Customer Reviews

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Greatest Hits

5 star:		(101)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Since I bought their 2002 album "By The Way," the Red Hot Chili Peppers have gone on to become one of my all-time favourite bands. Since then I have bought "Californication," "One Hot Minute," "Blood Sugar Sex Magik," "Mother's Milk" and this latest release, "Greatest Hits." At some point I plan on buying their entire back catalogue of albums, because to me they are so much more than just your typical rock band. Music is their lives and you can definitely tell on the songs they put out - the sheer funk, the brash and out-there vocals and the odd lyrics make them stand out from the crowd. They're also one of the biggest selling groups in history and fame doesn't seem to have affected them. Anthony Kiedis is pretty much a rock icon and deservedly so. He isn't the only talent on show though.

You have the fantastic Flea, John Frusciante and Chad Smith. These four men are all different in their ways and possess beautiful musical qualities. Flea says that their backgrounds are from four completely different corners of the globe, and when they come together and make this music, it just click and feels right. Now some fans might say that the Chilis messed up in releasing this greatest hits album in the fall of 2003, but I think it was a wise move to allow newcomers to their music to round up on the past decade. True, the album focuses mainly on material from albums such as Californication and BSSM, but this is no bad thing.

The album opens with two really fantastic songs, both from the same album. The first is "Under The Bridge," and is definitely the song that made the Chilis real stars, allowing them to appeal to a mass worldwide audience. The second is "Give It Away," the funk-laden rocker that became a true anthem. We're then brought up to the relative present with two cuts from 1999 - "Californication" is one of the band's greatest songs ever and has a stunning video to accompany it. The guitars and the vocals along with the lyrics just click and they completely nail it. Classic song. The second is "Scar Tissue" which is a much more laid-back, chilled out song. The guitar on this song is most memorable because it's just so beautiful. You really could listen to this song for many decades to come, and I'm sure I will be. "Soul To Squeeze" is another fantastic song, but I'm not sure which album it was taken from as it's not on any of the studio albums that I own by the group. The guitar is very evocative on this song and the chorus is very melancholy. Just relax and chill.

"Otherside" is a heartbreaking song taken from the Californication album and another highlight from their career. I wish "Get On Top" was on this album, even thought it wasn't released as a single because sometimes I feel that it's a song that everyone in the world should hear. It's just too good to pass by! "Suck My Kiss" is taken from the BSSM album and became a big funky classic. With its brash guitars and drums, along with Kiedis' suggestive lyrical content, it's a true anthem from the Chili camp. "By The Way" follows up and was the lead single from the 2002 album of the same name. The song was a massive hit all over the world, and rightly so. It saw the band mellowing a little bit, but with some rocking sections inbetween the choruses. "Parallel Universe" is an almost sneaky song that gradually creeps in on you, like as if you're sleeping. The guitar is very fast-paced and it instantly became one of my favourites from the Californication album when I first heard it.

"Breaking The Girl" from the BSSM album is a very outrageous song with loud-vocal verses and a very harmonised chorus that really stands out as a Chili Peppers classic. "My Friends" is another really brilliant song and the only cut to feature here from the underrated 1995 album One Hot Minute. "Higher Ground" is taken from 1989's Mother's Milk and the only song here to feature so. It's an average song, and shows the band in early development stages. The promise and spark is there, but it would take following albums to tune their craft well enough. "Universally Speaking" from the By The Way album is the only song I feel shouldn't be on this album, because it's just too poppy. It's a good song, but "The Zephyr Song" or "Can't Stop" would have been more appropriate. "Road Trippin'" closed the Californication album in fine style with its ambiguous and ominous style and works well here, before the two new songs play...

OVERALL GRADE: 8/10

The first of the new songs is the beautiful "Fortune Faded" which sounds a bit like it should have been on the By The Way album. The guitar stands out here very well as does the chorus. This is followed by "Save The Population," the latest song from the band which isn't as good as its predecessor, but still worthy on a compilation by perhaps the most consistent rock band of the past 20 years. What you have on offer here is just a brief selection of some of the Chili Peppers greatest - and definitely most popular - music recorded. To compile all the greatest music from the band would take something like a double disc or perhaps even a triple box set. Since that isn't going to happen any time soon, you'll have to settle for this. Enjoy.

