Stadium Arcadium (2CD)

I'm a long time Chilis fan, and was a fan of the early John Frusciante guitar-playing (Mothers Milk, Blood Sugar Sex Magik). When he left the Chilis, they only had the one album "One Hot Minute" with guitarist Dave Navarro, and although a good album, you felt John's absence in their songwriting.

Then, John recovered from the heroin addiction that almost killed him to come back for the excellent Californication and By The Way albums.

Just when you thought it was impossible for John's playing to become even more incredible, we now have Stadium Arcadium. You just have to listen to the solos from Dani California and Torture Me to hear why he treats his playing like true art.

This album is so addictive and worth the price for Hump De Dump alone!

John fans- check out his solo album Niandra Lades/Usually Just a T-Shirt for some really eerily beautiful playing. If you can get hold of Smile From the Streets You Hold (recorded during his addiction), there are some… more »

I'm a long time Chilis fan, and was a fan of the early John Frusciante guitar-playing (Mothers Milk, Blood Sugar Sex Magik). When he left the Chilis, they only had the one album "One Hot Minute" with guitarist Dave Navarro, and although a good album, you felt John's absence in their songwriting.

Then, John recovered from the heroin addiction that almost killed him to come back for the excellent Californication and By The Way albums.

Just when you thought it was impossible for John's playing to become even more incredible, we now have Stadium Arcadium. You just have to listen to the solos from Dani California and Torture Me to hear why he treats his playing like true art.

This album is so addictive and worth the price for Hump De Dump alone!

John fans- check out his solo album Niandra Lades/Usually Just a T-Shirt for some really eerily beautiful playing. If you can get hold of Smile From the Streets You Hold (recorded during his addiction), there are some really heartfelt lyrics in there.

I'm a huge Red Hot Chili Peppers fan and own every album they have ever released but i can honestly say that this isn't the Chili Peppers at their best. Through-out their career you can see a progression in the music from the funky perfection of 'Blood Sugar Sex Magic', to the troubled rock of 'One Hot Minute' to the emotional and mature 'Californication'. 'By The Way' was again a progression with the group experimenting with varied styles of music and it felt as though the band were creating something fresh and interesting, but here on Stadium Arcadium the music feels distinctly tired and the songs are usually by the numbers funk rockers.

Tracks like 'Hump de Bump' and 'Dani California' are hardly likely to challenge anything on 'Mother's Milk' or 'Freaky Styly' for energetic funk, and the slower numbers such as 'Snow' and 'Slow Cheetah' are good but lack the emotional impact of anything off 'Californication'.

It's not terrible (any album with John Frusciante playing… more »

I'm a huge Red Hot Chili Peppers fan and own every album they have ever released but i can honestly say that this isn't the Chili Peppers at their best. Through-out their career you can see a progression in the music from the funky perfection of 'Blood Sugar Sex Magic', to the troubled rock of 'One Hot Minute' to the emotional and mature 'Californication'. 'By The Way' was again a progression with the group experimenting with varied styles of music and it felt as though the band were creating something fresh and interesting, but here on Stadium Arcadium the music feels distinctly tired and the songs are usually by the numbers funk rockers.

Tracks like 'Hump de Bump' and 'Dani California' are hardly likely to challenge anything on 'Mother's Milk' or 'Freaky Styly' for energetic funk, and the slower numbers such as 'Snow' and 'Slow Cheetah' are good but lack the emotional impact of anything off 'Californication'.

It's not terrible (any album with John Frusciante playing guitar can't be bad) but it's a disappointing release from such a technically gifted group of musicians.