For the ultimate ’80s college party band, 1988 and 1989 proved
\nto be sobering years. Co-founder Hillel Slovak died from a drug
\noverdose. Drummer Jack Irons had left the band, leaving Flea and
\nAnthony Kiedis with some mounting decisions: do you continue on
\nwith your band? How do you address the hells you have endured on
\nyour next album when you’re best known for singing “Party on Your
\nPussy” and penning “Catholic School Girls Rule”?<\/p>\n
Facing challenges that would have done in most bands, the Red
\nHot Chili Peppers were able to work through the grieving process,
\nhonor Slovak’s memory and created arguably their finest record with<\/p>\n
Mother’s Milk<\/i>. The band automatically got onto the right
\npath with the hiring of guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad
\nSmith, both have remained with the band since (excluding
\nFrusciante’s much-publicized break from the band in the early and
\nmid ’90s).<\/p>\n
Conflict has a way of bringing out the best in bands, and
\nMother’s Milk<\/i> was the fruits of the Peppers’ labor, even
\nthough you can hear nothing but unity throughout the album. Indeed,
\nSmith and Frusciante’s chemistry was so good that it seemed that
\nthey were longtime members. Their first major breakthrough single,
\na scorching cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” had a fuller
\nsound than anything they had recorded before. And “Knock Me Down,”
\ntheir lesser-known breakout hit from this album, was a poignant
\nresponse to drug addiction, enabling Anthony Kiedis to grow as a
\nsongwriter (this maturation would later yield them their most
\nfamous hits, namely “Under the Bridge” and “Scar Tissue”).<\/p>\n
Despite the heavy subject matters of some of the songs,
\nMother’s Milk<\/i> is still the Red Hot Chili Peppers at their
\nmost freaky, crazy and party-obsessed best. “Magic Johnson” is a
\nfrenzied homage to the Laker great and their second cover, “Fire,”
\nactually does justice to the Jimi Hendrix great.<\/p>\n
The second half of the album peters out. “Sexy Mexican Maid” is
\nmeant to be sexy, but elicits more of a snicker than titillation
\nand “Johnny, Kick A Hole In The Sky” is a sorry way to end an album
\nthis solid. Still, “Pretty Little Ditty” is another winner of a
\ntrack and a testament that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were a band to
\nbe reckoned with, not a novelty.<\/p>\n
Even with the scattered flaws,
\nMother’s Milk<\/i> is a must-buy for any self-respecting Red Hot
\nChili Peppers fan. Many hail
\nBloodSugarSexMagic<\/i> as the crowning achievement of the band,
\nbut I always thought that album was bloated. Everything that made
\nthe Peppers great: their soul-searching ballads, the amazing bass
\nwork of Flea and the overall chemistry of the band mates was in
\nMother’s Milk<\/i>. And if I had to recommend one must-own
\nPeppers album, it would be this one, without a doubt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5857],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38229","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-red-hot-chili-peppers","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38229"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}