Music: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Unlimited Love Discussion (April 1st, 2022)

[zombie kopitar]

he has had a bunch of plastic surgery cause he f***ed his face up back in his junkie days^
His book is very interesting

I was under the impression that Kiedis was more of a shouter and it was the studio techs doing most of the work fixing his shit on the vocals...but then I saw RHCP live and he actually sounded really good. Maybe just one of those performers whose energy is felt better when you're there.

i have seen clips of him sounding horrible and awesome live

He has been using autotune since Californication, that was when it was still a studio secret before Cher went and let the cat out of the bag not long after. I think like a lot of artists he probably used it in studio knowingly to help develop more pop friendly melodies, but I will admit that is purely speculation on my part

Under the Bridge is probably the most purest you will hear his voice in a record. His voice can have a very nice quality to it, and I do think he is an extremely good lyricist.

But just looking at how good those 3 are as musicians, i think it's easy to say he is objectively the weak point of the band, even though he fits well and obviously he is integral to their success

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

I'm a little bit confused on this one. When you are talking about their first album, are you talking about "The Red Hot Chilli Peppers" album that came out in 1984? Cuz imo their stuff was offensively bad back then. And Kiedis was a straight up junkie back then, all the way until after Hillel's death in 88. Their first 3-4 albums were pretty pretty mediocre (imo), until they hit a grand slam with BSSM.

Kiedis partied like a lunatic until Hillel's death, but cleaned up afterwards. Looking at the shape he is in his video, I would bet that he actually has lived a pretty healthy lifestyle since then. With his vocal style, at 59, he's probably not going to sound as good as he did in his prime, but he sounds fine to me now. It's not like he sounded like Cobain or something back in the day.

When I said Rolling Stones to 1999, I mean strictly in terms of years, not quality. However I got it wrong, in terms of years since their first album it's 2002 Rolling Stones.

 

[Kurtz]

he has had a bunch of plastic surgery cause he f***ed his face up back in his junkie days^
His book is very interesting


i have seen clips of him sounding horrible and awesome live

He has been using autotune since Californication, that was when it was still a studio secret before Cher went and let the cat out of the bag not long after. I think like a lot of artists he probably used it in studio knowingly to help develop more pop friendly melodies, but I will admit that is purely speculation on my part

Under the Bridge is probably the most purest you will hear his voice in a record. His voice can have a very nice quality to it, and I do think he is an extremely good lyricist.

But just looking at how good those 3 are as musicians, i think it's easy to say he is objectively the weak point of the band, even though he fits well and obviously he is integral to their success

Yeah, his book is excellent. It's amazing that he survived all of that abuse he put his body through. At the end of it he talks about finally going clean, and looking at the shape he's in now, at 59, I think he stuck to it.

 

[SniperHF]

I wouldn't really sweat autotuned vocals (within reason) on an album. Basically anyone remotely mainstream has it somewhere in there and a ton of artists who aren't mainstream as well.

Basically no one actually gives a rip if the lead singer is a bit pitchy live when the full band is blasting and the show is good.

Kiedis' main problem isn't really his pitch anyway, it's his breath control. His technique is trash, that spirals into and affects pitch and enunciation, he loses steam live over a full set and it worsens over a tour. IMO it's something that's mostly fixable with effort, which I'd suspect he doesn't really do


^maybe a good example of what I'm talking about. It's an acoustic small show, he's actually seated much of the time which helps with the above issues. IMO he sounds pretty good here (2018).

If Kiedis was a D+ singer in the 90's and he's now an F I don't think that's really all that big a deal at age 59. We can't all be Paul Rogers who can belt like he's 40 at a ripe 72.




(Black Summer is alright, the start plods on about 30 seconds too long)

 

[Paradise Circus]

Seeing them in August in Seattle, can't wait. it's been a while and I've never seen them live with John.

 

[Roo Returns]

Second single dropped. 3/5 rating in my book. Better than Black Summer.

Not to continue my negativity about Rubin production but the arrangement could have been so much more dynamic and the outro expanded.

The recording sounds good though.

 

[Roo Returns]

he has had a bunch of plastic surgery cause he f***ed his face up back in his junkie days^
His book is very interesting


i have seen clips of him sounding horrible and awesome live

He has been using autotune since Californication, that was when it was still a studio secret before Cher went and let the cat out of the bag not long after. I think like a lot of artists he probably used it in studio knowingly to help develop more pop friendly melodies, but I will admit that is purely speculation on my part

Under the Bridge is probably the most purest you will hear his voice in a record. His voice can have a very nice quality to it, and I do think he is an extremely good lyricist.

