2001, Rockaxis.com (Chile),
thanks to Jordi Domenech Montane, for the translation

I’ve always though the Red Hot Chili Peppers have been a band that have enriched and have given quality to pop or mainstream music. Because they not only used the funky and hard sound, they also have united it with simpler and more comercial melodies, acoustic touches and Beatles-like riffs. Most part of that is without doubt John Frusciante’s responsability, whom in this album, absolutely personal, shows his talents as guitarist and singer.

Generally the album shows Frusciante mixing the acoustic and electric guitars in a dense style, with many loud riffs, bizarre chords, sounds and parts composed not like solos, but more like strings in the instrument. There are exceptional songs, some more melodic, others are more “flying”. About his voice, even though we can’t say he’s a very technical singer, he has an impressive wave getting to high and low tones with a lot of feeling. Even, if he ever does sound wrong, he still sounds good and it’s just another feature in his particular and slightly nuts style. Moreover, the strings of the songs with synthethisers and programmed drums create a more profound ambient that goes all the way through the album.

The first song “Going Inside” starts with some intrigating acoustic guitars that get mixed with a psychotic playing that gives way to a sung part which is a little bit plain. “Someone’s” is a very short song, with acoustic guitars so Frusciante can enjoy himself with melodies and different tones. In the slower and feeling-filled “The First Season”, what happens is that even though it’s traditional and pretty close to what a song composer could do, he uses electronic sound inside a parallel melody filled with density and melancholy, ending up with a wonderful and simple keyboard solo and cello strings. In the fourth song, “Wind Up Space”, we start to get into one of the high points of the album, with a theme that has a strange feeling, in the parts that mix up with Frusciante’s very high voice.

Generally they are simple songs, but with the right “make-up”, very ingenious. So we go on with “Away and Anywhere”, that brings us memories of a Neil Young riff, with a more mechanic vocal line and with a cadencious groove. “Remain” is a more psychodelic tune, with programmed drums, but like all songs the acoustic guitar is still the base, this time with a keyboard and synth strings which put it right near electronic music. “Fallout” is another one of the great songs, and personally one of those I liked most. Very simple, with a groove which is black-music like, but at the same time always having that folky feeling and the beautiful guitar strings.

The classis “Ramparts” is a beautiful piece where Frusciante shows his great composer talent where the guitar is taped in several takes, some acoustic and some electric. “With No One” continues the wave of “Wind Up Face” and “Fallout”, with a touch that strangely reminds me of some of the sung parts in Brian Eno’s albums. Lovely strings, that serve as a platform for a nostalgic voice -this time in various parts- and the usual parts of guitar.

The instrumental “Murderers” begins with saturated and programmed drums in which suddenly two acoustic guitars are inserted, one being the base and the other a great show of feelings with short tempos. He complements after with some ragey playing, to come back enriched with rare sounds. One of the best compositions in the bizarrely titled “To Record Only Water For Ten Days”

Then follow the song “Invisible Movement”, song that makes us remember Peter Gabriel and “Representing” to find ourselves with the impressive “In Rime”, another of the great compositions of this album, because of the sense, intensity and rarity it produces. To finish off the lovely “Saturation” and the happy “Moments Have You” which close an album that despite being very experimental, sounds coherent, convicent and with some songs that get to the core.

—Héctor Aravena

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Rockaxis, Chile
thanks to Jordi Domenech Montane, for the translation

There’s something that I never understood about John Frusciante’s career. It’s not that he is a bad composer or that his works might be throwable. It’s, more than anything, the undervaluation of his solo work, absolutely compared to his guitarist tag. It’s true that we cannot compare between these two areas, due to them being totally different styles, but not because of that we can’t say that a person that in his teens would close himself up in his room and play Page and Hendrix classics for 15 straight hours is a bad guitarist.

Why do I say that? Well, it’s some kind of introduction to what is, by far, the best album in Frusciante’s career. It’s true that it doesn’t have the psychodelia and musical turbulency inducted by drugs of his first two albums, nor the serenity of “To Record Only Water For Ten Days”, but this one shows us a guy who has matured in his way of composing, and more importantly, something that very few achieve: the own characteristic of his particular style. This is a cliché that in this album is diferentiated from the others: The “Frusciante” style, to bring you to different mental states, like the relaxation of spirit, the opening of the soul and many more.

From the first song, “Carvel”, the shadows begin to take form and substance, and which better way to do it than with a “road” song, more classic impossible. The song itself is a trip to the inner side of Frusciante, but more than anything a search that every person does. “Carvel” also reminds us of the earlier Dylan, the one with just a guitar, travelling… that’s the same spirit.

There exist, in this hour-and-something of intimate trips, a series of songs that stand out, like the rocky “Second Walk”. It’s one of the songs that attract the ear most, be it for its own structure, its music or both reasons. The thing is the quality in which several guitar parts are mixed to make out a precise rock, simple, direct and stylish.

Frusciante has always experimented with mixing parts. In fact, in his early albums he used this system to put them together, and it’s something that’s worked very well until now. The difference is that now he uses more electronic resources, more pre-made bases to compose, like the strange “-00 Ghost27”

Now, Frusciante’s shadows are becoming very solid structures, like the lovely “Wednesday’s Song”, which has a base based in the acoustic guitar, and strings very much in its creator’s style. All done with only chords, but behaving like solos all the same, achiving a very minimalistic song in terms of composition, but very effective in terms of feeling.

After “Wednesday’s Song”, we get to a correct and melodically excellent “This Cold”. Here Frusciante lets his hair down with one of his own, well armed and defined, with a voice that despite not being marvelous, arrives in a great way.

There’s experimentation in this album. After “-00Ghost27”, where you could appreciate the search for new sensations, well, he does the same with “Failure 33 Object”, another theme composed with just one machine-made base, showing the saturated side of the guitarist, very opposed to the excellent “Song To Sing When I’m Lonely”, which expressed some passiveness, presenting a very personal song and underlining the value of Frusciante’s expression with his guitar.

The album continues its tour with “Time Goes Back”, which is a perfect sound mix by John, together with his composed ideas. All mixed up with the inherent feeling of the song itself, which says that time goes back not to break down in memories, but to learn from them.

The CD continues like this, mixing bases, styles, world visions, spectres. All collected by Frusciante and translated in his inside. Before I’d like to highlight the song “Water”, which mixes machines with the simple guitar and allows itself to be carried on by the same sense of a changing ocean. A great song by any means.

In this LP, Frusciante made something very personal (I would dare to say it’s the most personal of all his albums) and that he’s been able to express, only with a guitar and something more, a series of emotions reflexed uniquely with his stature as a guitarist and with the expression of his voice that connects you with these new shadows that walk with you while you sleep.

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