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Beat Street

Stadium Arcadium is like the summation of the decades-long career of the Chilis

Stadium Arcadium

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Warner Brothers Records Inc. Rs. 645

Once you hit the top, there's nowhere to go but down. When the Red Hot Chili Peppers's 2002 release By The Way went down quieter than expected, the truism seemed to apply once more. And yet, here they are four years later proving everyone wrong with the 28-song-heavy, two-CD (cryptically named Jupiter and Mars), Stadium Arcadium. Admittedly, they're not quite back at number one, but get close enough with this one.

Reportedly, the band started off writing a straight 10-song album, quickly got to 38 recorded songs and finally whittled the product down to its present form. Inevitably, that means there's a lot on the two CDs that should have been subjected to an impartial editing. The obscure ode allegedly to Flea's pet dog, "Death of a Martian" comes almost immediately to mind. As much as we've all enjoyed vocalist Keidis's nonsensical lyric writing, his directionless rambling on the final song of this stadium-sized album goes that one step too far. In the same vein is the ambient "Animal Bar". Frusciante overdoes the guitar effects on this one, floating away in a rare instance of mediocrity, and the effects-heavy backing vocals don't really cut it either. Moreover, with more than half the album lacking the high-energy, up-tempo music that made Blood Sugar Sex Magik what it is, this album fails to match the standard of that epic release, also falling short of the more mature Californication.

Far above the rest

That said, Stadium Arcadium still stands far ahead of much of what counts for rock music nowadays, and the primary reason for that is Frusciante. Whether he's settling peacefully into a layered trip on the ever so sweet "Hard to Concentrate", the album's aaawww moment when you know they're all grown up now; setting the mood for the album with some funky riffing on the mature opening track "Dani California"; or skipping joyfully across the fret board on "Snow (Hey Oh)", easily the most fun song on the album; Frusciante holds up his end almost without error. Also delightful through almost the entire album is Keidis. Of course, he still can't write profoundly. Nonsensical lines such as "Bump de hump doop badu" find their way into the album, this time sung in a Hendrix-inspired style on "Hump de Bump". And he hasn't always been the greatest singer either. But having mellowed with age, he focuses more on exploring the melody than on screaming inanities at the listener, and that makes all the difference.

There are some genuinely nice vocal moments scattered through the album. And holding up the other end of the bargain are the wonderfully restrained Chad Smith and Flea. Flea manages to both showcase his iconic bass playing skills and yet display a near-perfect minimalist approach to the instrument, while Smith rolls through the album with the practiced ease that few other drummers can manage like he does.

There are quite a few great highlights on the album, besides those already mentioned. There's the drifting, dreamy "Slow Cheetah", which is best heard in the dead of the night when the rest of the world can't intrude on it. The band's newer, meditative side comes out really well in the textured, mind-blowing "Wet Sand". And there's a certain delightful ephemeral touch to songs such as "Desecration Smile" and the rather open-ended title track.

While Stadium Arcadium carefully avoids being self-congratulatory, it does seem much like a summation of the decades-long careers of the Chilis, from their early slaphappy days to their recent, adult song writing ones. Some might argue that the album casts its net too wide, stretching itself too far. But if anyone can pull it off, the Red Hot Chili Peppers can, which is just what they do, in the process putting out something for everyone.

RAKESH MEHAR

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