A few days ago, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released their new album titled I’m With You. I enjoyed the single, “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie,” with its contagious drumbeat and subtle electric guitar riffs. But when comparing this album to the older songs from the group, I found it fell short of my expectations. The song left me looking for something that wasn’t there, and I ended up wanting to listen to Chili Pepper’s music at its best: from the 90’s. What’s the biggest difference between their earlier music and their new music? John Frusciante.

As much as I’ve been rooting for Josh Klinghoffer, who replaced John Frusciante as the lead guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, this album keeps reminding me of how much I miss him. Josh Klinghoffer is really talented; don’t get me wrong, but he has big shoes to fill, and especially after listening to this album I’m finding that Frusciante is practically irreplaceable.

The track “Ethiopia” had a cool beat, and I liked the different instruments used in the song. The band said that this song was inspired by African music, and though I don’t think I would’ve made the connection if I hadn’t known prior, I guess the other percussion instruments featured on the track are the result. Wherever they got the idea, I enjoyed the song, especially the intro.

My favorite song on this album is definitely “Did I Let You Know,” mainly because of Flea’s awesome, jazzy, trumpet solo on the track. This really made the song stand apart from the rest on the otherwise forgettable album. I would’ve loved to have heard more of that on the album, even if it isn’t a trumpet, but something extra that distinguished one song from another.

At this point, aside from the songs mentioned earlier, the tracks tend to blur into one another, and left me dissatisfied.
Grade: C-