Twelve years after they released Classic Girl as a single, Jane's Addiction reunited and released their fourth album, Strays. A week ahead of the album, they released the single Just Because and I remember it being plastered all over MTV that summer. I bought the 7" in HMV the day it came out and went into town the following Monday with the sole purpose of buying the album. That day ended up being a far more significant day since the MVC in town had a sale on, which meant hundreds of pretty niche albums were £4. I bought a couple of albums I knew I'd enjoy, but also chanced £4 on a band I'd never heard of called The Paper Chase. Without too much hyperbole, that album started a chain of events that introduced me to so much incredible music that I can't even begin to describe (although I did try to here). I remember thinking at the time that Strays was a fine album, but that took up very little space in my mind compared to how excited I was about The Paper Chase. I'd spent a few years loving older bands like Jane's Addiction, but their reunion actually threw me into a whole world of other music, such that they'd seem drastically less exciting. It was something of a turning point.
2003 was before a lot of bands started doing the whole reunion thing, so it was much less of a cliche back then. On top of that, Just Because was actually a great single - it certainly gave you the idea that Strays could be great. It wasn't, of course; few reunion albums are. I've not listened to it a whole lot over the years, but I remember thinking there were too few risks - there were no ten-minute songs (let alone back-to-back) and nothing shocking (excuse the pun). Even the artwork was boring. But Just Because was an exiting single (and the video with all the flashing lights helped), so I got into it a bit. The b-side is a live recording of a song that also made it onto Strays, Suffer Some, which is, without being too critical, a very run-of-the-mill Jane's Addiction song.
Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1.35 new
Bought: HMV Winchester
When: 14/07/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
