Pretty much the greatest

Ah the inevitable best of Cd, that bringer of much controversy and discussion. It appears now that any successful band has to delve into its past and provide one of these for any casual fan who hasn’t yet discovered the wonders of their music. Or they could want some quick money. However I prefer the first option because my morphine makes me. Anyway here is where I admit I don’t actually own this greatest hits Cd however I do own the Cds with all the songs on anyway so I can give just as good a review of this as everyone else. The chili Peppers themselves are a fantastic band and have produced many a fine album and this Cd tends to focus on tracks from the three biggest hits Blood Sugar sex Magik, Californication and By The Way which are all five star albums and this draws some of the best songs of those albums. There is also a song each from the album Mothers Milk and One Hot Minute which, certainly in the case of the former is disappointing as it deserved more. There is also a song from the film Coneheads and the two obligatory new tracks that all best of CDs tend to come with.

For those unfamiliar with the band here is the line-up:

Anthony Kiedis: Vocals
Flea: Bass
Chad Smith: Drums
John Frusciante: Guitar (except track 11)
Dave Navarro: Guitar (only track 11)

And now I shall talk about the tracks:

The album starts with the monster hit Under The Bridge (BSSM). This is probably the ultimate sad song and was a certainty to be on the greatest hits. The guitar of Frusciante on this song is complicated and is maybe his best performance on the album (which is saying something), the bass and drums are fairly quiet as you would expect from a slow song and Anthony conveys plenty of his emotion through his vocals. The lyrics are interesting and concern Anthony's drug habit. The ending with the choir is classic stuff.

Another big hit from BSSM follows Give It Away and its the king on funk songs. It’s fast and furious with nice contributions from the entire band. The lyrics are fun but nonsensical about such things as Bob Marley for some reason. This is a real party song and great for getting you in a good mood. This was another certainty for the Cd and I can’t question its presence here.

The title track to Californication is next. This is another slow song (there seems to be a preference for slower songs overall) and is a hypnotically relaxing little number. The guitar and Bass work really well together to create the basic melody and the bassline itself is a really clever one from arguably the greatest bassist in the world. Chad's drumming is also extremely catchy and keeps time in the song very well. Anthony's vocals are as usual emotional and the lyrics are observations of the decadence of California (as the title suggests). Yet again worthy of the greatest hits.

Scar Tissue (C) was a very big radio hit and so an obvious choice. The song is every soft and beautiful and is dominated by John's guitar and also his backing vocals are very calming. The lyrics themselves are sometimes downbeat for such an upbeat piece of music "scar tissue that I wish you saw/Sarcasm Mr know it all". The guitar is simple but fragile and pleasing and it’s a very relaxing song bet also another fairly slow track.

Soul to Squeeze is the song taken off the Coneheads soundtrack. It’s not a particularly famous song and in terms of quality I may question its appearance here. It is actually quite popular but I find it more boring than enjoyable. The bassline is good however but the rest of the music is fairly uninspiring. This also contributes the pacing problems this part of the album seems to have, as it’s once more a slow thoughtful song. Not a greatest hit im afraid.

Possibly my favourite ever Chili Peppers song follows now Otherside (C). Its an instantly reflective song with lyrics like "How long/How long will I slide/separate my side I don’t/I don’t believe its bad/slit my throat/It's all I ever". The bassline again rules the song, merging perfectly with the minimalistic guitar that only comes to the forefront in a very effective solo towards the end. The choruses get louder as the song progresses with backing singing building up each one slightly more than the last until the final explosive chorus. A class song from a class act.

The first speedy song for a while arrives in the form of Suck My Kiss (BSSM). This is a typical old style raunchy Chili Peppers song (as you have probably worked out from the title). It’s a bass dominated song with a very powerful but at the same time catchy bassline. Anthony raps his way through he song and as we all know he’s a very good rapper. The guitar has a virtually nonexistent part to play until it gets a solo, which is full of energy. Certainly a worthwhile addition to the Cd and a welcome changed of pace.

