ThePumpkins.net

Just got into the Chili Peppers and Death Cab for Cutie.

I listened to One Hot Minute from RHCP bc it had Dave Navarro on it and it wasn't that bad, had some good cuts. What RHCP albums would y'all recommend next?

Got Death Cab's Transatlanticism and it's pretty good, very Built To Spill-ish. Same question.

Dorovo wrote: For RHCP, get Californication, it was one of my first favorite albums

For Death Cab, I can't help you there. I remember listening to Translatrannycism and being bored outta my mind

Dorovo wrote:
The only Chili Peppers album I think is any good is Blood Sugar Sex Magik. As for Death Cab, all of their albums are pretty good, my favorite being The Photo Album, which is, in my opinion, one of the greatest albums of all time.

Chilli Peppers-

RHCP **
Freaky Styley **
Uplift Mofo Party Plan *
Mothers Milk *
Blood Sugar Sex Magik ***
One Hot Minute ***
Californication ***1/2
By the Way *** 1/2
Stadium Arcadium **
I'm With You **

frankB wrote:
That's pretty helpful. Care to elaborate on the styles of each? I rather like some of the cuts off OHM.

One Hot Minute is largely a unique RHCP's album. Dave was obviously a huge influence there. Possibly the darkest Peppers record.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik is great because of the handful of stand out songs it has, namely the singles + I Could Have Lied and the title track. It's a very long album, and it drags a little toward the end, but overall the non stand out tracks are fairly listenable.

The earlier works experiment in the Funk / Rock thing going on in Blood Sugar, minus the mainstream ballad stuff. Freaky Styley is the best of those ones, and it and the first album both have a nostalgic underground feel to it kind of like Gish. I don't think they're very good, but listenable all the same.

However I couldn't get into Mothers Milk or the Mojo whatever. There seems to be a halfed ass attitude on those records, probably from all the drug addiction going on. Blood Sugar was a huge lift in this regard. They actually made an effort to make an album with that, and not just string a few songs together.

Californication and By the Way are very mainstream. They left their funk origins behind and focused on the catchy choruses and the vocals are much cleaner. They lost the gritty feel some of their early work had in favor, but more than make up for it with the quality of songs and overall album feel. You could say they started acting like pros from this point.

It's very hard to separate which is better of these two. Califoniacation might be largely more consistent and has less filler songs than By the Way, and it also has the better singles. But By the Way often surprises with it's hidden treasures, and unique soundscape. Closing tracks Minor Thing and Venice Queen have to be up with the best Peppers songs.

Then they lost it. Stadium Arcadium is a double album that should have been a single. There are some good songs on there, but they are few and far between. Mostly they sound like they're trying to recapture what they had with Californication and it comes off as a weak imitation. The songs are very soft, lyrics cheesy, and everything is just mediocre overall.

I'm With You starts out quite well actually. The first few songs of the album go to new territory, but then the album soon backslides into disposable track after track. Eventually the whole thing feels forgettable, perhaps even more so than Stadium.

Hope it helps

Thanks man!

Oh and epitome, I listened to Of Sound Mind. Definitely needs more than one listen lol. Just gotta love the epicness to Ancestors songs. Sort of reminds me a bit like Anesthetize before that clicked. I think I actually liked the EP songs better though (individually speaking).

frankB wrote:
Yeah, Of Sound Mind was the first thing I heard by them. I gave it a few listens at the time, then forgot about them for months. Then I decided to give it another try and really got into it

ryon wrote:
I gotta say Dorovo, I'm pretty much with Ryon on this one. BSSM is a damn great album, and I also quite enjoy OHM but their other stuff I can either take it or leave it. I FUCKIN LOATHE Californication. Well maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but I definitely don't enjoy it. The songs are boring, the flow is shit, the album is front loaded with the catchiest (and possibly best) songs. I don't find that BSSM drags but this one definitely does. Some songs even feel like throwaway filler. Very disappointing album for me.

Listening to Iggy!

Favorite Ancestors songs at the moment:

1. First Light
2. Neptune With Fire
3. Orcus' Avarice
4. On the Wind
5. Corryvreckan

Interesting. What would my top 5 be?

1. First Light
2. Neptune with Fire
3. Whispers
4. Dust
5. Ambrose Law

Maybe that. Maybe not. That was really tough,

I also love this non-album song - great riff:

frankB wrote:
Do you think you might check out Minsk some more too?

Minsk? I forget who they are. Have I heard them?

I haven't listened to that song you posted yet, but it's on my todo list. Just a bit busy. I'll have to hear the song Dust too, because I don't have that one. It's probably on one of those subtle eps. Still enjoying Ancestors. Lots to get into. Love it how an average song for them is at least 9 minutes long lol.

frankB wrote:
Yeah, Dust is off the Invisible White EP which came out last year. Very mellow.

The last song I posted in the music taste championship was by Minsk. You were the only one (other than me) who voted for it

Ok I remember now lol. Yeah, I will have to check them out then.

frankB wrote:

The Antler song you posted is pretty good, slightly below par though with most of their stuff. Listened to the EP with Dust on it, fairly enjoyable. Nice to have a more mellow soundscape from them. Still enjoying all the other songs, they pack the meat.

Just downloaded some Minsk as well. Let you know how it goes...