Chili Pepper's guitarist
loses flavor as soloist
 By
Nathan Cross
Staff Writer
Something funky is hanging in the air.
John Frusciante may be responsible for a lot of
the funk of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but you wouldn't know it by listening
to any of his solo albums.
The only funk on Frusciante's third solo release,
"To Record Only Water For Ten Days," is the stink of a rotten exploration
of his musical tastes.
John Frusciante is best known as the current guitarist
for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Frusciante was with the Chilis for "Mother's
Milk" and "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" but then left the band in 1992. Frusciante
would eventually rejoin the band but in the years before rejoining the
Chilis, Frusciante battled with a heroin addiction while the Chili Peppers
fought lackluster critical reviews.
When Frusciante rejoined the Chilis for 1999's
"Californication," he was responsible for the band's quasi-rock revival
by adding some funky rock riffs, which had been missing since his absence,
on songs like "Scar Tissue" and "Californication."
But the funk that Frusciante generates on the Chilis'
albums is divergent from what is present on his newest solo effort.
On "To Record Only Water For Ten Days," Frusciante strays away from
the electric riffs, which made him a success, and into acoustic singer/songwriter
terrain.
The entire album sounds like it was recorded on
a personal four-track home recorder. Most of the songs sound eerie and
feature an acoustic guitar, a programmed electronic drumbeat and rough,
scratchy vocals. Frusciante's voice isn't pretty and polished, but then,
neither is the record.
A Warner Brothers Records press release for the
album states, "Between 1992 and 1997, John Frusciante had many periods
where his main social activity was with spirits manifested as voices,
thought waves, astral bodies and decay of physical matter. The things
they taught him (often in non-earth language, but often in English)
are contained in this record's words. The feelings of this music is
the feeling of the spirits John Frusciante is friends with."
That strange quote does possibly the best job of
summing up the record … weird.
There are flashes of brilliance on the simple "Away
& Anywhere" and instrumental track "Murderers." Both manage to stand
out ever so slightly from similar songs on Frusciante's album, but not
enough to save it.
On "Wind Up Space," Frusciante sings through a
megaphone, which initially is a pleasing difference but soon grows annoying.
"With No More" starts off sounding like a soft
Depeche Mode and goes nowhere except sounding like something already
listened to and already skipped.
The album ends with a quicker song titled, "Moments
Have You," which has a faster beat than previous songs. The melody stands
out because of a strange electronic sound similar to that of space-aged
toy gun, but the whiney sound proves to be just as annoying as it does
when a child shoots the gun over and over.
Although Frusciante succeeded with his return to
the Chilis, his solo album is disappointing. Solo albums usually give
artists a way to explore musical tastes that they can't with their group.
"To Record Only Water For Ten Days" does let Frusciante explore his
softer and avant-garde sides, but, like many solo outings, it falls
short.
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