Red Hot Chili Peppers – By The Way
Whilst this isn’t the most innovative record by RHCP and doesn’t have many of their best songs on it, it is one of the most consistent albums they have produced in my eyes as almost every song has quite a lot going for it. It doesn’t contain much of their own brand of funk rock, however, I think this is quite appropriate as it reflects their own growth and maturity as artists.
Lead Vocals – Anthony Kiedis, Guitar – John Frusciante, Bass – Flea, Drums – Chad Smith.
1.By The Way – A great opener and a fitting title track. It starts off very mellow, however, Flea soon comes in with a kickass bass line. It gets into a very nice groove and lets fans know that this album isn’t really like what they’ve heard before, but that the band haven’t completely forgotten their roots.
2.Universally Speaking – Not one of my personal favourites, however it’s very catchy and a good singalong number. Nothing particularly innovative here, but it’s not bad either.
3.This Is The Place – A very trippy song with a lot of echo and a bass line that adds to the effect. A strong chorus with interesting backing vocals from Frusciante.
4.Dosed – This is my all-time favourite song, however, I will try hard not to be biased. This is the first track on the album with any real emotion, and it’s very bittersweet. The lyrics are interesting, because one minute Kiedis is singing about someone in whom ‘a star is born’, then ‘all I ever wanted is your life’, and so it’s hard to deduce exactly what it’s about. However, the overall mood of the song is one of love and sadness. Really nice backing vocals here, although they’re not incredibly imaginative. There are four different guitar parts on here, which gives it quite a rich sound. The highlight moment is at about 4:15 when the backing vocals suddenly soar upwards and the solo begins. It’s not a technically difficult solo, and it just repeats the vocal melody, however, Frusciante manages to make that guitar sing and it sounds great.
5.Don’t Forget Me – A slightly darker song, with good vocals from Kiedis. A cracking chorus with the backing vocals taking the main line and Kiedis only singing a single note for most of it.
6.The Zephyr Song – A nice poppy tune, with a nice poppy riff. Very odd lyrics that don’t seem to be about anything in particular. Fun to sing along to but there’s nothing very special here. The chorus will be stuck in your head for days though, so be warned!
7.Can’t Stop – The funkiest song on here, with quite a strange riff that somehow works really well. Nonsensical lyrics again, but the energy in Kiedis’ delivery makes that irrelevant. An interesting combination of a rap style from Kiedis and choir-like backing vocals from Frusciante makes for one of the best tracks on the album.
8.I Could Die For You – A very heartfelt track that really grows on you. I wasn’t impressed with this at first, but it’s got a very nice feel to it. Lyrics become slightly more meaningful as Kiedis sings with actual emotion, which is always nice.
9.Midnight – Great strings save this track from the mediocre song it could have been and turn into one of the better tracks here. Again, a very rich sound that makes for very relaxing listening.
10.Throw Away Your Televisions – The weakest song on here, it’s only an admittedly good bass line from Flea, some strange guitar and slightly irritating vocals.
11.Cabron – One of their more experimental songs, Frusciante has a go at playing guitar banjo-style which makes for interesting results.
12.Tear – This song features a piano, which is highly unusual for the band. This is a definite highlight, with a great trumpet solo from Flea. A really nice guitar sound on the verses as an added bonus.
13.On Mercury – This is quite a strange song, but strangely appealing. Kiedis sings in a very different style here, with a stacatto verse going into an infinitably singable chorus. Entertaining lyrics about ‘lemon trees on Mercury’ and other random things.
14.Minor Thing – Far more uptempo than most of the album, this is an upbeat number that is a lot of fun to listen to.
15.Warm Tape – Another trippy song that isn’t too taxing to listen to has another strong chorus going for it.
16.Venice Queen – And now we come to what is a fantastic surprise just waiting for you. It’s really two songs, the first few minutes are brilliant, really nice guitar riffing with good vocal harmonies. Then, abruptly, the listener is thrown into a much faster section with almost no similarity to the opening part. Sounds terrible, but somehow it works. It’s very hard to explain just what makes this track so special, but I would highly recommend checking it out to anyone who’s even remotely interested.
Overall rating – 4/5.
