CD Review

With Tool, Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chili Peppers all releasing ambitious albums within weeks of each other, it all of a sudden seems like 1993 again. And just like a decade ago when one of the prototype 90’s bands, The Smashing Pumpkins released a mid career double album opus with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the Chili Peppers have proven that middle age can indeed be more prolific in their “Magic Johnson 1985 prime.”

On their ninth album, Stadium Arcadium, the SoCal former tube sock models, with the help of producer Rick Rubin, give us 28 new songs. Yeah, it’s a bit of information overload, and it’s fair to wonder if they are all releases worthy. But the real question is whether or not Anthony Keidis will actually remember all the words when it comes time to play them live.

Clearly the Chili Peppers are a sum of their parts. Keidis’ voice keeps getting better with each new haircut. Flea, Bootsy Collins’ white little bro, is rock’s most underrated harmony vocalist, and Chad Smith lays the funk and mood with equal relish. But John Frucsicante, who offers the imaginative guitar work, is the main reason why the band is playing the U2 “relevant into their 40’s” campaign.

Stadium Aradium kicks off with Chili Peppers past and present. "Dani California" is a taste of funky Peppers of old, while “Snow (Hey Oh)” and the dynamic “Charlie” revisit the silky harmony pop of Californication and By The Way. The funk is alive and well in old school Chili Pepper fashion with “Hump de Bump” with Keidis’ free styling vocals that borderline on lyrical nonsense and nursery rhyming. The ramble jamble carries into “Especially in Michigan” and on “Warlocks” where the lean one raps “ticky ticky tackita tic tac toe.” “She’ Only 18” lets Frusciante lay some novel fuzzy power chords and “Strip My Mind” is the epitome of the Chili Peppers slow down groove of recent years.

Disc two steers down a similar theme, as it kicks off a mirror image of By The Way’s "Dose" with “Desecration Smile. The albums strongest single this side of the opener, “Tell Me Baby,” raises eyebrows with its syncopated bass/drums and undeniable chorus. Flea’s rapid fire baselines and Frusciantes fiery guitar work make “21st Century” the compilations most eclectic offering before bruising into “Readymade” with stop-go drumming and Tom Morello machine gun guitar work.

The album weaves in and out of different Chili Pepper patterns, and it definitely gets drawn out near the end – check “We Believe” for the snooze factor, but otherwise all the songs minus two or three are most definitely worthy of release. Not a bad shooting percentage, as Stadium Arcadium proves to hit home on all cylinders. Now if Keidis can only remember all those nonsense lyrics when he hits the stage.