“Black Summer” is the track that opens “Unlimited Love,” the twelfth studio album by the band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on the first of April, in 2022. Under much speculation after a six-year hiatus since the release of “The Getaway,” the biggest expectation surrounding the album hovered around John Frusciante´s return to the band, who left the group twice due to conflict with the other members and drug abuse.
More commercial and melodic, “Black Summer” was a single designed to reunite an old and well-known facet of the band: a commercial track, à la “California Dream“, with repetitive chorus, melodic composition and slower guitar solo.
With the group’s best known line-up back together again (Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and John Frusciante), the album marks a new watershed in the band´s (rather long) trajectory. After all, what would the return of the line-up responsible for the “golden days” of R.H.C.P. be like?
How did the Red Hot Chili Peppers come about?
In the 1970s, when Anthony, the band’s lead singer, moved in with his father, the actor Blackie Dammett, in LA, some of the main themes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ aesthetic and sound were already becoming very present in Kiedis’ pre-teen life. Blackie, who lived amidst the Hollywood cultural scene of the 1970s, would take his son to concerts, clubs and nightclubs in Los Angeles.
Anthony spent his adolescence in a troubled environment of drinking, drugs, prostitution, and, of course, musical diversity, all in the most original “Californian” style; under the paradisiacal and at the same time chaotic LA scenery.
The original Red Hot Chili Peppers line-up was formed on February 13, 1983, with Anthony on vocals, Flea on bass, Jack Irons on drums and Hillel Slovak on guitar. Gradually, what was an unassuming “joke” of high school classmates attracted a larger and more enthusiastic audience.
With a mixture of funk rock, punk rock, funk metal, rap and alternative rock, the band started performing in small festivals and concert halls, defining their own style which was based mainly on improvisations and spontaneous performances by Anthony. Although he didn’t have a huge vocal range,the singer had enormous stage presence and rhymed about constant themes in his life at the time: “Sex, drugs and life in Los Angeles“.
According to Kiedis, he and his bandmates loved rock music, surfing, girls, and “getting high”. This was the spirit that drove Red Hot during the band’s early years, which resulted in the albums “Freaky Styley” and “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan“.
John Frusciante’s Legacy
In 1989, John Frusciante joined the band as guitarist, followed by Chad Smith, who would then take over as drummer. Although it was not the original lineup, the group formed by Anthony, Flea, Frusciante and Chad would become the most memorable and the “essence” of what Red Hot became in their greatest years of success.
“Unlimited Love” came to the audience of loyal Red Hot Chili Peppers fans and admirers with the premise of rescuing a magic that, for many, had been lost. Between the comings and goings of John, the group has had different guitarists on its journey (Dave Navarro and Josh Klinghoffer) who, although they have been part of the production of notable albums of the band, such as “One Hot Minute” (1995), “I’m With You” (2011),” and “The Getaway” (2016) , never referred to the “classic” formation of the group.
“Unlimited Love”
The new album is, without a doubt, something already presented by the band. There are no surprises in the tune musical style and compositions, which follow R.H.C.P‘s well-defined style: metrical lyrics with Anthony’s well-known rhymes, a strong presence of Flea’s bass and, of course, the return of Frusciante’s guitar. “Poster Child” and “She’s a Lover” bring back the band´s striking funk rock characteristics and the striking melody in the style of “Dani California”.
Although the album has been criticised for a “lack of originality”, it is important to point out that the band has always had a very characteristic style in its more than 35-year career. Like it or not, this was and still is responsible for the resounding success of the group. In their discography, even with innovations, Red Hot has never stopped being a band very faithful to itself. Even with a clear evolution from a more “dirty” funk rock to more commercial and palatable songs for the general public, the group has always kept its initial traits in all their records, which is not a bad thing, since not always only new and disruptive things are attestations of quality.
“Unlimited Love” brings Frusciante back to the classic and already known style of the union between Anthony, Flea, Chad and John. “It’s Only Natural,” “White Braids & Pillow Chair,” “Tangelo,” and “Let ‘Em Cry” hark back to great hits from “By The Way“(2002) and “Stadium Arcadium“(2006), with the rhythm heavily marked by Chad’s percussion, which matches the more melancholy and extended melody of Frusciante’s guitar chords. “These Are The Ways,” a single track that earned a music video with a more developed script (“Black Summer” and “Poster Child” went the live show and animation route), brings an aesthetic that blends modernity and the old transgressive spirit of youth, a scenario that was also explored in the music video for “Dark Necessities,” directed by Olivia Wilde in 2016.
While Flea remains responsible for the striking rhythm accompaniment with his bass, Anthony also explores his more mature side as a singer and songwriter. Unlike the band’s early era, when Kiedis sang about drugs and sex, today themes such as spirituality, companionship, nostalgia and solitude are addressed in R.H.C.P.’s songs.
All in all, the album is a gift to those who are already Red Hot Chili Peppers fans, especially to John Frusciante devotees. However, it also remains a lure and entrée for those who may still fall in love with the band for the first time, just like those who entered the world of “Californication” in 1999 and have never left since.
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The article above was edited by Lorena Lindenberg.
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