John Frusciante probably hates being called a genius, but who cares? He's not going to read this anyway. So here it is: John Frusciante is a genius. Since returning to the band in 1998 after leaving in 1992, he has greatly affected the band's writing process and influenced their sound. Starting with Californication, Frusciante has aided in a revolution of the band's sound and continues to do so here. His Hendrix style guitar adds a vintage rock feel to the album. “Wet Sand” is reminiscent of the opening of Hendrix's “Little Wing” and the solo of “Dani California ” has Hendrix written all over it. His beautiful layering creates another dimension to the album, therefore creating a real Stadium Arcadium.
Flea is a student of punk music in the opening of “Torture Me” sounding like a Gang of Four track. He mixes it up on this album, playing the funky slap bass on tracks like "21st Century", to the quiet bass we heard on By The Way in "Especially in Michigan ”. Who could forget drummer Chad Smith? Smith's light drumming on "Hard to Concentrate" compliments the song and Kiedis' heartfelt vocals. However, it's "Readymade" where he stands out - Smith will enjoy belting it out live.
Let's keep the Negative Nancy role to a minimum here but I would have loved to see the funk songs outweigh the By The Way influenced tracks then the other way around. They say the funk is back, but not as much as I thought it was going to be. However, it's a vast improvement from the previous album where it seemed to disappear all together.
The band stick to what they know here, which is not a bad thing. Stadium Arcadium displays all the styles of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Its The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Freaky Styley, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Mother's Milk, BloodSugarSexMagik, One Hot Minute, Californication and By The Way rolled all in one. After 23 years, who says you need to experiment with every new album? Do they continue to pump out brilliant music? You can bet your ass they do.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
Did you seem them on SNL this past weekend?
2 - Mr. Real Estate
Great review! I'm definitely adding this one to my collection.
3 - Orchid
The two Stadium Arcadium albums were supposed to be two-thirds of a planned release of three albums each six months apart. Perhaps you would have felt less overwhelmed if they'd have stuck with the original release plan.
4 - Klobb88
I just bought the album today and i found it to be amazing. I never felt overwhelmed while listening to both cds in a row at all. The different types of songs and styles of music throughout the cd make it possible to just sit down in one sitting and listen to both cds and still be wanting more when they are done.
5 - Connie Phillips
This article has been placed at the Advance.net websites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
6 - the Todd
I found this album to be quite disappointing. It's coma-inducing. I had such high hopes. Though I agree with the critic that it needed more funk than ballads, I can't understand his (and other critics) put-down of By the Way, which I think is RHCP's best ever. There is nothing THAT slow about By the Way, including Can't Stop, Venice Queen, On Mercury, Throw Away your Television, etc. Though it's not as funky as Magik, it has one thing that makes me love RHCP... catchy, catCHY, CATCHY, makes-me-want-to-sing-along choruses, even the ones on the slower ballads. There is precious few catchy stuff on this last album. Turn It Again is about the only song that's good, and that has more to do with John's violin-like, high-pitched guitar sound, which is great.
7 - meik
I disagree with probably every single word of this review. When they said the funk was back, i immediatly thought Out in L.A, Hollywood, even The Brothers Cup but no, they produced two whole cds of trying without succeeding to get back to their roots. Also i would also be callin by the way one of their best, because even listening to a song on that album for the first few times, you cant help singin it! its infectious man. While by the way had half as many songs, it still has more good ones. With stadium arcadiums good song count at probably 2. It seems to me like they rushed all 28 of the tracks.
8 - Chris
this cd is freaking sweet. i just have to say, i found something that i am very confused about. i got the cd yesterday and ripped it on to my pc. later when i was looking at it i noticed that the track order on the 2nd cd(mars) did not mach that of the music on the pc. later i was burning the cd for one of my freinds. since the order on my pc was screwed up i changed the order to mach that of the cd case.
After it was burned i listened to it and noticed that the first song on the burnt cd was not the first song on the actual cd. so not only is the track order, that is on the back of the cd case, different from the order that the tracks r played on the cd, but i also found out that if u look at the lyrics in the booklet for disc 2, the lyrics do not mach up with the actual song being played on the cd. i dont no if the publishers made a big mistake, i am not seeing something here, or i am just crazy. SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!
9 - Jessa
First pressings of an album are most likely to be filled with errors.
10 - Tim
Solid review. I'm still listening to the CD and will reserve my own review for later, but I do have to say that I absolutely LOVE Turn It Again. I think it may actually be better than Dani California
11 - skeeter
frusciante shreds
12 - murph
two discs is better because you get double rhcp instead of waiting a long time for the second album!!!
13 - Jessa
You may be right about the double album thing, but in regards to RHCP, I somehow doubt that we're going to be waiting less than 3 years for a new one.
14 - stephanie
i love u so much u r so hot
15 - John
I thought this cd was overwhelming in brilliance. Each song was completely different, whle most bands' cds you hear nowadays that come out, a lot of the songs are all the frickin same. I also am so glad they made a double album. With a single 12 or 14 track album, I would not have been listening to it as much and as longer as I have been. It's different if a lot of the songs suck or are all the same, but each song on this album is unique, varied, experimental and original, and I keep changing my opinion on which one is my favorite, After switching from "Charlie" to "21st Century" to "Slow Cheetah" I think I have finally concluded on "Especially in Michigan" being the most powerful and melodic song on the album. Amazing.
16 - JP
I don't get it, may be it's perhaps because I'm old and remember when this band used to be good; but this whole album(s) is some of the most boring formulated crap I ever heard; worse than the neuvo-Metallica albums. What a waste of musical talent, it's actually depressing to see the pathetic cliche of fading pop culture.