Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 4/5 Released: May 9, 2006 Reviewer: Nathan Atnikov |
The more things change, the more they stay the same. A cliché? Yes. But it could also be the mission statement behind Red Hot Chili Peppers epic ninth album, Stadium Arcadium. Over a sprawling 28 tracks, RHCP have never been better. Borrowing the best elements from BloodSugarSexMagik and By The Way, they’ve simply created their most complete album to date.
Flea and Chad Smith are predictably great as the rhythm section, and Anthony Kiedis experiments with his new found vocal range throughout the album, but the bona fide star of the album is John Frusciante, whose guitar heroics see to it that the album never bores. Leaping all over the map from the band’s patented funk (‘Charlie,’ ‘Tell Me Baby’) to the more melodic ballads (‘Snow,’ ‘Hard to Concentrate’), the band sounds firmly comfortable with either style.
You can search all you want for the expected “filler†that would come on a double album, but there’s none to be found on Arcadium. In fact, much of the album’s best material is buried at the end of the second disc. ‘Storm in a Teacup’ is their best funk song since ‘Suck My Kiss,’ and ‘Make You Feel Better’ might just be their best song ever. When the Peppers announced that they had too many good ideas to only release one album, they were right.
Each of the Chili Peppers are well into their 40s, and they’ve been a band for almost a quarter century. On Stadium Arcadium though, the band sounds anything but old.
Buy Stadium Arcadium from iTunes >> 
