Hello to all! I hope you are all enjoying these crazy times you have given us this year. And, for those of you who got distracted by this announcement, I present you with this pack from the album “By The Way” by our beloved band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers!
A little clarification: inside this pack you will find a song that is not in the album, it was recorded some time later, but it is one of my favorite songs. I hope you like this surprise!
Our little friends believed that the change of century brought new airs and decided to leave aside the funk that so characterized the band to launch a much more melodic, experimental and full of feelings that, although they had been approached before, in this LP they are magnified due to the constant experimentation between the electronics, synthesizers and pianos of Frusciante and the loss of Gloria, the person who led Anthony Kiedis on the road to recovery from his drug addiction.
And here we go:
Universally Speaking
After the furious start of the album, there comes a moment of love. This song is Anthony’s account of his relationship with Claire which was also quoted in his book “Scar Tissue”. A happy song where Flea performs one of her characteristic bass lines, leaving them all the space for John and Chad’s rhythm. A simple but beautiful guitar solo leaves us this song that contains one of the most beautiful melodies and harmonies of this LP.
This Is The Place
The third song of this LP brings us a harsh portrait of Anthony’s passage through drugs but it can well be understood as the portrait of a band that was always influenced and crossed by such drugs. A strange song, far from the essence of the band but that shows little by little what is going to be seen throughout the album: slowed down guitars, calm basses and a calm but constant work by Chad.
The Zephyr Song
I’m going to focus on an opinion of mine, based on no foundation whatsoever: a great merit of the band is the mutation that led them to talk about drugs, sex and rock in a totally accelerated tempo, insulting absolutely everyone, to be a band with a delicacy that was picked up by the radios, by listeners all over the world. In simple words: very remarkable maturity. Although this can be appreciated throughout the album, with this song you can see that it is one of the most well known tracks of both the album and the band. An emotional song that, at least in my opinion, has no particular meaning: Anthony mentioned that it was about the warm winds coming from the deserts of California, others say that it is about Anthony’s feeling while riding his Zephyr brand motorbike but, who knows? The truth is that the band took us to one of the highest points of the album by leaving a song in which Flea and John stand out with their typical melodies, entwining all the air of emotion together with the voices of Frusciante and Anthony. Surely, one of the ones chosen by almost all of us.
Cabron
If you haven’t already been shocked by the strange sounds of Frusciante on “Throw Away…” and you weren’t surprised by “I Could Die For You” I want you to know that with this song, you will be shocked. A Mexican vibe in the distance takes us to this unpretentious song where Anthony, by quoting baseball teams and Latin music styles (boogaloo), tells us that sometimes you have to make friends with your enemies (“If you can’t beat enjoy them” Freddie would say in Queen’s song). An accelerated and complex guitar leads us to the calm of the guitar solos in this fun song that relieves us of the weight of melancholy and drama that characterizes the album.
Minor Thing
To say goodbye (for now) comes one of the most beautiful solos of John’s career. An accelerated song, with a great rhythmic participation of all the members of the band, takes us to a rare song from the lyric. Random words in the pre-chorus while in the rest of the song the band tells us about their process of making music. From modesty or not, the phrase that making music can be a minor thing is resorted to. Great rhythmic work by Flea and Chad that invite us to move and take off the burden of the album that brought us this new sound of the 21st century by the band.
Eskimo
And the surprise is here! This B-side of the single “Fortune Faded” brought us a more mature band, influenced by the sound of By The Way and with a darkness that became common at that time. This 2003 song was created between the recordings of the already mentioned album and the 2004 LP “Greatest Hits”. A simple drum set establishes the rhythms where Flea throws all her melodies to us and where John uses small punches influenced by the piano melody that is at the beginning of the track. For the not so connoisseurs of the band, here is another of the great solos of Frusciante.
That’s all for now, stay tuned for more releases from this beloved band soon.
WAIT
But, before you continue watching RHCP, open your eyes wide and keep your heart beating as the release of Fbs13 comes at 3:00 AM PST. I assure you: you will like it and a lot!
Some great songs in this pack, can’t wait to give them a try. Nicely done!