The sixth of six albums recorded by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante during 2004, Curtains was initially tracked on the musician's living room floor and subsequently overdubbed with Carla Azar of Autolux on drums, Ken Wylde on upright bass, and Omar Rodriguez of the Mars Volta, who lent his guitar playing to a pair of tracks.
Initiated by the stellar, Dylanesque acoustic tones of "The Past Recedes," Curtains opens to reveal evocative, soulful material like "Lever Pulled" and the bright, melodic reflection known as "A Name." The magical "Ascension -- which uses George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" as a touchstone -- offsets the piano dirge "Leap Your Bar," but Frusciante's increasing comfort as a vocalist during this prolific spell is what is most notable.
One needs to look no further than the beauty of "Anne" (which is arguably the best of the lot here) for evidence.
But Curtains is the sum of its parts.
Nearly always inventive, the 11 tunes here collect to form one magnificent piece of art.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Past RecedesJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 03:53 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 2 | Lever PulledJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 02:22 | 5 MB | 12 MB |
| 3 | AnneJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 03:35 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 4 | The RealJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 03:07 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 5 | A NameJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 02:03 | 4 MB | 11 MB |
| 6 | ControlJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 25 MB |
| 7 | Your WarningJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 03:33 | 8 MB | 18 MB |
| 8 | HopeJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 01:56 | 4 MB | 10 MB |
| 9 | AscensionJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 02:52 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 10 | Time TonightJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 03:12 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 11 | Leap Your BarJohn Frusciante | John Frusciante | Play | 02:36 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 33 mins | 77 MB | |||||
| 33 mins | 190 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carla Azar | Drums, Main Personnel |
| 2 | John Frusciante | Audio Production, Bass (Electric), Composer, Design, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Main Personnel, Mellotron, Melodica, Piano, Primary Artist, Producer, String Ensemble, Strings, Synthesizer, Treatments, Vocals |
| 3 | Bernie Grundman | Mastering |
| 4 | Ryan Hewitt | Audio Engineer, Engineer, Mixing |
| 5 | Chris Holmes | Additional Production, Audio Engineer, Mixing |
| 6 | Dave Lee | Equipment Technician |
| 7 | Mike Piscitelli | Design |
| 8 | Omar Rodriguez-Lopez | Guitar, Main Personnel |
| 9 | Ken Wild | Bass (Upright), Double Bass, Main Personnel |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |