The third album from Jane’s Addiction is a mix of single-friendly grungy alternative rock (“Stop!”, “Been Caught Stealing”) and psychedelic prog (”Three Days”, “Classic Girl”), with the mixtures shifting freely across the nine tracks.  Spurting ethical positions, ruminating on personal memories, reacting to outside interests, and spinning focused stories, the lyrics are taken wherever front-man Perry Farrell feels like going, and the sprawling coverage fits together with an uncanny ease, thanks in no small part to the unifying and distinctive personality he projects over it all.

On the musical side, the band makes thorough use of studio production possibilities, with multi-tracked and overlapping vocals, sharp mixing (deployed to excellent high/low contrast in the ~11-minute “Three Days”), lush and varied treatments of the guitar timbre, shifting of the bass prominence in the mixing, and playful twists of the percussion.  Through all of the layering and escalations, the emotional core is kept earnest and clear, if a bit sardonic at times, and it aims for just as wide a range as the surrounding instrumentation.  A keystone album of the ‘90s, and the best of the band’s LPs.

Here’s the alternate cover art, used for stores which wouldn’t stock the original.