First of all, for those of you who don't know who the Red Hot Chili Peppers are, they're four guys from L.A. who have ben at the forefront of the "punk-funk" scene since their formation in the early eighties. Lead singer Anthony Kiedis, guitarist John Frusciante, drummer Chad Smith, and bassist Flea make some of the most innovative music to ever be blasted over the airwaves.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik is the Chilis' sixth album so far, preceded by Red Hot Chili Peppers (released in 1983), Freaky Styley (1985), The Mofo Uplift Party Plan (1987), the EP Abbey Road (1988), and their most recent album, Mother's Milk (1989).
With their explosive energy and wild live shows, these boys have established themselves as one of the raddest bands around. But die-hard Chili Pepper fans out there, be warned: in the words of Anthony Kiedis, "Nothing is anything like what we'd done previously."
If you pick this CD up expecting the kind of funky thrash they've played in the past, you may want to put it back down, because you're not going to get much of that.
By this I don't mean that the album sucks -- I think it's great. But the music on Blood Sugar Sex Magik is slow and funky, a combination that may not appeal to everybody.
It is a good combination, though, and I totally agree with Anthony when he says, "Funk can be as simple as one note or as complicated as a barrage of fifty notes in three seconds." On this album they went for the "one-note" method, and funk is what they've got - maximum funkitude. The songs on this album are just as good as anything I've heard from the Chilis in the past, but the sound is very different.
Some of my personal favorites (get ready, there are quite a few) are "The Power of Equality," "Breaking the Girl," "I Could Have Lied," "The Righteous and the Wicked," "Give It Away," and "The Greeting Song." Some of the songs, like "If You Have To Ask" and the title tune, are very rap-influenced, while "Breaking the Girl" reminds me of Jethro Tull or Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Faire" (no, I'm not kidding). The Chilis even do an awesome cover of Robert Johnson's "They're Red Hot." For you speed fanatics, I'd recommend "The Greeting Song" as probably the fastest song on the album.
As you can tell, this album covers a huge range of musical ground, while still staying funky as hell.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik is great. There are only a couple of songs you can really slam-dance to, but the Pepper's trademark sound is still there. The Chili Peppers' music always relaxes me and makes me want to move at the same time. The whole album sounds very live (it was recorded in a haunted house the Chilis lived in while making the album), and there are seventeen tracks, more than usual for most bands. Flea describes the album as "basically a live record or two live records...for the price of one."
The only real complaint I've got with the album is that Flea's bass didn't seem to get as much attention as it deserved. Flea is one of the best bassists in the business and a vital part of the Chili Peppers' music, and I was disappointed when I couldn't even hear him in some of the songs.
On another note, some Chili Pepper fans may be surprised by the inside pictures: the guys are actually wearing clothes in a few of them! I couldn't even recognize them, at first.
One last warning for anybody out there with "delicate sensibilities." This album isn't stickered because of language (though that's there, too), but more because of the sexual content of some of the lyrics. If 2 Live Crew makes you sick, you might want to skip over "Sir Psycho Sexy."
Listen to the rest of the album, though. You might be surprised.
(The Rice Thresher, Volume 79 No. 7, October 4, 1991)