Red Mosquito

Yeah - RHCP is way more mainstream now- hard to compare. Although it was nice to hear Mike and Jeff finally jam out on the end of quick escape, John and Flea seem to do that on every second track . While Gigaton has some new ideas, UL is maybe successful in part due to its familiarity.

I was just trying to think of some other solid late career albums from artists that were for many, past it.

Does accelerate by REM count? maybe not. From some other "legacy" acts, I really enjoyed like clockwork (QOTSA), Hesitation marks (NIN) and Fear inoculum (Tool)

Though looking at that list, maybe I just fit the demographic.

Birds in Hell wrote:Unlimited Love is a much stronger record than Gigaton.

I've only heard 3 songs from Unlimited Love, but I can safely say SBWM is better than anything on there. Shit, I'd take most of Backspacer over the 3 songs I've heard. Ugh, Red Hot Chili Peppers, no thanks.

tragabigzanda wrote:

Birds in Hell wrote:Unlimited Love is a much stronger record than Gigaton.

I could see this if Unlimited Love was about 25 minutes shorter, if Gigaton didn't have DotC on it, and if Keidas was less Keidasy.

smallest_oceans wrote:Yeah - RHCP is way more mainstream now- hard to compare. Although it was nice to hear Mike and Jeff finally jam out on the end of quick escape, John and Flea seem to do that on every second track . While Gigaton has some new ideas, UL is maybe successful in part due to its familiarity.

I was just trying to think of some other solid late career albums from artists that were for many, past it.

Does accelerate by REM count? maybe not. From some other "legacy" acts, I really enjoyed like clockwork (QOTSA), Hesitation marks (NIN) and Fear inoculum (Tool)

Though looking at that list, maybe I just fit the demographic.

Accelerate counts for sure, I think.

RHCP has always been more mainstream than Pearl Jam or at least equal to. When Ten was huge and maybe the most mainstream Pearl Jam would ever be, Blood Sugar Sex Magik was enormous. RHCP kept their notoriety intact throughout while Pearl Jam slowly faded from consciousness. Even if Yield is the most accessible Pearl Jam album (debatable of course), Californication is out there to reset the bar. Other than that band taking forever between albums they haven’t gone anywhere since Mother’s Milk/BSSM to leave the mainstream conscious except for maybe the Jeff Klinghoffer era.

To each their own, but I get nothing special from the new Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I say this as a pretty big fan of their old stuff.

RockPusher wrote:To each their own, but I get nothing special from the new Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I say this as a pretty big fan of their old stuff.

I quite like the new RHCP album now that I have had a few listens but for me this isn’t remotely close. I still love this Pearl Jam album in the mix with all their best.

I was thinking about this earlier, I think it has something to do with what draws me to each band (or bands in general).

What I really enjoy about RHCP is the interplay between Frusciante, Flea and Smith. Kiedas' often-dopey vocals can add to that, but they don't really detract from it, even at their worst. Had no interest in the band with Klinghoffer, as one of the necessary ingredients for that sound was gone.

Pearl Jam are kind of similar, in that I really enjoy the sound/vibe/interplay of the Abbruzzese and Irons era bands. I would happily listen to endless hours of meandering jams by those guys, with or without vocals. Matt's such a different drummer, that musical chemistry has never been quite the same since he joined. There's something unsatisfying for me about all of their records since he joined and that's definitely not solely attributable to the quality of the songwriting.

Ed's voice and good songs definitely aren't enough to maintain my interest, perhaps why Earthling leaves me totally cold.

Unlimited Love could be filled with average songs, and there's a good chance I'd still find it a more enjoyable listen than a modern day Pearl Jam record with better songs. Throw Dave or Jack back into the mix however and all bets are off.

Matt's 2 best PJ albums stand above Jack's or Dave's, so this is no issue for me. If I didn't love 2000-2003 PJ so much, I might feel the same.

There is a return to some of that interplay on gigaton (quick escape, DOTC) but I agree it hasn't really been there for a while. And I agree that the eddie guitar songs aren't enough on their own.

