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ONE HOT MINUTE

RECORDING INFO:

Dates: Between June 1994 - February 1995
Players: Flea, Dave Navarro, Chad Smith, Anthony Kiedis
Additional Performers: Keith Barry (violin), Jimmy Boyle (backing vocals), Lenny Castro (percussion), Aimee Echo (backing vocals), Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa (backing vocals), John Lurie (harmonica), Stephen Perkins (percussion), Kristen Vigard (backing vocals)
Recorded at: Sound City, 15456 Cabrito Road, Van Nuys, CA, Ocean Way Studios, 6050 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, The Sound Factory, 6650 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, The Site 11 Via Del Sol, Nicasio, CA and Grandmaster Recorders, 1520 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Produced by: Rick Rubin
Engineered by: Dave Sardy, Dave Schiffman
Mixed by: Dave Sardy
Digital Editing: Don C. Tyler
Released on: September 12, 1995

SONGS RECORDED:

  • Warped

  • Aeroplane

  • Deep Kick

  • My Friends

  • Coffee Shop

  • Pea

  • One Big Mob/Stretch

  • Walkabout

  • Tearjerker

  • One Hot Minute

  • Falling Into Grace

  • Shallow Be Thy Game

  • Transcending
    released on the album One Hot Minute

  • Melancholy Mechanics
    released on the Warped single

  • Let's Make Evil
    released on the My Friends single

  • Stretch [You Out] (originally combined with One Big Mob)
    released on the My Friends single and on digital music retailers in 2006. The 2006 version has the ending of “One Big Mob” attached to the beginning as was originally intended. “Stretch” was due to be on the album but was pulled at the last minute. Presumably it would be presented with One Big Mob as one long uninterrupted song, but two different track markers.

  • Bob
    released as a bonus track on digital music retailers in 2006

  • The Junkie Song
    unreleased. Heavy on percussion, featuring Flea on ashtray, Dave on a floor tom and Stephen Perkins playing a cajón. It’s not clear if any other instrumentation was used.

  • Blender
    unreleased, but leaked to the internet in 2023. Was due to be on the album but was pulled at the last minute.

  • The Intimidator
    Mentioned by Chad as just bass and drums, left unfinished. Flea says “The Intimidator” was inspired by Miles Davis here.

  • I Found Out
    John Lennon cover for the Working Class Hero compilation, which was released in October of 1995. It was produced by Rick Rubin, and recorded in a “Studio On Wheels” mobile recording truck. Not exactly recorded during the sessions, but close enough.

ALTERNATES / MIX DIFFERENCES:

  • Warped - 6/21/95 + Unsequenced/Unmastered tape
    Song comes to natural ending - same version as the 'alternate mix' leak.

  • Aeroplane - “Mi Avion” version
    A Spanish language version of “Aeroplane” was produced in 1996 and given the title “Mi Avion.” It's unclear how different it was to the album version; it may be akin to the few German language songs the Beatles recorded, which are the same instrumentation with overdubbed vocals.

  • One Hot Minute - 6/21/95 + Unsequenced/Unmastered tape
    Extended second verse, longer feedback at end

  • Deep Kick - 6/21/95 + Unsequenced/Unmastered tape
    Instead of fading out, goes into an additional section before reaching the quiet ending

  • Coffee Shop - 6/21/95 + Unsequenced/Unmastered tape
    Studio chatter at end of song ("What happened?"), extra riff before going into the second bass solo

  • Pea - 6/21/95 + Unsequenced/Unmastered tape
    Studio chatter at end of song

  • Walkabout - 6/21/95 + Unsequenced/Unmastered tape
    Extra intro music, extra vocal line before “a walk could kill almost all my blues…”

  • Falling Into Grace - U6/21/95 + Unsequenced/Unmastered tape
    Much-extended ending.

  • Aeroplane, My Friends, Transcending, Pea, Coffee Shop, Tearjerker, Shallow Be Thy Game, Melancholy Mechanics, Warped, Let's Make Evil - early rough mixes tape
    Instrumental (except for “Aeroplane” and “Pea”) and unmixed, missing various overdubs

More here.

WORKING TITLES:

Baseballs = Coffee Shop (given the title because of Flea's use of this pedal)
Epic = One Hot Minute
Evil = Let's Make Evil
Frog = Shallow Be Thy Game
Gang Of Four = One Big Mob
Melancholy Mechanics of My Mind = Melancholy Mechanics
Music is my Aeroplane = Aeroplane
Psychedelic = Deep Kick
River = Transcending
Slow Funk = Falling into Grace
Stretching You Out = Stretch
Swirly = Warped
The Pea Song = Pea
Punk Blender = Blender
Velvet = Melancholy Mechanics

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The album had a number of working titles (though some may have been joke suggestions taken no further). Mentioned prior to release were The Sensitives, Turtlehead, The Good and Bad Moods of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Blight Album, and Black Fish Ferris Wheel, which got as far as having a mock-up cover done for it by artist Mark Ryden very late in the process:

ALTERNATE SOURCES:

Early rough mixes cassette
This tape, leaked in 2016, contains early, rough mixes of an assortment of One Hot Minute tracks. “Pea” has vocals and “Aeroplane” has guide vocals. All other songs are instrumental.

6/21/95 tape
Another in-house cassette, sent to WB executives in June 1995 and liberated online in 2023. Unmastered and unsequenced, it contains unedited versions of every track the band finished during the recording sessions before a final track list was settled on. The source of “Blender” finally leaking.

Unmastered/Unsequenced cassette
Sourced from an in-house WB cassette made in mid 1995 (i.e. after June and before September). This is a final draft of the album before it was sequenced and mastered. Contains many un-edited mixes also heard on the 6/21/95 tape. All songs come to their natural ending, with the exception of “One Big Mob,” which fades out rather harshly, before the “Stretch” section of the song can begin.

LINER NOTES: