Album of the Day -July 31
Album of the Day -July 31
Alice in Chains — Sap
Alice in Chains — Sap
31.July.2020
Alice in Chains
Sap
1992
Yes, technically, Sap is an EP (extended-play) and not an LP (long-playing).
I don’t think Alice in Chains always gets the recognition they deserve. They get lumped into the Seattle “grunge” thing, which…I dunno, maybe. It’s not wrong; it’s just that they’ve always struck me as a little more “hard-rock.” Admittedly, a thin line separates the two.
I feel they get overlooked because I don’t think people realize that Alice in Chains was one of the first bands to be signed to a major label out of Seattle. For some inexplicable reason, the group gets viewed as riding on the coattails of the “Settle scene.”
Pearl Jam’s precursor band, Mother Love Bone (signed to Mercury Records), put the Seattle bug in the ears of the major label around 1989, and when MLB singer Andrew Wood died, next in the queue was Alice in Chains.
But when people consider the “grunge” thing, somehow it’s always Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
Alice in Chains made their debut in July of 1990 with a promotional EP called We Die Young. That proved to be a success, so the band jumped into the studio with Jane’s Addiction producer Dave Jerden and bashed out an LP, Facelift, released in August of 1990.
Facelift would firmly establish both Seattle as a musical epicenter and Alice in Chains as a formidable band.
The band entered the studio in late 1991 to record a song (“Would”) for Cameron Crowe’s Seattle based movie, Singles and decided to record a few more tracks.
At the same time, MTV’s show Unplugged was beginning its ascent to become the must to television appearance for any band to make to prove themselves. While Alice in Chains would eventually appear on Unplugged — in 1996 and release a subsequent album and DVD — the Sap EP is the first time the band recorded acoustic music.
Produced by the band and Rick Parashar at London Bridge Studio (ground zero for Seattle bands) Sap highlights the diversity of Jerry Cantrell’s songwriting abilities.
By Cantrell’s admission, the lyrics to “Got Me Wrong” aims at relationships. Specifically, in the way, one partner may want to change the other.
Got Me Wrong
Yeah, it goes away
All of this and more of nothing in my life
No color clay
Individuality not safe
As of now I bet you got me wrong
So unsure you run from something strong
I can’t let go
Threadbare tapestry unwinding slow
Feel a tortured brain
Show your belly like you want me to
As of now, I bet you got me wrong
So unsure, we reach for something strong
I haven’t felt like this in so long
Wrong, in a sense too far gone from love
That don’t last forever
Something’s gotta turn out right
You, sugar taste
Sweetness doesn’t often touch my face
Stay if you please
You may not be here when I leave
As of now, I bet you got me wrong
So unsure, we reach for something strong
I haven’t felt like this in so long
Wrong, in a sense too far gone from love
Strong, I haven’t felt like this in so long
Wrong, in a sense too far gone from love
That don’t last forever
Something’s gotta turn out right
It’s been said:
Men get involved with women hoping they’ll never change.
The things that attract you to your partner initially may end up being the things that drive you away.
Whether those are true or not is open for debate, but the truth is that your partner will get you wrong invariably at some point. But it need not always cause for the collapse in a relationship, and should it … the song ends on enough of an up note that it’s going to be alright even if it does.
CRITICS:
Steve Huey at AllMusic said: “Upon its release, Sap was a revelation, a seemingly tossed-off EP of four mostly acoustic ballads (augmented with a goofy bonus track) that threw Alice in Chains’ melodic gifts into stunning relief while exposing a gentler, more melancholy side of their sound, something that Facelift never even hinted at. The mood is still bleak, but not affectedly so, as was sometimes the case on Facelift.” (sidebar: the “goofy” track is awful, skip it.)
The EP was released with little to no promotion and so that, according to Cantrell, Alice in Chains fans could find it. Sap did have the good fortune of being released just as Nirvana’s Nevermind was sitting at the top of the Billboard 200 Album Chart.
Suffice it to say; all eyes were on Seattle.
Sap would get a re-birth in March of 1995, when “Got Me Wrong” was included in the 1994 Kevin Smith film, Clerks, and on the soundtrack.
The EP also features Ann Wilson of Heart, Mark Arm of Mudhoney, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Wilson joins lead singer Layne Staley on the songs “Brother” and “Am I Inside” and Arm and Cornell sing on “Right Turn” (jokingly credited to Alice Mudgarden).
The name of the EP, Sap, came to Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney, so the band rolled with it.
Sap may not be genre-defining or doing anything terribly unique aside from proving that Alice in Chains was always just a little bit ahead of the curve.