It's been four years or so since the Chili Peppers released
By the Way. Like all of their past albums, it had a sound of it's own, but was a fairly predictable follow up to
Californication (which took a while to grow on me, but is now part of my regular playlist).
Stadium Arcadium feels almost like a look to their past through older eyes. The energy they used to have is starting to wane, but in it's place is a comfortable, tight sound.
Blood Sugar will always be my favourite album, but
Stadium is not to be sniffed at. Tracks like the funky
Hump de Bump, Warlock and
Tell Me Baby are highlights, with
Dani California, She's Only 18 and
Turn Me On showing off John Frusciante's incredible guitar work. As they move away towards a more mellow style though, Flea doesn't get to spread his wings as much, being left to fill out the sound rather than lead it like he used to in tracks like
If You Have to Ask and
Suck My Kiss.
Overall,
Stadium Arcadium is going to appeal more to new fans than old, but it's going to do well and deservedly so. The Red Hot Chili Peppers can still knock over the competition when they aren't even trying. If they tried just a
little harder to funk it up, they could once again achieve greatness.
Verdict: Pretty damn good, but not life changing