Jerry Cantrell

Froot

Hi All,

About 12 months ago I picked up a copy of Boggy Depot by Jerry Cantrell and couldnt believe how good the album was compared to the Alice In Chains albums which I also own.
I recently bought Degredation Trip Vol. 1 & 2 and I have to admit that I wouldnt even regard A.I.C. to be in the same ballpark talent wise compared to the quality of these albums.
I know that a solo venture is not intended to be compared to a group effort but I just dont understand how A.I.C. are famous when clearly the vast majority of talent appears to reside in Mr. Cantrell.
That being said I have never explored the side projects of the other band members.

Does anyone have anything to say on this?

finbarr

I wouldn't say that the solo stuff is better than Alice In Chains but it is very strong material. Personally I think that Jar Of Flies is the superior disc from both the AIC and solo stuff and the MTV unplugged album is probably the best live album ever recorded.

Jerry always was the beating heart of that band. He contributed alot more musically than Layne. Although Layne had one of the best and most distinctive voices in metal/rock. The AIC sound relied heavily on Jerrys vocal contributions too.

Check out the stuff Layne did with a side project called Mad Season. I think it's great. Some members of Pearl Jam in it too.

Doctor J

Cantrell wrote most of AIC songs too, so to knock AIC is to knock him

I'd be of a different opinion though, I found his solo stuff to be rather dull, a lot like the last AIC album, just too much Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

You should pick up the AIC box set if you can, it has a lot of their early demos and it's interesting to see how his songwriting developed. The early stuff is dreadful, IMO, but they got very good very quickly, peaking with Dirt.

Motley Crue

Ive always prefered Jerry Cantrell to Alice in Chains. I reckon Cantrell recommended Robert Tjurio to Metallica when the latter worked with Cantrell on Degradation Trip. Also, since Hetfield appeared onstage with AIC this year and Cantrell onstage with Metallica this year making it seem like theres a good friendship with these two bands, and they toured together in 1994 in the US. Funny fact, when they were kicked off the tour (or left, either way due to Laynes drug problems), they were replaced by Suicidal Tendencies....i.e. Robs band!lol

Froot

I'm listening to Degredation Trip Volume 2 as I write this and I have to say I am so surprised that there is still music this good out there that I had never even heard of.

dimerocks

Deg Trip 1+2 is one of my favorite albums. I think they are as good as anything AIC put out but that said they are totally different in my view to something like Dirt or the tripod album. They are much slower moving harder to listen to than an AIC album. Very personal albums, i have showed them to lots of people and they just don't seem to like it. I think the songs on it are of a very personal nature to Cantrell, thats not saying AIC songs aren't. On the other side i don't think Boggy Depot is anywhere near as good as any of theAIC albums.

Mushy

Got Degradation Trip today for a tenner:D think its only volume one as it doesnt mention bout Vol. 2. Listened to most of it and it does sound good. Im not the most knowledgable on Jerry's solo stuff but Iv also heard the song Cut It Out which is great. Am really liking the stuff. Plus Rob Trujillio is bassist...cool

BleakestH

DT is great, but the 2 volume edition ha s a bit of filler on it. Also, the rhythm section isn't a patch on AIC', they kind of go through the motions a bit. Which is understandable since it's Cantrell's solo album, but AIC wins because it sounds like a proper band playing.

Motley Crue

Mushy wrote:

Got Degradation Trip today for a tenner:D

Where? Pre Tell...and unless its got two discs its not Degradation Trip 1 and 2

Mushy

Motley Crue, in Virgin Megastores in Dundrum. Are ya able to buy Degradation Trip Vol. 2 on its own?

Motley Crue

Mushy wrote:

Motley Crue, in Virgin Megastores in Dundrum. Are ya able to buy Degradation Trip Vol. 2 on its own?

Cool man Ill check it out, thanks!Im only down the road from there anywaiz. As best I know, you cant buy part 2 seperate, I wont advocate the use of illegal means, but the only thing other I can suggest is either a legal download site or picking up a second hand copy of Vol 1 and 2 in City Discs in Temple Bar for example...umm...sounds like a good idea:D

Ill tell ya wot, if I do get a hold of it, ill make a copy of the second disc and send u a pm, ill send it out to ya...the world needs more Jerry Cantrell fans lol

Mushy

Motley Crue wrote:

Ill tell ya wot, if I do get a hold of it, ill make a copy of the second disc and send u a pm, ill send it out to ya...the world needs more Jerry Cantrell fans lol

If that does happen, thank you very much. I might have bought the last copy of DT Vol. 1 though. Im sure they will get more in stock

dimerocks

Vol1 + 2 was fairly limited wasn't it??

Gandhi

Went to see them last night. The new singer is great - in that he sounds almost exactly like Layne. He also played guitar on some songs.

I'd never seen them live with Layne, but Jerry Cantrell was definitely acting as the frontman on stage last night. He did all of the talking between songs.

They had a ten-minute tribute to Layne on the big screen which was cool without being soppy. Mostly clips of him singing on stage, or messing around in the studio. While they did that they switched the stage around to do an acoustic set. They played five or six acoustic songs, including "Down in a hole" and "Heaven beside you", then did another (shorter) similar tribute to Layne, and switched back for an electric set.

They were on stage for well over two hours, even discounting the tribute intervals. I really only went because my friend had no-one else to go with him, but it was a great show.

Motley Crue

Gandhi wrote:

I really only went because my friend had no-one else to go with him, but it was a great show.

Bet your glad u went though lol. Great review, cheers