Stadium Arcadium – 10 of the best

With the release of a new Red Hot Chilli Peppers album pending, I found myself delving into their back catalogue and coming to the before unknown conclusion that they are in fact one of my favourite bands.  If I’m honest, when I was younger, I never thought they’d better Blood Sugar Sex Magic.  Frusciante left, One Hot Minute was decent but patchy at best and things with the band seemed to hit a downward curve.  5 years passed, Frusciante returned and then came the one-two punch of Californication and By The Way, low on the Kiedis lewdness (Purple Stain being a notable exception) and high on great songwriting and musicianship.  The rock that is the Chilli’s rhythm section had always been there and was still sounding ‘jaw droppingly’ good, but now Kiedis’ singing had matured into something unique, special and confident, Frusciantes harmonies soared over every aspect of the albums and his guitar work had reached new levels of awesomeness!  Next, a double album was mooted and eventually appeared in the form of Stadium Arcadium.  The excitement was intense, that is, until I gave it a few listens and realized that it was just another example of a band releasing a good double album instead of a potentially classic single album… Other notable offenders include, Guns N Roses, ‘Use Your Illusion’, Smashing Pumpkins, ‘Mellon Collie’, Bruce, ‘The River’, Prince, ‘Sign Of The Times’ (to name but a few).

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I suppose there is a kind of beauty in the grandisose statement of a double album, that ambitous shot at greatness, the flaws mixed with the genius (and more bang for your buck).  It’s just sometimes I think what turns out to be a good double album, could have in fact been a bona fide classic album all on its own if only they’d shown restraint and got rid of some of the chaff.  Now, I love all of the double albums listed above but I’ve spent many a time listening to them and wondering what they would have been like if just released on there own and what songs would have made the final cut…

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Well ladies and gentlemen, after listening to Stadium Arcadium non-stop for the past week, I’ve decided to give you what I consider to be the definitive ‘single’ classic album that it could have been… away with the chaff, only the 10 strongest survive…

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Desecration Smile - Although side two is the weaker side of the album, this song is one of the strongest I think they’ve ever released.  A great example of Kiedis’ growing assurance as a singer, an awesome chorus, great harmonies and some beautiful guitar work.

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Dani California - I remember eagerly waiting for this song to debut on channel four and being extremely excited with what I heard (especially after the outro guitar solo, the sound of a band firing on all cylinders!). One of my favourite middle-eights as well…

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Readymade – I always feel this song is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Heavy on the ”Rage Agianst The Machine’ influence, its just a very good band making things sound all too easy.  Plus, the solo gets me everytime… ‘clean it up Johnny’.

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Stadium Arcadium – Whilst not as good as it’s sister song, ‘Californication’, this is still a great number and a fine example of Kiedis’ tendency to both baffle and confound with his lyrics.

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Snow (Hey Oh) – Chilled out Chillis… A deceptively tricky guitar riff underpins a song that could be a bit shorter in run time but is still a good listen nonetheless.

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Hump De Bump – Another guilty pleasure.  As soon as the guitar book became available, I bought it and have to say this is by far the most fun song to play along to (which is why it makes the list)!  As good and influential as Frusciante is on this album, Flea and Chad Smith must be an absolute joy and inspiration to work with (and who knew Flea could play the trumpet)!

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Slow Cheetah – I’ve always been partial to a bit of fingerpicked acoustic guitar so this song was always going to make the list. An understated gem with more great harmonies by Frusciante on the chorus.

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Torture Me - Frusciante is all over this song, both on the guitar and with the vocals.  It’s really hard to say anything about Flea that hasn’t been said before, but he really is as good as everyone makes out and someone who both makes you want to pick up a Bass and learn how to play it whilst at the same time making you feel like there’s actually no point in even trying!

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Turn It Again - A great groove propels this song along, the chorus may not be the best but the verses more than make up for that.

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Wet Sand – This is just one of my favourite Chilli’s songs hands down.  It just teases and builds into a great climax that has me reaching for the repeat button on the CD player nearly everytime.  A relatively simple progression given weight by a great band doing what they do best.  To quote Nigel Tufnell, “it’s just simple lines, intertwining” but boy do they do it well….

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I think you’ll agree, a pretty damn good album.  And if you don’t… well, why not give it a go yourselves!