Duck tells us if The Chilis can continue defying genres & trends

The Lowdown: Chili Peppers find mellow vibe on eighth studio release.

Another turn around, another great album from Red Hot Chili Peppers, do they not tire of making them? Their last album Californication enjoyed huge success but By The Way is well on its way to eclipsing it. Its been parked in the UK top ten for the last six months or longer. The band has just sold all 85,000 tickets as headliners of this year's Slane Castle gig in two and a half hours. The Album has sold 1.2 million copies in Ireland meaning one in every seven houses contains a copy. At the moment they could well be the biggest band in the world.

So does it merit this kind of success? In a word, yes. The album is beautifully written and performed, and is quite a departure from their previous work. It's these two factors that have made it a success. The song writing is easy and brilliant, the songs sound relaxed and natural but thoughtfully written at the same time. The music is laid back and at times dreamy and floaty, giving the whole thing a kind of hazy summer feel. The band has always been capable of a mellow moment on previous records, and maybe some of their last album hinted at the direction taken here, but contrast By The Way with their breakthrough album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The change is obvious, almost entirely gone is that psychedelic funk hip hop metal signature sound, in its place a more expansive and expressive soundscape, a more populous approach.

Title track "By the Way" opens the album and is one of the few songs that is immediately identifiable as The Chilis, so it was a sensible choice as first single. It cracks along in familiar Chili's "Give it Away" style but after a few listens really stands up on its own as a sure fire future classic. The next two tracks are mid paced adult rockers with some great intricate lyrics, and some lovely musical flourishes. It's a noticeable change from previous material, the whole sound is more pop, broader, less defined. It gives the music a timeless feel and conjures up images of those great American bands of the psychedelic/flower power era, the whole West Coast sound of the likes of the Mamas & Papas and the Byrds. At the same time the music is still dark and alternative, lyrically with its myriad of drug references, musically with its strange quicksilver guitar lines. "Don't forget me" in particular stands out among the early part of the album, its menacing, brooding feel being quite hypnotic. Second single "The Zephyer Song" really catches that summer sound. "Can't Stop" returns to more recognisable territory. "I could die for you" is a beautiful ballad. "Midnight" sounds like an American city at night and is a mid-album highlight.

There are so many songs on here, 16 totalling 68 minutes, that the whole thing tends to blend into one whole piece. At first this seems like a disadvantage but once you get to know the songs it is the albums revelation. The production from Rick Rubin gives the entire thing that lovely summery, "sounds great in the car" feel, despite the music's dark undercurrents. This uniformity of production however doesn't stop the band from experimenting. "Throw away your Television" starts with a loose limbed Flea bass line, Keides joins in with a shouty vocal, and then Frusciante with a minimal squalling guitar lick, the whole thing coming across like Talking Heads space rock. "Cabrow" has a beautiful Spanish/Mexican guitar phrase and wouldn't be out of place on one of Santana's recent releases. It captures more than any other track that pure sunshine sound and should definitely be released as a summer single to coincide with Slane. "Minor Thing" is another highlight with its mix of jingly pop and hard Keides hip-hop vocal. The album takes a nice melancholic twist at the end with "Venice Queen", its opening verses full of foreboding, before an acoustic guitar breaks in and the song becomes uplifting and hopeful. Like the album as a whole I suppose, a sense of darkness underneath but a beautiful and hopeful record overall. It shows the band has matured immensely. They must be happy with life to be making music like this.

Further Listening: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Freakey Styley", "One Hot Minute".

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