Negative Positive
Title: A murky album
Review: The best parts of the album, as noted in other reviews, are the guitar playing and composition, which are quite enjoyable.None of the processing here does anything to improve on Mr. Frusciante's three note range (the growl, the not-so-growl, and the falsetto), and it would have been better to just record the voice straight and clear: with a little more focus, Frusciante could use his unique and world-weary vocal timbre to good effect (one does not have to be a good singer to convey emotion). Without the lyrics enclosed, I would have had very little idea what was being said, due to the distorted vocal. Even with the lyrics written out, they were disconnected, vague and resistant to building an emotional bond with me as the listener. I can see the point of view of the four and five star reviews, and I can feel the talent, but the production, the lack of a solid bass foundation, and the inscrutable poetry undermined the album.
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