Whatever the case, "Would?" is one of the band's most fully realized individual moments. The final effect of the song is actually more menacing than the sum of its part, perhaps because the indirect allusions of the lyrics make the gloomy angst of the song seem too intense to articulate explicitly. The US rock band Alice In Chains hired a new vocalist after the tragic death of Lain Staley and recorded the first in about fourteen years long-play Black Gives Way To Blue. As the song ends, Staley shouts the cryptic challenge, "If I would, could you?" over blasts of guitar dissonance. The more ambiguous lyrics of the first part have given way here to utter desolation and loneliness ("Am I wrong?/Have I run too far to get home?/Have I gone/And left you here alone?"), and Cantrell's supporting rhythm guitar work is busy and almost chaotic. What had at first sounded like a complete release of the tension built up during the previous parts of the song has now become something queasy, haunting, and even more evocative, flirting with catharsis but never quite achieving it. As the coda begins, it seems to resolve the minor-key melody of the chorus into the brighter, more anthemic major key, but immediately throws in a resoundingly dissonant chord change, leading the listener's ear into totally unexpected territory. The structure of "Would?" is unorthodox - after alternating between verse and chorus, the song charges into a completely new coda section never hinted at anywhere else.
#ALICE IN CHAINS SINGLES SOUNDTRACK FULL#
The guitar shifts into full throttle on the chorus, adding an explosive frustration that complements the melancholy minor-key melody even if the lyrics don't always make literal sense, the music unfailingly puts the desired feeling across. Cantrell's liquid solo lines float behind a simple, ringing riff, while the rhythm section grinds ominously underneath.
#ALICE IN CHAINS SINGLES SOUNDTRACK PLUS#
But aside from references to "flying" and a "drifting body," as well as the chorus line "Into the flood again/Same old trip it was back then," the lyrics mostly center around failure ("Know me, broken by my master") and regret, plus pleas for understanding ("So I made a big mistake/Try to see it once my way") for which the singer doesn't seem to hold out much hope, given the despairing tone of the song. First appearing on the groundbreaking Singles soundtrack in 1992, then tacked on as a coda to the harrowing concept album Dirt, "Would?" became one of Alice in Chains' most popular songs, perhaps second only to rock-radio staple "Rooster." A touch more melancholy than many of the group's best-known rockers, "Would?" was no less anguished, and its lyrics hinted - in roundabout fashion - at the drug addiction which helped produce the feeling of tortured despair that dominated the band's music.
0 kommentar(er)
