Alice I n C hains - Facelift Full Album

Facelift is the debut studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released by Columbia Records on August 28, 1990.[1] The tracks "We Die Young", and "Man in the Box" were released as singles. "Man in the Box" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal in 1992.[5] Facelift became the first grunge album to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), achieving this feat on September 11, 1991.[6][7] The album peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 chart,[8] and has been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of three million copies in the United States.[6]

Background and recording
Local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of Alice in Chains at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record at the Music Bank studio in Washington, police shut down the studio during the biggest marijuana raid in the state's history.[9] The final demo – dubbed The Treehouse Tapes – found its way to managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed the Seattle-based Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed the demo to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Ienner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes (sold by the band at shows), Ienner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989.[9]

Alice in Chains became a top priority for the label, who released the band's first official recording in July 1990: the promotional EP We Die Young. Its lead single and title song became a hit on metal radio. After its success, the label rushed Alice in Chains' debut album into production with producer Dave Jerden.[10] "I told Jerry Cantrell, ‘Metallica took Tony Iommi and sped him up. What you've done is you've slowed him down again,’" Jerden recalled. "He looked at me and said, ‘You got it.’ That's how I got the gig."[11]

Drummer Sean Kinney claims to have played this album with a broken hand:

I almost didn't play on the record - they started rehearsing with the drummer from Mother Love Bone, Greg Gilmore. I was sitting there playing with one hand, guiding him through it. Dave Jerden came in and they started to try to do it. He was like, 'Screw it - pull the plug. This is not going to be the same.' Luckily, we took a tiny bit of time off. I had that cast on for a while, and was like, 'I can't miss this.' I cut my cast off in the studio and kept a bucket of ice by the drum set. Kept my hand iced down and played with a broken hand. I tried not to do that again - your first big break, and you fuck it up.[12]

Facelift was recorded at London Bridge Studio in Seattle and at Capitol Studios in Hollywood from December 1989 to April 1990.[13] Footage from the Facelift sessions can be found on Alice in Chains' Music Bank: The Videos DVD

Release and reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [2]
Classic Rock [23]
Kerrang! Favorable [24]
Q [25]
Rolling Stone Album Guide [26]
Facelift was released on August 28, 1990, peaking at number 42 in the summer of 1991 on the Billboard 200 chart.[27] It was the first album from the grunge movement to reach the top 50 in America on the Billboard 200, and the first to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on September 11, 1991,[6][7] followed by Nirvana's Nevermind on November 27, 1991.[28]

Facelift included the singles "We Die Young", "Man in the Box", and "Sea of Sorrow", all of which had accompanying music videos. The album was a critical success, with "Hollywood" Steve Huey of AllMusic citing Facelift as "one of the most important records in establishing an audience for grunge and alternative rock among hard rock and heavy metal listeners."[2]

Facelift was not an instant success, selling under 40,000 copies in the first six months of release, until MTV added "Man in the Box" to regular daytime rotation.[29]

"Man in the Box" hit number 18 on the Mainstream Rock charts, with the album's follow up single, "Sea of Sorrow", reaching number 27,[30] and in six weeks Facelift sold 400,000 copies in the United States.[29]

Alice in Chains was nominated for a Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal Grammy Award in 1992 for "Man in the Box", but lost to Van Halen for their 1991 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.[5] The music video for "Man in the Box" was nominated for Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.[31] The album won Best Debut Album at the 1991 Foundations Forum.[32][33]

In June 2017, Ozzy Osbourne listed Facelift as one of his "10 Favorite Metal Albums".[34]

In April 2019, the album was ranked No. 14 on Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" list.[35] Soundgarden lead guitarist Kim Thayil also picked Facelift as one of his favorite Grunge albums.[36]

Tour
The band continued to hone its audience, opening for such artists as Iggy Pop,[37] Van Halen, Poison,[15] and Extreme.[29] In early 1991, Alice in Chains landed the opening slot for the Clash of the Titans with Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer, exposing the band to a wide metal audience.[38] During the tour the band found themselves subject to some hostile audiences; however, Anthrax bassist Frank Bello recalls them earning the respect of others by standing up for themselves: "If there was a guy starting shit, Layne would jump into the audience and beat the FUCK outta that guy!"[39] Michael Christopher of PopMatters observed "With 1990's Facelift, before Nirvana blew the scene wide open, Seattle’s Alice in Chains were getting a metal push, thrown on tour with the likes of Slayer and Megadeth, repeatedly booed off stage in a genre where they didn’t belong."[40] The band later released the video compilation Live Facelift, which was filmed at the Moore Theatre in 1990.

Track listing
All music written by Jerry Cantrell, except "It Ain't Like That", written by Cantrell, Mike Starr and Sean Kinney, and "Confusion", written by Cantrell and Starr.

All lyrics written by Cantrell, except where noted.

No. Title Lyrics Length
1. "We Die Young" 2:32
2. "Man in the Box" Layne Staley 4:46
3. "Sea of Sorrow" 5:49
4. "Bleed the Freak" 4:01
5. "I Can't Remember" Staley, Cantrell 3:42
6. "Love, Hate, Love" Staley 6:26
7. "It Ain't Like That" 4:37
8. "Sunshine" 4:44
9. "Put You Down" 3:16
10. "Confusion" Staley 5:44
11. "I Know Somethin (Bout You)" 4:22
12. "Real Thing" Staley 4:03
Total length: 54:02
Outtakes and non-album tracks
"Killing Yourself", recorded during the Facelift sessions, was featured as the B-side to the 1990 "We Die Young" vinyl single. It has never been issued on CD.

Demos for the songs "I Can't Have You Blues", "Whatcha Gonna Do", "Social Parasite", "Bleed the Freak", "Sea of Sorrow", and "Killing Yourself" were featured on Alice in Chains' 1988 demo tape.[14] Remixes of these recordings were later included on the band's 1999 box set, Music Bank. A demo of "We Die Young" from the same sessions was released exclusively on the 1999 Nothing Safe: Best of the Box compilation.

Further 1988 demos of the songs "Chemical Addiction", "Fairytale Love Story", "Queen of the Rodeo", "Bite the Bullet", "King of the Kats", "I Can't Remember", "Sunshine", "The Real Thing", and a cover of David Bowie's "Suffragette City" circulate on various bootlegs in poor quality. A live version of "Queen of the Rodeo" features on the 2000 live album Live as well as the Music Bank box set. Regarding the songs featured on the 1988 demo tape, Cantrell said, "I guess with all those songs we were 'discovering' ourselves."[14]

Personnel
Personnel adapted from Facelift liner notes [41]

Alice in Chains
Layne Staley – lead vocals
Jerry Cantrell – guitar, backing vocals, talkbox on "Man in the Box"
Mike Starr – bass, backing vocals on "Confusion", additional backing vocals
Sean Kinney – drums, percussion, additional backing vocals, piano on "Sea of Sorrow"
Additional personnel
Kevin Shuss - Additional backing vocals
Production and management
Produced, recorded, and mixed by Dave Jerden
Additional engineering by Ron Champagne
Assistant engineering by Leslie Ann Jones
Assistant mix engineering by Bob Lacivita
Mastered by Eddy Schreyer
Management – Kelly Curtis, Susan Silver
A&R – Nick Terzo
Product manager – Peter Fletcher