Red Hot Chili Peppers
By The Way

THE REVIEW

There are albums that represent the pinnacle of a band and those that represent the beginning of a decline. After the excellent "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" and other good subsequent ones, even our chili peppers have reached the wrong album... and it's precisely the one you have in front of you, "By The Way".

If with the good "Californication" the band had almost entirely abandoned the so-called "crossover", or rap mixed with rock, for those who don't know, to give more space to very catchy commercial songs, with "By The Way" the band surpasses itself in this. The result is thus an album where the old RHCP sound is almost absent, replaced by syrupy pop songs, some monotonous and others unbearable.

The title track that opens the album is astounding, with a hypnotic bass line from the excellent bassist Flea, which seems to open a masterpiece album (which, however, as you continue listening, turns out to be the exact opposite); the only flaw is that after a while it becomes repetitive. "Universally Speaking" is a pop song that after not even two minutes no longer engages and at a certain point becomes downright annoying; "This Is The Place" is a pleasant piece that recalls the old albums, but despite everything, it can't almost save anything; "Dosed" is one of the few ballads of this album and, in general, very beautiful as well as catchy: one of the best. "Don't Forget Me" is one of the many little pop songs by the Red Hot where the chord progression repeats infinitely and brings nothing exceptional (among other things, it resembles "Other Side" too much, just slower). "The Zephyr Song" is a nice song but with a chorus too similar to Universally Speaking, but unlike the latter, it is better structured and performed. "Can't Stop" is perhaps the top of the album, the one that absolutely grabs you on first listen: the verse with beautiful background choirs and the chorus, catchy but not boring at all; my favorite of this album. "I Could Die For You", yet another pop ballad, along with Dosed is one of the prettiest.

"Midnight", classic pop that can't be endured anymore; "Throw Away Your Television" is perhaps the one that most recalls the old hits of the Red Hot, but brings nothing new or exceptional. "Cabron" is a very cute song with an almost country rhythm, fun certainly, but nothing more. "Tear", finally a "pop" song with great impact: very beautiful the solo by John Frusciante in the interlude and the background violins; a successful song. "On Mercury" is still a pop song with a wild funky guitar rhythm that makes it a danceable and cheerful piece; the only flaw? Repetitive, but there is much worse. "Minor Thing" and "Warp Tape", again pop too catchy but zero originality that can bore. Finally, when the listener finds themselves, after so many disappointments, in front of the closing track, the longest, and the one that closes the album, they would expect a masterpiece... they find "Venice Queen", a song about the Los Angeles beach: although at first it is very pleasant, after a few minutes a ton of guitar and vocal loops are heard that most listeners will say: "But I've already heard this loop....". And so it is, this song, although one of the least boring, is full of samples from other songs by the band already heard to the point of nausea.

In short, we are facing a flop of the band. Thus, I save 5 out of 16, for the rest, I don't even consider it... a slip... oh well, it happens to all bands, and it happens also and especially to the best.