Dark Necessities: Living with the new RHCP albumÂ
The new Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) album has been subject to polarizing opinions. But what’s important is the lessons in ‘unlearning’ that it imparts to the listeners.
It’s like dealing with a near and dear one having departed. You would want to placate yourself by expecting the best for yourself at every step from thereon, preferably with the presence of someone or something that would help you revisit the warm feeling that you associate with the former person involved. But it’s always going to be different, the ‘new’. And it would be much easier, much less painful if we ended up embracing the ‘new’.
You can’t sit there, pining for Frusciante; the moment has gone. It’s time to settle for the new. And if you say that ‘new’ is crap, you’re just deemed ‘irrelevant’. The new album is different, with Josh Klinghoffer trying to offer his best. But one really can’t help state the obvious. At every swelling rhythm in each song, you want Frusciante to just step in and make the song his own. But that just doesn’t happen.
For me, Kiedis and Flea are the only comforting elements of this offering; my guess is that Chad Smith has been definitely bodyswapped by Will Ferrell for most parts on this album. Â
So dismissing the album as dry or boring or shit just doesn’t do it; either you learn to live with it or learn to live away from it. Much like what Kiedis croons throughout the song, these dark necessities need to be a part of your design. We have entered a new age. And letting go is just so tough. Â
Frusciante may not have anything to do with RHCP anymore. But let’s just never say never.












