Jupiter; Song 14: Hey

If “Wet Sand” is a top 5 song, “Hey” would have to be a top 2 song. I didn’t warm to it upon the first listen; indeed it was Buck who opened my eyes to the beauty of the piece. Another example of terrific track sequencing, this one being a lot less logical and harder to explain than the “Torture Me”/”Strip My Mind” combination. All I can say is that I don’t think I would love “Hey” as much as I do if “Wet Sand” didn’t immediately precede it.

This song is perfection. Unlike “Wet Sand”, this song DOES have a classic arrangement that involves everyone and could only have been born of a jam most heavenly. The playing in “Hey” is probably the tightest the lads have ever been. Even John’s solo, which veers so off course rhythmically that it would appear to be in another time zone, makes absolute musical sense in the context of this piece, and in this band. The guitar sound is sublime, with John’s guitar having just the right amount of reverb to maximise the resonance of the melody with the listener’s tympanic membrane. My favourite solo of the album, and emotionally right up there with other classic John solos like “Californication” and my personal favourite “I Could Have Lied”.

Any time I lament the fact that Red Hot Chili Peppers will never sound like their old Blood Sugar Sex Magik or Californication days, I need only look to songs like these, that could only be written by forty-something year olds; songs that could only be written by people who have truly lived. The only slightly negative aspect of the song is that I would have liked to see it being the last song on their last album, it would have made a lovely final statement on the band. It would also mean that I would be finished reviewing Stadium Arcadium, instead of just hitting the halfway mark. Sigh.

Jupiter; Song 13: Wet Sand

Rather than being a surf song, as the name may suggest, “Wet Sand” is a piece that evokes the image of the Wild West, with its guitar chords in the verse and short whistling solos and whatnot. It is probably the “Stairway to Heaven” of the album, in that it’s somewhat of an epic musical journey, albeit a condensed one that lasts just over 5 minutes. Like a crescendo, its scope gets bigger and bigger until the final act of the song, with its outstanding vocals from Kiedis, powerful bass from Flea, and a great drum fill from Chad right before one of my favourite guitar solos on the record, which is more melodic and less improvised shredwork than the other solos.

This is Kiedis’ shining moment on the record so far, with brilliant vocal melodies throughout and lyrics to match. According to Kiedis in an interview with Q magazine this year, the piece is a conversation between a boy who believes in divine creation and a girl who is a bit of a wreck (“the disrepair of Norma Jean could NOT compete with your routine”) that believes in evolution. I normally don’t care too much about the lyrics in Red Hot Chili Pepper songs, but the words are so powerful, I would rate it with “Californication” and “Venice Queen” as the best writing Kiedis has achieved yet.

With a more defining guitar riff and a more involved bassline in the verses, this would have been a timeless Red Hot Chili Pepper classic. As it stands, the last third of “Wet Sand” is the best musical moment on the album and as a whole "Wet Sand" is a top 5 piece in Stadium Arcadium.