Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way This is the latest 16 track, 70 minute release by the Masters of California Funk, the Red Hot Chili Peppers... gone are the funky tracks of Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magic... enter the new 'adult' Chili Peppers... virtually a full album of Under the Bridge. This is by far there most "grown up" release yet... few rockin' tracks and alot of Pepper ballads. Anthony's crooning, multiple harmonies, Flea's funky bass, John's trippy guitar and Chads pounding drums are all there, but it seems like one long "slow Red Hot Chili Peppers" song that will eventually grown on you and become unique in their own way. The opening track, By The Way, rocks a little old school style. There is a ska/horn influenced song, On Mercury that is a small standout. Throw Away Your Television packs a little Pepper punch as do a couple other tracks. Tear busts out a litte Beatle-esque piano and horns reminescent of Sgt. Peppers. Unfortunately this CD lacks almost any Peppers of old. This CD shows a little Chili Pepper paunch much like Anthony's gut. A gut that you eventually become comfortable with it. If I had to rate it, I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. listen to clips at cdnow.com
It sounds a lot like everything else they've done in the 5 years. Not that that's bad, no, but I think they should include a little more variety in their music like some other bands do.
http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37461 After several listenings, I still haven't changed my mind. so disappointed...
I agree although I've only heard the first single, I'm not impressed either. Guess it'll take the radio playing the **** out of the song as they always do for it to be imbedded in my brain. although hey, rH, could ya burn those for me in some MP3s this weekend? I'll hook up with you later.
The search tool is a fun thing to use. I started a thread on this but realized rH beat me to it. Here are my comments for all who are interested: After reading the glowing 4 star review in Rolling Stone magazine, I snatched up my copy of the new Chili Peppers CD By The Way. Unfortunately, the album in my opinion is pretty damn weak unless you love radio-friendly ballads that stole the airwaves with Californication in 1999. First of all, where the hell is Flea? Dude is very laid back on this album with the exception of a few tracks, which as a bass player is a huge disappointment for me. It got so frustrating to hear my favorite bassist sit back and suck that I literally almost threw the CD out the window of my car. Thankfully, there are 16 tracks on this disc about 5 or 6 that I would consider worthy of listening to regularly. In particular there is one very cool latin influenced song called "Cabron" and another that has a ska influence to it. As a general consensus however, the songs drag ass and even the ones that tease you with a big build up, end up sounding weak and uninspired. In a nutshell, the Chili Peppers have tossed away their hardcore funk roots of the past in favor of radio friendly ballads that will sell tons of albums and make them tons of $$$. The songs are well written, but the band never lets loose and just rocks like they did in the past, which for any longtime fan gets annoying. If you liked the slow balladry songs of Californication, prepare to be spoon fed a very LARGE dose of that on By The Way.
man, i must admit, i was pretty hard on them in my review... i have since listened to this CD numerous times and it's my current favorite music to run (jog) to! i really dig most tracks. this cd has definately grown on me. Minor Thing is one of my favorite tracks.
