The Great Escape Artist

Spin (p.71) - "Here, the same three vets team with TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek and Muse producer Rich Costey with results that slam like vintage, drug-addled scuzz-bag rock." Billboard (p.36) - "[T]here's still plenty of anthemic muscle to be found, particularly in the taut grooves of 'Underground'; the beefy choruses of 'Curiosity Kills,' 'I'll Hit You Back' and 'Splash a Little Water on It'..." Q (Magazine) (p.127) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Imagination and maturity abound...it bodes well for the next album..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.93) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Packing a familiar compliment of pummeling drums, neo-gothic interludes and decidedly alternative characters, the twist is a soupcon of ambient keyboard textures..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.96) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "THE GREAT ESCAPE is cohesive, coherent and captivating....It's an impressively powerful testament to triumph over adversity."

Taking their sweet time to bounce back from the indifferent reception to their 2003 reunion Strays, Jane's Addiction reemerges eight years later with The Great Escape Artist, an album that draws a direct connection to the group's murkier, dramatic moments. Part of this return to the mystic could be due to TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek manning bass for the majority of the album, but his artful spaciness is grounded by numerous songwriting collaborations with Guns N' Roses Duff McKagan, thereby offering a tidy encapsulation of Jane's Addiction's yin and yang: whenever they threaten to float too far off into space, they're pulled back to earth by a heavy dose of Sunset Strip sleaze. This tension had urgency in the '80s, now it’s delivered with finesse, enough so that the whole of The Great Escape Artist appears to favor spaciness even when guitars are grinding out metallic grease. Frankly, the shift toward the ethereal is a welcome relief after the clean lines and bright L.A. sun of Strays, an album that emphasized rock over art. Here, the preference is reversed and the group reaps some benefits, often touching upon the dark, boundless exotica of Nothing's Shocking yet managing to avoid desperation; instead of re-creating sounds, they've recaptured the vibe, which is enough to keep The Great Escape Artist absorbing even when it begins to drift. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

前作『Strays』(2003年)のツアー後にまたも活動停止。その後、ダフ・マッケイガンが一時加入するも即脱退--そんな紆余曲折を経て再度復活を果たした〈オルタナティヴ・ロックの始祖〉が、4作目を発表した。キャッチーさやグルーヴ感こそ前作に劣るかもしれないが、ダークかつ摩訶不思議な独特の世界観はやはりジェーンズならでは。ペリー・ファレルの怪鳥ヴォイスも健在ぶりをアピールしているぞ!
bounce (C)粟野竜二