Reviewing a compilation is a difficult thing for a fan-- really you have to look at it from a different perspective than you normally would-- does this serve the purpose it's trying to serve? And as a first entry point for a casual listener, is it going to provide a good introduction to the act? It seems that compilations have a habit, regardless of their original intent, of being the first thing people look for. And finally, you have to get past personal preferences on track selection-- everyone has their favorites, but does what is on here serve the purpose it needs to?

So the Red Hot Chili Peppers released an album titled "Greatest Hits", and long and short that's about what this is. It restricts itself to the John Frusciante-era (most likely because any earlier Chili Peppers material, including the piece off of "Mother's Milk" included here, would have had to have been licensed, but also because none of the early stuff saw any real commercial success), and yeah, it provides a good overview of that time in the band's career, it covers pretty much all the hits, so it does what's trying, and it'd serve as a good entry point for a casual listener.

The record leans heavily on "Blood Sugar Sex Magick" and "Californication", with all of the singles from both albums-- "Suck My Kiss", "Give It Away", "Breaking the Girl", and "Under the Bridge" from "Blood Sugar..." as well as recorded-around-the-same-time soundtrack hit (and as a sidenote seemingly endlessly played on radio when I was a junior in high school) "Soul To Squeeze" and "Scar Tissue", "Parallel Universe", "Otherside", "Californication" and "Road Trippin'" from "Californication". This is further augmented by one track from "Mother's Milk" (Stevie Wonder cover "Higher Ground"), one from "One Hot Minute" with Dave Navarro on guitar ("My Friends"), two from "By the Way" (the title track and "Universally Speaking", which did quite well in Europe as I understand it) as well as two new songs.

This is a pretty fair represenation of the band-- it covers pretty much the breadth of the sound they've explored over the past few years-- from the deeply funky ("Higher Ground") to balladry ("Under the Bridge") and quite a bit in between. Just about all the hits are on here-- curiously left off were "The Zephyr Song" and "Can't Stop" from "By the Way" and "Warped" and "Aeroplane" from "One Hot Minute". All of these received substantial airplay, and with the compilation only stretching to 66 minutes, there's certainly room to put them on. Again, I'm not one to argue my favorite album cuts, but it seems odd that these were left off (although oddly enough the companion video disc on the CD/DVD edition includes the videos for all of these but "Warped").

The two new tracks are both pretty good-- "Fortune Faded" has a funky beat like we really didn't see on "By the Way" (not necessarily a bad thing) and a suitably esoteric lyric. "Save the Population" is a bit moodier, and actually of the two the one I prefer, with an odd, sort of mid-tempo muddling (but a superb beat from Chad Smith) and all in all just a kind of wacky piece.

One other point to be made-- the album sounds fantastic-- particularly the "Blood Sugar Sex Magick" material, which really could benefit from a remastering. The liner notes include brief essays (well, some not so brief) from each of the four band members and a number of photos.

All in all, it's a great compilation, and no doubt a good entry point for a newcomer. I'd usually recommend seeking the albums out rather than going after a compilation, in that case I'd recommend "By the Way", which wasn't overflowing with hits, but in my assessment was the best record the band did, but this is certainly as good a place to start.

If there is a song on this cd you haven't heard, you really can't consider yourself a true Chili Peppers Fan. Although missing some of their best work in my opinion, i.e. Aeroplane, Love Rollercoaster, Can't Stop etc. it also has a myriad of awesome stuff. Californication? You bet. Give it Away? Yep. Under the Bridge? Its on there. This cd also sports By the Way, My Friends, Breaking the Girl, Suck My Kiss, and Otherside, some of my other favorites. If you dont like those songs (which should be a crime) then theres plenty more good stuff in here as well. You'll never get tired of this cd. Its one of those gems you can just pop in your cd player and listen to over and over again. So definetly pick this one up.

