Me and My Friends #35 - Rareware (part 2)
Hi friends,
All quiet on the band front. I’m guessing the new album won’t be out until next year, but virtually every prediciton I’ve ever made in this newsletter has been immediately proven wrong (except for this one, which feels like a cruel joke) so let’s see how that goes. While I’m at it, it doesn’t seem like the band will be celebrating Blood Sugar‘s 30th anniversary on September 24 in any way, which is unfortunate, but I’d love to be proven wrong there too. There might be something like this, but if there is, I’d honestly rather nothing at all.
I can only assume that the rumoured lawsuit between RHCP Inc. and their former managers Q Prime is the cause for all this silence, but hell, I’d still pay good money for a photo of all four of them. They could do that, couldn’t they?
A few months ago I wrote about some RHCP rarities – here’s part two of that email, which is a little heavier on the photos. These are a few selections from Andrew’s enormous collection, with some descriptions included. Obviously, there’s nothing really exciting about a few cheaply made CD-r’s, but the scarcity of them, the exclusives they hold, and the chance to see behind the scenes a little always fascinated me, and I hope you find them a little fascinating as well.
Thanks again to Andrew for sharing this information with us; the words below are a mix of mine and his. This really takes me back to my collecting days… must fight the urge to run straight to eBay…
How Strong/Instrumental #2 cd reference promo
Chosen because it answers that one question that all the fans were asking for years: what was the mysterious “Blondie” that John referred to in a fan-interview back in 2000? The answer, of course, was that it was just “Instrumental #2” – but for almost two decades it was a holy grail. If only we had put #2 and #2 together…
Stadium Arcadium Instrumental album
Goes for high prices now and it’s a great addition to the collection if you like SA. Here they are, if you’d like to listen to an AK-free version of the album.
Red Hot Chili Peppers LIVE (3 track)
French promo which includes 3 tracks from Slane. Great to have as the audio from the DVD is lossy and these are lossless. Isn’t it criminal that they never released a CD version of Slane? Imagine this coming out one day! (mockup by the very talented Leandro Cabo)
Suck My Kiss (2 edits) CD reference promo
A neat little curio from 1997 showing that they were constantly poking around with things in the vault. If I remember right, a few Blood Sugar tracks were re-released during 1997 (maybe only in the UK?) as a way to keep the band in the public eye. I have no idea what that David May remix is…
2 x Security Service Cali promos
One of these is the source of the “Unmastered” (listenable) version of Californication, which are more likely rough mixes. The other is another alternate, unfinished version of the album, which in some respects actually sounds worse than the finished thing; they tinkered with it endlessly. More information about the endless Californication variants is here.
Universally Speaking Remix promo
Another great curio from the BTW era; as you probably know, the single release of “Universally Speaking” used a remix, much like “Can’t Stop.” John was never happy with the album versions, but got his way when the singles came out. “Universally Speaking” is a much subtler remix, whereas “Can’t Stop” fixes the very muddy bass of the album version.
Live in Hyde Park sampler
The Japanese come out with some cracking promos and this is another one that looks awesome.
By The Way Taiwanese promo
Probably my favourite promo from the By the Way era. It’s a one track cd in a 7inch sleeve and the artwork is pretty cool.
Andrew threw in some cassette promos too:
Various States of Undress
The initial version of WHAT HITS?! is pretty funky. Clearly this was before Anthony changed the name. Always nice to see things in progress before the final version hits the stores.
One Hot Minute Japanese Promo
Again, a Japanese promo that looks great and it comes with a dinky little asterisk sticker. So strange seeing Dave’s name along with Flea, Chad, and Anthony.
A Pepper Primer
Really cool pre-BSSM promo from January 1990 to remind people of what came before, probably released by EMI once Mother’s Milk started to blow up. Only seen it once or twice so it’s pretty scarce.
One Hot Minute promo
Great design and play on the album title. About ten seconds of each song from the album.
If you have any rare or unique RHCP items, I’d love to see them. Respond to this email or drop me a line at rhcpsessionsarchive@gmail.com :-)
Until next month,
H.