The Red Hot Chili Peppers- One Hot Minute (1995)

The Red Hot Chili Peppers- One Hot Minute (1995)

By: Ghost Writer

Four years after the commercial and artistic triumph of Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik, I bet people would have thought that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were ready to take over the world with a more streamlined and polished effort as a follow up, perhaps 1999 Californication was precisely that, but in between, the Peppers, at the time one of my favorite bands and featuring the enigmatic Dave Navarro, from Jane's Addiction, decided otherwise and set up to make a quite difficult record, 1995's One Hot Minute was exactly what the name implies, a mid pause before stardom and the joys of popularity, a small chance to put in practice their creative muse before giving up their unpredictability.

First theme Warped was a sledgehammer blow against the head, with the Peppers saying goodbye in a riotously way to their punk roots, featuring great guitars by Navarro injecting a heavy dose of aggression previously unheard in the band, in an almost Zen way, perfectly matched by Flea and drummer Chad Smith, but the band at the time was making no concessions and was bouncing from heaven to hell and back effortlessly, as seen in the funky feeling good Airplane, more streamlined than their previous record, but equally groovy, and then the brutal attack again of Deep Kick with heavenly chorus by Kiedis that gave clear hints to a sound the Peppers where about to develop in following records.

For My Friends, the band again makes light years leaps musically speaking diving into a more acoustic sound, with this beautiful mid-tempo song, just before going really maniac on Coffee Shop, with Flea athletic bass playing, Chad Smith's organic drumming and Navarro's playing all over the place, and then a little nod to the rebel gang sound of Mother's Milk on the hyper funk of One Big Mob, a definite highlight on the album.

Personally, I'm a little vulnerable to Tearjerker, as Kiedis shows here his impressive way to transmit emotions despite his limited vocal range, from that point forward the band gets a little bit lost between the heavy grunge of One Hot Minute and of Shallow Be Thy Name, the tedious swing of Falling Into Grace, and the little bit pretentious Transcending with a scary chaotic ending, it could have been a better record if some songs would have been left out, but anyway One Hot Minute is a great record, wildly rebellious, unexpected and defying, one of my favorite three or four records by the band, and a sort of big bang they never fortunately  attempted to repeat again.