John Frusciante: Shadows Collide With People : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

"Shadows collide with people" is the most polished solo album yet from Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante; his last three albums, beginning with 1995's painful Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt, vary in quality from hauntingly lovely to druggy and unlistenable. Shadows is the only one that resembles his band's output; it also lets you hear how Frusciante has made the Peppers more varied, experimental and, most important, melodic.

The evidence is everywhere:Shadows Collide With People is full of a lush, bubbling beauty that proves Frusciante's personal rehabilitation has taken his music further than ever. His singing is vastly improved and newly assured, and the synth work that fleshed out previous solo albums is now given room to breathe in both the ambient numbers and in proper tunes such as "Regret" and "Wednesday's Song," which continue in the psychedelic-pop direction of the Peppers' 2002 album By the Way. The contribution Frusciante has made to the Peppers -- a band he joined as a nineteen-year-old fan -- is finally obvious.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 943, March 4, 2004)