Red Hot Chili Peppers • Stadium Arcadium

86

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been through more as a band and stayed together over these many years than any two normal human bands. Drug Addiction, death, band members leaving and returning, and yet they keep churning these funky albums out so you've got to give them props. When I took my monthly flip over to MTV and saw Anthony Kiedis and Flea dancing about in different costumes for the video to their first single for Stadium Arcadium (anyone want to theorize on why the disc's title? I've got a couple thoughts myself.), "Dani California" my first thought was "You gotta be kidding me!"

But then I gave it a second, and kept listening. Any sort of video instead of The Hills or Real World on MTV catches my attention, but a bunch of 40-somethings garnering the attention of pre-teens by rocking out has to be a good thing, right? "Dani California" also leads off the album and it's another in the long line of pre-wrapped "hits" that the Peppers have been throwing at us for the last few albums, basically guaranteeing themselves radio and video play. It is easy to listen and bob your head to, and John Frusciante does rip the hell out of a guitar solo at the end, but overall it is the same old thing.

And then you take a look at the album listing. Holy Snikies! This sucker is a double album- two hours of Chili Peppers. Now some listeners may consider this something worthy of an ecstatic fistpump or other celebratory gesture, and you only need to jump over to the iTunes reviews page to find many others who will join you in that feeling. The problem is that with 28 songs, Stadium Arcadium tends to meander a bit and is stuffed with a few too many mid-tempo ballads when what RHCP do really well is up-tempo funk. Standout numbers like "Hump de Bump" (yes, that's the title), "She's Only 18," "Torture Me," "Warlocks," "Desecration Smile," "Made You Feel Better" (and this one truly did after some of the slow ones I had sat through), and "Readymade" are intermixed by scores of filler that make you want to hit next on your cd or iPod.

The musicianship of the band is definitely not in question, and Frusciante has stepped it up here. Kiedis' lyrics have always ridden the line between goofy poetry and just silly but he keeps it together here. Stadium Arcadium should have been a polished single CD and then would have made the jump into really top notch territory but as it is, I'll continue to pick and choose numbers, not listen to two hours of Peppers.