Like a 60 year old grandmother or Angus Young, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have a timeless quality to them and their music, ever since the 80’s when they formed they have been churning out fantastic albums even with the amount of incident related to the band, the newest member of the band, Josh Klinghoffer, who is replacing the Chili’s Jesus-like guitarist John Fruciante, has brought a psychedelic feel to this album with his guitar playing. As with most albums the Peppers have made its an eclectic mix of genres with an underlying Funk feel to it. The title track The Adventures Of Raindance Maggie is another funk-like song with quite a mainstream feel that grows on you the more you listen to it. The other signature track, Brendans Deathsong has a folk-esque feel to it but towards the chorus it begins to sound like classic Red Hot Chili Peppers, however as far as RHCP songs go this song is much sadder than most of their other songs.
Keidis and co. have definitely spanned out on this album genre-wise, Police Station has a Dylan feel to it with a melodic, swaying groove to it. Even You Brutus is a catchy, up-tempo song which has been stuck in my head ever since I have listened to. The problem with this song is that some songs are akin to elevator music, easy listening, boring samey songs, very separate to usual Peppers groove
Josh Klinghoffer is the youngest member of this band and brings a very different feel to the album which many die-hard Peppers fans will not like, but Kinghoffer has made a great effort at pushing the band forward and not trying to emulate Fruciante. John Fruciante was like a 2nd frontman, he played solos, sang and his guitar was always audible, however Klinghoffer stays round the edges of the songs and adds texture to them rather than what Fruciante did.
The only songs that stick to the Pepper’s mould is Dance Dance Dance and Ethiopia, both have Flea’s prominent slap bass lines and funk guitar licks, as well as Chad Smith’s trademark drum intros and sounds.
Overall, The Red Hot Chili Peppers have made a vintage album but it will take people time to get the feel of it, in time, however, it could be as widely regarded as Stadium Arcadium or By The Way. I’m With You is a big step forward for the Californian quartet and it is obvious that they are not letting the past catch them up.
