Red Hot Chili Peppers - Freaky Styley
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Free Music Notes for Freaky Styley
Free Music Review: Definitely Funky . . .
Hit: 3 Stars
. . . but far from the funkiest thing I've ever heard (see James Brown's live LOVE POWER PEACE for that), sometimes heavy, a pretty fun listen . . . but frankly kinda limp compared to latter-day RHCPs (starting when guitarist John Frusciante entered the band, but especially on BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGIC), in my view at least. Anthony Kiedis and Flea have vastly improved as musicians since FREAKY STYLEY came out. Their recent STADIUM ARCADIUM just might be the greatest thing they've ever done.
Guitarist Hillel Slovak was without a doubt something special and probably would've gone on to much greater heights with the band had he not ODed. Also without-a-doubt, there's some good stuff on here and I especially like the bonus extended version of "Freaky Styley." And their version of "If You Want Me To Stay" is pretty good, but why bother with it when the original is so much groovier and soulful? This music is pioneering, trend-setting stuff to be sure, but the band has gone on to make music so much better that this album mostly retains an appeal for fans who were there when it came out, or maybe for those who just want to funk and don't mind the lack of superior songwriting that the band would go on to produce.
Free Music Review: Pretty spicey
Hit: 3 Stars
3 1/2
Like their early funk-punk approach or not, this mid-80's sophomore release still packs a punch. It is one of those rare, wisely put together party rock discs made in that decade that actually grows better with age, providing ample subtly amongst all the upbeat frenzy. These songs appeared so uniquely brash when debuting, it was easy to dismiss some, though in retrospect FS remains as hot a dish the Pepper's ever served.
Free Music Review: At least it's their best album
Hit: 2 Stars
Over the years, I have risen to the rank of Captain in the Red Hot Chili Peppers Hate Brigade. In college, during the salad days of Mother's Milk and BloodSugarSexMagik, I liked them OK but only because you couldn't go to a frat party without hearing at least one of their tunes during the course of a drunken night. Girls in particular dug them, so I kinda had to start liking them if I hoped to have even a prayer of getting them to take me seriously.
Of course, after the success of BloodSugarSexMagik they descended into complete ridiculousness and my lone album I owned (Mother's Milk) disappeared someplace, and I never felt the need to replace it.
That's how I judge a band -- if I lost their tape, did I feel the need to replace it with a CD? Prince: yes. Van Halen: yes. Elvis Costello: yes. Red Hot Chili Peppers: no.
I did hear that Freaky Styley is the one Chili Peppers album worth owning, because of the great George Clinton's involvement as producer. While the album is OK, a sense of "white boys trying to act black" is sadly ever-present, even with Clinton's still-active sensibilities stamped all over the record.
Unfortunately, Clinton couldn't do anything new with the Chili Peppers, and the Peppers couldn't inspire Clinton to go other places he hadn't already gone with Parliament. But I can conclude this is easily their best album (which is like saying Murmur is R.E.M's best). Here is the blow-by-blow:
Jungle Man -- Doesn't offend me, but sets the tone for the album. 5 out of 10.
Hollywood -- I like the Parliament-style tempo slow downs, with the horns muted in the background. Pure Clinton. But points subtracted for Keidis' god-awful "singing". 5 out of 10.
American Ghost Dance -- Keidis tries to sing/rap, which takes away from the cookin' band behind him. 5 out of 10.
If You Want Me To Stay -- A HUGE disappointment. Here is Clinton finally taking on Sly Stone, and instead he decides to ape the song note-for-note. Why do it then? They don't expand or improve on the original, and the result really sounds like karaoke at times. 1 out of 10, only for the cool humming at the end of tune.
Nevermind -- The Peppers finally do their own thing instead of trying to sound like Parliament. But...they instead sound like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 4 out of 10.
Freaky Styley -- My favorite cut on the album. Here, we see what a Clinton/Peppers union might have produced over the course of an entire album, but sadly this is the exception as opposed to the rule. 8 out of 10.
Blackeyed Blonde -- Flea finally gets to show his chops a bit, which is always a good thing. 7 out of 10.
The Brothers Cup -- They were running out of ideas by this time. 3 out of 10.
Battle Ship -- Here starts their salute to LA punk. They've got the speed part down, for sure. 4 out of 10.
Lovin' and Touchin' -- A cool little interlude. Wish they had done more with this. 7 out of 10.
Catholic School Girls Rule -- Yes they do! 5 out of 10
Sex Rap -- See my review of Battle Ship. 4 out of 10.
Thirty Dirty Birds -- Why? Why do this?
Yertle The Turtle -- Limp and weak. Wisely, the Peppers' management started steering them away from rap to actual singing. And also away from songs about Dr. Seuss books. 2 out of 10.
So overall, I give the album a generous two stars. At least it wasn't boring, not with George Clinton involved. And I now have the correct Red Hot Chili Peppers album in my music collection.
Free Music Review: Too strongly influenced by the producer.
Hit: 2 Stars
After a jarringly inconsistent debut album (no doubt because guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons quit the band shortly before its recording, leaving vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea to recruit guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez), the Red Hot Chili Peppers made some adjustments for their second record. Rather than using clinical Gang of Four producer Andy Gill, they worked with the far more organic work of legend George Clinton. And with the return of Hillel Slovak to the fold (and firing of guitarist Jack Sherman), the Chili Peppers were more focused, the problem was, Clinton's influence made them put together the wrong record.
Clinton's influence is glaringly obvious, with deep, slow funky grooves ("Jungleman", Sly and the Family Stone cover "If You Want Me To Stay", "Yertle the Turtle") and P-Funk styled arrangements ("American Ghost Dance", "Hollywood (Africa)") dominate the record. The Peppers were at this point a band about energy, and this wasn't really the ground they were meant to tackle. Combined with some unfocused songwriting (including a number of contributions from Jack Sherman), the album features a number of misfires.
On the other hand, the presence of Hillel Slovak is inspiring to the group-- Slovak at times can manage to be fierce as a guitarist (the otherwise irritating "Jungleman", noisy jam "Freaky Styley"), and he seems to push Flea to new heights ("Yertle the Turtle"). His presence also lends credibility to a couple of the earlier tracks that otherwise would have fallen flat ("Nevermind", "Sex Rap") and helps prevent a song as goofy as "Catholic School Girls Rule" from being awful.
On this reissue, the album has been nicely remastered to be loud and in your face and augmented with a pair of demos (originally released on "Out in L.A."), the unedited mix of "Freaky Styley", and b-side "Millionaires Against Hunger". An essay by Flea concerning the recording session and surrounding time period is included.
All in all, the band still hadn't quite found the direction they needed, and being fairly young and impressionable, a voice as strong as Clinton's worked out to be a little too dominant, although there's enough good material on here to merit investigation, curious folks into the old Chili Peppers should start with "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan". Those initiated will likely find enough to like here to make this worth the purchase.
Free Music Review: eh
Hit: 2 Stars
It doesn't have a good consistency to it, most songs are too loud and boring and there are maybe 3 songs I can truly say I like. It would be better to get What Hits instead or another best-of album.
For serious Pepper fans it might be nice to have because of nostalgia and the pics of Hillel Slovak with the band, before he passed away. But I don't find myself listening to it much.