Red Hot Chili Peppers

RandallFlagg

I've always heard the Chili Peppers from a distance and while I have several of their albums I've not really spent any real time getting to know about them in any depth but over the last weekend went on a bit of Chili Peppers trip, spurned on my enjoyment of my new Strat and an upcoming holiday to Los Angeles (I associate the RHCPs as being one the iconic sounds of LA) I have been listening to them a lot and wonder how come I've never really appreciated their songwriting before, some great rhythms and melodies. Good band, they should do well...

Interesting difference between John Frusciante and Josh klinghoffer's tone and playing.

I love The Adventures of Raindance Maggie

https://youtu.be/EpxPHMHQfJ0

https://youtu.be/gJb8MKIk9Do

proggy

Fantastic band.

RandallFlagg

There's a little bit in Raindance Maggie that reminds me of “It's only 8 o clock but you're already bored” (Rat Trap)

Flink_Poyd

Prefer them when Frusciante is in the band. He really knows how to add harmony and melody that ties it all together. A great example of playing to add to the song and not overdo it. 

CarpeDiem

Great band. I think Josh Klinghoffer has done well to take over from the hugely talented John Frusciante. I'd recommend you try learning some of their songs to better appreciate them. I've found some of the timing challenging as some of it can be loose, but fun to play.

Cols

Never really got on with their later albums after One Hot Minute.  On his return Frusciante seemed hellbent on moving the band away from funk, much to their detriment.

Everything else up to that point?  Solid gold.

ICBM

I *only* like them when Frusciante was in the band... but when he was, some of it was magical - not just the guitar parts, he brought something to the songwriting that was absent otherwise.

My favourite albums are By The Way, Californication and Stadium Arcadium (in about that order) which I know is not fashionable... 

poopot

Hillel Slovak was a massively underrated guitarist!... Freaky Styley is still one of my all time favourite albums!!!!

mistercharlie

poopot said:

Hillel Slovak was a massively underrated guitarist!... Freaky Styley is still one of my all time favourite albums!!!!

TBF, Frusciante is such a unique voice, nobody can really compare to him, no matter how good. 

BloodEagle

Freaky Styley and the Uplift Mofo Party Plan were the best things they did, BSSM is probably the last good thing they did imo 

stickyfiddle

ICBM said:

I *only* like them when Frusciante was in the band... but when he was, some of it was magical - not just the guitar parts, he brought something to the songwriting that was absent otherwise.

My favourite albums are By The Way, Californication and Stadium Arcadium (in about that order) which I know is not fashionable... 

100% agree. 

Obviously frusciante is is a great guitar player but it’s the vocal melody/counterpoint stuff that makes “his” material so damn good.

ronnyb

Frusciantes solo stuff is worth a listen too if perhaps a little depressing at times and how he plays that riff on 'snow' whilst harmonising at the same time is just class. 

Philly_Q

Without being too hippy dippy about it, I think Frusciante is one of those rare people who just seems to be "channelling" something.  He's strange, but really quite remarkable.

Having said that, I found Stadium Arcadium bloated and boring.  But I can't listen to the Klinghoffer stuff at all.

Cols

I feel I may be the lone voice of dissent here, but I find Frusciante’s guitar work post BSSM to be average at best, and his vocal wailings plain irritating.

munckee

I love the chill peppers, I could have lied, dosed and dani california are my favourite tracks, by the way probably marginally my favourite album over blood sugar sex magic.

Deadman

Cols said:

I feel I may be the lone voice of dissent here, but I find Frusciante’s guitar work post BSSM to be average at best, and his vocal wailings plain irritating.

I agree. It's probably because he didn't really like the music he was playing. I he may have found the wailing acceptable because of the drugs and solo stuff like Niandra Lades and particularly Smile from the streets you hold.

Having said that, he can sing like an angel at times. Just not all the time.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

Without being too hippy dippy about it, I think Frusciante is one of those rare people who just seems to be "channelling" something.  He's strange, but really quite remarkable.

Agreed - he almost seems to not know what he's doing half the time, but sometimes it's pure magic. Other times it's quite similar but just wide of the mark - hard to explain why, but a perfect example is the difference between Universally Speaking (genius) and The Zephyr Song (hmmm...) which are otherwise quite similar.

I also love that he plays with little or no vibrato, except when he thinks it needs it... robotic over-use of vibrato has always been one of my pet hates when listening to guitarists - or worse still, holding it up as the definition of 'good technique' - so it's refreshing to hear someone who doesn't do that.

Philly_Q said:

Having said that, I found Stadium Arcadium bloated and boring.

There's some good stuff on it, but I agree it's too long. The problem is that there's probably just too much good material for a single album.

munckee said:

I love the chill peppers, I could have lied, dosed and dani california are my favourite tracks, by the way probably marginally my favourite album over blood sugar sex magic.

Warm Tape is probably my favourite song, but Dosed is beautiful too.

brooom

If you guys like Frusciante he's solo albuns before he moved on to producing Rap albuns and electro/synth music were quite good inmy opinion.

Stuff like this, is pretty much timeless:

UnclePsychosis

The Chilli Peppers hold the dubious honour of being the most disappointing live act that I've ever seen.

A more "we cannot be arsed with this" performance I can not imagine. Coupled to turning every single song into a five minute slap bass solo and I was even more bored than they were.

Recording wise, for me they've always been remarkably inconsistent. Their good stuff is magic but there's nowhere near enough of it. I could make one phenomenal cd out of their entire back catalogue prior to about 1999 and quite happily throw the rest away. 

Octahedron

I remember seeing RHCP at the Madejski Stadium in Reading. That was when Stadium Arcadium came out. 

There is nobody else out there who sound like RHCP. I don't think it's even possible to truly replicate their sound. They're also one of the few bands whose sound has changed over time e.g. compare The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan albums to say By the Way and Californication and I enjoy both ends of the spectrum.  

Now, I don't mind the recent albums with Josh... but I also don't really listen to them that much because they're just not the same. I think the RHCP I loved was very much Frusciante. 

I don't dislike them I just feel it isn't the same band. 

antonyiv

I really don’t understand why people underestimate Dave Navarro when he was in the band. He did some pretty good songs.