Flammable: Tribute To The Red Hot Chili Peppers CD

Unlike many of the tributes compiled by Vitamin Records, Flammable doesn't rely on one single style of emulation (for example, chamber music). Instead, the ten artists enlisted perform a cross section of Red Hot Chili Peppers' material, which ranges stylistically from the straight-up boring electro of George Sarah's "Me and My Friends," which uses exactly none of the original song, to the charming twee pop of Gringo Floyd's take on "Scar Tissue." In between there's hot punk, cool funk, and even some hip-hop. Which was a good plan by Vitamin, as the styles above all co-exist inside the belly of the beast that is RHCP. The yowling punk rock of the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs' "Catholic School Girls Rule" is a standout, as is Capsule's even sexier "Sexy Mexican Maid." The latter features female vocals and samples taken from the actual Chili Peppers version. Owl's version of "Behind the Sun" is appropriately trippy, and even replicates Flea's dominating bassline with aplomb. Flammable won't win any awards for consistency, but it's an interesting look into how disparate the Chili Peppers' own influences were. ~ Johnny Loftus

Owl,Tava,Capsule,Gringo Floyd, Needulhed,Doom County Electric

Recording information: Big Scary Tree Studios, Los Angeles CA; Grandma's Warehouse; Knac.Com Studios; Soundwish Studios, Puerto Rico; Witkin West, W. Hollywood.

Personnel: Frank Meyer (vocals, guitar); George Sarah (vocals, programming); John Nau (guitar, keyboards); Jose Blanco (guitar, background vocals); Art Jackson (guitar); Ginger Murphy (cello); Richard Hardy (saxophone); Tom Semon (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Mitch Manker & his Brass Section (trumpet); Mike Sessa, Jim Doyle (drums); Tony Rome (turntables).

Audio Mixer: Bruce Witkin.