Since a lot of people seem to break into a music op by talking about the album cover, I’ll pay lip service to it for those who find it important; personally, it’s the music and the music alone that draws me to buy an album, and ultimately love an album. But I can appreciate how someone might enjoy the artistry, the symbolism, the whole package. I’m actually not keen on the front cover artwork on the grounds of finding it disturbing. The background is a faded black-and-white roadside scene with a few sparse trees at one side and a wall at the other – now this is okay on its own, but in the foreground there is a kind of crayon-drawing style blue female figure, her eyes obscured by a scribbled yellow band. I’m sure this is full of deep and meaningful symbolism, possibly something to do with a lack of vision limiting you from a full spectrum of possibilities. But I just find it surreally grotesque (or grotesquely surreal?) – I think it’s the fact that it looks like a child’s crayon drawing (echoed by the scratchy red writing that accompanies it) that adds this dimension. The back is, thankfully, more agreeable – a faded black-and-white image of the band in what seems to be a field, and a list of the tracks on the album etched over in a handwritten style, giving it a down-to-earth, organic and from-the-heart feel.

I discovered this album by accident. I’d never really been into The Chilis’ music before, I mean I’d loved ‘Under the Bridge’ but…most people did, didn’t they? I was making a compilation for my partner and looking for songs that said something about the way I felt about him; I was rooting through our joint collection and, scanning the track list, was drawn to a few of the songs, ‘Universally Speaking’, ‘I Could Die For You’ and especially ‘Cabron’, which just jumped out at me…just from the titles. On a later occasion I listened to the whole thing through. Then again. And again. And again.

‘THIS IS WHAT I WANNA BE AND THIS IS WHAT I GIVE TO YOU’ : STYLE
(‘I Could Die For You’)

Although diverse, there are a number of common themes running through the whole album that somehow pull it together, giving it the x-factor that really gives an album impact for me. Alternate quick and slow sections in songs give them a certain rockability (invented word, I know) – the slower sections in ‘By The Way’ for example are given a certain shoulder-shaking, head-nodding quality partly due to the fabulous guitar in the background and partly due to backing onto a quicker beat. Wonderful, air-guitar-moment string solos and duets prevail in many of the songs and melodies throughout could be showered with a range of compliments – original (‘By The Way’, ‘Minor Thing’), uplifting, the kind of tune that soars (‘Cabron’, ‘Universally Speaking’, 'The Zephyr Song') and flooding the senses with a many-layered effect (‘Universally Speaking’). And, the thing I perhaps love most of all in any song, any album, any time, the vocals. The vocals blew me away…the voices thick with emotion, as well as the spectacular harmonies, especially in ‘Dosed’ and ‘Cabron.’

First off and quite probably last off too, track 11. ‘Cabron.’ The minute I heard that song, I was dancing to it, not only swaying and nodding my head and getting into it, but dancing inside, heart fluttering and shivers down the spine. I don’t know why. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. I love Latin-style music anyway, so the Spanish-style guitar duet made me smile – and still does – sharp breaks, quick changes and a tangible commitment makes me imagine the guitarists putting their heart and soul into the performance. And the lyrics, though I’m still piecing together what they’re really about, are light-hearted and very real but with a hearty dose of live, electric passion. ‘All the world will take a cue from anything you do, if you want them to…’ And I may not be able to comprehend the entire story but I understand it inside. The Beatles’ love song ‘Something’ had been my favourite song since at least 1996 previously, and what huge footsteps to follow in, but without a doubt, ‘Cabron’ has stolen my heart.

The only down-point for me is that, inevitably, a few of the songs don’t have the same magic for me as the others, namely ‘This Is The Place’, ‘Don't Forget Me’, ‘Throw Away Your Television’ and ‘Venice Queen.’ But that’s all subjective; they just don’t resonate with me like the others do, so I’m being petty really. I don’t dislike them enough to skip the track, which is quite a rare feat for such a long album of 16 songs in total. Oh, and of course, the disturbing front cover, but that doesn’t really count.

*TRACK LIST*
I sometimes choose whether or not to listen to a song for the first time based on its title. Some of these titles jumped out at me the first time I read them. The songs on the album (for those who might recognise some of them) are : By The Way, Universally Speaking, This Is The Place, Dosed, Don’t Forget Me, The Zephyr Song, Can’t Stop, I Could Die For You, Midnight, Throw Away Your Television, Cabron, Tear, On Mercury, Minor Thing, Warm Tape and Venice Queen.