The new youth of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
In 2022 i Red Hot Chili Peppers they surprised everyone a bit by releasing two albums: on April 1st “Unlimited love” (read the review here) and October 14 “Return of the Dream Canteen”. This latest album to date is the Californian band’s latest recording venture and what follows is our review of the album.
Two albums in one year thanks, above all, to the return of two giants: John Frusciante on guitar and Rick Rubin on production. We already understood that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have found a disruptive physical form and a somewhat bulimic musical creativity from the concert held in the summer at Firenze Rocks and from the publication of “Unlimited Love”, a good album. “Return of the Dream Canteen”, released six months after the first chapter, follows the same wavelength, arriving with 17 songs which, however, “are not b-sides”, underlines the band.
All the songs were born during the recording of “Unlimited Love”, but, as the group’s drummer Chad Smith explained, they have a life of their own. “We felt like we had too many good songs not to put out another record. It’s not like a b-sides record or anything like that. They are all good and right,” underlined the musician. Let’s say it without any fear: these records add nothing to the career of the Californian band, but they are pleasant because they contain all the influences, style and sound that have always characterized Anthony Kiedis and his associates.
Seeing the group play on stage, having fun, recording song after song, feeding the fans lots of new material, is a sign of vitality, joy and beauty that can only be welcomed with enthusiasm. In a musical world where we proceed by releasing single after single, the Red Hot Chili Peppers don’t care and release more than 30 songs in a year because they feel they have to. And all without thinking about time, not even about the duration of the songs, many with lengths that are anything but in line with the dictates of enjoying music today. The sound that made them one of the most important bands in the history of rock, that mix of crossover, rap, funk and rock that Kiedis is able to surf on, is in “Return of the Dream Canteen”.
“Tippa My Tongue” is one of the funk manifestos, just like the groove of “Peace and Love” and “Fake as Fuck”. “Roulette” is a more country piece, with the acoustic guitar acting as a common thread throughout the song, while “Bag Of Grins” has 90s rock influences, a grunge filtered through the lens of Red Hot. There are also more experimental and less pigeonholed pieces such as “My Cigarette”, but the real added values are the more dense and intimate songs: “Eddie”, dedicated to the memory of Eddie van Halen, “La La La La La La La La” and “In the Snow,” which clocks in at six minutes.
“Return of the Dream Canteen”, you may like more or less, but perhaps it is important more for what it represents than what it contains: it is the second great act of a great band that is experiencing a sort of new youth. The lyrics remain adult, melancholy, ironic and are broken mirrors that reflect life. No, there isn’t the power of amazement of legendary albums like “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” or “Californication”, those are unrepeatable seasons, but many of the songs produced still make fans feel at home. And this, after almost forty years of career, must mean something.
