John Frusciante - Niandra Lades & Usually Just a T-Shirt
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CD Details
Artist: John FruscianteEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-06-24
Music Label: American Recordings
Soundtracks:
- As Can Be
- My Smile Is A Rifle
- Head (Beach Arab)
- Big Takeover
- Curtians
- Running Away Into You
- Mascara
- Been Insane
- Skin Blues
- Your Pussy's Glued To A Buliding On Fire
- Blood On My Neck From Success
- Ten To Butter Blood Voodoo
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
- Usually Just A T-Shirt: Untitled
Music reviews of Niandra Lades & Usually Just a T-Shirt
Music Review: genius can express itself in mysterious ways...
Rating: 4 Stars
It can be hard knowing what to expect from a John Frusciante release, seeing as how on almsot every disc he embraces (or emphasizes rather) a different sound. These are most noted on the six releases he put out in a six month span for Record Collection. Each are brilliant, complete, polished records, analougous to the earlier "Shadows Collide With People". If it was any of those releases which brought you to this particular record however, you might want to hesitate before going any further.
To understand this album it helps to know a bit about the context it was recorded in. After doing two albums with the Peppers and elevating them to the most elite status of 90's rock band, John left the group for a stint because of a strangling heroin addiction. It was while under this addiction, out of need for drug money, that this album was recorded (likewise with the disappointing follow-up "Smile From the Streets you Hold"). The whole thing was done on a four track, and basically the only instrument that appears is John's guitar. We are talking about some of the lowest of lo-fi. Whats more, whether it was the heroin addiction or not, John had not yet become the singer that he grows to be on later albums.
A little more history: this album was originally meant to be two seperate ones (hence "Niandra Lades" and "Usually Just a T-Shirt"). Here they are combined, with the Niandra Lades portion consisting of twelve songs while the Usually just a T-Shirt section is roughly 45 minutes of guitar noodling.
All of that said, even though this record is not the masterpeice that "Shadows" was, nor is it as texturally interesting as the Record Collection releases, this is the album that truly affirms Frusciante's genius. Though you may have to cringe a little through the vocals and production of some of the first twelve songs, you will also hear some of the most creative guitarwork ever recorded. He plays in a style uncomparable to any other human being to touch the instrument. The fretwork is delicate and seemingly aimless, but the lines wander throughout the songs as if weightless as they then find other lines to twist and work around. Many of the guitar tracks are backmasked, with one countering another in progression. The result is truly beautiful and mind blowing. Not all of the tracks are so bad either. "My Smile is a Rifle", "Mascara", "Been Insane", and "Head (Beach Arab)" are all well written songs that would stand up with any of Frusciantes later material. The Usually Just a T-Shirt section then blesses us with 13 more tracks of guitar genius. Some of the tracks are broken up with sounds of conversation and children underneath the melodies. At one point the ambient vocals almost serve as a percussive element to the music which is absent throughout the rest of the album.
This disc is definitely not for everyone, and maybe not even for all guitar lovers as he plays the instrument in a completely different light than any of the greats. If you are someone who can appreciate lo-fi experimental music, and have the tolerance to trudge through a couple heroin induced missteps, then you too will be able to grow to appreciate the true genius that this record posesses.
Description of Niandra Lades & Usually Just a T-Shirt
Out of print in the U.S.! 1995 solo debut album from the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist. Seemingly two different projects on one release, the album features 12 listed tracks (Niandra Ladies) plus an additional 13 unlisted cuts (Usually Just A T-Shirt). Warner.Alternative Rock CDs
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