Mother's Milk [Bonus Tracks] [PA] [Remaster] (CD - 1989)

MOTHER'S MILK is dedicated to the memory of the Chili Peppers' original guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died of a heroin overdose in 1988. Slovak (along with original drummer Jack Irons) appears for the last time here on the Jimi Hendrix cover "Fire."

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Anthony Kiedis (vocals); John Frusciante (guitar); Flea (trumpet, bass); Chad Smith (drums).

Additional personnel includes: Hillel Slovak (guitar); Jack Irons, Fish (drums); Julie Ritter, Gretchen Seager, Wag (background vocals).

Principally recorded at Ocean Way Studios and Image Studios, Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Flea.

All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24 Bit Technology.

MOTHER'S MILK is dedicated to the memory of the Chili Peppers' original guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died of a heroin overdose in 1988. Slovak (along with original drummer Jack Irons) appears for the last time here on the Jimi Hendrix cover "Fire."

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Anthony Kiedis (vocals); John Frusciante (guitar); Flea (trumpet, bass); Chad Smith (drums).

Additional personnel includes: Hillel Slovak (guitar); Jack Irons, Fish (drums); Julie Ritter, Gretchen Seager, Wag (background vocals).

Engineers include: Garth Richardson.

Principally recorded at Ocean Way Studios and Image Studios, Hollywood, California.

Personnel: Anthony Kiedis (vocals); Hillel Slovak (guitar); Dave Coleman (cello); Keith Tree Barry (tenor saxophone); Flea , Patrick English (trumpet); Jack Irons, Chad Smith (drums); Iris Parker, Randy Ruff, Bruno Deron, Joel Virgel Viergel, Jack Sherman, Vicki Calhoun, Gretchen Seager, Merrill Ward, Wag, Julie Ritter, Kristen Vigard (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Dave Jerden.

Audio Remasterer: Robert Vosgien.

Liner Note Author: Flea .

Recording information: Image Studios, Hollywood, CA (11/21/1989); Oceanway Studios, Hollywood, CA (11/21/1989); Track record (11/21/1989).

Photographer: Nels Israelson.

A pivotal album for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1989's Mother's Milk turned the tide and transformed the band from underground funk-rocking rappers to mainstream bad boys with seemingly very little effort. Mother's Milk brought them to MTV, scored them a deal with Warner Brothers, and let both frontman Anthony Kiedis and the ubiquitous Flea get back out into a good groove following the death of co-founding member Hillel Slovak. With a new lineup coalescing around the remaining duo with new drummer Chad Smith and guitarist John Frusciante, and with producer Michael Beinhorn again behind the boards, the band took everything that The Uplift Mofo Party Plan hinted at, and brought it fully to bear for this new venture. If anyone doubted the pulsating power that leapt from the blistering opener, "Good Time Boys," it took only a few bars of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' outrageous, and brilliant, interpretation of the Stevie Wonder classic "Higher Ground" to prove that this new lineup was onto something special. Wrapping up with the aptly titled and truly punked-out "Punk Rock Classic" and the band's own punched-up tribute to "Magic Johnson," Mother's Milk was everything the band had hoped for, and a little more besides. Effortlessly going gold as "Knock Me Down" and "Taste the Pain" careened into the charts, the album not only set the stage for the band's Blood Sugar Sex Magic domination, it also proved that funk never died; it had just swapped skins. ~ Amy Hanson

1989's MOTHER'S MILK is the album that broke the Red Hot Chili Peppers out of college rock cultdom and into the rock mainstream. Despite suffering the loss of drummer Jack Irons and guitarist Hillel Slovak a year earlier (Irons left after Slovak suffered a fatal drug overdose), founding members Anthony Kiedis and Flea found exceptional replacements in Chad Smith and John Frusciante. The new members' excitement is clearly evident throughout MOTHER'S MILK, arguably the Chili Peppers' best album. A cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" and a tribute to Slovak, "Knock Me Down," were both big MTV successes, as were such other highlights as "Taste the Pain" (featured prominently in the movie SAY ANYTHING), "Good Time Boys," "Subway to Venus," "Magic Johnson," and "Sexy Mexican Maid."

A pivotal album for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1989's Mother's Milk turned the tide and transformed the band from underground funk-rocking rappers to mainstream bad boys with seemingly very little effort. Mother's Milk brought them to MTV, scored them a deal with Warner Brothers, and let both frontman Anthony Kiedis and the ubiquitous Flea get back out into a good groove following the death of co-founding member Hillel Slovak. With a new lineup coalescing around the remaining duo with new drummer Chad Smith and guitarist John Frusciante, and with producer Michael Beinhorn again behind the boards, the band took everything that The Uplift Mofo Party Plan hinted at, and brought it fully to bear for this new venture. If anyone doubted the pulsating power that leapt from the blistering opener, "Good Time Boys," it took only a few bars of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' outrageous, and brilliant, interpretation of the Stevie Wonder classic "Higher Ground" to prove that this new lineup was onto something special. Wrapping up with the aptly titled and truly punked-out "Punk Rock Classic" and the band's own punched-up tribute to "Magic Johnson," Mother's Milk was everything the band had hoped for, and a little more besides. Effortlessly going gold as "Knock Me Down" and "Taste the Pain" careened into the charts, the album not only set the stage for the band's Blood Sugar Sex Magic domination, it also proved that funk never died; it had just swapped skins. [The 2003 reissue of Mother's Milk includes six bonus tracks, five of which are previously unreleased, including the "Salute to Kareem" demo and a live version of "Crosstown Traffic."] ~ Amy Hanson minimize