Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love
Rock – Released April 1, 2022 – 17 songs, 73 mins
REID
Let me get this out of the way and set the tone for this review. I’m a huge fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers. The album art tattoos, concert viewings, records, CDs, concert DVDs, biographies... you name it, I got it. The fandom began about as young as I can say I was into music. I adored singles like Under the Bridge, Suck My Kiss, Give It Away, Californication, Otherside, Scar Tissue, Around the World, By The Way, etc. In high school I began listening to full albums and my love and appreciation for music blossomed. The best artists are unique. No other band offers an equivalent blend of alternative rock and funk.
Enough about me… Onto the review of Unlimited Love. The following video is very important.
John. Mother. Fucking. Frusciante. You beautiful human. All fans had a similar reaction as Flea when he rejoined the band in 2019. With the release of the first single, Black Summer, RHCP were officially back. Keidis equipped with a mullet and pirate accent to top it off. I would’ve expected nothing less.
Listen, Josh Klinghoffer did an admirable job on I’m With You (2011) and The Getaway (2016). There are quality songs on both albums. But he was always fighting a battle he couldn’t win. Frusciante is simply on another level. And the accumulated chemistry since John’s first album with the band, Mother’s Milk (1989), was insurmountable. While the two Josh albums scratched the itch, there was something undeniably missing. Like The Office without Steve Carrell or Chick-fil-a without the sauce.
A review online criticized the band in saying ‘they can’t help but sound like themselves.’ The foursome has been playing music together, on and off, for 30+ years. Anthony and Flea for even longer. Not sure what the expectation was.
RHCP dig through their catalog and propagate a superb compilation of tracks, with Stadium Arcadium (2006) leading the influence. Instrumentally they’re as tight as ever. John and Flea take turns leading the effort and song after song fans of the band are reminded of how things used to be. Anthony continues a truly impressive trend over the last 15 years. He continues to improve and sounds amazing. The list of standout tracks is long. A few of my favourites are Black Summer, Here Ever After, It’s Only Natural, These Are The Ways, Whatchu Thinkin’ and Tangelo.
The album isn’t without fault. Clocking in at 73 minutes, it’s about three or four songs too long. Not The One, She’s A Lover and One Way Traffic are skippers. But the good absolutely outweighs the bad.
In Tangelo, Keidis sings ‘When I’m with you, I feel like myself’. These lyrics ring true for long time fans who feel rejuvenated. And apparently there’s more to come. I have Unlimited Love for Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Overall Rating: 9.2/10
Favourite Song: Whatchu Thinkin’
Bonus material: TSR recently returned from a vacation in California and it just so happened myself and Lundi ran into Chad Smith from RHCP outside Italian restaurant, Dan Tana’s, in West Hollywood. We shook hands and had a short conversation. I asked him about the new album and their 2022 tour. His favourite song to play from it is These Are The Ways, as he said it’s one of the few songs he actually gets to go wild on the drums. I’m seeing them play in Toronto in August, with The Strokes opening. It’ll be my first time with Frusciante in the band. Needless to say, I can’t wait!
LUNDI
Late 2019 the Red Hot Chilli Peppers caught the rock world off guard announcing that John Fruscinate, the former guitarist responsible for the majority of the bands iconic songs, would return to the fold 10 years after leaving the band in 2009. After a pandemic filled two and a half years, that honestly felt like another 10, the band have finally released their 12th studio album Unlimited Love.
Stating the obvious here, and with no disrespect to Josh Klinghoffer, the RHCP are light years better of a band with John Frusciante slaying the guitar. As one of the greatest guitarists of all time JF has the unique and rare ability to make a guitar solo bring a song to life and elevate it rather than drowning it in rock cliche dullness. You can feel his presence amongst the other members too. AK, Flea, and Chad Smith all sound rejuvenated on Unlimited Love as it allows all members their time to shine and show off their talents. Particular highlights include Here Ever After, The Great Apes, These Are The Ways and Veronica.
The internal hype or happiness of the RHCP iconic lineup reforming also unfortunately results in the bands biggest error on Unlimited Love. After spending 10 years apart and 16 since making an album the band reportedly recorded nearly 50 tracks for Unlimited Love. That’s a ton of music they got out of their systems but they struggled to leave an appropriate amount of songs on the cutting room floor. Even though they whittled it down to 17 songs, at just over 73 minutes the album is a drag at points. Songs Aquatic Mouth Dance (brass is not for you RHCP), Not the One (awful ballad with even worse track placement), and One Way Traffic (wtf is this Kiedis? Would you be my traffic jam?? Seriously) add next to nothing to this album and dropping them would have resulted in a much more complete and concise effort from the group.
Having Fruscinate back in the fold gives new life to the RHCP but Unlimited Love feels like it has unlimited songs. Much too long albeit with some excellent tunes.
Overall Rating: 7.2/10
Favourite Song: Here Ever After
ROZ
Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Californication. By The Way. Stadium Arcadium. Iconic isn’t the word when talking about the Chili Peppers. With a legacy spanning decades and with Fruscinate back in the lineup, it’s difficult not to hold one’s breath and cull expectations when digging into 2022’s Unlimited Love; especially as it spans over 73 minutes and 17 tracks, length being a common death throe within the TSR universe.
Unlimited Love passes the litmus test that Foo Fighters Medicine at Midnight could not, in that it’s an album that doesn’t feel forced or created for the sake of selling records. Kiedis, Flea, Fruscinate and Smith are in top form for a majority of the album, bringing forth all of the elements that any fan has come to know and love from the band. Can anyone slap a bass harder than Flea can? Musical talent is this band’s forte and this album has it in spades. Stylistically, the band again leans heavily into the funk rock genre and offers a plethora of high quality songs as can be seen in Poster Child, It’s Only Natural, Whatchu Thinkin’ and White Braids & Pillow Chair. So. Damn. Funky.
The journey isn’t all smooth sailing however, as there are some seriously rough waters on either side of the jam-heavy middle section of the album. Kiedis channels his inner Jack Sparrow (perhaps in support of Mr. Depp’s ongoing legal battle) on the introductory track Black Summer, a full blown sea shanty - albeit with great bass work and a killer guitar solo at the two minute mark. The vocal performances fall flat in tracks Here Ever After and Aquatic Mouth Dance while songs such as Not The One (cough By The Way) and Veronica (cough Californication) border full-on parody of the bands earlier hits.
At the end of the day, the Chili Peppers are back together and Rick Rubin’s back at the production helm. There are good moments and some…not so good moments (One Way Traffic is a goddamn abomination), but ultimately it’s hard to deny that Unlimited Love is a majorly fun listen. This release is bound to make a lot of fans very, very happy.
Overall Rating: 7.0/10
Favourite Song: It’s Only Natural