The Red Hot Chili Peppers showcase their ability to bring a jazzy funk with great energy as well as being able to slow it down within the same song bringing various feelings throughout the musical journey. The booming bass guitar is on par with greats like Primus. Favorites: Breaking the Girl, Suck My Kiss, Naked in the Rain. The Greeting Song.
"Thank You for Sending Me and Angel" felt like the beginning of a story with the protagonist going on a quest out into the world with upbeat optimism. The journey continues at a fast pace reflected in the quick tempo guitar in the background of "With Our Love." Light and airy but a determined message gets our hero through challenges in "The Goof Thing." "Warning Signs" cautions our character of traps out there for us all. Maybe our hero is really a heroine discovering themselves in "Girls Want to Be With the Girls." Several songs afterward seem to express conflict in various ways: what makes a job, questioning creativity, and love. "I'm Not in Love" eerily predicts "I believe someday we'll live in a world without love" The division seen in the world of the 2020s seems headed in that direction. We just need to "Stay Hungry" and eventually remember to "Take Me to the River" and be washed. The 80s are a bygone era, but this album reminds us all of the conflicting existence during a decade of damning hardships and gleeful hope. "Big Country" feels like a crescendo of this conflict. Our character appears to long for the country but in the end turns away from it. Maybe it's not the big country we all seek, but whatever we are turning away from, may we all get back to what gives us that gleeful hope! I'm not a big Talking Heads fan, but I really enjoyed this album and the journey it takes us on.
Korn always has a wonderful way to gradually build intensity and energy until it explodes into a wave of energy. Reminiscing back to my youthful days, I can just envision the swelling wave of the mash pit. They even bring back the impact of the bag pipe in "My Gift to You," reminiscent of the opening to their first album. Jonathan Davis's scat abilities in "Got the Life," "Freak on a Leash," and "Seed" bring wonderfully creative approaches to a song's journey. Though dark, the song writing, such as "Dead Bodies Everywhere" lyrically reaches into the depth of emotional struggles. The featured artists on songs Children of Korn, Slimkid 3, and especially Cheech Marin appearing as a guest vocalist for Earache My Eye reflect artists and genres influencing and contributing to Korn's breadth of music.
Depths of a sorrowful and longing soul. Even though it was drinking hardships away, girl done me wrong, young fool, etc. I was surprised by how it was more blues than country. Mostly avoided "the twang" until track 8 "Pride," the "anguished fiddle" in track 9 "There's No Fool Like a Young Fool" or the slapping bass in track 10, 11, and 12. Okay, so it started with a great blues beginning, but drove into country pastures. It's just needed something about his pickup truck. What miseries did Ray experience to create such a heart wrenching compilation?
Different. I could have stopped after the unfamiliar language and the repetitive cords song after song, but I also acknowledge the cultural difference creating distance in what my ear wants to pick up. Will I seek out more of his music, probably not. However, it was great to open a door to an artist, from what I read about Baaba Maal, who was uncompromising in keeping his African culture woven into his music. The last song stood out to me, not because the album was finally coming to a close, but how it reminded me of playful notes dancing and just having fun in the moment. Something like the innocents of an elementary music classroom with students discovering what they can do with a joyful noise.
