Review Summary: The Chili Peppers are at the high point in their career
Blood Sugar Sex Magik saw RHCP finally breakthrough to the mainstream after four previous efforts. They had good reason to finally move to the next level of their career as this album is a classic.
The Chili Peppers are at the top of their game in their career. The band balances their styles perfectly. Anthony Kiedis has clean singing,Flea keeps the aggressive bass playing clean at the right time, and Smith and Frusciante are better than ever. The album is full of beautiful melodies, great falsettos from Frusciante, and strong backing vocals
The lyrics are the most enduring as they ever got. It's usual themes of sex, Kiedis's experiences with many different relationships, another tribute to Hillel Slovak after
Knock Me Down.
Its ballads are some of the best songs off the album. There is acoustic picking by Frusciante and emotional vocals which has a fusion of being upbeat and sad on
I Could Have Lied and
Breaking the Girl The 3rd ballad one the album is
Under the Bridge and it is one of the best RHCP songs and it's not hard to tell why that is. Fruscniate uses a sad, beautiful melody to start off the song with Anthony joining in with strong vocals which is his high point on the album. It has a beautiful, operatic, compelling bridge with affective lyrics:
Quote:
Under the bridge downtown
Is where I drew some blood
Under the bridge downtown
I could not get enough
Under the bridge downtown
Forget about my love
Under the bridge downtown
I gave my life away
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It still has the funk style to them as always. Album opener
The Power of Equality is insane and has bass-driven songs such as
Suck My Kiss and
Naked In the Rain (Flea even gives a short bass solo), A nice style that is laid back in
If You Have to Ask,
My Lovely Man, and
Funky Monks with an awesome falsetto to it.
Mellowship Slinky In B Major is one of the best songs musically off the album because it opens with a tutti breakdown with the drums, guitar, and bass playing the same rhythm with Flea going higher on the frets of the bass and has strange intervals.
Unfortunately, this isn't a flawless album. Though these songs aren't bad at all, there are certain weaknesses that these songs have.
Give It Away, despite the great intro, gets very repetitive, and not the best vocal performance ever,
the title track is flawed by a weak chorus,
Sir Psycho Sexy drags on for 8 minutes trying to be an epic, and its album closer, a cover of Robert Johnson,
They're Red Hot. Sure, it's entertaining at first, but gets annoying and becomes a joke to you.
RHCP's breakthrough is probably the best album they'll ever make. It's not a flawless album, but is very close to one. It has energy, testosterone, and emotion which is important. John+Chad+Anthony+Flea are the right guys to do this.
+The Chili Peppers are at the top of their game
+Energy, testosterone, and emotion is put in from all four members
+Frusciante pulls off amazing falsettos
+Dramatically improved production from the previous albums
+The band has perfect balances of melodies, bass lines, guitar, drums, and vocals
-Immature lyrics on some songs off the album
-The songs with its flaws could have been fixed
RHCP Classics:
Under the Bridge
Funky Monks
Naked In the Rain
Suck My Kiss
I Could Have Lied
Breaking the Girl
The Power of Equality
Mellowship Slinky In B Major
My Lovely Man
If You Have to Ask
