Mother's Milk

by

Red Hot Chili Peppers

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Before "By the Way". Before "Californication". Even before "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik"; "Mother's Milk" was, and is, the definitive work of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Featuring the debut of guitarist John Frusciante, "Mother's Milk" finds the band at their funky best. Anthony Kiedis' vitrolic vocals are amazingly intense and in your face, while Flea's bass work must be heard to be believed. Opening track "Good Time Boys", the classic cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground", "Magic Johnson", "Knock Me Down", the amazing cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic "Fire", and "Sexy Mexican Maid" are all time classics that longtime fans of the Peppers know and love. If you don't already own this album, now has never been a better time as it is now remastered (and sounding better than ever) and it includes a plethora of bonus live tracks.

The late 198os were a time of great difficulty for the Red Hot Chili Peppers-- guitarist Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose just as the band was on the cusp of a breakthrough and drummer Jack Irons decided this was no longer the path for him. But vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea found a way to move forward as they did when Slovak and Irons quit the band years beforehand. At a jam session with Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro (then planned to be the drummer for the Peppers), Flea met guitarist John Frusciante-- a man who would step in admirably to the shoes of Hillel Slovak. After a long series of auditions, the band stumbled upon drummer Chad Smith to round out the quartet. The resulting album, "Mother's Milk", finds the band filled with a focus and a youthful energy that they had seemed to lack on previous releases, and while the album is far from perfect, it represents probably the pinnacle of the Chili Peppers' acheivement to this point.

The album really covers the breadth of experience of the Chili Peppers' previous work, running through the usual funk/punk stuff ("Good Time Boys") and the sounds they honed on "Uplift Mofo Party Plan" (the superb "Sexy Mexican Maid"). But the strength in the album lies in its diversity, whether successful or not-- instrumental "Pretty Little Ditty" (clean tone guitar, bass, drums, and Flea doubling on trumpet) shows off both the guitar work and (I suspect) the songwriting of John Frusciante, whose influence on the band would be clear, funk-drenched cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" features one of the most propulsive basslines in rock history (and thusly one of the most imitated in it's own way), and Slovak-tribute "Knock Me Down" finds the band experimenting with the directions they'd pursue on the next record. The sound's not there yet, but it's clear where this is going. And while much of hte record feels like the band is a bit unsure how to proceed ("Subway to Venus", the seemingly endles "Johnny, Kick a Hole in the Sky"), all in all, it's quite a brave effort given where the band's been.

The reissue includes several bonus tracks-- a couple demos, some unedited mixes, and a couple live tracks in addition to cleaning up the recording's sound. Flea contributed an essay to the liner notes.

The Chili Peppers would go on to bigger and better things, but by and large this was a new beginning for them. It's not as good as the records that followed, but it's definitely worth looking into.