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Rating: If the two albums composed during Frusciante's dark period were insane visions, sometimes evocative and sometimes oppressive, the third album by the good guitarist proves to be the calm after the storm.
The songs are more complete, more designed, and therefore more enjoyable, but in my opinion, slightly less engaging. “To Record Only Water For Ten Days” is a good pop rock album, enriched by John's particular meditative and introspective vein and the original use of the synth. It is certainly more conventional music, but it remains an inspired work.
It starts off great: “Going Inside” is an excellent track; the screeching and inspired guitar blends with the rich wall of sound and the cavernous voice to create something engaging, subliminal, and powerful. In “Someone’s” we find a more intense search for vocal harmony and a decent rhythmic work, vaguely inspired by electronics. “The First Season” calls to mind the past's crazy ballads, even though it has nothing in common with them; here, we find Frusciante more attentive to the balance of compositions rather than their strength. This track stands out for the magnificent central tension crescendo, painted by the acoustic guitar, sound effects, and shadowy atmosphere. “Wind Up Space” is a splendid solitary song; it seems like you can hear the wind shaking the tree branches. Excellent.
Then we find good rock tracks like “Away & Anywhere” and others tinged with electronics like “Remain”; delightful melodies and powerful rhythms in “Fallout” and enveloping and subdued atmospheres in “With No One”. The work has good continuity, and it's hard to find trivial songs. The guitarist is careful not to lapse into the obvious, yet maintaining a much more accessible appeal compared to the past. This is how sweet instrumentals like “Ramparts” and “Murderers” are born; Frusciante knows where to aim, knows his strengths, and exploits them adequately, always creating captivating and successful riffs.
“Invisible Movement” and “Representing” do not escape this rule; always perfectly balanced between electronic rhythms and the guitarist's particular vaporous melody.
At the end, we find the intense “In Rime”, which almost takes us back to the past, “Saturation”, a delicate synthetic lullaby, and “Moments Have You”, perhaps the most brilliant ballad of the album that accompanies uncertain words; a sort of meeting point between past, present, and future:
“Cuz inside actions there's no time/ I hear you inside a space/ An instant is forever now/ A future fluctuates".
“To Record Only Water For Ten Days” is a good work; Frusciante, having found serenity, gives free rein to his creativity, creating an exquisite interplay between intimate melodies and polychromatic rock, heavily colored by electronics and pervaded by an unmistakable sense of rebirth.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
06 Remain (03:57)
I'm crowded when I'm gone
I live here to seep thru this song
Hey la
I can't go on
I'm lost
I'll be there running on & off
Hey la
And when you reach that point
You're a wall
And when you bleed sight
You receive a call
Oh please take us
We're wrong
We live now to relive on & on
Place my paces
Pave my way
We only remain
The same way as the sounds on a tape
And when you draw a line
It goes where you want
And when shadows step ahead of you
They start and stop
With these riches we walk & walk
We give to this time all that we got
We play it this way cuz this is how we feel
It means so much to me when the pretend becomes real
07 Fallout (02:10)
Carried thru the road so far alone
Days glue themselves to what is wrong
And soon the hills will swallow us up
Plans will pass her
Land on the walls is laid out
I know you're in pain
Train for the cause is staying down
It plays you out
Fall out of love again
Your dreams all end
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14 Saturation (03:03)
Saturation
I feel that wheels are turning 'round
Replay
We made you what you were
We bought them up to that hill
We bought them up to roll them down
In the morning, light must clean you out
I'm sad that time escapes me
It pushes ahead of me all day
Remind me what I could've been
I feel the faster I'm going
The more I am slowing down
I'm the focus of bring down
I'm the one who captures what he lost
And turns it around
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By MemoryMan
This album is my favorite in his discography... it positions itself in the center between experimental and accessible.
Just shut your mouth and open (yes I know, it sounds awful as a term) your ears...
