After a five year break, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are back with a new studio album. I’m With You is the follow up to the band’s 2006 multi-platinum album, Stadium Arcadium , and it is the first album the band has released without guitarist John Frusciante in 15-years.
Josh Klinghoffer, who has worked with Beck and Gnarles Barkley, steps in for the long-time and often troubled Fruciante on the new album. Klinghoffer has a few opportunities to shine on I’m With You , but the album relies more on the rhythm section of Flea and Chad Smith, and the stylistic vocals of Anthony Kiedis.
Here’s the first music video from I’m With You , for the song “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie .”
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The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been releasing teaser videos on their Youtube channel recently, talking about the new album and life without Frusciante.
Kiedis emphasized that the band wasn’t going to continue if they couldn’t produce music that equaled or bettered their previous efforts. Kiedis said:
“You put four guys in a small room every day for a year to write music, eventually the truth is going to come out. Eventually the representation of where we are in our lives is going to end up in the music. That’s what we did. We decided that we were going to write for one year. That way we can let the truth come out, and figure out how to be a band with a new guitar player.”
So far, the new Chili Pepper’s album has been getting mixed reviews. USA Today gives it 3 and a half stars, calling it a “fresh” and “less punky” than Stadium Arcadium. Rolling Stone also gives the band high marks, saying that the Red Hot Chili Peppers sound recharged and rejuvenated from their five year-hiatus. Of course, not everyone is pleased. The Detroit Free Press gave I’m With You two stars, saying that the album is nothing new for the veteran rock band, and that the album is ultimately forgettable.
