Published on Mar 10, 1999
Pop quiz: You’ve just released your first full-length album, and
have some members of the press (as well as fans) proclaiming you
the next kings of the Seattle scene. Do you: a) Put out another
album as soon as possible, even if it’s not your best work, b) take
some additional time to write a killer album and run the risk of
having the fans forget who you are, or c) slam on the brakes and
release an EP of music that keeps you in the public’s eye, but is
made up of music your fans wouldn’t be expecting?
Time’s up. If you’re Alice In Chains, the answer was “c” – or
Sap, as it’s better known. If fans were expecting a
crunch-fest on this four-song release (really five, but we’ll get
to that shortly), then they were in for the shock of their lives.
But what this release did, besides keep them in the eyes of the
record-buying public, was to expand their musical horizons – and it
worked.
Layne Staley and crew decided to break tradition and dare to
explore their acoustic side – an experiment that is a lot more fun
than it would sound like on the outside back in 1992. The opening
track “Brother” starts the journey into a different dimension of
Alice In Chains’s music. Jerry Cantrell’s mastery of the guitar and
the wonderfully bizarre sounds he can squeeze out of it guarantees
that the band’s unique flavor isn’t lost on the acoustic
setting.
“Got Me Wrong” is the best-known track from
Sap, and it does re-introduce the electric guitar to the
album. However, the importance isn’t placed on the electric work
necessarily (although it is featured in the choruses). Instead, the
texture that its interplay with the acoustic backbone creates is
what’s special about it.
“Right Turn” is almost like an alternative campfire sing-along,
one whose power builds as the song continues. Likewise, “Am I
Inside” is a tasty way to “conclude” this all-too-brief album… or
is it?
Just when you think that things are winding down on
Sap, the uncredited fifth track (which I think is called
“Love Song”) kicks in. While it has some challenging musical
portions, it mostly is just the band farting around and cursing in
the background. It is a strange addition to this album, and it is
not necessarily one I enjoyed this time around when I listened to
it.
Sap was an experiment in the lab, to be sure, but I really
didn’t need to hear what happened when the band drank the remaining
chemicals.
Sap was a prelude to Alice In Chains’s next full-length work
Dirt, and it also served to pave the way for
Jar Of Flies, which would further investigate the band’s
acoustic side. (Had
Jar Of Flies come first, I don’t think Alice In Chains’s
fans would have been ready to take that album to number one; by the
time it did hit the shelves, we were prepared for it.)
Sap is still a worthwhile album to search out, and is a nice
way to pass a short amount of time – even with the arranged
stupidity that closes out the album.