Black Gives Way to Blue (Music CD)

Alice in Chains. Black Gives Way to Blue. Performers: Jerry Cantrell, William DuVall, Mike Inez and Sean Kinney, featuring Elton John. ASIN B0029LHW4U. Label: Virgin Records. 2009.

Summary
Black Gives Way to Blue is the first album of new material in fourteen years from Alice in Chains (AIC). The band is best known for its hard-rocking influence during the Seattle grunge music scene of the early 1990s. AIC replaced the deceased Layne Staley with William DuVall in lead vocals, however, the characteristic AIC sound still resonates from every track—even the piano mix of the title track with Elton John.

Critical Evaluation
The new Alice In Chains CD is as good as the three previous CDs. William DuVall will never fill Layne Staley's {vocal} shoes; but his voice harmonizes well with Jerry Cantrell's, and together they can carry the classic AIC sound. The title track is a tribute to Layne Staley that makes the album that much more moving after the long wait from the band.

The CD includes the following tracks: 1. All Secrets Known, 2. Check My Brain 3. Last of My Kind, 4. Your Decision, 5. A Looking in View, 6. When the Sun Rose Again, 7. Acid Bubble, 8. Lesson Learned, 9. Take Her Out, 10. Private Hell, 11. Black Gives Way to Blue, 12. Black Gives Way to Blue (piano remix), and 12. Your Decision (live). Young adults will like to have something new from a band from the (perhaps) romanticized grunge era of music, especially with the hard rocking sounds that can compete with today's current metal rock bands.

Reader's Annotation
Alice in Chains' first album in 14 years, has a new lead singer but all of the classic rock sounds that pay homage to their metal/grunge roots.

About the Performer
Alice In Chains formed in the late 1980's with Layne Staley (vocals), Jerry Cantrell (guitar, vocals), Mike Starr (bass, vocals) and Sean Kinney (drums) in Seattle, WA. AIC's sound is a distinctive combination of heavy metal rock and acoustic sounds, as well as the unique blend of vocals from Staley and Cantrell. The band produced three studio albums in the '90s: Facelift, Dirt and Alice in Chains. The albums were well received and often nominated for awards, but the band only won one award for the song Would from MTV's 1993 Video Music Award for Best Video from a film*.

AIC never disbanded, but were on hiatus just before Layne Staley died of a drug overdose in 2002. Black Gives Way to Blue brought back Cantrell and Kinney with Mike Inez on bass and William DuVall on lead vocals and rhythm guitar.

Genre
Heavy Metal

Curriculum Ties
Music: Seattle's Grunge

Booktalking Ideas
n/a

Challenges
Language

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+

Why I included this title...
Alice in Chains is one of those "bridge" bands for me and my kids. I listened to them when I was in college, they now enjoy the new CD, and we agree on what to listen to in the car.

More information:
Wikipedia, Alice in Chains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Chains

*The film was Cameron Crowe's Singles

Graphic from Amazon.com. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Black-Gives-Way-To-Blue/dp/B002Q0F6V0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292426515&sr=8-1 December 14, 2010