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"&lt;p&gt;One of the funniest things about &lt;em&gt;Nothing&amp;apos;s Shocking&lt;/em&gt;, Jane&amp;apos;s Addiction&amp;apos;s much-ballyhooed 1988 release, was how it skewed the conventions of L.A. Sunset Strip metal, managing to be distinctively perverse in a world already saturated with bad taste and bacchanalia. At times the music was glorious, playful psychedelic metal, as Perry Farrell&amp;apos;s avant-gypsy garb, weird eye makeup and prepubescent voice plugged you into the visionary amorality of children. With its trippy nature imagery and porno bent, &lt;em&gt;Nothing&amp;apos;s Shocking&lt;/em&gt; struck the gong.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;wm:embed type=\"related\"&gt;&lt;/wm:embed&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ritual de lo Habitual&lt;/em&gt; finds Jane&amp;apos;s Addiction thin and wandering, blowing ploys that worked before &amp;#x2014; overdubs and echoes, loose jamming, Farrell&amp;apos;s playground melodies. Split into a hard-rockin&amp;apos; side and a prog-rock side, the album doesn&amp;apos;t cohere &amp;#x2014; whatever the band members have been doing for the last two years, they haven&amp;apos;t been practicing much. Sure, there are moments &amp;#x2014; the opener, &amp;quot;Stop,&amp;quot; has an amazing bridge, &amp;quot;Ain&amp;apos;t No Right&amp;quot; admirably sums up Farrell&amp;apos;s creed (&amp;quot;Ain&amp;apos;t no right/Ain&amp;apos;t no wrong/There&amp;apos;s just pleasure and pain&amp;quot;) and &amp;quot;Been Caught Stealing&amp;quot; is a real jewel. A shuffling, upbeat bouncer with silly jazz chords and the best use of dog barks since &lt;em&gt;Pet Sounds&lt;/em&gt;, the song expresses a bare logic of desire (&amp;quot;I want something and don&amp;apos;t want to pay for it&amp;quot;) that makes shoplifting seem as fun as collecting tadpoles.&lt;/p&gt;\r\n&lt;p&gt;Side 2&amp;apos;s miasma begins with &amp;quot;Three Days,&amp;quot; which starts out as fine, tempo-twisting bongload metal but loses it after Stephen Perkins&amp;apos;s great percussion solo. I haven&amp;apos;t been able to get through the rest of the side without nodding out &amp;#x2014; the dreaminess is pleasant enough, but I expected more. Unlike King&amp;apos;s X or Faith No More, Jane&amp;apos;s Addiction hasn&amp;apos;t figured out that a successful prog-metal fusion &lt;em&gt;requires&lt;/em&gt; tightness. The great bits here &amp;#x2014; gypsy fiddles, &amp;quot;Aladdin Sane&amp;quot; piano flurries, strange lyrics about crickets&amp;apos; bones and an erotic Jesus &amp;#x2014; are overwhelmed by meandering vocal melodies, orchestral keyboards and David Navarro&amp;apos;s rote guitar wanking. Two-thirds of the way through, &lt;em&gt;Ritual de lo Habitual&lt;/em&gt; starts sounding like a fourteen-hour layover in Kashmir, a long-distance runaround with only &lt;em&gt;Juggs&lt;/em&gt; magazine and a pack of purple Bubblicious to pass the time.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/ritual-de-lo-habitual-19901018>