Review Summary: The overly productive chili peppers.
During their ’99-’06 winning streak, Red Hot Chili Peppers have dug themselves into a hole sonic wise, in similar fashion to most acts reaching universal levels of fame. Josh Klinghoffer’s tenure in the band didn’t change the dynamics, although a follow-up to
The Getaway might have had a chance to shift things just a bit. It’s understandable the other members weren’t really interested in following new paths at this stage, even if they found a certain balance between old and new there. Then, the unexpected yet somewhat inevitable happened: John Frusciante returned to the fold for a second time, generating huge interest from fans and remaining trio alike. Two years of prolific jamming later, we received two 75-minute records that scream Red Hot Chili Peppers. Of course, the prodigious guitarist still has it and could come up with a good tune in his sleep, even though he’s been crafting electronic music for a decade now. Nevertheless, a certain restraint could be heard in his playing style. Especially on
Unlimited Love, you could feel they’ve been focusing on growing back into the band we used to listen to until 2006. John needed to resynchronize with the rest, so they wanted to reach in all directions for ideas. As a result, it seems the more diverse stuff was saved for
Return of the Dream Canteen. Nobody expected major sonic differences, though I would say
UL went for a
Californication vibe, using a somewhat minimalist approach to the more immediate, catchy tunes. Meanwhile,
RotDC leans towards the
By The Way/
Stadium Arcadium eras. There is considerable emphasis on the alternative rock/pop side here with a few experiments as well. Unfortunately, there is too much material again and too little variety for it to keep the listener on his toes such a long while.
Return of the Dream Canteen starts strong with highlights such as the funky “Peace and Love”, which apparently was dropped from its predecessor in favor of “Poster Child”. It shares significantly more memorable vocals, especially the sweetly sung choruses among nostalgic chords. Also, the intertwining bass and guitar leads on “Eddie” make it one of the most interesting cuts here. Flea does a lovely job overall, whereas Frusciante’s solo at the end is one of his finest so far. Then there is the moodier “Reach Out”, one of the only rockers on the LP, as well as the first single “Tippa My Tongue”, whose main groove and chorus will ultimately stick in your head. “Fake as Fu@k” contains a nice blend of low key, ballad-like segments and dancefloor ready funk hooks. From here, multiple sonic ups and downs ensue. The main issue would be Anthony’s contributions, which tend to become exhaustive or, at times, dumb. For example, the keyboard touches over the dub-ish rhythm of “My Cigarette” or lush synths of “La La La La La La La La” smoothly unfold, yet Kiedis rarely lets the instrumentals breathe. The front man raps constantly on the former and ruins the vibe on the latter with the rather annoying title repeating. Moreover, his spoken word on the otherwise interesting closing lullaby, “In the Snow” doesn’t really click. There are various moments on the record where Flea and John play so beautifully one alongside the other, however, these get often lost under the vocals.
From the remaining tracks, “Roulette” stands out through its ‘80s funk pop sound and the verses groove would have made for a fitting theme song for an action movie from the respective era. On the other hand, “Copperbelly” boasts cool chord picking, plus more intricate progressions and a hard-hitting bridge. Luckily, Kiedis found a balance between the music and his vocal delivery, resulting in two lovely ditties. The rest is simply more of the same safe stuff, similar to the fate
Unlimited Love shared. For hardcore fans, this means great news, as there is enough to discover even after ten listens or so. In a way, I admire the fact that the Chili Peppers favored tight melodies over simply churning radio hits. Expectations rose through the roof over Frusciante’s return, yet the man focused mostly on small details and tweaks instead of the flashy style displayed on
Stadium Arcadium. At this stage in the band’s career, expecting another excellent or fresh album is a bit of a stretch. In the end, I wouldn’t say
Return of the Dream Canteen is better overall than the previous effort. It might have a couple of higher sonic peaks, but suffers from similar flaws. Obviously, one hour-long album with the strongest tracks recorded in the past couple of years would have been enough for a stronger comeback.
