`Smiles' is the second album from John Frusciante released back in 1997 and is his hardest album to get. In fact the only place I could find this album was on eBay for £18, making it the expensive album in my entire CD collection.
Was it worth it? In a word; NO! This is one of the worst albums in my CD collection. When listening to this album for the first time I did wonder what he was on. Well it turns out it was heroin and lots of it. In his head it probably sounded like the best thing ever. But the reality is that it is extremely badly produced and is just a complete mess. `Smiles' makes his debut album; `Niandra Lades and Usually just a T-shirt' sound like a classic. Not because I think `Niandra' is good, but because this one of the most awkward, unaccessable albums I have ever heard.
Starting off with 8 minuter `Enter a Uh', you can hear Frusciante coughing and footsteps, before coming in with `You see me now'. The vocals in this song and throughout the album are projected in such a way that it is as if Frusciante is in excruciating pain, trying to hang on in there. This was John at one of his darkest moments, even more so than when he recorded `Niandra'. The state he was in is reflected in the album, as it seems he is struggling to even play to any sort of rhythm or melody on the guitar. The lyrics give you the feeling he just blurted out the first thing that came into his head, whether it made sense or not. For example: `Why I paddle thru the clouds. In my oversized canoe,' from the song `I'm Always' or even worse from the song `Height down' the lyrics `Bili lie now despite to go walling'.
When I put my MP3 player on shuffle and a song from this album comes on it is instantly recognisable as it stands out like a sore thumb. This is because the sound quality is so bad; a band made up with 12 year olds could easily make a better sounding record than this, never mind being able to write songs which can actually be distinguished as songs. I do wonder sometimes, if he went back and recorded this album again now that he has cleaned up his act; what it would sound like? In my opinion it would be a real eye opener and probably be one of the best re-masters of all time. Primarily because it could not get much worse and secondly because we know the ridiculous amount of talent and potential he possesses.
I would only recommend this album if you really want to complete your JF collection because apart from that it really is the musical equivalent of diarrhoea. Even the cover looks like it has been done by a five year old. Drugs should not be an excuse. I am not going to listen to an album, and say `It's pretty bad, but I found out he was taking drugs when he wrote it. OK, when I listen to it from that perspective, its actually pretty good'. It is rubbish and it should never have seen the light of day. In saying that if it was designed to be a comedy record, it does achieve its goal of being hilarious but given the state he got himself into; I very much doubt it.
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