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Review: Jack Foley
DESIGNED as a showcase of the band's expansive history, it is
little wonder to find that the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Greatest
Hits compilation actually maintains more of a focus on the second
half of their story - when their songwriting and catchy anthems
really took hold.
Hence, the tracks of By The
Way and Californication are in greater supply than really
early efforts, such as Mother's Milk, which led to their label,
EMI, dropping them at the tail end of the Eighties.
The Nineties is when the band really came into their own, however,
thanks to the success of ther next album, the all-time classic,
Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which spawned the massive singles,
Give It Away (all edgy guitars and lyrics), and the evergreen
anthem, Under The Bridge, which ensured the band would
forever have a place in greatest singles of all time lists.
Needless to say, the Peppers haven't looked back since, expanding
and refining their endearing, Californian-based mix of innuendo-laden
lyrics, thoughtful songwriting and catchy hooks, and propelling
them to their current position of one of the world's greatest
- and most popular - bands.
The greatest hits compiled here speak for themselves, from the
ballad-style likes of Californication and Scar Tissue,
through to the radio-friendly likes of Universally Speaking
and Otherside - all of which serve to provide a thilling
reminder of why they have been a part of our musical sub-conscious
for some time now.
There are some notable absentees, of course, such as the still
overplayed Zephyr Song (from By The Way), but -
as with REM - some of the more pop-friendly tracks have been discarded
in favour of supplying a more complete picture of what the band
is really about.
And that can only be a good thing, especially for anyone who
hasn't dared to purchase one of their albums yet.
Another excellent Christmas compilation, then!
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Track listing:
1. Under The Bridge
2. Give It Away
3. Californication
4. Scar Tissue
5. Soul To Squeeze
6. Otherside
7. Suck My Kiss
8. By The Way
9. Parallel Universe
10. Breaking The Girl
11. My Friends
12. Higher Ground
13. Universally Speaking
14. Road Trippin'
15. Fortune Faded
16. Save The Population
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