Having followed Perry career from the debut Janes Addiction album on XXX that blew my tiny mind through the barren years of pretty average Later Day Janes albums to his return to making half-decent music with Porno For Pyros and Satellite Party to his eclectic solo career.  Farrell is probably better-known for his involvement in Lollapalooza and that hide behind the sofa cringefest reality TV show he and his Mrs did on satellite tv. But some of us remember him as the unique and captivating frontman to one of the finest bands of the late 80s. Fast forward to 2019 and has Mr. Farrell totally lost the plot of has he regained some of the street cred he once owned? Seeing as his last solo album was almost two decades ago has music left him behind or has he left me behind?

Firstly ‘Kind Heaven’ has just your nine songs lasting a shade over half an hour it begins with ‘(Red, White And Blue) Cheerfulness’ which is a mid-tempo romp that has a guitar lick that reminds me of Alice Cooper and Farrells instantly recognisable vocal is as strong as it ever was but the song sort of doesn’t make a statement of intent nor is it utterly bereft of quality its just it sort of enters the room unobtrusively and sits at the back rather than entering the ether with a fanfare maybe the second track which is much more of a classic Janes Addiction groove-driven (with bells and whistles) ‘Pirate Punk Politician’ is decent without being amazing but played at volume the production is as clear as the deep blue sea and at last ‘Kind Heaven ‘ is in the house!

‘Snakes Have Many Hips’ is a jazzy number and mashes up pop with some fancy samples never being afraid to push the envelope Farrell is quite happy to throw everything into his music including the kitchen sink and on ‘Medicine Girl’ he does just that.  With a cool industrial groove, it’s catchy and a decent tune but don’t ask me what he’s on about I don’t even go there.  I guess the thing to do with a Perry Farrell record is to not look too deeply into what’s going on and to just accept it for what it is its none of his previous projects but its all of them he absorb what’s going on like a sponge and spills it all over his own record its a head fuck and I guess that’s part of what he’s trying to do.  Empty the content of his mind on a record is no easy task but to make sense of it might be just as complex.  It’s not all for me but there are songs I really like.

‘One’ is like some 80s new romantic disco number and I just can’t get my noggin around that one and whilst there are no end of special guests from Foo Fighters and Cars and Soundgarden band members its Farrells wife who pops up most offering her sugar-sweet vocals to proceedings and she features heavily on this one. ‘Where Have You Been All My Life’ is a melting pot but largely lift music might be tidy if you’re off your tits in a field but at home looking for some music to play its wide of the mark.

To be fair its pretty much like the last few Janes albums and falls short of the real quality we know Farrell possesses maybe he’s still looking for his mojo or he needs to reconnect with his young and hungry self but fans looking to see what hes up to these days might want to stand back and take a deep breath because there is no Caught stealing or 3 days going on here at all maybe Farrell has moved on and now moves in totally different circles which is a shame – Maybe next time? Maybe.

Buy ‘Kind Heaven’ Here

Author: Dom Daley