August 16, 1989 - Mother's Milk

Two months after my last release and two years after "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan", Red Hot Chili Peppers released their fourth album "Mother's Milk" on August 16, 1989. Tragedy struck the Chili Peppers when guitarist Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose following the tour for their last album. Slovak's death was extremely difficult for the remaining members to deal with and drummer Jack Irons would end up quitting the band because he was so shaken up by the death of his friend. Anthony Kiedis and Flea would persevere and they ended up recruiting new guitarist John Frusciante and new drummer Chad Smith. This new line-up recorded the Chili Peppers newest album and it would be their most successful album yet, reaching #52 on the Billboard charts (compared to their previous high of #148). Frusciante would influence the band to play a slightly different, more melodic style of rock, but there's still plenty of the funk-rock that made RHCP what they are. Let's check out their new album!

The album begins with "Good Time Boys" and Flea plays a pretty nifty bass riff and Frusciante comes in with a nice and heavy guitar sound and drives the main riff with some cool guitar. Kiedis sings the verse in his typical style as he is almost rapping overtop the catchy rock beat. The rest of the guys join Kiedis as they all yell the chorus out and despite the death of one bandmate and the departure of another, RHCP are still playing the same upbeat party-rock style. Kiedis ends the verse with a cool "yeah yeah, yee-yeaaah" before Flea and Frusciante return to the catchy and cool main beat. After another verse and chorus it sounds like someone changed the radio station as it abruptly shifts to snippets of three songs by entirely other bands! It's a really weird decision to put this in the middle of their song, and then the radio flips back and they continue as if there was no interruption. Smith's drums are solid the whole way through as they play a final verse and chorus and Frusciante ends the song with his first guitar solo! He does a nice job playing some pretty fast stuff overtop the main riff and it's a sweet way to end this partying opener. Up next is a cover of the Stevie Wonder song "Higher Ground" and Flea kicks it off with another fantastic bass riff. Everything he plays sounds so epic and awesome and Frusicante and Smith join in to round out this funky main riff. Kiedis begins the verse and he sounds pretty good singing nice and loud and they're doing a pretty nice homage to the original song I think. The chorus is sung by what sounds like a fairly large crowd of people but everyone sounds nice and in sync and it's a pretty catchy chorus with Frusciante leading the way with some cool guitar and Flea continuing to play some dirty and wicked bass in the background. They jam through another verse and chorus and then Kiedis talks overtop as the chorus continues and he sounds very "cool" as he speaks in a low voice and rambles for a little bit. Before they end the song they ramp up the speed of the main riff by about four times and quickly play a cool speedy riff to finish off this pretty cool cover. Track 3 is called "Subway To Venus" and it sounds much more like their earlier material as they cue up a fast main riff that also features some catchy trumpets. The horns sound great and Kiedis sings in a looser, more joking-style but is still rapidly firing off lyrics as he nicely raps along to this catchy main riff. Kiedis sings much slower in the chorus as Flea continues to play some sweet bass in the background but it's quickly back to the trumpets and the catchy main riff. They don't really stray from this pattern as they repeat the long verse/short chorus formula but there's always something cool keeping your attention, including when Kiedis sings at one point "if I can't make you dance, I guess I'll have to make you piss your pants!" The last 30 seconds or so Frusciante breaks away from the mold and plays a cool little guitar solo to spice up the ending to another party rager. The next song is called "Magic Johnson" and it's no secret that RHCP love L.A., and I guess they loved the Lakers enough to name a song after the legendary basketball player. Smith plays a quick drum beat and Flea keeps the beat with some low bass as Kiedis raps very quickly overtop. He's singing so fast that it's difficult to understand but I heard "fast break figures" and "back-to-back" in there. It's a very fast-paced short song that has an audience cheering at times and Frusicante coming in and out with some basic guitar. At one point he rips off a nice little solo as the crowd cheers him on and Kiedis yells over and over at the end of the song "does anybody want some" and the rest of the guys yells out "Magic Johnson!" It's a weird but funny little song and I dig it. Track 5 is "Nobody Weird Like Me" and it starts with a fast and amazing bass riff by Flea, as usual, and Frusciante comes crashing in with some nice hard rock guitar. Kiedis sings very quickly overtop this heavy and pretty cool main riff but everything slows way down for the chorus as Kiedis sings much slower in this short chorus. They crash back into the main riff and play several more verse/choruses, not straying from the pattern until the last minute. The song appears to break down into a bunch of static and feedback, but a new riff emerges from the ashes as they play a slow and decently heavy new riff to finish out the rest of the song. Up next is "Knock Me Down" and Frusciante leads the way with a more melodic than usual guitar riff and this verse has a much lighter and more commercial feel to it. Don't get me wrong, the guitar is still good, it's just different. Kiedis sings in a traditionally much better voice and these guys show they can play any style of rock music and still sound pretty good. The chorus is pretty catchy as well and Flea plays some more great bass in the background. Frusciante plays some cool guitar snippets as they move back into the main riff and after another verse they decide to play the chorus a few times in a row in a.certainly