John Frusciante
To Record Only Water For Ten Days

THE REVIEW

John Frusciante. Guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. You love them, you hate them. You love him, you hate him. Even by changing the position of the aforementioned. I appreciate them, and I adore him, and this is one of the essential albums in my collection. There’s Dylan, there are Radiohead, there are Pink Floyd, there’s Hendrix, there’s SYD... and there’s him. Perhaps unjustly for many, but it is so. I believe that all of us, among our idols, have one that is not appreciated by the majority, or we delude ourselves that they are not understood, because we feel them as ours, more than others, who perhaps cannot understand.

This album is my favorite in his discography... perhaps my judgment is not very objective, because I love all the nuances of Frusciante... from the crazy, heroin-addicted, visionary one, to the pop of the Californication era... this album positions itself in the center. Experimental but with taste, without being excessive like "Niandra LaDes", which was a masterpiece yes, but perhaps too disorienting. Synth and drum machines with an eighteen flavor take the lead, seasoned by the Frusciante falsetto, which I love, combined with his almost baritone timbre, and the Strat, simple, that doesn’t overdo it in unnecessary solos, but that wonderfully integrated, leaves space for the pads and electronic beats... there’s experimentation, there’s rock, there’s pop... There’s "Going Inside" that opens the album, with the guitar that tears your soul, and I don’t know why, but it has always reminded me of Native American atmospheres... maybe it’s the Jack’s in the mix... There’s "Remain," drum machine, acoustic, and falsetto... and you’re already traveling... it brings to mind the psychedelia that you loved so much, but which we find here in electronic sauce... And then above all "Murderers", the piece that introduced me to John Frusciante solo... a pop instrumental... a definition that to many might seem almost a blasphemy... but just shut your mouth and open (yes I know, it sounds awful as a term) your ears...

Jimy is distant, unbeatable, and unreachable, but if I think of a current guitarist, with a damn genius and the desire to experiment, I think of John... I know that many will not understand me... perhaps I don't even understand myself, but it is so...