Red Hot Chili Peppers Deliver A Heavy Dose Of Nostalgia On ‘The Getaway’

What do you do when you invent your own genre of music? Do you stick to your guns and continue with the same formula? Or do you keep adding to it, helping it to evolve into something familiar, yet new. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been trying to properly answer this question for what seems like their entire career.

With eleven studio albums under their belt—including the newly released album The Getaway—it’s of note that five of those records were recorded during major transitions for the band. 90’s mega-hit Blood Sugar Sex Magik was made in the wake of original guitarist Hillel Slovak’s untimely passing, and saw the emergence of his replacement, peak-Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. For the next album, One Hot Minute, the band hired Jane’s Addiction veteran Dave Navarro to replace Frusciante after he quit the band due to the pressures of touring. When Frusciante made his grand return for 1999’s Californication, it signaled a major shift in the band’s sound, directing the band into a more melodic and harmony-driven era that seemed to re-define the funk punk rockers. After three classic records with Frusciante, he quit the band again, leading to former guitar tech Josh Klinghoffer’s addition before 2011’s I’m With You.

Finally, just when it seemed like they were settling back into their comfort zone, the band decided to make another major shift, as The Getaway is the first RHCP record that was produced by anyone other than Rick Rubin since 1989. While dropping one of this generation’s mastermind producers may be a risk for a band with as much repeat success as the Chili Peppers, the band turned to a talented duo to help them switch gears and re-hone their sound for a new generation, bringing Broken Bells/Black Keys veteran Danger Mouse in to produce the record, and legendary Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich in to mix the record. 

The influence of these two studio wizards can be felt all over the album, yet, the record sounds like a Red Hot Chili Peppers record. Anthony Keidis’ raps and sings in his unique harmonic style, Flea plays his bass both beautifully and aggressively, Chad Smith’s drums are tight and awesome, and Josh Klinghoffer’s guitar is dreamy and psychedelic. In that sense, the majority of The Getaway feels like a deliberate attempt to re-create some of the band’s best moments from previous albums. However, it also seems that the new production team made sure to incorporate new instruments and sounds into their arsenal to augment the band’s sound.

You can listen to a stream of the album, below.

The new sound kicks off right away, as opening track “The Getaway” offers a dancey, hi-hat laden beat with chicken picking guitar and dream-like vocal harmonies. Their funky single “Dark Necessities” turns the disco vibe up even more, as Flea and Smith lead the way with a funky rhythm that defines the track. Smith’s usually usual style of fill-based drumming is replaced by tighter, more precise parts, one of Danger Mouse’s hallmarks. Even with the new disco vibe, both tracks sound like they could be on 2002’s By The Way, and that’s probably the point. The band finds most of it’s success on The Getaway on these tracks, and on songs like “Detroit” and We Turn Red,” where the Chili Peppers brings it back to their Blood Sugar Sex Magik sound that old school fans still yearn for.

Danger Mouse’s biggest influence on the record comes in the addition of piano, keyboards, and synthesizers to RHCP’s sound. Tracks like “Goodbye Angels,” “The Longest Wave,” and “Sick Love” are all heavily impacted by this stylistic shift. The use of keyboards allows Klinghoffer to provide effects-laden guitar swirls on most of the tracks on the album, and he shines through on several tracks with the new melodic space he’s been provided. If the punk-psychadelia of some of RHCP’s earlier material doesn’t sound as natural with him on guitar, Klinghoffer shines on several of the tracks on The Getaway, and his rhythmic playing and heavy use of effects are reminiscent of Nile Rodgers or The Edge from U2.

When the band tries to push itself too far outside of its box, however, the tracks fall flat. Specifically “The Hunter” and “Encore”, two Radiohead-esque tunes tucked in to the back end of the album, come off as awkward compared to the rest of the album, as they just don’t fit Anthony Keidis’ voice. Also, “Feasting on the Flowers” sounds like a cast-off Broken Bells track, and in that sense it feels a bit lazy and forced.

In the end, The Getaway gives Chili Peppers fans a lot to work with, with catchy melodies, pulsing beats, and alt-rock perfection making up a majority of the record. Minus a few tunes, they successfully re-invent and re-create the unique Red Hot Chili Peppers sound, using the nostalgia-laden production of Danger Mouse as a catalyst for the classic RHCP sound. The result is the best Red Hot Chili Peppers album since By The Way, and an evolved sound that brings the band into both the past and the future simultaneously.