Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails

The NIN/JA tour isn't supposed to be an exercise in nostalgia, despite the presence of two '90s icons (joined by Street Sweeper Social Club, buzzsaw king Tom Morello's latest project). But one of the headliners avoids this trap more convincingly than the other. The two Jane's Addiction tracks on a free sampler available at www.ninja2009.com are vintage cuts heard in new recordings co-produced by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, and while "Whores," in particular, sounds great, it's also as late-'80s as can be. (In contrast, the other number, "Chip Away," recalls the early '80s; it's like an unconscious tribute to Adam & the Ants.) As for "Not So Pretty Now" and "Non-Entity," the two NIN offerings, they're solid outtakes from the 2005 With Teeth sessions that prove Reznor has been creating new, high-level material during the decade in which we actually find ourselves today. Clearly, he's looking forward as much as he's looking back.