Culture Blues

Album Review: “I’m With You” – Red Hot Chili Peppers

I'm With You - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Once again the Red Hot Chili Peppers have dropped an album without John Frusciante and, much like the last time, it’s an unfocused and indistinct mess. The last time that Flea and company decided to conduct this musical experiment it was with Dave Navarro doing the heroin and playing lead guitar, and although One Hot Minute was a commercial success (it was the nineties, people bought records then) the record was essentially soulless and not a true representation of the band. Frusciante first left the Peppers after the Blood Sugar Sex Magic tour; the band had finally broken through and become enormous, and Frusciante was ashamed of their success. The rest of the Peppers were still in their creative prime back in 1992. They managed to survive Frucsiante’s departure partly because - although he was a vital component of their sound - he had yet to become a principal songwriter and source of inspiration within the Peppers.

This time around things are much different.

When Frusciante returned in 1998 he was a shell of his former self. In the six plus year span that he was gone from the Chili Peppers, Frusciante’s heroin addiction had begun to deteriorate his body, he had squandered his fortune, and he was on the road to ruin. Once Flea helped him back into the band Frusciante was reborn like a Stratocaster-wielding Phoenix, his musical talent had managed to grow exponentially (heroin is fucking crazy like that), and he suddenly became the driving musical force in the group. Frusciante’s new role in the Peppers guided them toward their second and what some would consider most successful incarnation, steering their sound toward a more melodic and textured aesthetic, while co-writing some of the band’s most popular hits.

Now it’s 2011 and Frusciante left the band about two years ago. This time they did not replace him with a man who is more famous for marrying an MTV personality than for playing his instrument. (As you might gather, I don't really appreciate Navarro's work, though I am a fan of Jane's Addiction. I'm complicated like that.) Instead, the guitar duties have been handed to Josh Klinghoffer, a musician who had been performing live with the group for the last couple of tours and is a close personal friend of Frusciante. The problem is... he is not Frusciante. Klinghoffer possesses none of the virtuosity and uniqueness of his guitar playing predecessor (in fairness, he is replacing one of the few modern day Guitar Heroes, for Christ’s sake), but more importantly he possesses neither the musical vision nor the refined ear, which is part of the reason why I’m With You suffers.

The real problem with I’m With You is its identity crisis. The Peppers are a band that have been around since 1983. They are as easily definable a musical outfit as exists in the modern era. Yet on I’m With You we find a band that is searching; searching for direction, searching for chemistry, searching for a future. It takes almost no time at all to arrive at this realization, as I’m With You’s first track, Monarchy Of Roses, opens up with what feels like a lazy malaise of drum hits and guitar squeals before Chad Smith’s toms carry Kiedes’ tremoloed voice over heavily distorted power chords (where the hell are the Dominant seventh raised ninths?). The opener fakes its way through these slightly modern musical conventions before going all Sybil on you during the chorus, shifting gears with a throbbing disco bass line. Meanwhile, buried in the mix, is guitar work that can only be described as satisfactory. When Monarchy Of Roses is over it leaves the listener confused and uneasy. When one realizes there is still almost an hour of this record left one becomes quite dismayed (at least that is the reaction I had).

There is no single track on I’m With You that could truly be considered a hit. All this record provides are 14 tracks of forgettable, slightly funky tunes that are mediocre at best. Many of the tracks are heavy on the bass- Factory Of Faith, Ethiopia, Annie Wants A Baby, Dance Dance Dance, and the record’s first single The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie -which is a choice that seems rational because Flea is now the band’s only viable musical currency, but a rad bass intro does not a song make. Songwriting wise, this record makes it seem like the band’s only goal is to build enough tension during verses to be able to release it with a soaring blasé chorus that they hope will be filling up stadiums in the near future (they probably will). The only song that even comes close to channeling some of the famed Chili Pepper passion is Look Around, which should have been the record’s first single or, at the very least, the album’s opener.

As you may have been able to guess, I’m With You is not a record that you need to spend any time with, which is a shame, because I tend to root for artists that I remember fondly from my formative years (the nineties were a magical time, I am glad that you are too young to remember them). One can only hope that Frusciante will get this need for a change out of his system soon and return to the Peppers before its too late. My apologies, Mr. Klinghoffer.