Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Title: Stadium Arcadium
Label: Warner Bros.
Rating: 7/10

FILE UNDER: Peppers double album.

CORPORATE LINE: Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers calls the band’s first new album in four years, Stadium Arcadium, the most-anticipated album of the spring, “the best thing that we’ve ever done…. There’s this weird kind of sublime, subliminal undercurrent that is suggestive, in a spirited way, of our earliest records.” Exuding all the passion, energy and funked-up rock that have made the Red Hot Chili Peppers one of the most popular bands in history, the 2-CD Stadium Arcadium, simply put, will knock your socks off.

THE GOOD:
“Dani California” – Kiedis kicks off a nice chorus. The guitar solo that ends the song will knock your socks off. Frusciante is the most under-rated guitar player in the business.
“Tell Me Baby” – An odd mix of funk and, dare we say, disco.
“Hard To Concentrate” – A beautiful song that isn’t as good as “Under The Bridge”—however it is a ballad unlike any other Peppers’ song.

THE AVERAGE:
“Stadium Arcadium” – Certainly it’s pretty. Frusciante is in fine form. It’s amazing how many guitar changes he goes through in a song. Different Most guitar players would be happy to rip-off one of the licks let alone three or four.
“She’s Only 18” – If this was a b-sides you’d guess it came from the era of One Hot Minute.
“21st Century” – If it weren’t for Flea’s funky-quacking-bass line this song would fall to pieces. This is as funky a dance track as the Peppers have released in over a decade. It will remind Franz Ferdinand who really invented funked-out rock.
“She Looks To Me” – This sounds like “Californication” regurgitated.
“Readymade” – This is for the hard-charging Chili Peppers fans.

THE BAD:
“Snow (Hey Oh)” – With a double album you can count on throwaway songs—just don’t expect track two to be filler.
“So Much I” – Idiotic and nonsensical which isn’t rare for a Chili Peppers album.

FRANKLY: Stadium Arcadium reminds fans why they were so lost without John Frusciante. His guitar work is masterful. Who works out better riffs than Frusciante in rock today? No one. Most bands rely on barre chords—but not Frusciante. Frusciante is as important to the Chili Peppers as George Harrison was to the Beatles.

In the end, the double album is too much. You absolutely get your money’s worth and if this review was about getting bang for you buck it would be a 10/10—however the review is about the music overall. There are a lot of tracks, however were they on any other Chili Peppers’ album they’d be filler. If the Peppers would have taken the twelve best songs out of the twenty-eight this could have been a masterpiece. If this sounds too harsh it isn’t meant to be. We just expect such greatness from the Chili Peppers that any bad song is a let down.

+ Charlie Craine


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