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The Seattle Seahawks dismantled the Denver Broncos just two quarters into Super Bowl XLVIII, but the halftime show was the highlight for my 11-year-old self. In 2014, Bruno Mars, the artist who made me want to catch a grenade for one of my middle school crushes and then later made me wish I bought them flowers, was set to perform.

In between performances of “Locked Out of Heaven” and “Just the Way You Are,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers joined Mars on stage. Bassist Flea later revealed that the band’s instruments weren’t even connected, as the NFL wanted them to play the recorded track instead. But seeing the band jump up and down alongside Mars for three minutes, with Anthony Kiedis singing “Give It Away,” I was hooked.

The sound, the aesthetic — which fully caught my preteen attention — that the Red Hot Chili Peppers exude can only be achieved by a select few artists. In an interview with Kiedis, Zane Lowe said that the band has an ability to transport listeners back to when they first fell in love with the RHCP sound. And their latest project, “Unlimited Love,” captures that nostalgia with a complete project reminiscent of RHCP’s unique persona.

The first time I experienced the Red Hot Chili Peppers, lead guitarist John Frusciante wasn’t faking playing the guitar onstage — he hadn’t been with the band since leaving for a second time in 2009. But he made his return on “Unlimited Love,” the band’s first project with Frusciante in 15 years — and first in nine years with legendary producer Rick Rubin.

Frusciante’s comeback is immediately present on the album’s first track and opening single “Black Summer.” In the band’s performance of the song on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Kiedis clears the stage for Frusciante, letting him show that the band isn’t complete without its main performer and the most vital instrument. He calls back to solos that he perfected on songs like “​​I Could Have Lied” and “Scar Tissue.”

The rest of the album mimics popular Red Hot Chili Peppers projects like “Stadium Arcadium,” “Californication” and “By the Way.” With the return of Frusciante, the band is trying to get back to the sound they had with him, instead of trying to chase a different tone like they did on their most recent albums without him.

The minute differences between each track — while still maintaining the same overall sound — is one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ biggest strengths. Each member of the band gets their chance to shine with these quick shifts. Kiedis shows his lyricism and ability to create a sort of rap flow at the beginning of “Poster Child,” Flea adds a catchy bassline to “It’s Only Natural,” Frusciante displays another loaded solo on “The Great Apes,” and drummer Chad Smith drives the classic rock track “These Are the Ways.”

And similar to emotional tracks like “Otherside” and “Porcelain” on their “Californication” album, the Red Hot Chili Peppers delivered a couple melodic, melancholic tracks in “Not the One” and “Tangelo.” Though these songs won’t land on the band’s greatest hits playlist once they retire, they make the audience slow down after a variety of grunge- and funk-inspired songs.

“Not the One” is properly placed after the jazzy and energetic “Aquatic Mouth Dance,” and “Tangelo” is the bow on top at the end of the project. Frusciante’s touch on “Tangelo” brings the song itself to a higher level, using a simple acoustic progression to pull the audience back down to reality from the RHCP universe that they were floating through.

Best track: Aquatic Mouth Dance

While songs like “Tangelo” that showcase the talents of Frusciante and Kiedis are some of the strongest of the tracks, all members of the band use some vintage San Antonio Spurs ball movement on “Aquatic Mouth Dance,” sharing the wealth on the jazzy, funky track.

Flea is like Tony Parker bringing the ball up into the offense, introducing the track and the funky tone with his bassline, waiting for the rest of the band to jump in after 10 seconds. Rubin’s contributions are also omnipresent on this song when the trumpet kicks in after the chorus. Throughout the rest of the song, the trumpet is joined by a saxophone and trombone, turning the funk song that was solidified by Flea’s bass line into improvisational jazz.

Frusciante also backs Kiedis’ harmonies in the chorus, showcasing his vocal abilities, which he’s rarely used in the past. The lyrics that Kiedis delivers in the chorus are sort of goofy like the title of the song, again fitting the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ previous aesthetic. But the production maintained by Flea’s bass line allows the jazz instruments to completely take over the song in the final part, making the audience want to get up and dance like they did with 1991’s “Give It Away.”

Hardest Bars: Tangelo

Kiedis abandons his rap style for rhythmic flows on the emotional tracks littered throughout the band’s discography. On “Unlimited Love,” “Tangelo” fits that same mold. It’s entirely poetic, with lyrics referencing love, suicide and drug addiction all over Frusciante’s melancholy acoustic guitar.

The chorus is the most loaded with meaning, opening with the lines, “But the form of a life is long, never-ending/ And the smell of your hello, I know.” After introducing this anonymous lover in the first verse, Kiedis personifies this person’s regular greeting as something that he’s attuned to like a certain smell, adding some happiness to what seems like a “never-ending” existence.

Kiedis has opened up in the past about his own struggles with a heroin addiction and losing the original guitarist of the band, Hillel Slovak, to a heroin overdose. He hints at struggles with depression and thoughts of suicide as he continues singing: “and the smile of a knife is seldom befriending.” Kiedis said in his interview with Lowe that at times he feels like he’s “not found anything yet” when talking about this song, opening up in this line about a very human struggle.

The song ends with the lines “Oh, let it go and now I must pray/ Let’s pray.” When Lowe asked about the spiritual note, Kiedis said there’s constantly a “new search” and even with the hard thoughts that he’s had, the only way is to pray and move forward.

One skip: Here Ever After

Outside of a few tracks that completely separate themselves from each other, the rest of the album is still roughly above average, making it hard to pick out which one is most likely a skip. “Here Ever After” does feel redundant though, using a simple bass line, drum beat and lead guitar riff that the band has used countless times before.

The chorus itself is also repetitive, as Kiedis sings “she’s the kind of girl” over and over again. And Kiedis’ little vocal inflections when he raps the first few verses are uninteresting, making this a step down from “Black Summer” opening the album.

Final thoughts:

This album is simply a blast from the past, most likely designed for Red Hot Chili Peppers fans to feel the band’s complete sound again. It’s delivered like a live show, methodically engineering each instrument while Kiedis adds consistently entertaining vocals.

The band has been together for almost 40 years, and all members are into their 60s. They’re on their 12th studio album, but it’s still as strong as some of their first few that introduced their distinct sound. RHCP is set on continuing to provide for their die-hard fans, while picking up new listeners along the way.

Published on April 5, 2022 at 9:38 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu