Record Exchange Boise

Reviews:

Dan Hicks used to sing "How can I miss you when you won't go away?," and there's an element of that sentiment with Jane's Addiction. Although the band broke up in 1991 after three albums and a 6-year run that legitimately changed the course of music, Jane's has hung together in various alternate incarnations and for a variety of reasons ever since. For Strays, the first real new JA album in over a decade, even the band recognizes the original Jane's is largely unrelated to this version's philosophy and sonic mindset. Departed bassist Eric Avery's slinky, breathing basslines are audibly absent, while Stephen Perkins, Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro bring a wealth of outside experience (and distraction) to their new collaboration. Still in all, it takes just one listen to Strays to see that the missing ingredient lacking in anything Farrell and Navarro have attempted alone is the other's balancing creative presence. While Strays isn't revelatory, it shows the original wisdom in pairing Farrell and Navarro and the detriment in dividing them.