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Rating:
Cool album of the month! (I'm surprised it hasn't been reviewed yet). The phoenix rises high, wrapped in flames. Frusciante's 360-degree art direction incorporates into the album some elements that make it, right away and in advance, a must: Omar Rodriguez (At The Drive In, The Mars Volta) on guitar in two tracks, Flea makes a fleeting appearance on just one track, the photos in the booklet were taken by Vincent Gallo (they are just regular black-and-white photos, but, you know, if Vincent Gallo takes them, they're cool...), Chad Smith on drums and John engaged in vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizers, keyboards, and percussion respectively. Produced by himself. 18 songs for 65 minutes of music.
The dominant color that bursts forth, in the hypothetical picture representing this album, is definitely red.
Red like fire, blood, passion...The passion that can be felt in songs like Second Wall (a minute and thirty-six of music just to remind the world who is among the best rock guitarists around...).
The first part of the album explores within the boundaries of classic rock, with references to the Beatles, Neil Young, Beach Boys, without abandoning the aggression and frenzy of modern electric rock. In some tracks, it feels like the best Ben Harper sweating on stage, while in others, the reference goes solely and exclusively to the more twisted and dark Pink Floyd. The second part of the album (especially the last tracks) greatly combines the electronic paths (vocoder, crazy synthesizers, computerized loops filling spaces) with the purely rock ones (move over Matt Bellamy…).
The songs never exceed in any direction: neither too baroque nor, for that matter, boring pop songs.
The acoustic guitars often give way to the roaring and distorted ones. And it's precisely on those guitar parts that you find the key to reading the album. A great, great work of Alternative Rock. Already halfway through the album, just as you're smiling with pleasure, the fateful question begins to arise, which won't leave you even at the end of the tracks: “But why does this guy, if he's so good, insist on staying with the Red Hot?” Mystery of faith. Or money…
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Omission (04:32)
Omit myself
(Take it from your eyes)
Omit myself as a favour of God
(All my rights are evryone's enemy)
Suffer fate cuz it's the only lift you've got
Dedicating all of before to now
Emphasizing these things you won't allow
Never now we need the other
(Centralize the force of rot)
In your life we take our cover
(Echoing what is not)
Going nowhere
(Take it from your eyes)
Going nowhere's the only clear whot
(All my rights are evryone's enemy)
At being somewhere the fates think you're not
Somewhere's hole to divides any way you want
Faking now faking who you are
Never now we need the other
(Centralize the force of rot)
In your life I'll take my cover
(Echoing what is not)
Never now I need the other
(And if you're suffering a lot)
In your life we take our cover
(Try being someone you're not)
02 The Slaughter (04:04)
I'll know her face a mile away
You'll be there in the slaughter
Freeing me when I'm cornered
Being arrested by the mind cops
They're the only ones worth changing what you do for
And I'll try to be in line
I guide my fate
And what it's good for there's no telling
It's blood
It's a flood
I'll know her face a mile away
She'll take me straight through that gate
Living there in a flower
You wouldn't have made it without her
Though she seems to stay in one place
She grows with your life
So cry for time
What's slow is fast at the same time
It comes to life
And if it dies
You'll never notice cause it
It slides as it climbs
I'll know her face a mile away
And I'll know my pains a life away
03 Ricky (03:52)
I was afraid to be me
Be anything you want to be
I don't blame my week
For my not being able to speak
Clearly about things I've said before
And if it's light outside night will fall
And if it's life it resolves
Everywhere you are in a maze is a lie
Anywhere you are on a page you still go to the right
Anytime there's no ground below you you're in the sky
Anytime you're afraid it's gonna be alright
I was a flame in the night
I heard what I wanted to hear
And the moment I disappeared
I grew the size of all outside
Cuz I became one with the night
And if it's real it's not all there is
There's alot in what appears not to be there at all
And you can function as someone besides who you are
05 In Relief (02:28)
To seem you're in me and over me
Relief in all things
And all things shoot through me
And all things shoot through you
Wherever you are
To seem you're a dream when you never stop
And we ask you what you are
Belief as one with what you believe
Travel slowly
Move in circles
You know time grows old in reverse
Life as a thing that began
And was magnified
And made the first fire and the last one
To mean everything you never say
Every single thing going every way
When you're leader's gone
He means to make you strong
He never went away
Cuz what you need you are
06 Everyperson (02:04)
You take me by the hand
A hand's all I feel right now
It's all I am
It's all that I am
You think that I'm a man
I beg to differ
For I am her as much as I'm me
You know this moment in time
Is all my life
Every day is each day thats past
Every person alive is everyone who's died
A ship out in the distance
Is here if I draw it
Multiply time by letting it go by
You paint a star
You give many years ago
New life and it appreciates it
You know this moment in time
Is all my life
Everyday is each day that's past
Every person alive is everyone who's died
09 Carvel (04:16)
When I try I force it out
Never looking in only out
Now is the time for millions to lose
Never the same since I lost you
Running me out of town
Wishing the best around
Would only get you off my back
Heaven receives you and throws you back
Sending a dummy to my God
Sending a dummy to my God
Sending a dummy to my God
Sending a dummy to my God
Driving to eat a Carvel cake
Somewhere you know isn't where you think
Have you gone away
Have you gone, have you gone away already?
