Red Hot Chili Peppers Unlimited Love
Music, Sounds

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Unlimited Love: REVIEW

by Darcy MacDonald

“You’d be hard-pressed to name an album as ambitious and filler-free from any other band in their fourth decade, and very few in their first.”

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Unlimited Love (Warner)

Make no mistake: the Chilis have put out some bad albums. But this isn’t one of them. In the company of prodigal guitarist John Frusciante (back after a 13-year hiatus from the group) Kiedis, Smith and Flea always manage to rekindle the best of their instincts as a band. Longtime producer Rick Rubin also returns. With all of these pieces in place, so does the magic that makes RHCP the quintessentially eternal L.A. band. The case can’t be made that they’re doing anything new, but they can always be counted on to do better, especially on the comeback from a losing risk. There’s a reason that this version of the Chili Peppers is its most tried and true since the death of OG guitarist Hillel Slovak, whose spirit is never far from this golden lineup. As a double album, rife with obvious hits while remaining unapologetically unbeholden to trends, you’d be hard pressed to name a project as ambitious and filler-free as Unlimited Love from any other band in their fourth decade and very few in their first. Haters be damned. The fans have spoken. We want Chilly Willy, and we got ‘em again. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “These Are the Ways”

“These Are the Ways” from the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album Unlimited Love

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Posted in Music, Sounds

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.