WarpedAeroplane*
Deep Kick*
My Friends
Coffee Shop
Pea
One Big Mob
Walkabout
Tearjerker
One Hot Minute
Falling Into Grace*
Shallow Be Thy Game
Transcending
Before this albums release in 1995, the Peppers were mainly a funk act. With some rock, punk and rap influences they created a unique, high energy funk formula to having fun. This album continues some of that tradition with some of the funkiest material the band has had. Tracks like Aeroplane, Deep Kick, and Walkabout are extremely groovy, highlighting the talents of Flea and Chad Smith as the rhythm section.
Where this album starts a new leaf is the heavier rock and metal influences, also the beginnings of lyrical introspection. With the introduction of Dave Navarro as guitarist, much of the album is more rock than earlier Peppers work. Songs like Warped, Coffee Shop, and the album's title track, still have the funk groove of Peppers stuff, but have a darker presentation with heavy distortion and metal riffs.
Even gentler, more poetic art rock can be seen on the album with gems like Tearjerker, and the beginning of Deep Kick. These newer kinds of RHCP songs allow for greater depth lyrically. Disillusionment, sadness, loss, and addiction are constant themes of the lyrics. At times, Anthony Keidis' lyrics actually reach the profound. Namely the beat poetry which begins one of the album's strangest tracks, Deep Kick.
Only on this album can lyrics like "And the journeys away from it[the city] we had not yet been or seen our friends' selves chase tails round and round in downward spiral," and "Picaboo street in Timbuktu, do I need to repeat that a boy named Sue, rockin' to the beat of the kangeroo, let me kiss your feet and forehead too," actually work. Sometimes heartfelt, other times nonsensical and funny. Truly the struggled growth of a band finding meaning.
What makes One Hot Minute so strange is its confusion of deep lyrics with silly ones; rock versus funk, metal versus tenderness. The album is all over the place and essentially covers the scope of what the Peppers are capable of playing. In the tension between these differing voices the Peppers are searching. For what, who knows? But the journey is more than worth the effort.
Grade: A
5 comments:
Im a little pea
I love the sky the trees
also...
http://www.allmediaguide.com/jobs.html
Funny, a lot of fans consider this their weak album (sandwiched between Blood Sugar and Californication). A seems too high a grade, Pat. But you're the expert.
I defend my decision because Blood Sugar is mainly fun to listen to, and newer RHCP is less funk, more hooks and melodramatic lyrics. The reason this album is considered weak is that on a first listen, neither old or new RHCP fans are given exactly what they want. Blood Sugar fans want more funk, Californication fans want less hard rock. But the fact is that there are songs that do appease both, and to those that keep listening to the album past whatever expectations they have, the genuine artistry is discovered. Personally I was turned off by the album early on, but as I kept listening, not expecting something from the band, they wowed me with their depth and unique sound. That is why I maintain this to be their masterpiece, it is still fun like old Peppers, it has some great hooks like new Peppers, it rocks harder than anything else they did, while managing to be coherent. I consider that mastery.
Nah, it's because Dave Navarro doesn't touch Frusciante. Not that I really like either of them...just saying.
Post a Comment