Freaky Styley

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Performer: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Red Hot Chili Peppers include: Anthony Kiedis (vocals); Hillel Slovak (guitar); Flea (bass); Jack Irons (drums). Includes liner notes by Flea. All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24 Bit Technology. The closest the Red Hot Chili Peppers ever came to straight funk, Freaky Styley is the quirkiest, loosest, and most playful album in their long and winding catalog. It's also one of the best, if least heard. A year earlier, in 1984, they'd made their self-titled debut with a stiff album produced Andrew Gill of Gang of Four fame. The album had its share of good songs, most notably "True Men Don't Kill Coyotes" and "Get Up and Jump," but Gill's cold and tinny production riddled The Red Hot Chili Peppers with the same sort of problem that made Gang of Four's early-'80s albums so distasteful. Namely, the production sucks all the life out of the music and makes it seem distant and unapproachable, as if you were listening to the album in a long tunnel with reflective metal walls. Here on Freaky Styley that problem is thankfully solved: enter producer extraordinaire George Clinton. The funk legend not only gives the Peppers the sort of warm and loose-limbed production that had graced many a Parliament/Funkadelic album over the years, but he also seemingly gives the band some serious inspiration. For instance, a pair of covers of funk classics instantly stand out -- "If You Want Me to Stay" (Sly & the Family Stone) and "Africa" (the Meters), the latter retitled "Hollywood (Africa)" here -- and they're made all the more standout with the addition of Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley on horns. The Peppers also write a number of strong songs of their own. If none stand out, per se -- with the exception of the two covers, that is -- that's because they're all fairly good, relatively rough songs. Sure, some are slight, no question about that, but they help the album flow from one song to the next, because the songs are all more or less different from one another in subtle ways. And they're performed with vigor, as original guitarist Hillel Slovak is thankfully back aboard (replacing Jack Sherman, who played guitar on The Red Hot Chili Peppers and co-wrote the bulk of these songs), and he makes a major contribution to practically every song, playing straight funk here more so than the funk-metal that would characterize the band's subsequent album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. And to make mention of that 1987 follow-up, the Peppers would move on to a new producer, making this their one collaboration with Clinton. They'd never quite recapture the pure funk sound of Freaky Styley again, likely as a result. That's one reason why this album is so special, but it's also because the Peppers have a good clutch of songs to work with in addition to excellent production. And too, they seem relaxed and at ease here, playing quirky songs without any self-consciousness, a quality lacking on their debut. It's a quality lacking on subsequent albums also, though to a lesser degree, when the Peppers would begin sharpening their pop smarts and crafting catchy songs rather than just fun jams like these. So if you're feeling adventurous and are drawn to the idea of the Peppers and Clinton together in the same studio back in 1985 without any pop-crossover ambitions, give Freaky Styley a listen by all means. It's a cult classic of sorts and a world apart from the where the band would go in later years, for better and for worse. ~ Jason Birchmeier Produced by Funkadelic mastermind George Clinton, 1985's FREAKY STYLEY was a slightly more focused Peppers' recording than the band's 1984 self-titled debut. It also marked the return of original guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons. Though FREAKY STYLEY lacks the firepower of the Peppers' more hard-rocking future recordings, more than a few Peppers classics reside here. Highlights include "Jungle Man," "Hollywood" (a reworking of the Meters' "Africa"), "Nevermind," "Catholic School Girls Rule," and the oft-overlooked "The Brothers Cup." FREAKY STYLEY helped set the stage for one of the Peppers' finest albums, 1987's THE UPLIFT MOFO PARTY PLAN.

Inspiring legions of imitators (especially among the rap-metal crowd), the Red Hot Chili Peppers combined biting rock guitar with funk rhythms and rap-influenced vocals for a thunderous, party-hearty sound. While the California band was popular on the alt-rock circuit in the late-'80s, they broke through to the mainstream and became superstars in the early '90s with a more mature sound that incorporated melodic ballads. Nevertheless, the band's stageshow continued to be just as unpredictable and outrageous as their music.

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