joelstintonJohn Frusciante career has been nothing but short of prolific. In a time of relative quietness from the ex chili pepper guitarist, its probably good time to reflect, on without doubt, his most underrated album, and yes his masterpiece. Which is a pretty big statement for me to make. especially for those who know how i feel about one of his other release, “Curtains”.
Over the course of ten albums, an abundance of creative energy, soul and spirit as gone into producing a solo career that fans hold, follow and listen with passion. There is something unique about being a Frusciante fan, that for me, doesn’t apply to any band, songwriter, or singer. It hard to describe in words what this is, but there is some undeniable bond that exists between him, his music, and you. Its different from the hysteria, and the love, and the lyrical extacy that exists between Morrissey and his fans. Rather, yes this is going to sound corny, but his music reaches to you on an emotive level, the music is full of life, emotion and growth. His music at times, is alive. Its exists, in colour, light, and in the pit of your stomach. It pulls on the strings that make you feel alive.
There is something unique about The will to death, that is different from his other 9 albums. You could easily say that about any of his albums, from each other, but its the stripped back nature that really does it for me, and its the album that i have grown to love most of his other records. Its so unrefined, its as though he just plugged in his guitar and just played this record and recorded it. But is not the sound that his just stripped back, the lyrical content is as well. Its really just laid before you, its simple, and just as though his thoughts have just rolled out too be written on paper. On other albums, he uses a lot of imagery and metaphors, that creates a place where everything is open to subjection, creating a ethereal universe for his voice and music to exist, similar to that of Chino Moreno (Deftones), but here, everything is more logical. When you look through his career, Frusciante, is probably anything but logical, but here he is. It creates, an album, where he is totally in control of what he is doing. The album is anything but structured, but there is a frankness to it, its almost as though he is in conversation with you. There is certain detachment from the songs trying to be songs- well they obviously are- but the delivery, and the way the album and songs are arranged, exist almost effortlessly. They are what they are and exist as something other than their medium. They are arranged as an album, rather a collection of singular songs.
The albums is the sound of a man, at the time, who seems at ease with everything around him. You can almost feel the work process that created this record. Yes, everyone experience, and emotions are different but the image of John recording this album with the green, yellow californian sun casting its light through a window is pretty evident in my mind as i write this.
The sound of the album, is closest to the album Curtains, and it probably explains, how i have grown to to love this record. Its closest to curtains, in tone, and delivery, but its a bit more bolder. The album is rooted in a 1960s folk, pyschedelic sound, but its not stigmatised by it. It’s a gentle influence on the record, its not fragile – which is more evident in curtains, but rather more assured. The arrangements are really strong, and have a life of there own, keyboards, and various drum crashes and sounds, add a delicate production to a strong guitar orientated album. The production is, probably note perfect, without the need to over indulge itself with various effects, synths and quirky signatures that dominate shadows collide with people.
This album has taken years to evolve into something that i now maybe, however hard to say it, is, maybe my favourite Frusciante album, even though i probably end up listening to curtains tomorrow, and dismissing this piece as utter rubbish. If it is, as i feel it it is, better than curtains, it means that its just not my favourite frusciante album, it must theoretically mean that its my favourite album ever since curtains was my favourite album ever, but is it? cannot one be the best, but not my favourite? In the laws of logic it must not be…but perhaps logic is not needed when it comes to such things…
John Frusciante
The Will to Death
Over the course of ten albums, an abundance of creative energy, soul and spirit as gone into producing a solo career that fans hold, follow and listen with passion. There is something unique about being a Frusciante fan, that for me, doesn’t apply to any band, songwriter, or singer. It hard to describe in words what this is, but there is some undeniable bond that exists between him, his music, and you. Its different from the hysteria, and the love, and the lyrical extacy that exists between Morrissey and his fans. Rather, yes this is going to sound corny, but his music reaches to you on an emotive level, the music is full of life, emotion and growth. His music at times, is alive. Its exists, in colour, light, and in the pit of your stomach. It pulls on the strings that make you feel alive.
There is something unique about The will to death, that is different from his other 9 albums. You could easily say that about any of his albums, from each other, but its the stripped back nature that really does it for me, and its the album that i have grown to love most of his other records. Its so unrefined, its as though he just plugged in his guitar and just played this record and recorded it. But is not the sound that his just stripped back, the lyrical content is as well. Its really just laid before you, its simple, and just as though his thoughts have just rolled out too be written on paper. On other albums, he uses a lot of imagery and metaphors, that creates a place where everything is open to subjection, creating a ethereal universe for his voice and music to exist, similar to that of Chino Moreno (Deftones), but here, everything is more logical. When you look through his career, Frusciante, is probably anything but logical, but here he is. It creates, an album, where he is totally in control of what he is doing. The album is anything but structured, but there is a frankness to it, its almost as though he is in conversation with you. There is certain detachment from the songs trying to be songs- well they obviously are- but the delivery, and the way the album and songs are arranged, exist almost effortlessly. They are what they are and exist as something other than their medium. They are arranged as an album, rather a collection of singular songs.
The albums is the sound of a man, at the time, who seems at ease with everything around him. You can almost feel the work process that created this record. Yes, everyone experience, and emotions are different but the image of John recording this album with the green, yellow californian sun casting its light through a window is pretty evident in my mind as i write this.
The sound of the album, is closest to the album Curtains, and it probably explains, how i have grown to to love this record. Its closest to curtains, in tone, and delivery, but its a bit more bolder. The album is rooted in a 1960s folk, pyschedelic sound, but its not stigmatised by it. It’s a gentle influence on the record, its not fragile – which is more evident in curtains, but rather more assured. The arrangements are really strong, and have a life of there own, keyboards, and various drum crashes and sounds, add a delicate production to a strong guitar orientated album. The production is, probably note perfect, without the need to over indulge itself with various effects, synths and quirky signatures that dominate shadows collide with people.
This album has taken years to evolve into something that i now maybe, however hard to say it, is, maybe my favourite Frusciante album, even though i probably end up listening to curtains tomorrow, and dismissing this piece as utter rubbish. If it is, as i feel it it is, better than curtains, it means that its just not my favourite frusciante album, it must theoretically mean that its my favourite album ever since curtains was my favourite album ever, but is it? cannot one be the best, but not my favourite? In the laws of logic it must not be…but perhaps logic is not needed when it comes to such things…
John Frusciante
The Will to Death
