[Friday On The Turntable] Deconstruction (Eric Avery / Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction)

This week's episode of FOTT is Part 2 in the series called 'Why Isn't This On Vinyl.' Now I'm focusing on Deconstruction - the one & only release from Eric Avery & Dave Navarro from Jane's Addiction - released in 1994 on American Recordings. Please check out the link below for more info.
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[@bbbuttahcakes]

Criminally underrated release. Wish it was available on vinyl and for streaming. Iris, Big Sur, the outro to One...wow. One of my favorite albums, period.

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Agreed. Definitely hoping that they'll reissue it someday soon. Thanks for watching!

[@yrmthr]

This record was well ahead of its time. I love JA but Deconstruction is something special. Hard for me to not listen as a whole. What a trip!

[@tom66909]

The last great thing Dave Navarro ever did and the last great Jane’s Addiction album. EA’s 1st solo album is rad so he’s not in that category of “last great album they did: Deconstruction”

[@ggaiakiei]

L.A song has one of the greatest riffs of all time

[@lonboomer8147]

it's a classic and eric avery is a genius

[@KentBuchla]

An excellent album that I revisit frequently. Some of Eric's & Dave's finest work is to be found here. One thing that sticks out to me is that a few of the mixes have way too much treble on them. It's as if the mix engineer was suffering ear fatigue. There is so much variety in this record. Bret Helm mentioned how "Big Sur" changes from idiom to idiom and this is an accurate statement. There's the anthemic ending, funk rock, phasor-swept & chilled out atmospheres, guitar solos, found sounds, etc. More than a few songs on the record feature this kind of jambalaya of ingredients and it works, but it works best in "Big Sur" with "L.A. Song" standing as a strong and challenging second. Gibby Haynes's contribution to "Fire In The Hole" is excellent and shows excellent casting on the part of the band. I also consider this to be Dave Navarro's finest and most consistent work. I agree with many of the judgements in Bret's review. I did find it jarring that it closes with a plea to American Recording to "get this issued on vinyl" so that more people can hear it. After a well-researched but terse review, it seems silly (and a little dogmatic) to plea for a business to invest in bringing this record to vinyl. A digital release, available for download, would make sense as the target audience is so narrow. If it came out on vinyl, American Recordings would be sitting on 14,997 copies of unsold records. That's a lot to ask in order to make 3 nerds happier. To correct a previous post, the band didn't tour due to Eric Avery being burnt out on touring, post-J.A. Although there was a UK record label with the name "Deconstruction" they decided to drop their legal pursuit against our protagonists' use of the name due to Eric's insistence that this would be a one-off with no touring; a minor but notable difference. Incidentally, the demos to a few of the songs can be found online. There is one named "Jealous Song" wherein Dave Navarro's singing appears to be super-influenced by Perry Farrell.

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Haha well yeah, a 15,000 press on vinyl would be ridiculous. Super common for reissues to get a limited run of 500 - I'm sure they wouldn't have any problems moving those.

[@45ounce]

One of my favourite all time albums.

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

45ounce Thanks for stopping by. - Bret

[@lks_d_u_b_83]

Mine too.

[@carbo19]

Favorite album of all time. just fantastic

[@yeahnah671]

Guys check out the substack blog about this album, a journalist went and interviewed everyone involved in the creation of Deconstruction (including Navarro and Avery. Even Taylor Hawkins interviewed as a fan, a few weeks before he passed away). Really worth reading

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Thank you for the reminder. I've had that blog bookmarked since it was released, but didn't have time to explore further.

[@garse70]

Best album you’ve never heard! Amazing shit! You’re not old enough to even review this record! Good on ya!

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Right on, Michael! Thank you for the kind words - I was actually 21 when this came out. Bought it on release day. :) Thanks for stopping by and checking out my video.

[@DONNICOMUSIC]

i first heard this album a few months back and i just got lost in it. My favourite song is Big Sur or Iris. Its a shame they never got back together to perform the album live. any chance of a look at the promo poster ? Nice video mate.

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Nico Serafini Nico, next time I go digging in my poster boxes, I'll be sure to pull this one out and then show it in a video. Thanks for watching - Bret

[@rodsince1978]

Love this album. I think it's the last really great body of work from either Avery or Navarro. Shame their work on the Jane's reunion never came to anything.

