Perry Farrell – Kind Heaven

By this point, Perry Farrell’s role as founder and manager of Lollapalooza rivals his being frontman for Jane’s Addiction in the ‘first line of his bio,’ but it indicates...
Perry Farrell : Kind Heaven
7.6 BMG
2019 

Perry Farrell : Kind HeavenBy this point, Perry Farrell’s role as founder and manager of Lollapalooza (QRO 2018 recap) rivals his being frontman for Jane’s Addiction in the ‘first line of his bio,’ but it indicates his diverse interests, and ability to remain relevant (the first Lollapalooza, back in 1991, was Jane’s Addiction’s ‘final’ tour…). He’s had other bands, like nineties alt-hit Porno for Pyros and twenty-first century DJ work Satellite Party, even a solo song on the Twilight soundtrack, plus the EDM stage at Lollapalooza is named ‘Perry’s Stage’. His solo album Kind Heaven is naturally diverse and in-your-face.

It’s 2019 and of course there’s political material on Kind Heaven, in the big, sarcastic rock of opener “(Red, White, and Blue) Cheerfulness” and big, aggressive rock of the following “Pirate Punk Politician”. But Farrell doesn’t let go of his natural inclination towards sex, such as the dark electro-sexy “Snakes Have Many Hips” and electro-dance sexy “Spend the Body”. If one remembers the wide range of Jane’s Addiction’s music, or Lollapalooza’s, then it will come as no surprise that there’s also a grinder (“Machine Girl”), pleader (“One”), almost Eastern (“More Than I Could Bear”), and even a grand hope/pray for the future, “Let’s All Pray for This World”, to close.

Perry Farrell can take himself too seriously at times, particularly when he goes further out there – “Spend the Body” sounds like ‘the idea of an electro-dance sexy song’ one might find on Black Mirror (or even Weird City), and his political takes have been said before & better by others (but lots of people are giving political takes these days). But Kind Heaven reminds as to why he’s still one of the most influential alternative artists, even today.

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