Red Hot Chili Peppers -Stadium Arcadium

Mon 29th May, 2006 in Music Reviews

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release,
California, show your teeth
She’s your priestess, I’m your priest
Yeah… yeah…

I sit here, my mind numb.  I have just endured listening to the near five minute first single ‘Dani California’ from the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s first album in four years, Stadium Arcadium.  

‘Dani California’ had almost immediately lost interest for me, thanks to its bland verses sung in a dull ‘rap’ given kindly to us by RHCP lead singer Anthony Kiedis, but it was when the song’s chorus hit that you had to give up hope for Stadium Arcadium. 

A number of questions will go through your head if you decide to add this to your Red Hot Chili Peppers CD collection, the biggest one will be ‘what happened?’  The single doesn’t grow on you, unlike what many have said, and sadly, it’s actually a highlight of what’s to come.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers… yes, all four of them… have run out of ideas.

Following the downward slide of the band after the release of their explosive first few albums, and their peak, Blood Sugar Sex Magik; Stadium Arcadium often gives us songs and lyrics which mean nothing at all.  There’s no way to emotionally connect with these twenty-eight tracks.  Check out the chorus of the title track, which is actually quite a nice instrumental number:

The Stadium Arcadium
A mirror to the moon,
Well, I’m forming and I’m warming
The state of the art until the clouds come crashing.

Don’t ask what this or the other twenty-seven tracks are meant to mean…instead, you can try to enjoy Stadium Arcadium as a relaxing, offbeat, strange… but never exciting record. John Frusciante and Flea are, as usual, awesome on their guitars, but it’s not quite enough to save the two CDs, and they find themselves playing second fiddle to both of their worst problems…their singer Anthony Kiedis.  He’s making no statements here, trying only to mix a bit of the rapping with a bit of singing, ripping off a lot of ‘By the Way’, ‘Californication’ and the classic BSSM itself along the way. That’s right: if you fast forward on your iPods to the middle of each song, each and every one will be filled with the same drone.

Redeeming factors?  Rick Rubin’s excellent production talents makes the Red Hot Chili Peppers sound more together than they’ve ever done, even though most of the album is spent trying to undo this factor without realizing it. And there are no ‘bad tracks’ to tell the truth, it’s just that it’s the same old stuff.  The same.  The same both sides of the disc. The same two hours on repeat.  If you’re an Australian who doesn’t already own this, try not to go out and grab it.  It’s really a project for diehards only (and I’m sure there are still many).