John Frusciante - The Empyrean
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Free Music Notes for The Empyrean
Free Music Review: Frusciante at his best!
Hit: 5 Stars
Great rifts, great singing, great lyrics ... everything I expected from this album and then some. Epic.Free Music Review: Thematic unity defeats minor quibbles
Hit: 4 Stars
The first thing I'll make clear is that I'm every bit as much of a Frusciante fanatic as the authors of the rest of these five-star reviews. I can't give 'The Empyrean' five stars though. Four stars is enough, and it's a good score. I'd give 'Inside of Emptiness' and both Ataxia records four stars, and I'm a big fan of all of those.
I'm not surprised John Frusciante wanted to flesh this album out a little more than his last few records, considering the time he's spent contributing toward the mind-bending studio-tweaked Freakout melting-pots built by his good friend Mr Rodriguez-Lopez. But John's attempts at sonic manipulation were always going to be more serene than Omar's relentless audio confrontations. It's his nature. And the last time John attempted to really saturate his recordings with textures and bold psychedelic orchestration it resulted in 'Shadows Collide With People', which was as warm and lush a pop record as any Flaming Lips you'd care to name.
'The Empyrean' is explicitly a concept album. After this 'disclaimer', John has allowed himself more freedom and space in the structuring of the songs, and their shape when built into an album. Lyrical and musical themes recur, the sonic landscape is consistent in its variety, and John's voice takes on the role of Navigator through the dense and colourful hour from start to finish. Vintage keyboards and phase effects abound, and the use of reverb is key to the atmosphere created. The sound of the album certainly matches its celestial title.
I'll keep it brief from here: 'Before the Beginning' is beautiful, minimal, expressive, and expansive. 'Unreachable' is the most comparable song to anything from his 2004 records, and is where 'Empyrean' truly kicks into gear. 'Dark/Light' does a 180 from melancholy piano to s'...Record Only Water...'-style drum machine euphoric bass groove. 'Central' is perhaps the standout track, the last three minutes of which may be the amalgamation of every hard rocking moment John has done across the sound spectrum since he rejoined the Chili Peppers.
There are a couple of small problems though. Frusciante's songwriting is quite reserved and seems at odds with the heavy, prog-rock-esque arrangements and production. I don't know why he chose to alter the pitch of his voice on 'One More of Me', and I'm not sure 'Song to the Siren' serves much purpose here. Buckley's 'Star Sailor' version was definitive, John sings it conservatively, and more importantly - why cover it? Its lyrics fit, but John is one of the few musicians capable of writing songs as beautiful as '...Siren', he's done it before. Some kind of sister song to 'Leap Your Bar' or 'My Life' would have been better.
But as the title of this review states, these issues don't amount to much when the whole piece is as assured, honest and unique as 'The Empyrean' definitely is. Flea, Josh Klinghoffer and Johnny Marr appear too, and their contributions are as fitting and concise as you'd expect from these experienced and unpretentious players. The thematic unity and the successful exploration of textures is what makes this record great, as well as John's ever-improving voice.
Free Music Review: Great Record
Hit: 4 Stars
Excellent work. Gets better with each listen. Lush and beautiful melodies abound as we'd expect from John. The instruments and choral vocals are brilliant. Was wishing for a little more rock and roll guitar, but this album's more holistic in its musical approach. The guitar adds texture to these beautiful songs.
John's vocal range is much improved and very expressive. There's still that guttural cry of his every now and again; imperfect but highly expressive. Delicate falsetto brings the best out of the melodies.
Not many if any radio friendly tracks under 4 minutes or whatever, which makes this release all the more worth buying. An excellent record for fans of music.
Free Music Review: A Must Own for Pot Smokers
Hit: 4 Stars
This is an album that just makes you want to turn all the lights off, take the phone off the hook, roll something up and lay on your couch while it plays. Other than a few tracks where his voice kind of sounds like he's trying too hard, I would recommened this to anyone.
p.s. Flea is on several of the songs and that just adds to the value.
Free Music Review: Empyrean
Hit: 4 Stars
Great sound from one of the greatest guitarist today. This album does not have a heavy sound. Lyrics are something to listen too and the guitar does play with johns creativity. Tracks 2.Songs to the siren, 3.Unreachable and 8.Central are my favorite. Great CD to just put on and chill too!