The title track to By the Way follows and is really a combination of both the styles of the band: the funk and the rock. The verses are funky and ruled by the bassline with Anthony rapping the lyrics very speedily. This leads into the more guitar ruled rock chorus, which has great singing from both Anthony and John. The two styles mix to make a really great song that was a big radio hit. Special mention has to go to John who for probably the first time gets to sing properly on a Chili Peppers album and does very well. An automatic choice for the Cd.

Parallel Universe (C) is yet another fast paced track (they really could have done with mixing the fast and slow up better). The track is very simple musically but also very effective and is one of the harder songs the band have done. I would maybe have left this off because although its good I think there is far better material that could have replaced this. Anyway Anthony does well with the singing and the drums are also quite enjoyable but the rest of the music is pretty hard to describe.

Breaking The Girl (BSSM) is another fan favourite although its never been one of mine. John plays the acoustic guitar and there is a lot of mellatron sounds going on. Anthony’s voice doesn’t sound too good on this track whilst he sings about breaking up with a girl. The bass is very hard to hear and isn’t very interesting anyway. This was a certainty really for the greatest hits and I can’t complain too much about it being there.

My Friends (OHM) is the only track to feature of the sub-par One Hot minute. Its really the only good song off that album and its currently one of my favourite songs. This was done in the period without John Frusciante and so has Dave Navarro on guitar. Even though Dave isn’t as good as John he does really well here with first the acoustic and then electric guitar. This song feels like a cross between Under the bridge and another song off BSSM I could have lied (which is a song that should have been on here but I suppose it was never a single so couldn’t be a greatest hit). Some of the lyrics are a bit annoying but the majority are cool and all round its a fairly dark song. One of the better songs on the Cd.

Higher Ground (MM) is the only track to make the cut off Mothers Milk or any older albums. It a cover of the Stevie Wonder song and is very funky. This was the Chili Peppers first big selling song and its well worth it. It’s a very fun song and Anthony sounds really cool and so does Flea's bassline. John guitar is fairly noisy but I can forgive that. Another obvious choice for the Cd.

Now can someone please explain to me why Universally Speaking (BtW) is on a greatest hits. I mean if they wanted an extra song to represent the new album then they could have picked Cant Stop (BtW) instead of this. The song itself is average and has nothing musically to recommend it for. I suppose the best part of it is Anthony singing as he again sounds quite emotional which is always good in a song. I wouldn’t have put this on the greatest Hits but heh, im not the band.

The very quiet and relaxing song Road Trippin' (C) features next. It’s a beautiful mix of the acoustic guitar, strings and Anthony and John's vocals. This is the most relaxing song produced by the Peppers and I think it works really well and fully deserves its place on this greatest hits. The bass is as fits a quiet song very hard to hear but plays and important part. Chad gets to take a breather during this song, as the drums are not utilized. Brilliant song writing too. I think this should have been last but they decided against this strangely.

Now comes the new material. Firstly we get the one released as a single Fortune Faded. It’s the worse of the two but its still an infectious mix of pop-rock. The switch between the acoustic and electric guitar is also good although he actual electric guitar riff is very underwhelming. They use the same build up of choruses as they did on Otherside but its nowhere as good as that track. The bass is good again and Anthony sounds pretty cool.

Save the Population is much more impressive featuring killer guitar work from Frusciante. In fact this guitar riff is by far the catchiest on the album and really sticks in your head. The bass is also very nice with Flea his usual excellent self. The real hook for this song is the end chorus where John and Anthony sing together taking turns to belt out "Stay all night we'll save the population" which works fantastically well as John is a bloody brilliant singer. I would love to hear him sing more on future Chili Peppers material and hopefully this shows that the band is considering the possibility.

Now a Greatest hits is never going to suit everyone and this is no exception. However this shouldn’t be bought by proper Chili Peppers fans as they probably already have the majority, if not all of these songs. This is simply for introducing new fans to the material of the band in the hope that they will decide to purchase the proper albums, so if you have heard a few Peppers song that you like and you want to hear more I recommend that you buy this wholeheartedly and I hope you enjoy but hardcore fans this isn’t for you. Unless you fancy buying the version with videos (which I should have reviewed cause I have all of those as well). Thanks for reading.