I always liked that quote from Michael Stipe in the pearl jam 5x1 photo book. The ending went:

...Great chunks of repeating and overlapping guitar, a meandering-until-it-nails-you-in-the-forehead melody, and a small wave of the hand. Colossal.

That feeling is there on gigaton, but no so much on backspacer (amongst the waves?) or lightning bolt (???)

yeah, i get what all of you say but Binaural, RA, ST and now Gigaton shows a band interplay i really really like.

RHCP is similar in the way that while i love John as a member, im also a big fan of Hillel and Dave´s albums too and both SA and By The Way arent my thing.

Josh´s era also has good moments.

I think probably every "casual" fan of a band (or non-fan) sees them as "[singer] and the [others]"; I know I see RHCP that way; I only know who Chad Smith is because I was a drummer and my peers worshipped him

Ms Harmless wrote:I think probably every "casual" fan of a band (or non-fan) sees them as "[singer] and the [others]"; I know I see RHCP that way; I only know who Chad Smith is because I was a drummer and my peers worshipped him

It has more probably to do with earlier eras of RHCP but I always felt like the Chili Peppers were amazing but for Keidis who is often a liability. He helped push their energy forward early on I guess, but he was never the focal point for me.

Unlimited Love feels like a massively retrograde step for the chilis. The Getaway was excellent. A real leap forward for the band. I dunno if that's the Danger Mouse influence as he had a lot of cowriting credits, or whether it was Josh. I kinda think the former as it sounds like part of the reason they dumped Josh is that they were struggling with the new writing sessions with him.

UL has its moments but it feels pretty lazy in parts. Songs that they could bash out in their sleep. Black Summer a case in point. Almost a RHCP pastiche. The album needed to be much leaner. Compare UL to Stadium Arcadium, which is an even longer album yet had very little filler on it.

tragabigzanda wrote:...while PJ really lost that vibe post-Riot Act, and now mostly sounds like Eddie and the Pearl Jams.

It really feels like you are unfairly lumping Gigaton in with the PRAMG era. There is a real full band sound, to my ears, in most of the album.

smallest_oceans wrote:There is a return to some of that interplay on gigaton (quick escape, DOTC) but I agree it hasn't really been there for a while. And I agree that the eddie guitar songs aren't enough on their own.

I always liked that quote from Michael Stipe in the pearl jam 5x1 photo book. The ending went:

...Great chunks of repeating and overlapping guitar, a meandering-until-it-nails-you-in-the-forehead melody, and a small wave of the hand. Colossal.

That feeling is there on gigaton, but no so much on backspacer (amongst the waves?) or lightning bolt (???)

Exactly.

liebzz wrote:

Ms Harmless wrote:I think probably every "casual" fan of a band (or non-fan) sees them as "[singer] and the [others]"; I know I see RHCP that way; I only know who Chad Smith is because I was a drummer and my peers worshipped him

It has more probably to do with earlier eras of RHCP but I always felt like the Chili Peppers were amazing but for Keidis who is often a liability. He helped push their energy forward early on I guess, but he was never the focal point for me.

Not only that- his singing now to my ears at least has an affected quality that is not nearly the laidback easy to listen to stylings of the older stuff. Definitely makes it harder to listen to for me, and makes the quality of the music a little secondary, sad to say.

RockPusher wrote:

liebzz wrote:

Ms Harmless wrote:I think probably every "casual" fan of a band (or non-fan) sees them as "[singer] and the [others]"; I know I see RHCP that way; I only know who Chad Smith is because I was a drummer and my peers worshipped him

It has more probably to do with earlier eras of RHCP but I always felt like the Chili Peppers were amazing but for Keidis who is often a liability. He helped push their energy forward early on I guess, but he was never the focal point for me.

Not only that- his singing now to my ears at least has an affected quality that is not nearly the laidback easy to listen to stylings of the older stuff. Definitely makes it harder to listen to for me, and makes the quality of the music a little secondary, sad to say.

absolutely; his voice has changed in some weird ways at least as much as Ed's has