Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm with the band on this one...it's a masterpiece., May 15, 2006
Wow. I see a lot of old fans complaining about the direction "their" Peppers have taken here. Well, if you don't like it go form your own band and write your own "perfect" music!
There are a few common fallacies being repeated here:
1) "This album is soft. Too many ballads. Boo hoo." Huh? Maybe you are not playing it loud enough, but I hear plenty of blistering guitar and slammin beats for my tastes. The bass tone is as good as it has been since BSSM and the drums are bright and present. There are quite a few mid-tempo pieces, but they usually resolve to scorching bridges of pure rock power.
2) "The Peppers have abandoned their roots! Boo hoo." Please. Just because they are not retreading their young punk vibe over and over again it does not mean they have lost their integrity. I personally think punk AND metal sound best when a young band has something to prove. If they keep at it, without maturing, it sounds pretty stale. So I appreciate that they have moved on. I still love the old records and they are not going anywhere. Bottom line, if you want a dangerous punk sound look underground, this band has grown up.
3) "They mailed it in. It's all about Frusciante now. Boo hoo." Nonsense. They bring it all to the table on this record. Yes, John's layered sounds are a huge part of the post-Californication sound, but I personally think this is Flea's best work. He is master of a ridiculous number of styles and still manages to sound like himself. No imitators possible. He practically invents a new style of bass on "Hard to Concentrate". I defy you to tell me you've heard anything like that stuttering little groove played on a bass guitar before (he seems to be pulling modern hip hop grooves into his own brand of upper register playing) and the next tune "21st Century" is a clinic on creative funk bass groove. Flea has reached a perfect balance of his relentless power and a "less is more" approach. If you have seen them play "Subway to Venus" at a billion beats per minute recently you know that neither he nor John have lost their chops, they just make different choices now. They are playing exactly what they think is beautiful and powerful and funky, no more no less. The reason I buy every album they make is because I trust them to make THEIR choices not MINE. I do that in my own band. I like where they are going as much as where they have been. Anthony Keidis has NEVER sounded better. His lyrics are on par with the other albums, equal parts sublime abstract genius and quirky Keidis nonsense delivered in his unique style. Again if you think the lyrics aren't good, then grab a mike and let us hear yours. Keidis is doing his thing well here.
4) "It's still not as good as Blood Sugar! Boo hoo." Of course not, but it is not trying to replace that album. That was 15 freaking years ago folks! That was the perfect album for that time. I was 19 at the time and it absolutely consumed me, but that was a young man's album. This is an album for the same man 15 years later. It may not be for everyone, but it's not the Pepper's problem if you haven't grown up or if you just don't care for the music they like to make.
5) "They only care about singles now! Boo hoo." More nonsense. They are making the best music they can in the style that they like which includes more flavors than almost any other band out there. It is an insult to them or any other band to tell them they are half-assing it. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to put together even a so-so band, so when a band like this goes in to make a double album of "over produced" material it is NOT because they are just trying to sell a few more albums. These guys are already independently wealthy. They are making music, period. If you don't like it...hey...there are more bands out there than ever before...good luck finding one that cares as much about their music as these guys.
Oh...the album... (hee hee)
It is twenty eight songs of pure "grown up" Peppers. If you like the last two albums there is plenty here to digest for the entire summer. If you just like the old "real" Peppers then go dig up your old albums, stay in your cave and dream about the "good old days" when you thought they were "your" band...or you could come out into the sunshine with the REAL living Peppers and enjoy the ride.
"If you don't like this album, then you don't like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Period." - Flea
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very inspired and honest record, May 9, 2006
Like anyone at this point, I only got an initial impression of the record, albeit a strong one, since I gave it my full attention and listened on a good sound system, in a silent environment. To sum it up, it's a very well-writen, artistic, and enjoyable album.
It's a surprise. The more you know and have followed the band through its previous records, the more you'll be surprised at the level of songwriting they have reached (think Beatles-level). Originality (or the -successful- pursuing of it) is a constant. Where it isn't completely original, it is a stellar interpretation of existing structures.
It's an achievement. There is no price to be paid for all this creativity: it never sounds idiotic, pretentious, or aggressive - but free and humble. Even the most daring propositions (like Animal Bar) sound pleasing. Rick (the producer) and the recording guys are to be taken credit for this, alongside the band.
It's funky, in more than one defition. 'The funk is back', for whom it makes sense, is a true affirmation. Flea actually sounds fat for the first time since Blood Sugar Sex Magik (the band's reference funk record), due to a different choice of instrument. On the Mars half, Anthony is heard using his voice in ways that inevitably remind us of that record, and earlier ones. Where the music gets obviously funky, the mix also gets propositally old-school and rough, to further bring us memories of things as remote as 'American Ghost Dance'.
It's strange. I began my experience with the album by reading the lyrics and looking at the artwork. They communicate confusion, uncertainty, chaos. Anthony's writing suggests disenchantment with our world, alleviated by cheap pleasures and distractions. He never sounds actually sad like he does on By the Way, but true happiness is equally absent. The whole experience, music added, forms a landscape non-coincidentally reminescent of our real world.
It's a development. Chad today is the same musician as he has been since Californication (his big growth happened much earlier, beginning with One Hot Minute). He's the only estatic one though. Anthony shows a new level of control over his voice, enabling him to deliver the perfect beauty of 'Especially in Michigan'. Flea finally takes (or accepts, or reaches?) the liberty to take that intrincate, spontaneous approach, characteristic of his live jams, to the studio. John keeps the voice layering going, this time flawlessly throughout the record, and masters his guitar into new sounds that rocket-propel the music forwards.
