Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers > Reviews > The beat goes on

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Great to have more tunes from the Chili's
Disadvantages:	Overlong and ponderous in places

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I was looking forward to this. I think I heard that the Chili's were putting out some new music early in the year. Hearing, 'Dani California' on the radio only added to the anticipation. It's a great little tune that excited (doesn't take much!) and thrilled me.

I reserved it so that it could be delivered to me as soon as it was released. So a week or so back it falls on the doormat... What's the verdict?

For anyone that has been living in a cave for the last couple of months, this is a double album of new music from that great little beat combo, 'Red Hot Chili Peppers'. You may have observed that they have been pretty ubiquitous for the last five years or so (Californication being the album that really made me prick up my ears). I've not really met many people who have a genuine dislike for this band (que rush of Chili haters). Most people enjoy one or two of there songs (I seem to remember being made aware of them around 1991? Under the Bridge seemed to be everywhere and on all the compilation albums I bought).

The band is made up of four: Anthony Kiedis (vocals), John Frusciante (guitar), Flea (bass), and Chad Smith (drums). It's been well documented that all the band, with the possible exception of Chad, have had pretty big issues to deal with. Whether it be dangerous habits or nervous breakdowns... They are an everyman and woman band. Women love their rough, muscular good looks (well the ones I've been out with do!) and men admire their fun loving, thrill seeking attitude (though if you had to actually spend much time with them you'de probably end up dead or in a hospital somewhere).

THE MUSIC
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For the best part of their career they have made funky, tight rock. Neat, fast, melodic bass from Flea (surely up there with the best bassists ever?) coupled with L.A. related lyrics from Kiedis. Slowly but surely the guitarist John Frusciante has been moving closer and closer to the core of the group. He does, as pointed out by another reviewer, have the power to turn a pretty run of the mill song into something rather glorius. He gets a lot of airtime on these CD's and from my point of view that's good. Flea, who up until maybe Californication (1999) was the man who could make or break a song, has slowly moved away from the forefront. Don't get me wrong. He still flashes brilliantly on many songs herewithin, but nowhere near as much as he did in the early years. For a time he found it difficult to reconcile this fact (as reported in a 'Q' interview from a month or so ago). Let's not forget Kiedis who has been a real stalwart throughout. He's a great frontman (I've never been totally convinced by the Chili's 'sonically' live, brilliant though they are). His lyrics stick in your head and won't budge (check out most of 'Californication' and large chunks of 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' and 'By The Way').

STADIUM ARCADIUM
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There are two CD's in the package (package being a mainly cardboard affair that I'm not particularly keen on - the back bit unattached itself whilst I was grappling with it. If I want to stick this on ebay in the future I'll have to get the glue out). CD1 is called, 'Jupiter' whilst CD2 is 'Mars', I'm sure this means something significant to the band, but to me it looks like all the immediately catchy stuff is on CD1 whilst CD2 seems to be the Chili's stretching their creative legs a little.

I was trying to think of double albums that I actually get on with. I love The Beatles 'White Album' and also have a fondness for The Manic Street Preachers 'Generation Terrorists', being that it was an album that me and my friends used to enjoy getting drunk with. But on the whole, popular music double albums don't work (my opinion only! - I'm sure people have a raft of their own suggestions to argue against that one). I think this album as a whole doesn't work as a singular thing. There are too many changes of direction throughout. Maybe with time (I've given it 5 listens now) it will gel a bit more. There are also a few songs that I would regard as weak, or very average. It's a cliche, but this would have made a great one CD album. But why shouldn't these guys be allowed a bit of self indulgence? This album also seems less referential than the last two from a lyrical point of view. What I mean by that is that it seems to be songs about more than the Chili's little universe. They are starting to look at the bigger picture to some extent. Anyway lets get on with it...

