I can't understand why people think Frusciante is such a good guitarist! Can someone please explain? Guitar solos are designed for two things:
1. To show off.
2. To add a new melody/develop the song.
Very few Frusciante solos actually do anything like this. They usually consist of him bending one note for about 20 seconds whilst grimacing. Hardly virtuosic like every seems to think he is. I actually know people who have hated Chili Pepper gigs because of how awful his solos were (admittedly they were guitarists).
No one is calling him a virtuoso, and anyone who does would be wrong to.
I like him because i like his style, that loose style that Hendrix78 is talking bout. He puts so much feel and love into his playing that it comes across with every note and chord he plays.
He could play fast solo's up and down the guitar for every song... if he wanted to, but thats not his way.
Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
Backing vocals are just that. They're meant to add another layer, some depth to the sound of the song, but not completely take over.
I think the difference here is John is a better singer than Anthony, but Jeff aint better than Ed.
John is almost just a second singer for the Chili's, not back up.
Most live Frusciante solos I've heard do both of the things you list as reasons for a solo, but they do more. They take the song in new directions. I disagree with what you say solos are designed for, though. To me a solo is for the individual player to explore the groove of the song and to play off his band mates. To me, the best solos sound almost like a musical conversation between the band members, with each musician reacting spontaneously to what the other is doing. Frusciante is a master of this.
Frusciante can do some great live solos sure, but he is inconsistent. He has too many nights off. I never saw them live but all the videos I have seen really show two frusciantes : he nails some solos really really well and he sometimes (not half of the time but regularly enough for it to be irritating) does some horrible horrible stuff. The kind of thing you expect from a drunk who just had his first pentatonic lesson. It's too bad, he writes some really good music but damn it try to focus when you play live!
I also think by the way and stadium arcadium were really boring albums. It may come off as snob but I think they regressed in their sound and do not have much to offer other than 1 or 2 spins if you're not discovering puberty or rock.
They get bashed because they have found a boring generic sound that they know will sell to the masses and they've stopped trying to develop any further.
With earlier albums (right from the crappy first one up until Californication) they were always mixing it up and trying new things. Although they stayed vaguely within the confines of funk rock, each of their album had a very different and distinct sound and were interesting to listen to.
With By the Way and more so with Stadium Arcadium they have started writing boring music and the majority of the songs on those two albums sound exactly the same. That's why I bash them, and it pains me to do it, because I used to love them so much.
you just exactly wrote my thoughts, RHCP's last great record was Californication but since that they only release predictable, dull and uncreative records! I have not really given up on bands I love for ages...but this band is an exception! They should have broken up in 2001 IMHO and they would have become a legendary, cultic band that stopped near the top!!!
Budapest.Budapest.Arnhem.Antwerpen.Vienna.Madrid.Katowice.Nova_rock.Nijmegen.Rotterdam.Berlin.Dublin.Belfast.London.Venice.Prague.Stockholm.Copenhagen.Vienna.Leeds.Milton_keynes.Padova.Prague.Seattle1.Seattle2.Chicago1.Budapest.Cracow.Vienna..>>>LONDON.BERLIN1.BERLIN2 Eddie: Dublin & London
Budapest.Budapest.Arnhem.Antwerpen.Vienna.Madrid.Katowice.Nova_rock.Nijmegen.Rotterdam.Berlin.Dublin.Belfast.London.Venice.Prague.Stockholm.Copenhagen.Vienna.Leeds.Milton_keynes.Padova.Prague.Seattle1.Seattle2.Chicago1.Budapest.Cracow.Vienna..>>>LONDON.BERLIN1.BERLIN2 Eddie: Dublin & London
Budapest.Budapest.Arnhem.Antwerpen.Vienna.Madrid.Katowice.Nova_rock.Nijmegen.Rotterdam.Berlin.Dublin.Belfast.London.Venice.Prague.Stockholm.Copenhagen.Vienna.Leeds.Milton_keynes.Padova.Prague.Seattle1.Seattle2.Chicago1.Budapest.Cracow.Vienna..>>>LONDON.BERLIN1.BERLIN2 Eddie: Dublin & London
but there is only so far you can go with a shitty singer...
that statement is a little off. you can have a shitty singer with a great band, for example the chili peppers. in their case it doesn't really make any sense because keidis doesn't play any instruments, so that's really the only argument i can understand someone making......but his voice is still unique and fits their style of music. you can also be a shitty singer with great lyrics.......look at coner oberst, bob dylan, neil young & hendrix.....i happen to like all of their voices, but technically they aren't very good. some people probably like anthony keidis' voice as well, but the point is you can make great music without having a great voice, hell you don't even have to sing for that matter.
they were a great band, but now kieidis is an obstacle to their greatness, imo. he had something , but it certainly looks like hes lost it now.
i didnt mean shitty as in not good technically, i can accept that, frusciante isnt the best technical singer, but kiedis has stopped being good full stop, technical doesnt come into it. i know tons of people that say eddie vedder is technically a bad singer...like i give a fuck about technicalities...
they were a great band, but now kieidis is an obstacle to their greatness, imo. he had something , but it certainly looks like hes lost it now.
i didnt mean shitty as in not good technically, i can accept that, frusciante isnt the best technical singer, but kiedis has stopped being good full stop, technical doesn't come into it. i know tons of people that say eddie vedder is technically a bad singer...like i give a fuck about technicalities...