I'm not a huge Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, but I have enjoyed their music over the years. With all of the band's releases and familiar hits, I knew it would be a matter of time, if not years, before they would finally come out with a greatest hits album. And they have, with this release.

I first learned about this Cd through a t.v. advertisement. As the person narrating finished running through the tracks, I realized that "Can't Stop," "Around The World," and "The Zephyr Song," weren't mentioned. Thinking it must be some kind of mistake on my part, and hoping that it was, I went online and scrolled through the tracks, and to much disbelief and dismay, there was no mistake.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers had finally managed to come out with a classic, greatest hits album, and like so many other bands when it comes to greatest hits Cd's, had managed to leave out at least three of their greatest songs. Not only did the Chili Peppers leave out these classics, but they introduce to the public two new songs, "Fortune Faded," and "Save The Population," one of which actually belongs on this Cd (Fortune Faded). The band completely dumped three classics that helped keep them at the top of their game, to introduce new material on the album. Why they did this and why other bands do the same thing, I'll never, ever understand.

As you can tell, I'm dissapointed and confused about this Cd, the chosen tracks, the absence of "certain" songs. Why do bands leave out 1 or 2 great hits on greatest hits albums? Do they forget about them? Maybe the members of these bands aren't as fond about them as the rest of the country.

Anyway, If you're a Peppers fan, you can get most of their great hits on this Cd. But for myself, I can't get this cd and live with the fact that those tracks are missing from the album. I give this release a three out of a possible five stars for the amount of great hits this Cd contains. However, this album misses out on what would have been two more stars for the fact that those tracks I mentioned were missing.

Anthony Kiedis has one of the most melodic voices in music. Flea is one of the best Bass players today. From true life tales about drug abuse like in "Under the bridge" to non sensical jam sessions the Peppers fuse rock, soul, r & B, and hip hop into their own magic. This collection of greatest hits plus 2 brand new songs high light what us peppers fan have known for a long time these guys rock. If you are a peppers fan you must have this. If you are a fan of good music you must have this. 5 stars

Ah yes the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They've been around for twenty years and amazingly they going just as strong, arguably stronger, then when they began way back in the 80's. With an already great prior greatest hits release it was way past time to offer up a new retrospective on the second half of their career. This CD does that in fine form due to the excellent songs choices and, just as importantly, the order in which they flow. The balance is perfect which makes for a very smooth listening experiece that never gets old. Now onto the songs:
Under the Bridge: Everyones heard this one so there's really no explanation necessary, there's a reason why this is the first track.
Give it Away: ditto for this one. One of my personal favorites, a nice party song with excellent lyrics, how can you resist?
Californication: One of their most popular songs and an instant classic.
Scar Tissue: very beautiful and melodic, reminds me of the summer and other things. This CD would not be complete without this song.
Soul to Squeeze: Finally this was released on an RHCP cd, I did not want to have to buy the coneheads soundtrack! A very welcome addition with a great tempo change 3/4 of the way through that brings it all together.
Otherside: Along the lines of Under the Bridge in its theme I would say, vocals and harmony equal excellent song.
Suck my Kiss: Rock out track with a smashing chorus, the kind of music you would play in your car or while doing some possibly illegal activity.
By the Way: Perfectly constructed song that basically is a summary of their progression in the music industry.
Parallel Universe: Different than anything they'd done prior, They are always stretching their sound which makes for rocking songs like this one.
Breaking the Girl: A classic, best part towards the end with the instrumental blaring.
My Friends: The only track from One Hot Minute and with guitarist Dave Navarro, who is very talented musician. A very pretty song.

Higher Ground: Pre Blood Sugar Sex Magik cover. I enjoy singing along to this while in the bath, sounds different from the other songs but you can't beat having this right before Universally Speaking.
Universally Speaking: My favorite track, right now, on the cd. Beautiful chorus, i just wish i knew what the hell it was about. But that just adds to the mystic of it all.
Road Trippin': Acoustic song with my second favorite chorus, right now.
Now the two new songs
Fortune Faded: New single and very catchy.
Save the population: I love this song, nice way to close the album and a little of things to come.

