Red Hot Chili Peppers: Greatest Hits

iTunes Review

For the first half of the 1990s, the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed as one of the era’s most efficient party bands, turning Van Halen’s California hard pop rock into a funky maelstrom that eyeballed hip-hop while staying true to its own guitar-based attack. This collection bypasses their earlier efforts in the mid-80s to begin with 1989’s Mother’s Milk and the ensuing hits that established their reputation (their cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” “Give It Away,” ‘Under the Bridge”) along with several non-LP rarities, “Soul to Squeeze” from the Coneheads movie soundtrack and two newly recorded tracks (“Fortune Faded,” “Save the Population”) that slide into the mix without a hiccup. Only “My Friends,” the lone cut from their one album (1995’s One Hot Minute) with Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro — a marriage that did not work — sounds out of place, making the strongest case yet that the band collectively were always more than their parts. Guitarist John Frusciante is simply too important to the band’s sound — as his fluid licks to later tracks (“Scar Tissue,” “Californication”) after he had rejoined the group clearly prove.