The second instalment from the LA bred funk punk band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is an incredibly funky affair. With their attitude towards the album “Too Funky for white radio, too punk rockin’ for black,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers culminated a mixture of the funked up Hillel Slovak, a furious Flea, a dynamic Cliff Martinez and the hard core vocals of Anthony Kiedis, along with an interesting brass section to create the 1985 album produced by the king of funk, George Clinton, Freaky Styley.
With a mix of two covers (Hollywood (Africa) and If You Want Me To Stay), the raw funk sounds of Nevermind, American Ghost Dance and Millionaires Against Hunger (revised version in 2003), the more punk rockin’ Battleship, Catholic School Girls Rule and Sex Rap, the more developed funk of The Brothers Cup, Freaky Styley and Yertle The Turtle and the downright eccentric Jungle Man, Blackeyed Blonde, Lovin’ And Touchin’ and Thirty Dirty Birds, Freaky Styley is an album much more accurate to the bands true colours than their self-titled debut album.
While listening to the album, it is almost impossible not to start moving your body to the overpowering music. American Ghost dance begins with guitar siren which then breaks down to a bass based verse which explodes into the funky sing-along chorus. Nevermind just makes you explode with the raw funkiness blaring at you through your speakers. And Millionaires Against Hunger has probably the funkiest drum beat I’ve heard.
The most beautiful song on the album would have to be Lovin’ and Touchin’, which had no competition whatsoever. Nevertheless, it is a really lovely tune written to Anthony Kiedis’s girlfriend at the time.
If You Want Me to Stay is a noble attempt at the original by Sly Stone, with a driving bass line and some really nice brass fills. The same sort of mood is followed in Freaky Styley, the 3 minute jam with maybe the bands most famous lyric “Say it out loud. I’m Freaky Styley and I’m Proud.”
Then you’ve got the crazy side of the Chili Peppers. Blackeyed Blonde really funks up the attitude, with its fanatical baselines, funky drum beats, and crazy guitar part. You’ve also got the completely random 13 second Thirty Dirty Birds, which is highly strange and amusing. Catholic School Girls Rule and Sex Rap also jam away with Anthony Kiedis rapping at his peak.
Album Highlights (in my opinion) are The Brothers Cup, an even blend of guitar bass and brass, and Yertle the Turtle, a Dr. Seuss story rapped (genius!), both with incredible instrumental sections.
Although most of the album is great in my opinion, there are a few songs that could’ve been improved. Jungleman has great instrumental but I just believe that Anthony’s rapping in the verse lets it down. Battleship has a pretty hopeless verse which sounds like just noise, despite great vocals by Anthony Kiedis. And Hollywood drags on a bit too long.
As Flea readily admitted in the liner notes for the reissue, the album really never had a chance of reaching the simple minds of mainstream, but for Red Hot Chili Pepper or funk fans, or even just people in for a good fun time, Freaky Styley will definitely hit a chord.
Note: I added Millionaires against Hunger to the review because it deserved to be added to the album, and the other extra tracks from the revised version are just demos of original songs.