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

roddy mclachlan Hey Roddy, thanks for stopping by. I dug those 'new' versions of 'Chip Away' and 'Whores' that they released for the NINJA tour sampler, but yeah, a total shame that nothing came of it. As a side note, Eric was brilliant in Peter Murphy's live band, back in 2000. Another shame that they didn't work on an album together.

[@Procidentia]

Has anyone heard the Jane's tune San Francisco? It's a pre-Deconstruction live version of Iris. I prefer the Deconstruction version though....slower and almost shoegazer feel to it.

[@einarwilliamfreberg8220]

One of my favorite albums ever!

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

right on!

[@frumpyb]

An amazing album that I keep coming back to, full worth the start to finish listen, so odd and somewhat syncopated at time of release, it was hard to predict and to immediately get into as it was non standard in structure. And.. That is exactly what keeps it so interesting and great to listen to, it's not the standard and familiar hooks, it's dynamic and changing structure keeps it interesting. It's the best soundtrack to L.A. i've encountered.

[@runawayuniverse]

They were a one off band and had no tour due to another band claiming copyright on the name. Very underrated and overlooked release. Get at 'Em, America and One are my favorites off of it.

[@DONNICOMUSIC]

Apparently Taylor Hawkins was pushing for Dave and Eric to play the material live ! Would love to see that. RIP Taylor he was so passionate about janes and anything to with them , NHC was also good, I felt he brought Dave out of his shell and made him excited to play again before he passed😢,also got to catch the og line up of janes recently in Scotland and they sounded very very good , looking forward to a new album soon ❤

[@JM-ij1om]

Love this album! Bought the cassette immediately 💜❤️🧡💛

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

It's a total gem. Thanks for stopping by and watching!

[@bb-of3qz]

Yup, agree totally, bought it same day as you in LA. Still a fav.

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Jj Jones Right on. Thanks for watching. - Bret

[@Orbrosco]

awesome album 4 sure!

[@chrisoliver3642]

I clicked this vid because you looked way too much like me in your thumbnail. Somehow-thankfully, not-so-much in full person. Teenage-me waited for this album to release for years. In retrospect, I'm glad I did because what I wanted was another Jane's album. What I got was its own kind of genius. Standout tracks: One, America, Wait for History

[@sconni666]

Great album 🎸

[@aaronb5161]

Super underrated

[@bauhaus2121]

dude you are so right they were really jane's addiction deconstruction they are like jane's addiction without perry and steven thank you bret helm's life on this planet , thank you for this friday on the turntable. this is rockin roll oh yes. thank you so much. sincerely, william "the joker" aka vincent valez, washington sucide and bauhaus musik2929, bauhaus2121, goth marley. AND BY THE BY PLEASE GET THIS ON VIYNLY

[@acikast]

Great review! Mind blowing album!

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Oh totally! Thank you for watching.

[@tom66909]

I hate when people say Porno For Pyros was an underrated band. They suck! I loved them as a kid in the 90’s but as an adult I revisited the albums- garbage....Deconstruction on the other hand is amazing

[@danwest6486]

I guess a different way to say almost the same thing is that Porno for Pyros was music for the times, and Deconstruction on the other hand is a timeless classic.

[@antonioramani8119]

Excellent review, an outstanding record.

[@StaffsOwl]

Bret I've got 2 albums to contribute to this series (one I only discovered this weekend) , I'll try and film the response this week - John

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Excellent. Looking forward to it, John.

[@MrLovell1971]

Bret very interesting I have to seek out that album I bet it sounds great. 1994 was a great year of some great releases. Great video Bret.

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Thanks Lovell. I think you'd really dig it - and I often see the CD in the clearance bins. Thanks for watching - hope all is well. - Bret

[@jasonkells2072]

Vinyl , Hell Yes!! x

[@joshmartins560]

Oh man....I bought this album in mid 90's from a used bin. Lost it years ago....out of print ..can't find another one :/

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

Josh Martins Hey Josh, thanks for watching. Keep searching - they're definitely out there. I've occasionally seen them in the clearance bins.

[@bigb2020]

I just found one for 50 cents in the used bin yesterday

[@MissMataja]

I've always loved this album and wished for more. My understanding was that Perkins was unavailable because of the work on Infectious Grooves.

[@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog]

That first Infectious Grooves record was really great. I had a promo video single for 'Punk It Up.' I remember being excited that Perk was apart of that project. Haven't heard that album in years. Thanks for watching, Ron. Hope all is well.