Search - Red Hot Chili Peppers :: Uplift Mofo Party Plan

Unrealized potential.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 09/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Red Hot Chili Peppers' early material suffered from a lack of energy, focus and consistency. But by 1987, when the time came to enter the studio for their third album, "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan", things were poised to change. With the original band finally in place on a professional recording (vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons) and a producer whose personality would neither constrict the Peppers (as Andy Gill did) nor dominate them (as George Clinton did) in Michael Beinhorn, the band finally hit their stride.



What Beinhorn did was stand out of the band's way, and their explosiveness could cut loose. Cuts like "Fight Like a Brave", the brief "Sweaty Skinny Man" and guitar feature "Walkin' On Down the Road" display a band in full flight-- their funk/punk/rap/metal blend fully realized. Perhaps more important was the band's ability to use what they learned from both Gill (the clinically-explosive "Me and My Friends") and Clinton (tight groove of "Funky Crime") and to develop new ideas an sounds (their first real ballad in "Behind the Sun"). The Peppers were finally poised to conquer the world.



This reissue is remastered with unnervingly superb sound-- the Chili Peppers remasters really put the records way in your face and augments the album with two instrumental demos (which are largely unessential). Included in the liner notes is an essay by Flea discussing the album, sessions, and this time in the band's career.



This would, unfortunately, be the last album this band would do-- guitarist Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose, and a distraught Jack Irons quick the band, leaving Kiedis and Flea, as they were in 1984, holding the bag by themselves. The Chili Peppers that would re-emerge would be a quite different band. This record is the only real example of what the Kiedis/Slovak/Flea/Irons lineup had to offer. Recommended."

The Definitive Chili Peppers CD

Jeff Glass | Chicago, IL United States | 07/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although the Chili Peppers hit the bigtime with "BloodSugar Sex Magic," they actually peaked on this CD, the lastrecorded with the original, incredible lineup that included guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons. Don't get me wrong--recent Chili Peppers albums are good, but it was this lineup, in this era, that established the band's reputation. Instrumentally, the sound achieved by Flea, Hillel and Jack Irons was tough, funky, tight and outrageous--superior, in my opinion, to the current lineup (which I also like). More importantly, "Uplift Mofo" was Anthony Keidis' masterpiece. Unlike his current vocal style (off-key crooning), back in the "Uplift Mofo" days he was one of the best RAPPERS on the planet. Simlarly, his lyrics on this CD are bizarre poetric, and hilarious--superior in my opinion to his current, introspective style. This CD is loaded with classics--"Fight Like A Brave" "Skinny Sweaty Man," "Me & My Friends"--it goes on and on. The jams are hard, innovative and short, unlike the endless (pointless?) jams that bog down down much of their later work. Tragically, Hillel overdosed during the Uplift Mofo tour, and Irons left the band. The Chili's have been trying to recover the magic ever since. They're still good, but they never quite got it back."

One of the best older chili pepper albums ever!

FleaBassPlyr101 | 07/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Alot of people who claim to be Red Hot Chili Pepper fans are always talking about how great of an album Californication and By The Way are. Now don't get me wrong they are amazing albums, but I think that alot of the Chili Peppers creativeness comes from their older albums, especially The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. My two favorite songs on this album are Walkin' On Down The Road and Organic Anti-Beat Box Band. These songs show that this band doesn't think inside the box. They always do something entirely different and this album shows that. Like on the song Behind The Sun, Hillel plays the sitar and the song sounds INCREDIBLY COOL with it. And Flea is amazing throughout the entire album, especially on Skinny Sweaty Man and Love Trilogy. Anthony Kiedis' vocals show that you dont have stay within the limits of being a singer, and you can be totaly crazy and it sounds amazingly good, and it just goes so well with the song and style of music. Jack Irons style of drumming goes insanely well with Flea's bass style and it makes the songs sound really good. Overall this album is definitely one of the Chili Peppers most creative and inspirational albums ever. And if you seriously want to become a true fan of them, you better pick this album up."