Yeah, I agree. It sounds almost like he just doesn't care anymore. His voice was never really up to scratch live, but he was a good enough performer to cover that. Now his Studio recordings are really lacklustre too. Maybe the crack is finally catching up with him.
They have become stronger songwriters who have a true gift for melody and all the headbangers and alternative types are close minded when it comes to anything that could be described as poppy. Newsflash - it takes much more talent to write a good catchy pop hook than just create a wall of sound by banging your instruments around. These same people who claim they've "sold out" or "gone soft" also convienently ignore songs like Readymade, Torture me, and Turn It Again when they bash because these songs don't fit into the stereotype they want to make.
there are some truth in this but in my view you are missing the essence of the trial.
honest rock and roll does not facilitate a "mainstream" paradigm shift in order to become stronger songwriters. please refer to pearl jam in this matter. the peppers went soft - no point in denying it. fact of the matter - i agree with you that going soft does not equate to bad music - but in this case the hard core fans just won't let it be - and i'm one of them.
The people who say all the songs on Stadium Arcadium all sound the same must seriously be on crack. Readymade sounds the same as Charlie, or Snow, or Warlocks? Seriously? There are a few songs on Stadium Arcadium I find a little boring, and the production is a little bland, but to say all the songs sound the same just removes a person's musical credibilty in my opinion.
in all honesty i've never even been able to listen through those 2 disks in one sitting - the music strikes me as monotonous - that doesn't necessarily mean everything sounds the same, it just means the album sounds void of artistic substance.
Athens, Greece: 2006/09/30
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world." Herman Melville : Moby Dick
this is far from the complete truth. i loved californication - that sounded nothing like BloodSugarSexMagik
there are some truth in this but in my view you are missing the essence of the trial.
honest rock and roll does not facilitate a "mainstream" paradigm shift in order to become stronger songwriters. please refer to pearl jam in this matter. the peppers went soft - no point in denying it. fact of the matter - i agree with you that going soft does not equate to bad music - but in this case the hard core fans just won't let it be - and i'm one of them.
in all honesty i've never even been able to listen through those 2 disks in one sitting - the music strikes me as monotonous - that doesn't necessarily mean everything sounds the same, it just means the album sounds void of artistic substance.
Doesn't all music have artistic substance. The Chili put alotta work into their music. It's not like they're Nickelback. The Chilis music has some depth to it, no so much lyrically, but I dunno how many times new things have popped out of the background on BTW & SA
Comments
No one is calling him a virtuoso, and anyone who does would be wrong to.
I like him because i like his style, that loose style that Hendrix78 is talking bout. He puts so much feel and love into his playing that it comes across with every note and chord he plays.
He could play fast solo's up and down the guitar for every song... if he wanted to, but thats not his way.
I think the difference here is John is a better singer than Anthony, but Jeff aint better than Ed.
John is almost just a second singer for the Chili's, not back up.
Frusciante can do some great live solos sure, but he is inconsistent. He has too many nights off. I never saw them live but all the videos I have seen really show two frusciantes : he nails some solos really really well and he sometimes (not half of the time but regularly enough for it to be irritating) does some horrible horrible stuff. The kind of thing you expect from a drunk who just had his first pentatonic lesson. It's too bad, he writes some really good music but damn it try to focus when you play live!
I also think by the way and stadium arcadium were really boring albums. It may come off as snob but I think they regressed in their sound and do not have much to offer other than 1 or 2 spins if you're not discovering puberty or rock.
you just exactly wrote my thoughts, RHCP's last great record was Californication but since that they only release predictable, dull and uncreative records! I have not really given up on bands I love for ages...but this band is an exception! They should have broken up in 2001 IMHO and they would have become a legendary, cultic band that stopped near the top!!!
Eddie: Dublin & London
Eddie: Dublin & London
Eddie: Dublin & London
that statement is a little off. you can have a shitty singer with a great band, for example the chili peppers. in their case it doesn't really make any sense because keidis doesn't play any instruments, so that's really the only argument i can understand someone making......but his voice is still unique and fits their style of music. you can also be a shitty singer with great lyrics.......look at coner oberst, bob dylan, neil young & hendrix.....i happen to like all of their voices, but technically they aren't very good. some people probably like anthony keidis' voice as well, but the point is you can make great music without having a great voice, hell you don't even have to sing for that matter.
"You'll never walk alone"
***** LFC
i didnt mean shitty as in not good technically, i can accept that, frusciante isnt the best technical singer, but kiedis has stopped being good full stop, technical doesnt come into it. i know tons of people that say eddie vedder is technically a bad singer...like i give a fuck about technicalities...
there are some truth in this but in my view you are missing the essence of the trial.
honest rock and roll does not facilitate a "mainstream" paradigm shift in order to become stronger songwriters. please refer to pearl jam in this matter. the peppers went soft - no point in denying it. fact of the matter - i agree with you that going soft does not equate to bad music - but in this case the hard core fans just won't let it be - and i'm one of them.
in all honesty i've never even been able to listen through those 2 disks in one sitting - the music strikes me as monotonous - that doesn't necessarily mean everything sounds the same, it just means the album sounds void of artistic substance.
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world." Herman Melville : Moby Dick
Doesn't all music have artistic substance. The Chili put alotta work into their music. It's not like they're Nickelback. The Chilis music has some depth to it, no so much lyrically, but I dunno how many times new things have popped out of the background on BTW & SA