By the Way

By The Way is the latest Red Hot Chili Peppers album, and is their eighth full-length album. Yet another Rick Rubin product, By The Way contains brief departures from the Peppers' west coast riffs, leaving the whining guitar notes behind for more dramatic flare and a lighter tone. Anthony Kiedis and company have opted for a more relaxed, surprising mode for this album, and despite the difference from their last platinum album Californication, By The Way still doesn't disapoint, giving a new facet to the Peppers' talents.

Track Listing:

1. By The Way
2. Universally Speaking
3. This Is The Place
4. Dosed
5. Don't Forget Me
6. The Zephyr Song
7. Can't Stop
8. I Could Die For You
9. Midnight
10. Throw Away Your Television
11. Cabron
12. Tear
13. On Mercury
14. Minor Thing
15. Warm Tape
16. Venice Queen

Highlights of the album include the title track, which was released over the radio waves before the album hit stores in July of 2002. It became one of the top ten singles in its second week of existence on the Billboard Top 10 charts, and the album was in the top ten in sales in its first week in stores.

By The Way is definitely a unique listening experience and provides quite a bit of tracks, majority of which are solid rock/pop tracks. Lacing their music with quartets of strings, electronic beats and plenty of odd noises, the Peppers' have created another step of their musical evolution, and have vaulted their careers into a little different light. After listening to By The Way, the band seems a little less like the naked guys wearing socks on their members, and a little more like accomplished musicians destined for greatness.

The sticker on the front of the latest Red Hot Chili Peppers record, released in July 2002, describes By The Way as "the follow-up to 1999's Album Of The Year Californication." Such a claim is fitting; like U2's Zooropa complimented Achtung Baby, so does By The Way extend the Peppers' two-decade-long sonic experiment while also complimenting the tracks from the band's previous effort. The two discs work together, like Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac, exploring similar themes in a similar tone but with a slightly different theme to the whole album. To the casual listener, some tracks sound almost identical to certain songs from Califonication, but on closer inspection the texture of the music is more refined and mature, even if that eventually means alienating some mainstream listeners.

After experimenting with a variety of sounds (including the remarkable Freaky Styley under the guide of god of funk, George Clinton) on early albums and establishing their success with hits in the 90s like Blood Sugar Sex Magik and One Hot Minute, Red Hot Chili Peppers have earned the ability to release music they want, not just material that will sell. With Californication, they took that liberty to prepare their listeners for the next phase of the band's music, crafting songs that combine all the sounds from their career with more polished production and deeper lyrical content. They reunited with previous bandmember John Frusciante, who provided a slightly different approach to guitar than the pop audience had grown used to after almost five years of Dave Navarro. With By The Way, they go the next step and have penned and performed beautiful music which expresses a wide range of emotions, from the touching "Dosed" (itself reminiscent of the Kiedis' first emotionally exposing song "Under The Bridge") to the upbeat and catchy salsa number "Cabron."

The songs:

1. By The Way (A mix of "Scar Tissue" and "Californication" with some "Give It Away" thrown in for good measure, the obvious candidate for a radio single)
2. Universally Speaking
3. This is the Place (Skeletons in the closet rear their heads in a very Blood Sugar Sex Magik sounding track)
4. Dosed
5. Don't Forget Me (Possibly an homage to Kurt Cobain?)
6. The Zephyr Song (One of the tightest tracks on the album)
7. Can't Stop
8. I Could Die For You
9. Midnight
10. Throw Away Your Television (The requisite funk track, but with the Chili Peppers spin it sounds sort of like "I Like Dirt")
11. Cabron
12. Tear
13. On Mercury (As close as RHCP comes to reggae/ska and very catchy)
14. Minor Thing
15. Warm Tape
16. Venice Queen (A mellow song where the Peppers again share hints at their love for hometown Los Angeles; an excellent closing track as it will ring in one's head long after the music fades away)

"By The Way" is also the eponymous song of the record. It was the first single to be released, and received good rotation on radio stations, even while other singles from RHCP remained in play.

Title: By The Way
Album: By The Way
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Written by: Kiedis/Flea/Frusciante/Smith
Released: July 2002
Label: Warner Brothers

(lyrics removed) 

By the way I tried to say
I'd be there...