Not so addictive anymore

It's been quite a long vacation for Jane's Addiction. If you don't remember the Jane's, after all it's been about 12 years, think Red Hot Chili Peppers with more hair, musically that is, and less funk. With the band's earlier releases, its sound added up to more than the sum of its parts. Here, there seems to be a few gaps left by time and the band opted for bigger production to fill them in. Applying the L.A. "bigger is better" principle to music instead of fake breasts, Strays is short on nuance, even with its MTV-style volume shifts. Not surprisingly, frontman Perry Farrell shoves out a few '90s-era Bono inflected yelps. Dave Navarro's steady rhythms and calculated chaos (he knows just when to leave the sloppy stuff on the reel and when to try another take) still rock enough to get by with the help of a strong rhythm section, albeit one that seems devoid of personality. Despite its downfalls, none of them too bad anyway, these guys still put the groove in rock more than the average rap-rock sludge of the past few years, and the idea of the hook hasn't been altogether neglected. Strays never really fails or hits too hard and that's a shame for a band that was successful because of its somewhat eccentric frontman and groove-rock sound. Maybe it's a supplement, just enough to get you by until the band gets a little more of its chemistry back and puts out another solid album -- much like they used to.