Alice In Chains Lets Single Disc Preview Out Of The Box

05/10/1999 4:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(5/10/99 1 a.m. PDT) - Traditional wisdom in the music business calls for a single-disc sampler of a boxed set to be released only after a record company has had ample time to milk the sales of the pricier box. Such was the case when Columbia Records released the single-disc 18 Tracks in April, five months after the release of the four-CD Bruce Springsteen set Tracks. Strangely, the same label will buck the trend on June 29 when it issues Alice In Chains's Nothing Safe--The Best Of The Box. The AIC boxed set isn't expected to hit stores until fall.

Fans chomping at the bit for more Alice will be happy to hear that Nothing Safe includes "Get Born Again," a new AIC song written by Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell, and produced by Toby Wright and Dave Jerden. The track is scheduled to go to alternative and mainstream rock stations on June. 1. The song will mark the first new AIC release since the 1996 Unplugged album and first studio release since the band's 1995 self-titled album.

Aside from the new track, the 15-song Nothing Safe includes the band's biggest hits, as well as the 1989 demo of "We Die Young."

Here's the complete tracklisting: "Get Born Again" (new track), "We Die Young" (1989 demo), "Man In The Box," "Them Bones," "Iron Gland," "Angry Chair," "Down In A Hole," "Rooster," "Got Me Wrong" (MTV Unplugged), "No Excuses," "I Stay Away," "What The Hell Have I" (from Last Action Hero), "Grind," "Again," and "Would?"

Although AIC has been missing in action over the last few years, the band is one of the most commercially successful to emerge from the grunge era. Both Jar Of Flies and Alice In Chains debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 and reached multiplatinum sales heights. In addition, the band has three other titles eclipse the 1 million sales mark.

The AIC box will feature more than 40 songs, including two new tracks, two new tracks, B-sides, demos, alternate tracks, and previously unreleased live recordings.

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