But just looking at how good those 3 are as musicians, i think it's easy to say he is objectively the weak point of the band, even though he fits well and obviously he is integral to their success

The issue since probably Californication as mentioned when I started the thread is, they've focused too much on being songwriters and making everything compact, and less on letting the musicians shine like back in the day.

I don't know if it's a democratic decision, management suggestions, having to keep Anthony happy, just getting older, etc. but I miss moments like Pretty Little Ditty, bridge and outro of Funky Monks, the entire last three minutes of Sir Psycho Sexy, and some of the weirdness on One Hot Minute like the baby crying on cassette in One Big Mob, etc.

No one expects RHCP to go full Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers and jam out, but that element and in general their song arrangements are what is missing.

 

[AlanHUK]

I think John mentioned before he doesn't like to do stuff like that on record, but really likes to do it live

 

[zombie kopitar]

The issue since probably Californication as mentioned when I started the thread is, they've focused too much on being songwriters and making everything compact, and less on letting the musicians shine like back in the day.

I don't know if it's a democratic decision, management suggestions, having to keep Anthony happy, just getting older, etc. but I miss moments like Pretty Little Ditty, bridge and outro of Funky Monks, the entire last three minutes of Sir Psycho Sexy, and some of the weirdness on One Hot Minute like the baby crying on cassette in One Big Mob, etc.

No one expects RHCP to go full Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers and jam out, but that element and in general their song arrangements are what is missing.

I think there's some great funk/groove tracks in that era, just a little more sparse... Around the World is goated

I mean I am sure they were chasing hits to an extent, and even though John apparently didn't like all that stuff he does have a poppier style to his voice and songwriting. It was very evident in that era and a lot of his solo work as he started having more of a say in the music.

I mean honestly I am/was a huge fan of Stadium Arcadium, By The Way and Californication, the latter 2 are arguably masterpieces.

But just production decisions like over mastering and the stealth autotune just turned me off quite a bit over the years, and made me value it less. But that is the peak era of RHCP to my taste, even though I have been trashing it lol

 

[Roo Returns]

Wanted to bump this thread back up. The album ultimately was ok. One outstanding track in my opinion being Aquatic Mouthdance and about 3-4 others that are good.

Still my favorite band but too much sugar as opposed to spice.

Back even in the By The Way era they'd have some killer bridges or "wow" solos/song ideas.

Everything on this album could have been a decent or second tier track on either By The Way or Stadium Arcadium.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

I'm a little bit confused on this one. When you are talking about their first album, are you talking about "The Red Hot Chilli Peppers" album that came out in 1984? Cuz imo their stuff was offensively bad back then. And Kiedis was a straight up junkie back then, all the way until after Hillel's death in 88. Their first 3-4 albums were pretty pretty mediocre (imo), until they hit a grand slam with BSSM.

Kiedis partied like a lunatic until Hillel's death, but cleaned up afterwards. Looking at the shape he is in his video, I would bet that he actually has lived a pretty healthy lifestyle since then. With his vocal style, at 59, he's probably not going to sound as good as he did in his prime, but he sounds fine to me now. It's not like he sounded like Cobain or something back in the day.

I see a lot of complaints about his voice on videos as stuff but cell phone recordings not withstanding I have to question if I have bad hearing because he doesn’t sound that bad at all

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

Wanted to bump this thread back up. The album ultimately was ok. One outstanding track in my opinion being Aquatic Mouthdance and about 3-4 others that are good.

Still my favorite band but too much sugar as opposed to spice.

Back even in the By The Way era they'd have some killer bridges or "wow" solos/song ideas.

Everything on this album could have been a decent or second tier track on either By The Way or Stadium Arcadium.

Yeah I've given the album a few listen throughs while I work. It's still growing on me, but I agree that many of these songs would be pretty average tracks on their previous albums.

That said, I still ended up ordering their album on vinyl. I think I'm going to finally get around to buying their albums I like on vinyl and get a turntable.

 

[Roo Returns]

I'm a little bit confused on this one. When you are talking about their first album, are you talking about "The Red Hot Chilli Peppers" album that came out in 1984? Cuz imo their stuff was offensively bad back then. And Kiedis was a straight up junkie back then, all the way until after Hillel's death in 88. Their first 3-4 albums were pretty pretty mediocre (imo), until they hit a grand slam with BSSM.

Kiedis partied like a lunatic until Hillel's death, but cleaned up afterwards. Looking at the shape he is in his video, I would bet that he actually has lived a pretty healthy lifestyle since then. With his vocal style, at 59, he's probably not going to sound as good as he did in his prime, but he sounds fine to me now. It's not like he sounded like Cobain or something back in the day.

