We've had a warm snap moving through Circle City recently—sixty-three degrees in January; how foreboding. But you can't let fair weather go to waste, so naturally me and my trusty one-hitter hopped on the Monon Trail and started beating it on down the line. As usual my snipe-skin boots carried me up to my local record store, where I came across a cassette of none other than “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.” About a year ago I took a look at the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ career throughout the 80s, and part of that was covering “Party Plan.” I didn’t like it. In fact, I didn’t like most of the four albums I reviewed for that piece; I thought they had aged poorly today sounding extremely dated. Now it’s a year later, and I’m feeling open-minded, so I want to take another look at this album to see if maybe I was being a bit harsh. That being said, let’s rip this thing apart and see if I’m going to eat crow.
“The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” opens with “Fight Like A Brave.” This tune is about as close to the trademark Red Hot Chili Peppers sound as you’re going to get off this album, and it does it well. It leans more towards punk than alternative, but alternative music was still fighting to be born in 1987, so that’s to be expected. All in all, this one’s a crowd pleaser. A great pick for the first song on the album.
Next up we have “Funky Crime,” another track that is just alright. You get exactly what you’re promised; this song is funkier than the old dude I saw downtown at Greg’s boogieing down in a full leather suit. Unfortunately, the lyrics sort of hold the song back. A significant portion of “Funky Crime” is frontman Anthony Kiedis screaming “FUNKY,” which is silly, but it starts to wear on you by the end of the song.
Then we come to “Me and My Friends,” which continues this tracklists tradition of being perfectly okay. It’s not bad at all, but I doubt it got much, if any, airtime on the radio. The instrumentals are lightly aggro but overall what you would expect, and the lyrics are there. I wouldn’t hit the skip button on this one if it came on, but I wouldn’t go seeking it out either.
At this point the album kicks into gear. The fourth track, “Backwoods,” is a fast-paced punk track that has a driving rhythm which goes thump thump thump in your head until you’re forced to play the song again. Without a doubt this is one of the album's best tunes. Maybe even one of the band's best of the decade.
After that, we get “Skinny Sweaty Man.” This is a transition that eases you into the following track. It’s about a minute long and lacks a proper hook, but without it, the album would suddenly take a massive tonal shift that would be horridly off-putting, making “Skinny Sweaty Man” absolutely essential.
Now, we’re at the halfway point of the record. As a reward for making it this far, we are treated to the best “Party Plan” has to offer, “Behind the Sun.” I love this song. Even a year ago, when I was hating on this album, I expressed my affection for this track. It has dethroned the band’s cover of “Love Rollercoaster” as my favorite Chili Peppers song. It’s weird and out of character for the Chili Peppers, something out of left field that comes at you, brandishing vibrant sitar riffs and talking dolphins. It’s positively righteous.
After that we get, of all things, a Bob Dylan cover in “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” It seems like everyone has a version of this Dylan classic; the only song I can think of that I’ve seen covered as often is “Not Fade Away,” which is saying something because literally every jam band does that one. The Chili Peppers have a solid take on “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” It doesn’t hold a candle to the original, but it's a fantastic interpretation.
Now the song I loathe most of all...“Special Secret Song Inside.” It’s vulgar for vulgarity's sake. You have done bad if you’re able to get this dirty hippie to start talking about morality like this, but man, I truly hate this song. It’s disgusting, it’s misogynistic, and it aged horribly. I would cut this one from any future rereleases.
The band then doubles down on that sentiment with “No Chump Love Sucker.” This one doesn’t take the objectification as far as “Special Secret Song Inside,” but it still makes it clear that the band didn’t have a very healthy view of women at the time. Enough said.
After two disappointing songs, the record comes back and smacks you upside the head with another hit, “Walkin’ On Down the Road.” Frankly, it baffles me that this one didn’t perform better on the charts. The lyrics are packed with vivid imagery, and the guitar drives me crazy. I don't know how Slovak did it, but he captured the huffy power of a Hammond electric organ with his six-string. It’s mind-boggling. I will recommend this tune on the guitar alone; everything else is just gravy on top.
The good times end there, however, as next we come to “Love Trilogy.” This song suffers from all the same problems as “Special Secret Song Inside” and “No Chump Love Sucker,” so I’m not going to repeat myself. If this album were released today, these three songs would most definitely land the Chili Peppers in hot water.
The album closes with “Organic Anti-Beat Box Band,” which serves as one last fine song for the road. Again, there’s nothing wrong with this song, but there’s not much to sink your teeth into either. I think it would have fit better a little earlier on the record; it just isn’t up to the task of being the closing song. A stronger track like “Walkin’ On Down the Road” would have brought the album to a more satisfactory end, leaving us on a high note wanting more instead of just fizzling out.
I believe it’s safe to say that on my first go-around, I gave “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” more flak than it deserved. It’s a solid album with a handful of hits on it. Too bad it had just as many flops and an issue with rampant misogyny. It seems to me that the reason this album didn’t launch the band's career is twofold. It wasn’t quite enough of a powerhouse to amass a widespread audience, and a significant portion of the audience they could have pulled in was likely alienated by Kiedis’ singing about what he intended to do with his anatomy. If, however, you happen to come across a copy next time you’re stalking around your record store, I do highly recommend you pick it up. It has its problems, but it's still a solid album that doesn’t deserve to fade into obscurity. If nothing else, take the time to listen to “Behind the Sun.” It will make you forget all about “Scar Tissue.”
