September 11, 1997
With the genuine spirit of a modern-day Dionysus and a voice laced with helium, Perry Farrell did his strongest songwriting on this, the final proper album by seminal art-rock band Jane's Addiction. Celebrating and defending sex, drugs and rock and roll with such passion you'd think he invented them, Farrell also slips in odes to racial equality, environmental concerns and in "Ain't No Right", brilliantly lays out the core of his Nietzschean/Blakean philosophy: "There ain't no wrong now, ain't no right / There's only pleasure and pain."
Farrell's provocateur stance would go unnoticed, however, were it not for the visceral punch of Jane's Addiction's sound. Dave Navarro's heavy metal guitar spirialing can double as Bo Diddley riffing, drummer Stephen Perkins pounds out extreme dynamics and tribal beats with equal facility, and the two poles are grounded by Eric Avery's staggering, funk-influenced bass, providing both the music's prime movement and much of its heart.
Stop!" and "Been Caught Stealing" are the immediate powerhouse standouts, but "Ain't No Right" and the easy gait of "Obvious" are equally impressive upon deeper listening. "Three Days" is a 10-minute Bacchanalian tribute to a menage a trois, "Then She Did" a gentle, lilting portrait, and the moving "Of Course" features haunting gypsy violin. Ritual De Lo Habitual and Jane's Addiction's all-too-brief career ends, fittingly, with "Classic Girl", a gorgeous, optimistic call to live and love in the moment that is one of this intriguing and influential band's finest songs.
- Jared O'Connor
Provocateur stance