When: Released September 24, 1991 (coincidentally, the very same day as Nirvana’s “Nevermind”)
Why? I’ve never heard a Chili Peppers album; I’m only familiar with two of the tracks from this, with “Give It Away” being one of my favorite tracks of the decade.
What? 17 songs, one hour and 14 minutes. While this is not their most popular album, it is considered the band’s breakthrough and a foundational album in 1990s alternative rock.
First Impressions: My nutshell review: It’s overlong, but I really enjoyed it.
My familiarity with funk rock pretty much begins and ends with Prince. And while he and the Peppers tread similar territory regarding relationships and, particularly, sex, their world views couldn’t be more different. Prince explored sex as part of a spiritual experience in which one lover serves the other. With the Peppers, the man is always the one being served and sex is just about genitals. Not that everything here is about sex: there is a range of experience and varying depths of emotion represented here. It’s just that even when the Peppers aren’t singing about sex—“Give It Away” is apparently not about anything sexual at all, despite many listeners’ impressions—it often feels like they are.
That said, these guys know how to funk.
I don’t think the opening and closing tracks for this album do them any favors, though. “The Power of Equality” has a great message, terrific verses, and an incredibly funky groove. But its chorus feels like a rushed afterthought. And it leads straight into one of the weaker tracks on the album, “If You Have to Ask,” which feels like pure B-side filler to me. (But maybe I “have to ask” and just don’t get it.)
Then we shift gears, going from strength to strength—the album’s high points are many, including “Funky Monks,” “Give It Away,” and “Under the Bridge”—until we hit the album’s final four tracks, starting with “The Greeting Song.” Apparently, even lead singer/songwriter Anthony Kiedis now hates everything about this song. I wouldn’t say I hate it, but it doesn’t belong on this album. (I’m ambivalent about the next song, “My Lovely Man.” I sympathize with the meaning behind it, along with Kiedis’s need to write it, but it’s just okay to me.)
And then there’s “Sir Psycho Sexy,” in which Kiedis revels in sexual, misogynistic fantasy; it’s juvenile and mean-spirited. Lyrically, it’s the lowest point on the album. (And this same ground was covered earlier—and somewhat more positively—in both “Apache Rose Peacock” and the title track.) For the final real song on the album, it’s an unfortunate choice.
For the final final song on the album, an ultra-fast cover of Robert Johnson’s “They’re Red Hot,” there’s not much I can say. It’s a fun throwaway that would have worked better as a hidden track.
The performances here are outstanding. Kiedis’s voice can change cadence and tone on a dime to suit the material, and I can’t imagine anyone delivering lyrics like he can. Flea’s bass playing—which he has described as “simplified” from the previous album!—is nonstop, moving effortlessly from foundational low-end support to funky accents and melodic lines. John Frusciante’s guitar is tasteful, versatile, and joyfully funky, while Chad Smith’s drumming drives the rhythm section’s groove. This feels like a real band, not just a group of musicians.
So? Despite a handful of songs I didn’t like, I really enjoyed this. I’m sure I’ll be listening again.