album review : I’m With You (2011) – Red Hot Chili Peppers

album : I’m With You

artist : Red Hot Chili Peppers

genre : Alternative Funk Rock

year : 2011

Los Angeles-based alternative funksters Red Hot Chili Peppers have tried everything there is to the genre they lost themselves to. In 2011, after their longest gap between albums, they’ve hit the double digit. With a mass following across the globe, Red Hot Chili Peppers (or, RHCP) thought of giving back their love for their fans by simply naming their album – I’m With You. The band’s ability to enunciate their music so well has directly resulted in them connecting with so many lives and the aroma in their songs just refuses to settle down, but I’m With You just doesn’t leave you satisfied. Read on…

Kiedis and co. are ready with their dancing boots even before the mood is built up. Considering they are not essentially a band that makes dance music, this comes as a little surprise. The party begins on a high note with Monarchy of Roses. Oh the bass that hits the chest! There is a lot of dance junk that tries to replace the pure funk we want. With an electronic bad breath, Factory of Faith carries an aura of excellence around it but doesn’t leave a lasting impression. The two tracks that would take you back in time along with RHCP are – Look Around and The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie. They are funky, peppy with all the instruments working in sync in a very alternative fashion. But, I am not sounding too happy, and I’m aware of that.

Speaking of the album’s flow, taking a whole u turn are tracks three and eleven which are Brendan’s Death Song and Police Station respectively. Constructed to be soft like a breeze of smooth blowing air, the latter one should have been higher up on the track list. Another song with bass domination is Ethiopia, and the band is high on this one. ‘E I O I E I A’ definitely stays. Annie Wants a Baby is soulful with guitars making the most impact although strummed minimally. An unpredictable track with trumpets et al at number eight, Did I Let You Know changes the mood of the record and thereby stands apart.

And now we have the weaker tracks on I’m With You.  The attempt with Goodbye Hooray is to win but it doesn’t fit in the scheme of things. Except for a solo and some trippy guitars there is not much to it. As the name suggests, the high spirits are maintained on Happiness Loves Company. The least likeable song on the record is Even You, Brutus? with a whole lot of rapping that kills the fun. At number thirteen we have Meet Me At the Corner. It is one drowsy song which would work for some and wouldn’t for the rest and that totally depends on how the album has built up for you uptil now. I’m With You could’ve done without this track. The album ends on a low note with a boring song that goes by the name Dance, Dance, Dance. RHCP forgot their old fans while composing this one.

In a way RHCP write all their stuff, even on I’m With You – we have a song for a person who wants to hit the disco, another one who is feeling all so energetic, yet another one where a person is feeling all lost in thoughts contemplating about every thing there is to life, and then one for an eternal romantic. The lyrics are classic-RHCP that’ll make even your stinky armpits smell good. Yes, they pen it that way. If the departure of John Frusciante made you feel like it’s the end of an era, then the arrival of Josh Klinghoffer is beginning of another one with a new attempt. The man has made his presence felt, not by chance, but with full command, on not just one but all of the tracks.

The crazy gang at Red Hot Chili Peppers never made any bones about announcing that they are going down in the history books as the greatest alternative funk band and every other act would naturally settle down in the other ranks of the ladder. Being one of the most anticipated releases of 2011 I’m With You has somehow not met the expectations. The fans might be content but would not be completely overjoyed because of I’m With You. And, for people who are coming face-to-face with RHCP for the first time through this album, let me tell you this straight – this is not the RHCP everyone told you about.

Rating : 3/5

Absurd Bulletin : Story of the World

I am more alert about what is happening around me and around you, now than ever. A couple of months into it now, I have made it a habit to read newspapers. Yes, I was not always doing that. So I decided to put together some news that refuse to die down for me. There are shitloads of activities happening in every department in the world and this article would be followed up with many of them.

split, everything

So, well we all have read and heard about the mess Tiger ‘philanderer’ Woods got himself into. A Nike endorsee, he couldn’t have done more justice to his brand. He just did it. And went on doing it. The baby-faced golfer thought he could get away with all of that, but his wife thought otherwise. Woods has reached a settlement with his wife and to-be ex-wife Elin and has agreed to pay her $750 million. burp! So to use his golf stick off the field with 3 women excluding his wife he has agreed to pay that much. The agreement also requires Woods to not meet his 2 kids for atleast four days in one week. But I wonder what his wife is going to do with 3500 crores. Go somewhere for a vacation and not comeback?

enough of this ..

Ranjitha – the actress who got instant fame for her infamous fling with Nithyananda is putting down a book which would talk about the ways and means to fight controversies. Yes, I did not expect anyone else to even think on those lines. Some people just cannot live without being in the news. Now that she has tasted fame through the ugly news, instead of finding a safe place to hide her face she came out and announced this. I still pity you, Ranjitha.

leave me be ..

Nalini Sriharan is still in jail after she killed Rajiv Gandhi by blowing him up. For those who do not know its been close to 20 years for her in prison. Rajiv Gandhi did have a hand in Warren Anderson fleeing the country after the Bhopal gas tragedy. Gandhi was India’s prime minister then. Somewhere down the line he did pay for doing injustice to those 500000 people who were affected by the leak. I guess its enough for Nalini, she should be acquitted now.

save our tigers, how?

The country’s tiger count is still at 1411. Forest officials should use some strong aphrodisiac to arouse the male tigers and get them to mate with the tigresses. But with the number of advertisements doing the rounds that speak about the tiger count I get a feeling that all 1411 of them belong to the same sex, and hence the worry.

The condition of hoardings and placards in Chennai remains the same. Karunanidhi and his son Cinthol Senthil have virtually taken up all the ad-space in Tamilnadu. They are all over. They haunt me more than my credit card bills do. Sobriety has reigned most part of the last one month for me, and I am listening to a lot of John Frusciante‘s songs as of now which implies you should get his albums if you have not heard them. His tracks managed to touch me at all the right places.

fvck you, Paul!

Focus. India just lost 3000 crores due to the one-day bandh, but I was still in office. Eight-legged celebrity, Paul is spoiling all the fun at the world cup. How I wish Al-Qaeda is active now. And, a couple of days back TOI carried the world headlines that said Marilyn Monroe‘s chest x-rays fetched $45,000 in an auction, and few days later they said a jam made out of Princess Diana‘s hair is being sold at five pounds in London. Extending the obituary column would have made them richer rather than this news. I mean come on. Who gives a fvck? – even Zygnema doesn’t.

Also Browse :

category : Diverse Articles

category : Album Reviews

category : Recommendations