Red Hot Chili Peppers
I'm With You

September, and the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album is out.

In the skies above my house, with the end of summer, clouds of rain are expected, in the skies above DeBaser, clouds of reviews of "I’m With You" are expected. Much has been said about this album before its release, and much more will be said. And that's the point.

"I’m With You" is the natural continuation of "Stadium Arcadium". So far, nothing surprising: a return to the '80s sound was not considered by anyone sane, an evolution towards new horizons always seemed unlikely. John Frusciante left the band and was replaced by his friend Josh Klinghoffer, which is the only real unknown.
Don't worry because there is very little that is surprising: the RHCP continue to offer us what they have been offering for fifteen years without substantial variations in quality. Pop rock wavering between sleepy and energetic, bass and drums in evidence, Kiedis alternates as usual between pop choruses and rap-style verses, obviously without overdoing it. Klinghoffer is good, even though he doesn’t venture into anything special. And the individual songs are also quite predictable. Sure, "Look away" is embellished by an organ, "Goodbye Hooray" seems to regain some of the old grit, "Ethiopia" has a nice prominent guitar, "Did I Let You Know" is one of the best songs from the latest Red Hot, with unusual passages and a trumpet solo. However, all this doesn't improve an album that is not exactly inspired like this one: rather, it prevents it from sinking into the most abject boredom. There are actually some innovative passages (for the Red Hot) within more than one song, all, however, are under the radar, without greatly influencing the overall progression of the song. Most often it is just the beginning of the song that is truly atypical, like in "Even You Brutus?", the piano in "Happiness Love Company" and the first track "Monarchy of Roses", which even makes you think for thirty seconds of a return to the sounds of "One Hot Minute".

There really isn’t much to talk about, and the fact that I’m contributing to the flood of useless words (Jalisse style) that will be spent on this record doesn’t really honor me, but there it is. Not much use in discussing an essentially not very useful album: if then the useless, the chatter, and the light music gain approval, there is no point in getting sad.
I think at this point anyone will already know whether to listen to "I’m With You". If the Red Hot Chili Peppers stopped appealing to you after 1991 or 1994, or if you never liked them, feel free to avoid this record. If you liked the latest albums, you’ll like it unless you expect anything shocking. As far as I'm concerned, it’s a better album than "Stadium Arcadium" and "Californication", but it earns just a passing grade, only that, because of the low quality of today’s mainstream rock and also because I remain ever nostalgic for the music of my youth, and when I’m nostalgic, I have simple tastes.

I enjoyed listening to it, but I will soon retire it. Not beautiful but pleasant, not bad but avoidable.