It's too much for a jewel case. In my local Brazilian pressing exemplar, the fat booklet doesn't fit easily into the plastic, resulting in a damaged booklet. The plastic holding the discs also doesn't open smoothly, which caused one of my discs to fall music-side-down to the ground. Today's cases are real bad, this album deserves a better one.
A great album to have that is never going to bother you. A must have for Peppers fans.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Knock the world right off its feet and straight onto to its head..., May 11, 2006
First off, Nobody, and I mean NOBODY should be reviewing this album if you havent listened to it at least 4 times through. Pick any one of the last 8 albums they've put out and think back to when you first purchased it or started listening to it. I know for me I generally like a few songs on the album at first, then a handful, and sometime later I love the whole thing in its entirety. Furthermore, my favorite songs on a fresh RHCP album when i first start listening to it are the ones I most rarely listen to a year, a month, and even a week down the line. By that point, I have evolved, if you will, with the album.
Those of you who have purchased even their last 3 albums know this feeling. This is what makes this group so f*cking good, and particularly what makes their albums so good, respectively. If you think about it, the songs that you like instantly (regardless of the band) are the songs that don't stand the test of time for you. The songs that you always used to skip over or the ones that took you as many as 50 listens to like are the ones you end up loving the most down the line. This goes for albums too. My point is that, like every other one of their 7 PLATINUM ALBUMS, you evolve with the album. A lot of these negative reviews are speaking in the moment, and lack the proper hinesight needed to see that they too will LOVE this album in as soon as a couple weeks if they continue to listen. Great bands and great albums do not strike you as amazing at first. To me, what makes a great album is one that you can listen to 5, 10, 20 years after you first heard it. IF an album is good enough to keep getting played, then you get to the sentimentality part of it, a point that some of these reviewers have unknowingly hit on and that I'd like to address...
BSSM and Mother's Milk, amongst other past favorites are amazing to those of us who have been listening to them for so long, NOT ONLY because they are amazing albums, but because the music is so good that we have continued to listen to the album--many of us frequently--for so many years. The level of sentimentality an album such as Blood Sugar Sex Magik has to us simply cannot be attained in even as many as 3 or 4 years, in my opinion. Perhaps that is why Californication, By The Way, One Hot Minute don't strike as much of a fancy for me than does BSSM. But in my case I also don't listen to these 3 as much as BSSM (I've been listening to that album quite frequently for 15 years). This still amazes me. Is it the music I love so much or what was happening while it was played? Probably both.
The reviews of this album are going to look a lot different in a year from now than they look today. I think they'll keep getting better (if at all possible). Will we still be reviewing this album in 15 years? I think so. I just went to the BSSM page on Amazon and it continues to get reviews by those who bought it 15 years ago (there were 5 reviews this week alone). Amazing.
I have been listening to Stadium Arcadium continuously for the past 3 days, for an average of 5 or 6 hours a day, so I 've heard it now probably 7 times through. My favorite songs 3 days ago are not my favorites now. I'm hearing things in songs I didn't hear 3 days ago. AND THIS IS JUST AFTER 3 DAYS!!! I can't seem to stop listening to it because each day I'm finding 3 or 4 more songs that I like a lot, and everything else in between continues to get better. You get my point. Based on what is happening so far I'd guess that in a month I will love the entire album song for song.
Regarding the actual content, I've read a lot of reviews that interpreted many of the songs on this album as "ballads". THERE ARE ONLY 4 BALLADS ON THIS ALBUM. The album seemed a lot softer and melodic to me as well at first, but let me attempt to provide one explanation for this...
AK's voice has gotten BETTER and BETTER over the years, and is best on this album. It has always been good, but now I think it carries many of these songs more so than it did before. I'm not sure of the degree to which the production has influenced this (no doubt some). The production alone emphasizes his voice (volume in proportion to other inputs, etc...) on a lot of this album. I think this is why many of us are getting the ballad effect. Some of these songs come across more as ballads because his voice has more range and tone now, as opposed to the more monotonish, almost rapping that was prevalent on many of the earlier albums, but also because of the production emphasis on his voice now.
Don't get me wrong, there are songs on here that rock just as hard as The Greeting Song and Naked in the Rain, they are just fewer in ratio to the total amount of songs. And there is SOOOOO much material here. I dont think we realize this either. I'm starting to realize the depth of this album more and more now. They could have made an album that rocked a lot harder and louder by picking a certain 10 songs on here and making an album with just those songs. On the other hand, they could have taken a different 10 songs and made a completely different sounding album. It's too early for me to even comment on the variance of style here, but I think it is substantial. There's quite a range of different sounding stuff on here, and I believe this will become more and more apparent with time and more listens.
On a final note I'd like to comment on the lyrics, which I believe regardless of the musical group, often take a backseat to the music itself. Will you all please take a little time and listen particularly to the lyrics? If you cant hear them, go to a site and read some. The poetry is fantastic, and the content and message screams Red Hot Chili Peppers. I have'nt heard enough to even comment on any particular themes, but theres interesting stuff being said here.
PS- "She's only 18" might be the best name for a song I've ever heard.
Be patient, don't jump to conclusions, and keep listening...
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