Red Hot Chili Peppers
One Hot Minute

THE REVIEW

Ok. This is my first review. I didn't think much about which album to discuss, it just occurred to me that maybe I could do justice to an album I consider a semi-masterpiece, but which I discovered is incredibly underrated by all the followers of Mr. John Frusciante, inexplicably considered a Guitar God, or even an otherworldly figure. To me, he's just a good artist who has had his highs, but especially his lows, as far as I'm concerned the last decade with the Peppers should be erased.

Anyway, we're in 1995, and after months of hard (?) work in Hawaii, various falls back into heavy drugs, and several changes to the guitar, the Red Hots present their new and highly anticipated work, the first to feature in the line-up the former Jane's Addiction Dave Navarro, fresh from the excellent Deconstruction project with his friend Eric Avery. The album is called "One Hot Minute" and was almost entirely written by Flea alone, who for the first time also contributes to the lyrics. In this album, the other three chili peppers only have the role of session musicians, or almost.

It's often said that Navarro turned the band into a sort of Heavy Metal formation during this period, but I find that an inaccurate statement: the album presents a wide palette of different genres from which the band draws to create interesting stylistic textures. It ranges from the experimental rock of "Warped," "Deep Kick," "Transcending," or "One Big Mob" to the pop-funk episodes "Aeroplane," "Walkabout," "Falling Into Grace." The acoustic cues "My Friends," "Tearjerker," and "Pea" (Flea's attempt to wave his flag!) are interesting. As I said, the metal component of this album is not expressed in greater quantity than found on "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan" or "Mother's Milk" and can be pinpointed mainly in the tracks "Coffee Shop," "Shallow Be Thy Game," and the title track.

Despite the dark and heavily tattooed appearance, Dave Navarro has never been a metal-styled guitarist, but rather psychedelic. Psychedelia is indeed the genre that, for me, stands out the most in this work, surely aided by a renewed (actually, never lost) interest of Kiedis, Flea, and the former Jane's Addiction for hallucinogens.

As far as I'm concerned, listening to "One Hot Minute," you don't deal with a hybrid sound. This album is much more Chili Peppers than some of the crap from the 2000s like "Stadium Arcadium" and, more than any other, "By The Way," which I really can't stand. Better the more recent "I'm With You," which might perhaps be a future review.

In conclusion, this album should at least be vividly appreciated by every true fan of the Californian quartet. As far as I'm concerned, I place it without hesitation in their Top 5. Recommended for lovers of slightly more refined mainstream rock.