John Frusciante, lead guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers since Mother's Milk (excluding One Hot Minute, we have Dave Navarro to thank for that one) has been consistently releasing solo albums ever since becoming a member of the Peppers. Shadows Collide With People marks his fourth installment, and while it's not nearly as good as 2001's To Record Only Water For Ten Days, it's still a worthwhile listen. For Shadows, Frusciante teamed up with Josh Klinghoffer, member of the terribly underrated band The Bicycle Thief, and together they have created a fairly interesting cycle of songs. Most notably, fantastic opener "Carvel," which starts off strangely like a Four Tet composed instrumental, but halfway in, turns into a great rock tune. Where Shadows stumbles though is where most of Frusciante's solo albums tend to suffer, which is in the pacing and sequential flow of the material. Frusciante always tries to sprinkle in some electronic instrumentals throughout his albums, but most end up sounding like contrivance and filler. And weirdly enough, I swear to god near the end of Shadows, the song "23 Go In the End" is an out-and-out rip-off of Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

On occasion, Frusciante, will rattle off some surprisingly poignant lyrics. On the song "Second Walk," Frusciante sings "I take a second walk down the street of fame, I've paid if off and paid for it again/ but to fall and be down's something I transcend." If you're at all familiar with John's past, you probably don't need to be told that this song is not only personal, but painful as well.

Most of the time, however, Frusciante just throws out lines that are all-too-obvious like "Everyday is each day that's past, Every person alive is everyone that's died." Thanks for the memo John. As good as Frusciante's solo albums can be at times, he's yet to produce one that approaches the temperature of his work with the Chili Peppers. Perhaps that's what drives him to continue to try. It's certainly a much more healthy hobby, than some that he's indulged in the past.