Tracklist front / back album covers
1. "All Secrets Known" 4:42
2. "Check My Brain" 3:57
3. "Last of My Kind" 5:52
4. "Your Decision" 4:43
5. "A Looking in View" 7:06
6. "When the Sun Rose Again" 4:00
7. "Acid Bubble" 6:55
8. "Lesson Learned" 4:16
9. "Take Her Out" 4:00
10. "Private Hell" 5:38
11. "Black Gives Way to Blue" 3:03
Total length: 54:12
iTunes bonus tracks
12. "Black Gives Way to Blue" (Piano Mix) 3:01
13. "Your Decision" (Live) 4:48
Total length: 62:01
Japanese bonus
12. "Down in a Hole" (Live at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre, 7 July 2009) 6:46
Total length: 60:56
Alice in Chains Band Members / Musicians
Jerry Cantrell – lead and backing vocals, lead guitar
William DuVall – backing vocals, rhythm guitar, lead vocals in "Last of My Kind"
Mike Inez – bass, backing vocals
Sean Kinney – drums, percussion
Elton John – piano on "Black Gives Way to Blue"
Lisa Coleman – vibraphone on "Black Gives Way to Blue"
Chris Armstrong – tabla on "When the Sun Rose Again"
Stevie Black – string arrangement, performance, and engineering on "Your Decision" and "Private Hell"
Produced by Nick Raskulinecz and Alice in Chains
Recorded by Paul Figueroa with additional engineering by Nick Raskulinecz, assisted by John Lousteau, Martin Cooke, and Kevin Mills
Mixed by Randy Staub
Mastered by Ted Jensen
Art direction by Alice in Chains & Matt Taylor
Artwork and design by Matt Taylor
Band photography by James Minchin III
Package interior photography by Rocky Schenck
Illustrations pages 7 & 11 by Emmanuel Polanco
Management by Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group and Susan Silver Management
Black Gives Way to Blue is the 4th studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 2009, on the 17th anniversary of the release of their second album, Dirt. It is their first record without original lead singer Layne Staley, who died in 2002, and their first album with new vocalist and rhythm guitarist William DuVall sharing vocal duties with lead guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, who sings lead vocals on most of the songs. The title track is a tribute to Staley featuring Elton John on piano. This is the first Alice in Chains album released on Virgin Records and their first venture away from Columbia, who handled all of their previous releases. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold by the RIAA on May 26, 2010, with shipments exceeding 500,000 copies in the U.S. and over 1 million copies sold worldwide. The track "A Looking in View" was the first song from the album that was made available for purchase via digital download in June 2009, and despite not being the first official radio single, Rock stations started playing the song and it peaked at No. 12 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The singles "Check My Brain" and "Your Decision" reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, while "Lesson Learned" reached No. 4. "Check My Brain" was also the band's first No. 1 song on the Alternative Songs chart, and on the Hot Rock Songs chart, and it also reached No. 92 on Billboard's Hot 100, becoming the band's first single to appear on the chart.[ "Check My Brain" and "A Looking in View" were both nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Black Gives Way to Blue won Revolver magazine's Golden Gods Award for Album of the Year in 2010.
