Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt

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Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt
Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt cover
Studio album by John Frusciante
Released March 8, 1994
Genre Experimental
Length 70:00
Label American Recordings
Producer John Frusciante
Professional reviews
John Frusciante chronology
Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt
(1994)		 Smile from the Streets You Hold
(1997)

Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt is the debut solo album by John Frusciante released on March 8, 1994 on American Recordings. Frusciante released the album after encouragement from friends Johnny Depp, Flea, Perry Farrell, and Gibby Haynes (of the Butthole Surfers), who told him that there was "no good music around anymore."

The album consists of guitar, piano playing, and various effects such as synthesizers and keyboards which were recorded on a 4-track recorder. Toni Oswald, Frusciante's then-girlfriend, also sings on the two final tracks. Most of the songs were recorded before the guitarist left the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1992 (during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour), and indeed much of the first part of Niandra Lades was recorded as the band were recording Blood Sugar Sex Magik in 1991.

[edit] Background

Frusciante joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in at the age of 18 and recorded his first album with the group, Mother's Milk, in 1988. The follow up album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, was recorded in the former home of magician Harry Houdini. The band decided to live in the mansion for the duration of recording.[1] Frusciante adapted well to the environment, and often spent his time alone painting, listening to music, reading, and recording songs that would eventually appear on Niandra Lades.[1] Three years later, in 1991, Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released. The album became a huge success, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 and going on to sell 12 million copies worldwide.[2][3][4] Soon after the album's release, Frusciante began to develop a dislike for the band's popularity. Kiedis and Frusciante used to get into arguments over small things that would not normally upset someone. Frusciante felt that the band was too popular, and wished they were still playing small nightclubs like they were before he joined the group.[5] For Frusciante, the band's rise to popularity took him by surprise, and he couldn't cope with it.[6] During Blood Sugar Sex Magik's the promotional tour, Frusciante began using hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine.[7] He and Kiedis argued constantly during and after performances. Frusciante would feed Kiedis the wrong intro for a song, or purposely play out of key.[8] Frusciante left the Chili Peppers in 1992, during the Japanese leg of their world tour.[9]

[edit] Track listing

All songs were written by Frusciante, except where noted.

  1. "As Can Be" – 2:57
  2. "My Smile Is a Rifle" – 3:48
  3. "Head (Beach Arab)" – 2:05
  4. "Big Takeover" (Bad Brains cover) – 3:18
  5. "Curtains" – 2:30
  6. "Running Away into You" – 2:12
  7. "Mascara" – 3:40
  8. "Been Insane" – 1:41
  9. "Skin Blues" – 1:46
  10. "Your Pussy's Glued to a Building on Fire" – 3:17
  11. "Blood on My Neck From Success" – 3:09
  12. "Ten to Butter Blood Voodoo" – 1:59
  13. Untitled – 0:34
  14. Untitled – 4:21
  15. Untitled – 1:50
  16. Untitled – 1:38
  17. Untitled – 1:30
  18. Untitled – 1:29
  19. Untitled – 1:42
  20. Untitled – 7:55
  21. Untitled – 7:04
  22. Untitled – 0:25
  23. Untitled – 1:51
  24. Untitled – 5:27
  25. Untitled – 1:52

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Kiedis, Sloman, 2004. pp. 274–275
  2. ^ Red Hot Chili Peppers Albums Charting. Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
  3. ^ Certification search. RIAA. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  4. ^ Red Hot Chili Peppers discography. Top40. Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
  5. ^ Kiedis, Sloman, 2004. p. 229
  6. ^ Gabriella. (July 1999). "Interview with the Red Hot Chili Peppers". The Californication of John Frusciante. NY Rock. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
  7. ^ Dalley, Helen (August 2002). "John Frusciante" Total Guitar Magazine. Retrieved on August 27, 2007.
  8. ^ Kiedis, Sloman, 2004. p. 288
  9. ^ "Red Hot Chili Peppers". Behind the Music. VH1. 1999-05-30.
v • d • e
John Frusciante
Solo Studio albums: Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt  · Smile from the Streets You Hold  · To Record Only Water for Ten Days  · From the Sounds Inside  · Shadows Collide with People  · The Will to Death  · Inside of Emptiness  · A Sphere in the Heart of Silence  · Curtains
Anticipated releases: Solo X  · A Sphere in the Heart of Silence II
EPs: Estrus EP  · Going Inside  · DC EP
Red Hot Chili Peppers Studio albums: Mother's Milk  · Blood Sugar Sex Magik  · Californication  · By the Way  · Stadium Arcadium
Compilation/live/EP releases: What Hits!?  · Live Rare Remix Box · Plasma Shaft  · Under the Covers: Essential Red Hot Chili Peppers  · The Best of the Red Hot Chili Peppers  · Greatest Hits  · Live in Hyde Park  · iTunes Originals
Ataxia Automatic Writing  · AW II
Related articles Discography  · The Mars Volta  · Josh Klinghoffer  · The Brown Bunny OST  · Stuff
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