Me and My Friends #28 - Rareware (part 1)
The Chili Peppers, like any large band that has primarily existed in the pre-streaming era, leave behind them an unbelievable amount of... stuff. Some of it is gold for us fans who like to collect things; records, like the I'm Beside You compilation; CD's, such as the Japanese versions of the Warner Bros. run, or -- even in all its kitchiness and ignoring the inexplicable spinning top and marbles -- the initial delxue edition of Stadium Arcadium. All beautiful objects that could be proudly mounted on a wall, or treasured on a special shelf or drawer, and pulled out and admired from time to time.
And some of what they've left behind is... detritus. Cheap, poorly designed crap that is hard to feel too strongly about. Some recent merch is just ghastly, and I've mentioned the marbles from the SA box. Even the CD versions of most of their albums are fairly forgettable.
But holding on to something physical is, I feel, very important in this strange new age where we can have our entire music collection in a few inches of metal in our pockets. It's easy to lose track of what it all means. It's easier to forget about something sitting with you in the real world. And for a band you feel quite dearly about -- I assume if you've subscribed to this newsletter, this is you -- having something physical matters.
(I have, not that you asked, the entire catalogue on CD, including the original pressings of the EMI releases, a handful of records (including several juicy promo things), full-band autographs from the JF and JK era, a signed copy of The Empyrean, and a selection of newspaper clippings / gig flyers that are dear to me.)
Some physical items are valuable because they hold memories that are dear to us. It may just be a copy of One Hot Minute on CD, of which there are literally millions, but it's the copy you bought on holiday in Spain in 1999 when you met your wife at the Running of the Bulls, and that big crack in the case has a special significance now that you could never replace if it went missing. Or perhaps it used to belong to a family member now deceased.
And some physical items are valuable -- or perhaps sometimes the better word is notable -- simply because there aren't very many of them. They're rare, and that rarity makes them important to the person holding it, monetary value (sometimes) aside.
But even within that category, you can go deeper and deeper and get weirder and weirder. Someone might consider themselves a "collector" of the RHCP because they stumbled across a second hand CD single in an op-shop -- and that's great! You are a collector! -- but there's also the type of collector who buys each different colour variant of an LP simply because they're a completionist, and they have that itch to scratch. They need the complete set. Neither is a bigger fan than the other.
But there are often thousands of copies of those multicoloured LPs. What we have below is a list of the truly rare stuff. There are rarities, like the Australian 2xCD edition of Californication, and then there are these bizarre little oddities.
But the funny thing about this list is that many of the items in it should really fall into the detritus category; they're quite often something that's been duplicated in the back room of some record company outpost, and is usually not much more than a cheaply made CD-R and a piece of photocopied paper. And the contents of the CD are quite often something you can hear anywhere else.
But it's a weird combination of scarcity and some unique element that makes them so valuable; a mix not available elsewhere, a certain variant of artwork, a release from some alternate market, the very fact that there's only about ten of them in the entire world.
This is all a very long-winded way of saying that below is a list of very rare Red Hot Chili Peppers items.
When I came up with the idea for this letter, I knew I had to speak to the preeminent Chili Peppers collector - Andrew James. I don't know how we met -- it must have been back on the Stadium-Arcadium forums, but he's always my go-to when I need to know about collectible Chili Peppers. A big thank you to Andrew for providing this list and the details -- all the words are his.
This isn't scientific in any way, and isn't in any order. It's a random selection of things that have popped up over the years. Enjoy.
Warped (Rythym in Version) - Japanese promo CD-R - 1995
Here is my only submission (info + picture) to Discogs so far! It's the 'Rhythm In Version' of Warped from Japan. Pretty cool edit of the song and the sticker on the jewel case is pretty awesome. Note: this is just a radio edit, not a unique mix.
EMI Reissues promo 4xCD-R - 2003
The Reissues 4cd promo has always been a favourite of mine due to the design and the inclusion of the Higher Ground 'Dub Mix' [mislabeled - it's actually the Pearly 12" mix] which didn't make it onto the retail version of MM.
Zephyr Song Colombian promo - CD-R - 2002
Here we have the famed Colombian Zephyr Song promo. I wasn't going to include it as regional promos are a whole extra thing but for the initial scarcity it deserves it's place in any list. I think you can pick it up for something ridiculous like $15 now as the market has pretty much died but back in 2004 you'd be looking at dropping $100+ on this baby.
I'm With You B-Sides Japanese promo - CD-R - 2013
This was a promo released out of Japan and it's a nice little follow-on from the Australian Tour Edition of I'm With You. If you had this and ATE then you would only be missing In Love, Dying (I believe) from the IWY Sessions.
Fight Like A Brave promo CD - 1987
Pretty cool socks-on-cocks promo cd from 1987 when vinyl still ruled and features the 'Mofo Mix' of Fight Like a Brave. Why we never got any more of the remixes on the 2003 reissues I don't know but there was plenty of them on vinyl. Also, the cd is listed as a FLAB promo when I think it serves more as an album sampler.
Look Around - Denmark CD-R - 2011
Nice promo straight out of Denmark. Scandinavian promos are pretty rare anyway (only got a few of them) but this includes a live version of LA from the La Cigale show in 2011 which has yet to be released on LiveChiliPeppers so it's a nice little curio from that era.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik - picture disc promo - CD - 1991
BSSM promo with the rose art on the disc. Seems to have skyrocketed in value over the last few years so it should be on any list when talking about promos.
Andrew has a few more goodies to show you, but that's a far more image-heavy process and this letter is late enough, so I'll save that for another letter in a few months. If you've got any rare goodies you'd like to show off, please get in touch.
Thanks again to Andrew for opening his vault.
See you all in a few weeks. The next letter will be a biggie!
H.