Come back, come back, come back, come back
Have you gone, have you gone away already?
Come back, come back, come back, come back
Have you gone have you gone away already?
Come back, come back, come back, come back
Have you gone, have you gone away already?
Come back, come back, come back, come back
All the good things are on their way
Up and down that's how energy stays alive
Up and down that's how energy stays alive
And I wouldn't have it any other way
Wouldn't have it any other way
10 Carvel (04:17)
When I try I force it out
Never looking in only out
Now is the time for millions to lose
Never the same since I lost you
Running me out of town
Wishing the best around
Would only get you off my back
Heaven receives you and throws you back
Sending a dummy to my God
Sending a dummy to my God
Sending a dummy to my God
Sending a dummy to my God
Driving to eat a Carvel cake
Somewhere you know isn't where you think
Have you gone away
Have you gone, have you gone away already?
Come back, come back, come back, come back
Have you gone, have you gone away already?
Come back, come back, come back, come back
Have you gone have you gone away already?
Come back, come back, come back, come back
Have you gone, have you gone away already?
Come back, come back, come back, come back
All the good things are on their way
Up and down that's how energy stays alive
Up and down that's how energy stays alive
And I wouldn't have it any other way
Wouldn't have it any other way
11 Omission (04:36)
Omit myself
(Take it from your eyes)
Omit myself as a favour of God
(All my rights are evryone's enemy)
Suffer fate cuz it's the only lift you've got
Dedicating all of before to now
Emphasizing these things you won't allow
Never now we need the other
(Centralize the force of rot)
In your life we take our cover
(Echoing what is not)
Going nowhere
(Take it from your eyes)
Going nowhere's the only clear whot
(All my rights are evryone's enemy)
At being somewhere the fates think you're not
Somewhere's hole to divides any way you want
Faking now faking who you are
Never now we need the other
(Centralize the force of rot)
In your life I'll take my cover
(Echoing what is not)
Never now I need the other
(And if you're suffering a lot)
In your life we take our cover
(Try being someone you're not)
13 Ricky (03:44)
I was afraid to be me
Be anything you want to be
I don't blame my week
For my not being able to speak
Clearly about things I've said before
And if it's light outside night will fall
And if it's life it resolves
Everywhere you are in a maze is a lie
Anywhere you are on a page you still go to the right
Anytime there's no ground below you you're in the sky
Anytime you're afraid it's gonna be alright
I was a flame in the night
I heard what I wanted to hear
And the moment I disappeared
I grew the size of all outside
Cuz I became one with the night
And if it's real it's not all there is
There's alot in what appears not to be there at all
And you can function as someone besides who you are
15 Everyperson (01:53)
You take me by the hand
A hand's all I feel right now
It's all I am
It's all that I am
You think that I'm a man
I beg to differ
For I am her as much as I'm me
You know this moment in time
Is all my life
Every day is each day thats past
Every person alive is everyone who's died
A ship out in the distance
Is here if I draw it
Multiply time by letting it go by
You paint a star
You give many years ago
New life and it appreciates it
You know this moment in time
Is all my life
Everyday is each day that's past
Every person alive is everyone who's died
20 In Relief (02:27)
To seem you're in me and over me
Relief in all things
And all things shoot through me
And all things shoot through you
Wherever you are
To seem you're a dream when you never stop
And we ask you what you are
Belief as one with what you believe
Travel slowly
Move in circles
You know time grows old in reverse
Life as a thing that began
And was magnified
And made the first fire and the last one
To mean everything you never say
Every single thing going every way
When you're leader's gone
He means to make you strong
He never went away
Cuz what you need you are
24 The Slaughter (03:56)
I'll know her face a mile away
You'll be there in the slaughter
Freeing me when I'm cornered
Being arrested by the mind cops
They're the only ones worth changing what you do for
And I'll try to be in line
I guide my fate
And what it's good for there's no telling
It's blood
It's a flood
I'll know her face a mile away
She'll take me straight through that gate
Living there in a flower
You wouldn't have made it without her
Though she seems to stay in one place
She grows with your life
So cry for time
What's slow is fast at the same time
It comes to life
And if it dies
You'll never notice cause it
It slides as it climbs
I'll know her face a mile away
And I'll know my pains a life away
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Other reviews
By StoneAgeWoof
John Frusciante is undoubtedly one of the most overhyped guitarists of the past decade, yet not many young artists can boast the melodic talent present in this album.
The result is an album with a clean sound and born from Frusciante’s passion for melodies and vocal harmonies.
