Jane's Box Set Rocks

Jane’s Addiction was a band both of and ahead of their time. They combined hard-rock punk energy, Pink Floydian proggy atmospherics, West Coast hippie-tribalism and heavy metal histrionics that brought alternative rock to the masses.

The original line-up of Jane’s Addiction produced two stellar albums, "Nothing’s Shocking" and "Ritual de Habitual," before bassist Eric Avery split and guitarist Dave Navarro become a metrosexual oddity. 

Farrell and the original line-up are back and touring with another missing in action visionary, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and Rhino has released a 3 CD, one DVD boxset covering the glory years called “Cabinet of Curiosities." 

CD #1 include revelatory demos from the first two albums showing rough drafts of the soon to be classic songs. CD #2 has odd b-sides, remixes and as well as some interesting covers that highlight the band’s eclectic influences; The Doors’ “LA Woman”,  Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and The Germ’s “Lexicon Devil." The third disc has a complete concert recording of the band at their peak at the Hollywood Palladium in 1990.

The DVD has Jane’s music videos including the sublimely disturbing “Classic Girl” which still looks like an infomercial for heroin, as well as some smoking live footage of the boys in all their manic majesty.

Although some 30 tracks are previously unreleased, there’s nothing truly earth shattering on this collection, most of their great songs wound up on the original albums so there are no lost treasures but it is a fun look back an innovative band that reveled in their own vices and created some stunning music.

For more information, check out the band's official Website by clicking here.

Photo Credit: Frederich Cantor/courtesy of Warner Bros. Records