Newspaper Page Text
Page 10
Flagpole Magazine
October 2, 1991
Ear Wax Facts
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Blood Sugar Sex Magic /(EMI)
AAAHH. Another Fall, another school year, another
recession, and a brand new Red Hot Chili Peppers’ album
to make everything go just a little bit smoother. This season
promises to be a good one for music as many of rock’s
heavy hitters drop new product for broke consumers,
making it tougher to decide who deserves our hard-earned
money. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of those bands.
As usual, they deliver. Their fifth release is yet another
collection of songs (17, to be exact) exploring that “white
funky metal thang" for which they’ve become known. Over
the years a number of bands have taken the W.F.M.T. idea
and run with it (Jane’s Addiction, Primus, Faith No More),
while others have opted to become stale derivatives of the
Peps (White Trash, Infectious Grooves). But that’s all fine
and dandy as long as we remember who did it first.
This time around the Peps deliver the same goods but
with a twist. They’ve hired 70s lovechild Rick "riff-stealing"
Rubin to drive the funky bus. And much to my surprise, the
route is pretty much the same: thumpin’ bass lines, kickin'
drums, and Anthony Kiedis’ mumbled white boy rap. And
it works Perfect music for a weekend release. But why am
I so disappointed?
Let’s face it, these guys have never been known for their
songwriting abilities. Their best songs have been covers
(“Fire", “Higher Ground", "If You Want Me To Stay"), but two
years ago they seemed to be on the verge of changing all
of that. 1989’s Mother's Milk flirted with the mainstream with
its poppy rhythms, fat brass, and killer drunken-fratboy-
choruses. The ultimate party record. Besides, "Knock Me
Down" was pretty damn good. The new release finds them
resorting back to the familiar midtempo sludge of Uplift
Mofo Party Plan, making it impossible to sit through all 73
minutes.
However, the three tracks that do stand out on the
album find the Peps trailing off into a new direcfon: soulful
acoustic pop. Brilliant. Ironically, all 3 songs are ballads.
"Breaking the Girl" is a true gem! I’m convinced it’s a cover,
but it’s not. The acoustic guitar, the rolling snare drum, the
“Stairway to Heaven" flute, and Anthony Kiedis’ much
improved vocals work together beautifully. I predict this
one to be their “Jane Says". “Under the Bridge" is almost as
good with its gospel-like chorus, but “I Could Have Lied",
while being better than 80% of the album, sounds like a
Lenny Kravitz throwaway. Did he write this?
Blood Sugar Sex Magic will, no doubt, find a home at
most college radio stations. And most Pep fans will take it
for what it is: perfect music for a weekend release. Bu f for
those of us who were expecting something totally new will
have to wait for the next go ’round.
K. Lorrel Manning
American Music Club
Everclear /(Alias)
Everclear, the fifth release by San Francisco American
Music Club, is a reflective and inspiring journey through the
emotional wasteland of love and loss. Mark Eitzel’s songs
reach out like the silent gaze of a lonely stranger, evoking
the memory of our own inner isolation and the recurring
ache it creates.
Although three of the band's five members share a
background in country music and they make use of the
typical country instruments: pedal steel guitar, banjo and
dulcimer on several tracks, the songs originate in a sonic
realm which contains as much of rock’s immediacy and
folk’s subtlety as it does country’s loneliness. "The Dead
Part Of You" is an intense and compelling acoustic storm
which rivals Mike Scott's "Savage Earth Heart" for both
beauty and power, and “Rise," the first single, is as exhila
rating as U2’s best work.
For all of Everclear's emotionally painful content, it
never slides into the maudlin. The tears are blinked back
rather than shed as the fires die, and an internal source of
strength and peace glows in the embers. Intelligence,
insight and spectral melodies are gracefully intertwined on
Everclear, making it among the most lovely and timeless
recordings I have heard.
Lisa McDonald
Dave Stewart
& The Spirtual Cowboys
Honest /Arista Records
Honest is the second album from Dave Stewart & The
Spiritual Cowboys. Stewart, of course, from Eurythmics
fame, is trying his hand at fronting a band this time around.
His back-up band, The Spiritual Cowboys, is thought by
many to be comprised of some of England’s finest musi
cians.
This album is filled with the type of instrumental arrang
ing that has made Stewart a success in the area of musical
production (he has previously worked with Aretha Franklin
and The Traveling Wilburys). The guitar scores are crisp as
well as unusual. Also, the band's use of keyboards and
effects are very pleasing to the ear.
Due to Stewart’s presence, all of the tracks have a
familiar melancholy motif and are heavily influenced by his
former work. For instance, "Out of Reach" could almost
pass as a Eurythmics song, while “Here She Comes"
contains Dylanesque harmonica. “Impossible," even fea-
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