To summarize it is a great cd, i reccomend the version with the dvd. We all have our own idea of what a greatest hits cd should be like so if you are dissapointed with the track selection deal with it! Buy now!

Regards,
Alan Smithee

I'm not going to into track selection much. You can see the track selection yourself fairly easily. I will say all the songs on this album I enjoy.

However, the sound quality is as bad as it gets. It's easily the loudest album I own, and anything that was the chili peppers is flattened out as much as possible. Give It Away is a far, far cry from the original release quality.

Do yourself a favor, since RHCP have only released a few albums in the past 15 years, pick those up individually (you'll get 90% of this Greatest Of by picking up their last 3 releases). Then track down the ORIGINAL ISSUES of RHCP's early stuff, they used to care about sound quality and had some really great stuff back in the day. Just don't get fooled by the "Remastered" editions, they will have hacked sound quality just so it can sound as loud as modern releases.

Red Hot Chili Peppers has been around for a long time and I think that people who have just started getting into the band should purchase this album. It has all of their modern hits (with a few exceptional songs from the 80s and early 90s) There are only a few songs missing from this collection, one my absolute favorite: "Can't Stop" I was quite surprised when it wasn't on the album because its a huge hit. Some people, before buying the CD, might think that the two new songs that are on the album might not be the same quality as the other classic hits. Yet, they are very wrong. The two new songs on the album, "Fortune Faded" the single and "Save the Population" are great songs and I'm glad they are on this CD. It's almost like a little teaser to show what's ahead for the band. I can't wait for their new album to come. Overall, great album! Purchase it.

This is a great collection of songs , but it's missing five hits from there album One hot minute , including Aeroplane and many other's , i guess the reason there not on here is because none of the band members were fond of Dave Navarro , which means that is why they didn't include the five hits on here , i guess they don't care if we like them.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers hit their commercial stride after switching record labels (from Capitol to Warners) in 1991. They had been struggling with capitol's general indifference (I remember hearing the Peppers on K-Roq in Los Angeles blasting their former label as "Blood Sugar Sex Magic" was about to be released) and a lack of commercial success, when their fortunes changed with "Under The Bridge."

Suddenly the Red Hot Chili Peppers were everywhere. They have had an amazing run with the WB, and that is what this CD represents. (Exception: "Higher Ground," the Stevie Wonder cover from the album "Mother's Milk.") It is also where the really hit their stride as artists. Rick Rubin lassoed their energy for BSSM, and those funk/rock hybrids like "Give It Away" and "Suck My Kiss" promptly reshaped the musical landscape. Flea became the bassist everyone wanted to sound like and Antony Kiedis became a sex symbol. This mammoth success was tempered by loss ("Under The Bridge" is an eulogy for heroin casualty Hillel Slovak and then super-guitarist John Frusciante went on hiatus) and the less than well received "One Hot Minute" reflected that. Navarro's psychedelic style didn't gel the way Frusciante's aggressive funk did, and the album reflected that. Only "My Friends" appears from the Dave Navarro era. ("Warped" and "Aeroplane" would have been nice here, though.)

But John rejoined for "Californication," which remains my favorite RHCP album. It must be pretty high on the band's list as well, since five songs from that CD made it to this best of. "Otherside" and "Scar Tissue" rate with the band's most melodic songs. "By The Way" continued in that vein, with energized rock workouts like "Universally Speaking" matching mid-tempo goodies like the title track.

Of the new songs, "Fortune Faded" is the best of the two. You also get the soundtrack cut "Soul To Squeeze," saving it from "Coneheads" soundtrack obscurity. (But why no "Love Rollercoaster?")

There are several key tracks missing, like "Love Rollercoaster" and anything else from "One Hot Minute." "The Zephyr Song" from "By The Way" could have made an appearance. If you really want to dig deeper, the "What Hits" collection covers the band's wilder years prior to BSSM. I can also say that most of the albums from this period are everybit as good as their individual songs would suggest, and you could easily get those instead of "Greatest Hits."