Earlier this week, I watched the new documentary on Netflix about the early days of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It’s called The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Our Brother, Hillel and I highly recommend it (even if they decided to use A.I. at some points to take some creepy quotes from Hillel Slovak to life):
As you might infer from the title, the major focus of the movie is the band’s original guitarist Hillel Slovak. Along with Flea he was a major driving force in the early days of the Chili Peppers. Unfortunately he died from a heroin overdose in 1988 just before they really blew up with Mother’s Milk.
That doesn’t mean the early records with Hillel are inferior to the later blockbusters. Far from it! I really like both Freaky Styley (the first RHCP record I ever heard) and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. They were playing a really raw and exiting hybrid of rock and funk that was unique in the mid 80s.
Freaky Styley was produced by George Clinton, and he performed with the band on the record as well as in concert. Check out this cool footage of their cover Africa (renamed Hollywood) that was originally by The Meters:
Their biggest hit with Hillel was “Fight Like a Brave”. It still rocks 4 decades later!
All that being said, my favorite song by Red Hot Chili Peppers is, without a doubt, “Soul to Squeeze”. This was released as part of the soundtrack to the movie Coneheads in 1993. By this point the Chili Peppers were huge. Blood Sugar Sex Magick had already made them oe of the biggest alternative rock bands on the planet.
The focal point of this song is Flea’s bass playing. His playing is constantly shifting, playing lines that are extremely melodic throughout. The bass is the lead instrument here, pushed way up in the mix. I can listen to this over and over.
This song really showcases what is so great about Flea as a bass player as well as a composer.
Flea didn’t start as a rock loving bass player. Throughout the aformentioned Netflix documentary, it is mentioned that Flea’s original love was jazz and he played trumpet. He even played trumpet in other bands before the Red Hot Chili Peppers became a more serious concern.
Since then he has regularly threatened to put out a jazz album with him playing the trumpet. People were never sure if he was serious, but it turns out he was! This week, he finally followed through with that idea: He put out his first solo album, Honora, which is today’s pick!
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There is no alternative rock or funk / hip-hop hybrids to be found here. It really is a full-on jazz fusion record. He even recruits big names like guitarist Jeff Parker to be part of his band. It features a pretty even mix between original songs and covers.
The original songs are great! The first single he put out before the full album was “A Plea”. It’s a bold move for an introduction to the album, because it is a nearly 8 minute epic with Flea doing spoken word along with playing bass and trumpet. The music video is really wild too:
The second single is a funky little ditty called “Traffic Lights” that features Thom York from Radiohead on vocals. It is perhaps my favorite original song on the record:
It is very reminiscent of Atoms for Peace, which was a previous collaboration between Thom York and Flea:
The covers on the album are impeccably chosen. Flea is quite the curator of great music. The strongest is probably the very moving version of the Frank Ocean song “Thinkin’ ’Bout You”. He recently performed it on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and it is awesome!
He also plays a really brutal version of Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain*:
Flea is a long-time fanatic of this song. Here he is playing it like a madman in the desert as part of a commercial for Fender:
“Wichita Lineman” has been covered by many people, including other alternative rock bands like Urge Overkill and I gotta say…I pretty much love every version I have heard. Flea’s version is no exception. It helps that he called in Nick Cave to sing with him on the tune:
Finally, Flea shows his classic jazz bonafides by covering the jazz standard “Willow Weep For Me”. He does the song justice. It even has a pretty massive sounding Moog!
Overall Honera is a really incredible solo record by an artist who likes to think outside the box and is not afraid to get out of his comfort zone. I can definitely see this ranking as one of my favorite albums of the year when December rolls around.
