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Ear Medicine Feature Album July 2002
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Title: By the Way
Label: Warner Music
Bones: 
Summary: The Red Hot Chili Peppers at their most standard is still the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Sounds Like: The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Reviewed By: Spartacus |
Well, it's good and all that. It's got all the right bits in all the right places, it sounds like a Red Hot Chili Peppers album, it looks like a four-year-old has drawn the cover, and that in itself makes it look like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In fact this whole album is one big phat, schmoove Red Hot Chili Peppers album, which is the problem.
Yeah, you can say they've "grown up" since their funk/rap/metal days; you can say that By the Way is a maturation of Californication; you can say they've "found their groove"; and you would be completely right on all counts. But that's not what you expect from Keidis and Co.
When Blood Sugar Sex Magick came out the whole world just went "What the Fuck?!" and started singing Under The Bridge (many haven't stopped). Then (guitarist) John Frusciante left, Jane's Addict Dave Navarro joined and One Hot Minute 're-defined' their sound.
After the guitarists traded places again, Californication came out and wowed the pants off everyone who heard it because it was another Chili Pepperlution.
By the way is good by any standard, but it's just that: standard. While you can't generally make people in trouble because they put out an album that sounds like the last one, this is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and when your benchmarks are songs like Under the Bridge, Californication and My Friends: you've got a lot to live up to.
But even that shouldn't be a problem. If they never wrote another "world's greatest song" no-one's going to complain because they've already given ears so much.
The problem with this album is it's just a bit too much of more of the same. There's nothing that really grabs you and makes you jump around the room singing at the top of your voice. There's nothing that makes you sit down and have a little bit of a cry for no apparent reason other than the melody is just so fucking amazing.
There's no Could have lied guitar solos, no funk so funky it would turn a punk, and no sex.
There's a few new directions. Throw away your television has a fun big band drum beat thing and Cabron is a nice Spanishy little ditty which suits Frusciante's simple, yet heart-wrenching guitar stylings, but it sounds more like Anthony Keidis has just eaten a taco than been on a romantic Spanish/Mexican journey.
There's some Beatle-esque chords, melodies guitar lines, and even horns in Tear (as in rip tear, not cry tear) which is probably the best ballad on the album and the lyrics are, as usual exemplary; but it's just not quite there.
Don't get me wrong, it's really really good. But there's so many other really really good albums out at the moment you wouldn't want to make this the only album you buy this month.
The California skies have got room to spare. | |
