Nothing's Shocking vs Ritual De Lo Habitual

I've been listening to both albums on heavy rotation of late...they both have their merits and flaws. I used to prefer Nothing's Shocking, but Ritual is equal if not better...I can't decide!

Opinions/insults please.

i would say ritual because i like there longer, kinda more ballady songs like then she did and three days

but then again nothings shocking has some of there rockinest song too...

Thats a hard call

You're right the music is equally as good, maybe Ritual wins by a small bit. Because it is so close of a call, I think I have to go with Ritual based on the cover and the controversy surrounding it.

I have to give the nod to Nothing's Shocking myself.
It was so unique when it came out and became influential to many bands. I think Ritual really showcased a group at it's creative peak but Nothing's Shocking was so groundbreaking - still gives me chills to this day.

nothings shocking

First album beats 'em both."I Would For You" and "1%" easy choice for me ...anyway .."Nothing Shocking" if I had pick one of them.

Nothing Shocking just for
"Standing in the shower thinkin'"

You can't be serious?!
That was like a demo tape.
Granted, a good demo tape - but it doesn't even compare to the following two albums.

'ritual' wins, hands down... don't get me wrong, i love 'nothing's shocking' (and the 1st album, to a lesser extent), but 'ritual' is an orgasm on record..every song is just perfect

Ritual, only because it has "Three days"................ someday we will cover that tune.

i havent heard ritual in years, but i still have nothings shocking and still dig it

Nothing's Shocking... no doubt about it.. from the very first song...

i love Ritual, especially since its a real Side 1 / Side 2 album.. hard 1st side soft 2nd side..

3days is absolutely amazing.. but as far as that genre of songwriting goes, not sure if its as good as Ted Just Admit It...

my $0.02

On a related note. Have you seen the movie Perry made entitled "The Gift"?
I believe it was done around the time Ritual was being recorded since they play material (including Three Days) in the film.
Amazing.

Yes. One of my all time favorite movies. I stil don't know why I like it so much but I do. Yeah, the Three Days part of the movie in the studio is the actual take heard on Ritual.

this veers waaaaay off the path,

There was a girl I knew in highschool (a long time ago, it seems) She lived and breathed Jane's. We had this same conversation many times, and she repeatedly sided with Nothing's Shocking, while I (just to piss her off) would argue for Ritual. In honesty, I couldn't ever pick a clearly "better" album. I saw her about two months ago, just bumped into her in Toronto, and we spoke for maybe five minutes. We got to talking about music, and I asked whether or not she had heard that Jane's were getting together this year for a tour and she replied that she had given up on alt rock some time ago, and was listening mostly to country (?!)

Say it ain't so, Carrie. So, for the girl who won so many arguements, so long ago, I've got to cast my vote for Nothin'g Shocking, on behalf of Carrie. (and Ritual on behalf of me.)

I am right there with that . . . I had been a fan of these guys since the early 80's and the first album caught alot of thier really raw and angry out feel they had live . One of the most amazing bands to see live at the time ( 83 / 87 ) . . . between the two in question , "Nothings Shocking" all the way . Ritual is thier pre lollapaloser radio saturation album . A marketing move almost , nothing but top 40 crafted hit maker , IMO .

i'm on my 3rd copy of "Gift" (note, there's no "the", i'm a jane's snob ) Gift's nayce, some real sweet tunes, including a sweet song by john fruciante "ants"... everyone should see it just for the 3 day recording footage and during the credits the Perry / Ice T version of Sly & the Family Stone's "Don't call me nigger, whitey"

seen Soul Kiss? now that is bad ass..

Nothing's Shocking was better from the standpoint of creativity. At the time they recorded it they really didn't even know how to play that well and still managed to create somewhat of a "masterpiece." By the time of Ritual they had become great musicians and Perry had a messiah complex so they recorded their version of a Zeppelin album. From an "objective" standpoint Ritual is better but Nothing's Shocking felt more like magic at the time.

[Edited on Jan 17, 2003 by bullseye]

[Edited on Jan 17, 2003 by bullseye]

nothing's shocking. by far. ritual is a beautiful album and perhaps one of the best produced albums of all time, but shocking was like a frickin messianic message. raw and uncut. i don't think ritual having been all over Mtv or not, would have made a difference. Shocking is still one of the rawest most beautiful records ever.

Ritual de lo habitual.

Three Days and Classical Girl are the stand outs for me. Nothing Shocking has a few fillers i don't particularly care for. Ritual, baby. And that cover is great. I used to wear the shirt with that picture on it to school. unfortunately the administration didn't care so i didn't get sent home or suspended. damn.

What!? I understand everyone is entitled to their opinion but this is laughable.
As I said earlier, this album captured them at their creative peak.
The fact that "Been Caught Stealin" went top 40 is only residual.
Oh well.

my vote goes to ritual. i just wish they didn't add those stupid barking sound effects on been caught stealing.

People don't do songs like "Three Days" enough.

I really like those spacey side-two Ritual songs, and the cover is great (yes, I have my vinyl copy)...

...I would say, though, thatShocking is a more diverse album since side one of Ritual is all fairly of a piece of the same cloth.

"Mountain Song" is brilliant.

I used to have a lot of tennis-player crushes. I've never been one of these Anna-Kournikova-is-the world's-great-beauty types (for years, Magdalena Maleeva was my biggest crush; I think Serena is now) but I would look at what bands, movies n things tennis-players said they liked on the WTA site....

Jennifer Capriati said her fave movie was Orlando....

Magdalena Maleeva liked Metallica...

...and Kournikova said her fave album was Nothing's Shocking and her fave song was "Summertime Rolls".

I sort of view them as one really long album. The majority of the songs on both albums were nwritten at the same time.
If I had to pick one, I'd choose Ritual. 3 Days is their best song, I dig the mellow "side 2".

If you like Gift, check out the docudrams 3 Days.
It features Dave playing the guitar with a vibrator.



New Jane's album this summer!!!!

I love 'em both, but for me Ritual wins over NS. I agree about NS being huge in terms of innovation, but as collections of music I think Ritual is superior.