After using guitarist Jack Sherman for their 1983 self-titled debut album, the Red Hot Chili Peppers welcomed back original guitarist Hillel Slovak for Freaky Styley, released in 1985 on EMI Records. Combined with the addition of Slovak and producer George Clinton, the Peppers created the most experimental album in their entire catalog. Mostly based in funk music, Freaky Styley sounds absolutely nothing like the current day Chili Peppers. Dani California, this is not.Instead, songs like Nevermind and Yertle The Turtle (complete with vocals from the band’s drug dealer at the time) are funky with great bass lines by Flea. As good as his bass playing has been in recent albums, his skills back then where he utilized more slapping/popping techniques have to be heard, there that good.
As mentioned, Hillel Slovak had re-joined the band right before this album was released, and he was a heavy influence on this album. First off, the band sounds much tighter with Slovak playing guitar instead of Sherman. Whether it was the influence of Clinton behind the boards or the fact that he was playing with Flea and singer Anthony Kiedis again will never be known.
What is immediately evident for listeners of this album was that Slovak was an immensely talented guitar player, and Flea was developing into one of the best bassists in rock music. It should also be mentioned that this was the last Chili Peppers album with Cliff Martinez on drums. He played on the first two albums, and in my opinion was underrated as a drummer in the context of the Chili Peppers music.
Freaky Styley is more of a funk/rock record than anything else. The two covers on the album show the versatility of the band, especially the cover of “If You Want Me to Stay” originally by Sly & the Family Stone. The band seemed focused and when comparing the songs on this album to the demos included in the remastered edition, it appears that this album is more indicative of the sound the band wanted as opposed to the self-titled debut.
Grade---B+
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