are any of John Frusciante's solo albums good?
 

Okay, I hate the Chili Peppers more than God's sweat, but I am curious about his solo stuff, because I was reading earlier that his favorite bands were Captain Beefheart, Thee Headcoats, and Omoide Hatoba.. which shocked the hell out of me.

So, if anyone's heard his solo stuff, is it worth looking into, or is it just a bunch of wanking guitar solos?

Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt is definitely worth getting if you're into the whole outsider/lo-fi thing. None of it even remotely resembles RHCP. There's a lot of instrumental stuff on the Usually Just a T-Shirt half, but I wouldn't consider it wank.

Haven't heard any of his other albums.

sweet.

you gotta check out Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt, its just him right after he checked out of the chilli peppers, hes totally strung out on coke and heroin, and completley disillusioned with stardom, the songfs are beautiful ambient guitar and electronics. to record only water for ten days is great too.

he has the most amazingly diverse taste in music. i was reading a magnet article a while back and he was feautred for a mix tape article, he chose songs by autechre, the gza, beefheart, hendrix, the residents, the germs, black flag, pil, and some other stuff i cant remember.

which brings me to this question; why would a man this gifted with musical talent and taste, waste his time in the chilli peppers? he should started an avant garde post punk band.

Exactly, batreleaser, I knew he liked the Residents and a bunch of other shit, but when he read he liked fucking OMOIDE HATOBA, it blew my mind!

He also wastes his time in the Mars Volta, which is ridiculous.

He really should start a full band that explores his tastes..

I'll check out his solo shit for sure! I figured it was different, I was just hoping it wasn't guitar solos only..

Yeah the one about a T Shirt is apparently pretty sweet. Probably the only good thing anyone from the chili peppers can acheive.

it wouldnt surprise me that he knows the, but to say theyre one of his favorites is awesome, where did you read that?

he is probably the most disgusting and retarded person in the face of the planet, he makes flea look like a man of average intelligence when he's also a dumbass.

having said that, yes, i read once another mixtape like article, naming his favorite songs and he talked about pita being his favorite electronica artist and that he dug that keith levene from p.i.l. was a huge yes fan. he also name-dropped nirvana and fugazi, but also beefheart and i think autechre.

if only dude wasn't such a douchebag and had some talent instead of santana-ing the whole time he holds a guitar...

My thoughts exactly. It's pretty much all I've heard of his solo work though.

Yeah I think the smack fucked him up a hell of a lot.

'Smile From The Streets You Hold', his second solo record from 1997, is.. interesting. (It makes his Beefhearty first solo record (1994's 'Niandra LaDes + Usually Just A T-Shirt') sound like Brtiney Spears.)

It was made for drug money when he was half-dead. It's the lowest of lo-fi and features a lot of screaming. Basically a load of offcuts he had laying around scrambled together and some quickly recorded nightmares. I'm not sure it's still available but you shuold be able to download it from somewhere pretty easily...

Those are the only two records he released while he was not a member of the RHCP. He's released about 10 albums since he cleaned up and re-joined the band in 1998.. most of them are songwriter-y pseudo-electronica. None of it is nearly as commercial as the Chili Peppers, but it's all a lot more coherant than his heroin-years output.

true, but now he's (allegedly) clean and still a cunt and a moron.

He had (or maybe still has) a side-project band with Joe Lally from Fugazi and Josh Klinghoffer (formerly of the Bicycle Thief, PJ Harvey's band, etc) called Ataxia. They released two records (the second just last year). They're kind of sorta experimental-ish.

ataxia is alright, actually the best i've heard him do, but mostly because it's a collective effort.

didn't listen to the second album, though.

But once you quit the junk it's not like you're suddenly sane or anything.

I don't think he was quite right in the head even before his junkie phase. His quote upon leaving the RHCP (in the middle of a Japanese tour in 1992, aged 22) was "just tell them I've gone mad". There were all these stories about him becoming a painter and talking to god and trying to scratch is own eyes out and setting himself on fire and living on the streets after that.

He still talks about ghosts and dimensions and stuff a lot now.. and he's bean clean for nearly ten years.

or smart.

touché.

I remember downloading the leak of th last Ataxia album. I wasn't impressed for whatever reason.

His solo stuff doesn't even sound like rhcp. He's way better. Try and pick up those six albums he released consecutively a few years ago. he has cool influences and even lists SY as one of them on his website.