Columbia Compiles Alice In Chains' 'Essentials'

The legacy of Seattle rock act Alice In Chains will be celebrated on a two-disc retrospective, "The Essential," due March 16 from Columbia/Legacy. The 29-track album features the most well-known hits from the Layne Staley-led group, a stalwart of rock radio in the 1990s and an undeniable influence on such recent acts as Staind and Godsmack, the latter of whom is named after an Alice In Chains song.

Beyond familiar songs such as "Them Bones," "Rooster," "No Excuses," "Heaven Beside You," "Would?" and "I Stay Away," the set sports two contributions to the 1993 "Last Action Hero" soundtrack ("What the Hell Have I," "A Little Bitter") that have been remixed by producer Toby Wright. Also included are two cuts from the group's 1996 "Unplugged" release and the 1999 boxed set "Music Bank."

Staley's struggles with drug abuse had derailed Alice In Chains by the release of its 1995 self-titled album, the last it would record. He was rarely seen in public in the ensuing years and was ultimately found dead of a drug overdose on April 19, 2002, in Seattle.

Here is the "Essential" track list:

Disc one:
"We Die Young"
"Man in the Box"
"Bleed the Freak"
"Love, Hate, Love"
"Am I Inside"
"Brother"
"Got Me Wrong"
"Right Turn"
"Rain When I Die"
"Them Bones"
"Angry Chair"
"Dam That River"
"Dirt"
"God Smack"
"Hate To Feel"
"Rooster"

Disc two:
"No Excuses"
"I Stay Away"
"What the Hell Have I" (remix)
"A Little Bitter" (remix)
"Grind"
"Heaven Beside You"
"Again"
"Shame in You"
"Over Now" (unplugged)
"Nutshell" (unplugged)
"Get Born Again"
"Died"
"Would?"

[Billboard.com]

I'll probably pick it up even though I have all their albums. Still makes me damn sad whenever I think about Layne. Definetly one of my favorite singers of all time.

Yep. I just listened to Dirt through the Unplugged CD consecutively a few days ago.

What a coincidence, I just watched the Unplugged DVD last night. It was definetly sad and weird watching for the first time since his death.

I got all of their stuff, including the box set. I mostly posted this for people that don't have all or none of their cd's. This is a good taste of music that they should check out. Great Band!

I've got em all as well as the music bank, so I will probably just get this for collections sake. Its basically the 4th greatest hits package they have released lol.

One of my favorite bands of all time, and I'm saddened I never got a change to see them live (same with Sublime).

Same here, got everything they've put out and will get this as well. And not even think twice about it. There are only a couple bands out there where I'll buy anything they put out, AIC is one of em.

Layne's death also meant no possible new Mad Season CD, that's another shame, I think.


SCSIman

i'm on a big AIC kick these days, been playing jar of flies daily. i think the acoustic stuff they did is so good, i love pretty much everything.

i don't have the music bank yet though, so i'm gonna pick that up soon.

this looks like a sweet collection, but no real reason to have it for me as i've got everything thats on it already.

cool for AIC newbs though!

that dvd gets more spins then any of my Metallica dvd's or SRV and that says a lot about how f'n good it is!

sure, buddy.

okay, so maybe a stretch but it's close!

Me too. Jar of Flies

[So this never came out?. I would have got it, kinda forgot about it.]

Has a release date of 8/29/06

.. was just browsing thru CC web site to see if it ever came out, after just remembering about it ['cause of the so called reform tour].

Has so little origional material ever been released as much as AIC's stuff has?

one album of material, three flavors

With as many GH as they've had with AIC, I'm surprised they haven't done a reissue campaign of all their albums / EPs. Anyone heard if there are any such plans?

Although there's no new music in the pipeline, the band's legacy with late vocalist Layne Staley will be saluted on the double-disc set "The Essential Alice in Chains," due Sept. 5 via Columbia/Legacy. The 28-track collection features new mixes of "What the Hell Have I" and "A Little Bitter," originally found on the 1993 soundtrack for "Last Action Hero."

BILLBOARD.com

Sounds cool, but I unfortunately own all of their albums. I'm not sure a couple of remixes will tempt me into buying this. I'll check it out and see if it's worth it.

So in two years we manage to lose a song? I would have liked to see "Can't have you Blues" on there. I know it's obscure, but definitely one of their songs everyone needs to hear. Probably more so than the Last Action Hero tracks.

There's nothing unfortunate about that.

Picked this up today, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. If you get it at Best Buy, it comes with a bonus DVD called "The Nona Tapes". According to the text on the back: "The classic promotional interview video for Alice in Chains. Also includes videos for 'Grind' and 'Heaven Beside You' FIRST TIME ON DVD"

Picked this up last night even though I already have pretty much everything for the DVD. The Nona Tapes is pretty interesting and a nice bonus.