Wall (as a kid). He can play the whole album note for note. I knew he'd instantly have a lot of respect for him.
- Matyn LeNoble (ex-Porno for Pyros bassist, ex-Jane's Addiction bassist): I recorded pretty much the whole Strays record. And Perry erased it. He suddenly fired me on the spot in Japan when we still had a whole flight back to the US. That's the last time I talked to him.
- Bob Ezrin: My job on Strays was to bring a sort of commonality to the process and make everyone think it was a group effort again and not just a bunch of solo projects trying to be strung together.
- Matyn LeNoble: Bob Ezrin didn't really understand Jane's Addiction musically. I remember arguing with him, "Like man, have you listened to Ritual?" He goes, "Frankly, I can't get through it. I think it sounds horrible. I'm going to make this a real rock band instead of an art rock band." Well, he succeeded. He took all the magic out of it. He made a rock record. The most magical moments on the Jane's Addiction records are the quiet little adventures to the left, and, of course Eric's magic bass. Eric Avery is the man.
- Matyn LeNoble: Perry and Bob (Ezrin) replaced all my bass parts on Strays. Perry was saying everything I played sounded like shit, but then they had the new guy pretty much play exactly my parts, maybe a couple of little changes, so I guess they couldn't have been that shitty.