Red Hot Chili Peppers "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie"

      Back in December of 2009 John Frusciante had posted to his Myspace account that he had quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and if you know anything about the Red Hot Chili Peppers/ Frusciante Sound your first reaction after hearing this news was that they were over, John had shown that himself and his guitar gave them a sound that no other guitarist could even begin to duplicate …he had brought the group back creatively after the Dave Navarro era One Hot Minute record.   

      Now comes word of a new Red Hot Chili Peppers Record titled I'm with You, the record is produced by Rick Rubin, who had previously worked with the group on their 1991 record Blood Sugar Sex Magik …the new record introduces guitarist Josh Klinghoffer to the masses as their newest member. Klinghoffer toured with the Chili Peppers on their 2007-2009 Stadium Arcadium tour, and was no stranger to Frusciante; the two had previously worked together on a project that would eventually be released as a Frusciante solo record called Shadows Collide with People. 

    The first single off of the new record is called The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie. Right off the bat you’re hit with that distinctive Flea bass sound, there’s no mistaking that for anyone else, Kiedas then comes in with the voice has not changed in 28 years...although it has lost some of that Punk/Funk fire of the early days he can still battle with the best of them…Chad Smith’s drums stays true to the course of not upsetting the Chili beat, but right away you can just hear the difference a guitarist makes to a band when they have a different style and take on how things should sound, Josh Klinghoffer has a more psychedelic sound than Frusciante, not saying it’s a bad thing just different. But overall The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie in my opinion is kind of bland, it coasts dangerously close to the MOR border...nothing too exciting about it, the song just plays it to safe to be a Chili Peppers song, I just hope the rest of I'm with You bucks that trend and the band uses what they’re Mama gave them. 

     Here’s a link courtesy of KROQ Radio out of LA to the new single I'm with You

Joe Cornelisse-SSGS