commercial, but a little disappointing decision. A woman comes in with some soulful "ohhhhhhhh"ing that is ok but I find it very out of place. The second half of this song was very repetitive as they took a deep plunge after a decent opening. Track 7 is called "Taste The Pain" and although it's become predictable that Flea opens the song with a cool bass riff, it doesn't make his great bass playing any less awesome! He lays down a groovy bass line, John plays some in-and-out cool guitar, Kiedis sings a nice verse that matches the mood and Smith finally comes in with a nice drum fill to complete this laid back and groovy main riff. The chorus has Kiedis leading the way while the rest of the band sing some "ohhhhhh-whoa" backing vocals and Frusciante is playing some really cool guitar as well. I think they sound way better like this: when they're not trying to make a hit song, they're just jamming along. After another verse and chorus some horns join the mix but instead of a solo they just play along to the beat and things sound pretty good. The horns fall away and they play a final verse and chorus and Kiedis does some decent rambling vocals at the end and one would think they would fade out from here, but John and Flea have a bit more for us. They both play some lighter stuff, but it's a nice little bit of just guitar and bass as the two finish off the song. The next song is "Stone Cold Bush" and it's very fast-paced as everyone jumps right into a speedy, old school RHCP funk rock verse. The chorus is just "she's stone cold bush" a couple times, then it's right back to the main riff. After another verse and chorus everything but the bass falls away and Flea treats us to what seems like a pretty sweet bass solo! It turns out that this "solo" is just the backing riff as he sets the stage for Frusciante's guitar solo. He plays some pretty great guitar in this one and shreds it pretty good for bits and together with the bass it's a great part. The only bad part is that throughout the whole guitar solo you can hear a woman moaning and there's basically porn on in the background. These guys really do love sex and this is a great throwback to their earlier stuff. They play a final verse in which Kiedis sings "she blows more than my mind" and then a final chorus to end this short but solid song. Track 9 is a cover of Jimi Hendrix's famous song "Fire" and it features last album's line-up with Irons on drums and Slovak (R.I.P.) on guitar. The RHCP version is played at a much faster pace as they race right through a verse and chorus in no time and the whole song is only two minutes long! Everyone sounds pretty good playing this sped up version and while it's definitely not as good as Jimi's original, it's an interesting punkier take on it. Instead of Jimi, Kiedis sings "move over rover, and let mr. Huckaberry take over" for reasons I don't understand and then Frusicante delivers a lightning fast and pretty sweet guitar solo. They quickly roll through a final verse and chorus to end this interesting cover. Up next is "Pretty Little Ditty" and Flea plays some good bass as usual while John plays some light and melodic guitar at first, but he alternates between this lighter part and a faster, more rock-and-roll guitar part. A trumpet joins the mix during the lighter parts and it adds a little bit of spice to things as they continue to go back and forth between the two riffs until this instrumental song comes to a close. Track 11 is called "Punk Rock Classic" and at under two minutes long, it seems to fit the bill! They kick right into an extremely fast main riff as everyone is going all out! Flea's bass stands out and sounds pretty incredible and Kiedis is singing pretty damn quickly to keep up with the rest of the guys! They fire through a couple verses, then Frusciante plays another pretty sweet guitar solo. Hillel Slovak was great and will be missed, but they seem to have found an excellent replacement in John Frusciante. After the main song ends we hear John play the opening riff to "Sweet Child O' Mine" before the guys laugh and the song ends. The next song is "Sexy Mexican Maid" and the guys seem to have fun playing a more sexy, hair metal style of rock on this one. Frusciante plays some very 80s guitar and Kiedis slowly sings overtop about the title sexy lady. This isn't my favourite song of theirs as I find it very repetitive and not all that great but Frusciante delivers another decent solo and the song is played out by some actually sexy sax! The saxophone sounds pretty great and is easily the highlight but they fade out before too long. The final song on the album is "Johnny, Kick A Hole In The Sky" and it begins with the whole band singing the end of the Star Spangled Banner in spectacularly bad fashion before then shifting to a typical RHCP main riff. Flea continues to come up with new and amazing bass riffs and Frusciante plays some nice funky guitar. Kiedis begins the chorus by singing "testify, testify, kick a hole right in the sky" and then the line is repeated nicely by some female back-up singers. It makes for a pretty catchy chorus and Kiedis ends it by yelling "Johnny!" a few times and they segue nicely back to the main riff. They continue the pattern of verse with great bass and a catchy chorus and don't really stray from this cycle. That would be fine of the song wasn't over five minutes long and towards the end it does begin to wear thin.

That is the end of "Mother's Milk" and I thought it was a pretty solid album. The Red Hot Chili Peppers seem to have really outdone themselves considering the loss of Slovak and the departure of Irons. Frusciante and Chad Smith both seem great replacements and I thought this was their most complete album yet. It threw back to the original funk-rock that they began as a couple times, but this album also saw RHCP turn the page to a more commercial and melodic style of rock. I would usually view that as a negative but RHCP somehow turned that into a pretty good album. I think it's their best album yet and that might have something to do with the wonderful guitar skills of Frusciante. Who knows what heights thisbline-up could reach?