CD1 JUPITER
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1.Dani California
...You must have heard it by now. Great single. Classic Chili's stuff. Twisty, funky singing, and lyrics.
2.Snow ((Hey Oh))
...Built on a great little riff, which makes the song.
3.Charlie
...Not one of my favourites, doesn't know what it wants to be. Funky/Rocky/All of the above?
4.Stadium Arcadium
...Pretty ineffectial. Nice enough, but doesn't stand out much
5.Hump De Bump
...Flea basses it up like the good old days. Too much brass in places.
6.She's Only 18
...A song saved by John on guitar. Otherwise wouldn't make the album had it been a single.
7.Slow Cheetah
...I like this one. Understated picking on the guitar. Nice lyrics, builds and fades again.
8.Torture Me
...The bass kicks ass on this. Great, fast, classic Chili's. The simple ideas are the best. Flea and John combine brilliantly.
9.Strip My Mind
...A ballad that turns into one of those massive lead guitar fests in the middle. Reminds me of Paul Weller's 'Wild Wood'.
10.Especially In Michigan
...Run of the mill stuff.
11.Warlocks
...Another one to showcase the Flea method of bass playing. Old school Chili's.
12.C'mon Girl
...Very fast Bass line drives this one. Would probably sit quite happily on 'Californication'.
13.Wet Sand
...Great, great, great. This builds and builds. A genuine, proper Chili moment.
14.Hey
...Good way to fade out of CD1. Slow burner of a song.

CD2 MARS
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1.Desecration Smile
...Nice start. Well constructed song. Is it me or does Anthony sound a bit Neil Young on this one? John very restrained, which suits the song.
2.Tell Me Baby
...Takes you in the wrong direction to start, then explodes into a funky early Chili's one.
3.Hard To Communicate
...Very nice, touching lyrics. A chance to catch your breath.
4.21st Century
...Another song that seems to be saved by the Guitar and Bass. You're wondering what it's all about and suddenly John, Flea and Chad Jam and you realize.
5.She Looks To Me
...In my opinion a filler. Doesn't seem to do anything.
6.Readymade
...Great bassline to open things up. One of my favourites across the album (I'm easily pleased). Like something Deep Purple would have played... Well until Anthony starts improvizing strange monkey noises. Excellent!
7.If
...Very quiet all the way through. No suprise bursts of noise. Guitar sounds like early Fleetwood Mac.
8.Make You Feel Better
...Nice drumming from Chad. Nice little song, sounds like a cross between 'I'll be there for you' and something the Lemonheads would do... Tack on the guitar switching sounds at the end of David Bowie's 'John I'm only dancing' and you've got it.
9.Animal Bar
...Brilliant. All the ingredients to make a classic Chili's song. Well done John for the astonishing guitar towards the end. I definetely made out a dalek in there somewhere.
10.So Much I
...Far too much going on for my liking here. Individually everything seems to be fine, but altogether it's too much.
11.Storm In A Teacup
...More Chili's funk. You get what you expect. John's guitar towards the end is quite disturbing.
12.We Believe
...Fine. No great shakes. Filler.
13.Turn It Again
...The guitar on this is mind blowingly good. Wow. This rocks. Buy the whole album just for this slice of perfection.
14.Death Of A Martian
...Wibbly guitar. Ends with a little poetic nonsense from Anthony. Good.

IN SUMMARY
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Neither CD could be classed as the weaker of the two. Both have there merits. My favourite is CD2. Possibly because the Chili's try out a few new things, which seems to lead to a few very beautiful moments.

This will sell by the lorryload so even if you don't buy a copy, you'll be able to borrow it from someone sooner or later. It will also be all over the radio and a bit like Oasis's 'What's the story...' - they'll be no escape! Any Chili's album deserves an airing. One of my own litmus tests for a great band is that you hear a track for the first time ever and immediately you'll wanna rewind and hear it again. The Chili's always do this for me somewhere on an album. I'm singing it and sort of knowing where the song is going before it actually gets there, it's a unique thing about music and a special, mystical thing that the Chili's have tapped into.

The bottom line with this though is that it would have made a cracking one CD album.

Expect to pay about £11 for this (I think it cost me £10.49 with free P&P from CDWOW). As ever shop around.