Grunge’s Darkest Heart: The Essential Alice in Chains 2 Disc Set (FLAC)
Sean Kinney is an underrated drummer. His snare tone on Jar of Flies (included on Disc 1 of this set) is notoriously dry and sharp. In lossy formats, the attack of the stick hitting the rim gets smeared into white noise. In FLAC, the transient response is instantaneous. You hear the compression on the room mics and the decay of the cymbal wash. The Essential Alice in Chains 2 Disc Set -FLAC-
The bass line by Mike Starr (or Mike Inez, depending on the live take) is a slinky, descending monster. In lossy audio, the bass frequencies are often folded into mono and filtered. In FLAC, the bass track walks independently beneath the "Am I wrong? / Have I run too far to get home?" refrain. The stereo imaging places the rhythm guitar left, bass center, and the vocal right—creating a paranoid triangle of sound. Title: Grunge’s Darkest Heart: The Essential Alice in