While best known as the iconic frontman for
Jane's Addiction, as founder of the Lollapalooza festival, or for his work with
Porno for Pyros,
Perry Farrell's creative output outside of his most celebrated projects has been ceaseless. Career retrospective
The Glitz; The Glamour compiles a wealth of
Farrell's solo material and more obscure projects, including tracks from his pre-
Jane's Addiction band
Psi Com, his mid-2000s group
Satellite Party, proper solo albums, as well as remixes, collaborations, and unreleased tracks. The
Psi Com tracks will be of particular interest to
Jane's Addiction fans who haven't yet heard them. As
Farrell's first real band,
Psi Com existed just before
Jane's Addiction formed, and offered a darker, more gothic landscape for
Farrell to experiment with the vocal style that would come into full form with his next, most popular group.
Psi Com's self-titled 1985 EP had only five tracks, and their raw, sometimes grating sounds drew heavily on a
Bauhaus influence that would get buried deeper in
Jane's Addiction's sound, but contribute to their sonic DNA all the same. With both
Farrell's 2001 solo album
Song Yet to Be Sung and the sole
Satellite Party album, 2007's
Ultra Payloaded, there's a genre fluidity that finds tracks dabbling with sampled beats, electronics, and synth treatments as often as they break out into loud guitars and cathartic rock rhythms. 2019's
Kind Heaven is more straightforward alt-rock, but retains the openness to experimentation that guides much of
Farrell's creative output.
The Glitz; The Glamour illuminates how
Farrell's euphoric curiosity has been key to all of his music throughout a 35-year span. Remixes and collaborations with electronic music figures like
UNKLE and
Booka Shade push stylistic boundaries even further than the commercially released albums, as does the grab bag of covers, B-sides, and unreleased tracks that closes out the collection.
Jane's Addiction expanded the definition of rock music and reached millions with their groundbreaking first few albums in the late '80s and early '90s. By collecting his mercurial solo work in a neatly organized and mostly chronological package,
The Glitz; The Glamour highlights how committed
Farrell was to pushing boundaries even before
Jane's Addiction rose to fame, and how he's continued to look for new sounds, new expression, and new excitement ever since. ~ Fred Thomas