Disagree, both the first record and Freakey Styley have moments, Uplift is a very very good record with a lot of good hard funk rock jams and one amazing ballad.

Mother's Milk to me is most explosive the band ever was. They were doing some really innovative and "wow" stuff on that album. It was perfect for all the musician nerds, grooved like crazy, and also had moments that could be on the radio. Was just talking about Taste The Pain to some people yesterday as it was the Say Anything release anniversary.

 

[Speyer]

Wanted to bump this thread back up. The album ultimately was ok. One outstanding track in my opinion being Aquatic Mouthdance and about 3-4 others that are good.

Still my favorite band but too much sugar as opposed to spice.

Back even in the By The Way era they'd have some killer bridges or "wow" solos/song ideas.

Everything on this album could have been a decent or second tier track on either By The Way or Stadium Arcadium.

I don't relly know much about music but as an ignorant follower of the band I didn't like this record that much. I probably like it more than "The Getaway" and "One Hot Minute" but thats about it. I liked "Here Ever After" and "White Braids and Pillow Chair" the most. I thought the lycrics were especially weak even though Kiedis is notorious the string some mumbo jumbo into a song i felt like this record was his low point. "Tangelo" was the only exception from this but it ultimately falls short of earlier high points in that regard like "Hard to Concentrate".

Im curious what the b-sides will sound like though since they are often better than some of the songs that made the record.

 

[Raging Bull]

Disagree, both the first record and Freakey Styley have moments, Uplift is a very very good record with a lot of good hard funk rock jams and one amazing ballad.

Mother's Milk to me is most explosive the band ever was. They were doing some really innovative and "wow" stuff on that album. It was perfect for all the musician nerds, grooved like crazy, and also had moments that could be on the radio. Was just talking about Taste The Pain to some people yesterday as it was the Say Anything release anniversary.

Mothers Milk is for sure the best stuff Flea ever put down to record. Just incredible bass playing on that record. The production is pretty garbage, and Frusciante hadn't yet found his spot in the band but he still has some incredibly technical playing on it.

I like Freaky Styley and Uplift Mofo a lot too, Uplift especially being the only record with the original lineup. Songs like No Chump, Party and Your p***y, Funky Crime f***ing rock.

 

[Roo Returns]

I don't relly know much about music but as an ignorant follower of the band I didn't like this record that much. I probably like it more than "The Getaway" and "One Hot Minute" but thats about it. I liked "Here Ever After" and "White Braids and Pillow Chair" the most. I thought the lycrics were especially weak even though Kiedis is notorious the string some mumbo jumbo into a song i felt like this record was his low point. "Tangelo" was the only exception from this but it ultimately falls short of earlier high points in that regard like "Hard to Concentrate".

Im curious what the b-sides will sound like though since they are often better than some of the songs that made the record.

One Hot Minute is a great record. And lyrically it's probably Keidis's best as a singer. Shallow Be Thy Game might be a top five song. That is an absolute banger.

Falling Into Grace, One Big Mob, Coffee Shop, Aeroplane, Warped. Even the title track is twisted with the sea sick intro.

I still think the high points of Getaway like Dreams of a Samurai (in my top five favorite RHCP songs) and Sick Love >>>>> anything on Unlimited Love.

 

[Roo Returns]

Mothers Milk is for sure the best stuff Flea ever put down to record. Just incredible bass playing on that record. The production is pretty garbage, and Frusciante hadn't yet found his spot in the band but he still has some incredibly technical playing on it.

I like Freaky Styley and Uplift Mofo a lot too, Uplift especially being the only record with the original lineup. Songs like No Chump, Party and Your p***y, Funky Crime f***ing rock.

I never understood the whole bad productions narrative. Objectively and using factual information, no one has ever been able to explain to me why it is badly produced. Because it sounds heavier and less like Hendrix?

I actually think that's cool both in this and how Beinhorn (who was no hack look at his work with Material and he produced Superunknown one of the great alternative rock albums ever) recorded them on Uplift. It sounds more funk metal than funk rock. The Beinhorn records, One Hot Minute, and some of the By The Way b-sides are the heaviest the band ever sounded.

To me the reason it's "produced badly" is because Frusciante and Beinhorn didn't see eye to eye. It's no different and actually heavier than many of the alternative records around then by groups like XTC, The Cure, Love and Rockets, Faith No More. Same type of drum sounds, same type of distortion. Frusciante sounds great on it, the band sound great on it, and RHCP started getting on everyone's radar around 1989-90.

The only person who was doing true 1970s style sounding records in the late 80s-early 90s was Lenny Kravitz and that was 100% by design. But no one ever talks about the production on those albums for some reason.