One Killer, Several Decent Songs and Multiple Fillers - A Review of Red Hot Chili Peppers' Return of the Dream Canteen

Only six months after its twelfth studio record Unlimited Love that featured seventeen new songs plus one Japanese bonus track, American crossover quartet Red Hot Chili Peppers comes around with another seventeen tunes plus extra song from the same recording sessions half a year later. The band's thirteenth full length effort has the beautiful title Return of the Dream Canteen and features a quite eclectic cover artwork going back to the style of the band's early years. In my humble opinion, the quartet would have been better off releasing three outputs with twelve songs each in three consecutive years but perhaps the band wants to focus on celebrating its fortieth anniversary in style next year. Let's take a closer look on these eighteen new songs clocking in at seventy-nine minutes.

Let's start on a positive note. The album's production is dynamic, organic and rich as producer Rick Rubin and the four musicians have been cooperating successfully for more than three decades with the odd exception of The Getaway which was also the band's weakest record thus far.

The new album includes a massive hit with bouncing, catchy, funky, joyful and rhythmic opener "Tippa My Tongue" that was rightfully chosen as the record's first single and graced with a creative music video fans desire to watch time and again. This tune might be the band's greatest track since the best cuts from I'm Beside You released a decade ago.

The record features several other minor highlights that will please fans of old age and younger audiences alike. "Reach Out" is a wonderful combination of bouncing, cool and melodic vocal lines and some heavier instrumental work in the alternative rock refrain that should work amazingly in concert.

"Eddie" is a soulful ballad with a wonderful guitar solo honoruing late Eddie van Halen. This song takes all the time to build up a nostalgic atmosphere before culminating with John Frusciante's greatest work in one and a half decades. The track clocks in at five and a half minutes and doesn't feature one single unnecessary second.

"Bella" is a danceable, melodic, uplifting tune that seems to go by much faster than its running time of five minutes. Perhaps I'm biased since I met a lady with the same name last spring who left a significant impression upon me but this track might be this album's hidden gem and has grown on me with every spin.

"The Drummer" is the record's second and last single and has taken some time to leave an impression. This song is a little bit shorter with just over three minutes and comes around as danceable and melodic tune. However, the song has a slightly more melancholic note enhanced by strong lead vocals, moody synthesizers and warm backing vocals. This song certainly has grown on me the most.

"Bag of Grins" is once more a wonderful combination of the band's mellow and melodic side as well as the group's heavier alternative rock tendencies. The song feels like a smooth rollercoaster ride and comes along with a memorable chorus that once again grows with every spin.

As you can read, several songs on this generous output need some time to grow. The opener is an instant classic but the other tracks need some more patience to unfold their full potential. This certainly isn't an album you can just listen to as background music on Spotify as such a procedure wouldn't do the material any justice.

The record's main issue however is that many songs just won't grow - not after one spin or five or even a dozen. Especially the record's second half rushes by in a blur and won't leave much of an impression at all. This album doesn't feature any stinkers but a lot of unremarkable tunes that one could rightfully call filler material. Despite having the band's greatest tune in at least a decade on it, this album has so many prolonged hollow passages that it has to go down as one of the least convincing records in the band's extensive career. I would only put chaotic debut album The Red Hot Chili Peppers and mellow misfire The Getaway below this release.

Return of the Dream Canteen is satisfactory for newcomers who want to discover the different soundscapes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It's also decent enough for fans of old age such as myself who have been listening to this band for more than two decades now as I'm writing down these lines. Occasional listeners however won't get enough from this album to be fully satisfied as there is just too much filler material to be found. Filler material by the Red Hot Chili Peppers still sounds better than fresh material from most other funk rock bands but one can't ignore the band's massive back catalogue and its numerous excellent songs that haven't aged one single bit.

Ultimately, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Return of the Dream Canteen is a good to very good alternative rock output from an objective perspective but a slight disappointment if compared to the band's discography. If the best five or six tunes from Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen had been put together, then the band would have released one of its greatest records ever. As it is now, both albums feature shining highlights, numerous decent tunes but also quite a lot of fillers. Give this album and its immediate predecessor a few attentive spins on Spotify before purchasing both releases blindly on reputation alone.

Final rating: 73%