John Frusciante

Inside of Emptiness is John Frusciante's fifth release of 2004, this time principally inspired by the raw production values of Lust for Life and White Light/White Heat. Considerably more guitar-oriented than Will to Death and more straightforward than Ataxia's Automatic Writing, Inside of Emptiness rocks hard up until the last track (a gentle rocker), without the polish of Shadows Collide With People. That difference is best exemplified by the leadoff track, "What I Saw," where every level is sent into the red; even the drums are distorted. Many of the songs are sung in falsetto, but when the guitar solos come in, they're all muscle and really benefit from the immediacy of the production. As with the other albums in this series, Frusciante is wearing his influences on his sleeve but following his own vision, and it's quite interesting to track an artist's virtually unfiltered output over the course of a year or so.

The sixth of six albums recorded by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante during 2004, Curtains was initially tracked on the musician's living room floor and subsequently overdubbed with Carla Azar of Autolux on drums, Ken Wylde on upright bass, and Omar Rodriguez of the Mars Volta, who lent his guitar playing to a pair of tracks. Initiated by the stellar, Dylanesque acoustic tones of "The Past Recedes," Curtains opens to reveal evocative, soulful material like "Lever Pulled" and the bright, melodic reflection known as "A Name." The magical "Ascension – which uses George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" as a touchstone – offsets the piano dirge "Leap Your Bar," but Frusciante's increasing comfort as a vocalist during this prolific spell is what is most notable. One needs to look no further than the beauty of "Anne" (which is arguably the best of the lot here) for evidence. But Curtains is the sum of its parts. Nearly always inventive, the 11 tunes here collect to form one magnificent piece of art.

Collection includes: Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984); Freaky Styley (1985); The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987); Mother's Milk (1989); Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991); One Hot Minute (1995); Californication (1999); By the Way (2002); Stadium Arcadium (2006).

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk (2003 EMI Remaster)
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Catalog No.: 72435-40378-2-5 | Release Date: 2003 | Label: EMI
Genre: Rock

Mother's Milk is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 29, 1989 on EMI. After the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak and subsequent departure of drummer Jack Irons, vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea regrouped with the addition of guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith. Frusciante significantly altered the band's sound by placing more emphasis on melody than rhythm, which had dominated the band's previous material. Returning producer Michael Beinhorn favored heavy metal guitar riffs as well as excessive overdubbing, and as a result Beinhorn and Frusciante constantly fought over the album's guitar sound.

The record was a greater commercial success than the Chili Peppers' past three studio albums combined. Mother's Milk peaked at number 52 on the Billboard 200 and received widespread recognition for singles "Knock Me Down" and the Stevie Wonder cover "Higher Ground". The album became their first gold record in early 1990, and was the first step for the band in achieving international success. Although the record was not met with the same positive critical reception that its predecessor The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987) had garnered, Mother's Milk, according to Amy Hanson of Allmusic, "turned the tide and transformed the band from underground funk-rocking rappers to mainstream bad boys with seemingly very little effort".