Of course, as we are living in the Internet age, the album was actually leaked some time before that. Thanks to MP3s, some have begun to bemoan the death of the album as we know it, just as they did with the advent of CDs decades ago. And if "Stadium Arcadium" is any indication of where today's musicians are headed, mourners might be more justified in their lamentations.
The two CDs are titled "Jupiter" and "Mars," but they might have well just stuck to "Disc One" and "Disc Two" for all of the thought that went into this album. "Stadium Arcadium" is a product of the era of iTunes -- not 28 tracks laid out in a thoughtful and cohesive album, but a menu of singles for listeners to download and mix and match.
The double album was originally conceived as a trilogy of 38 songs to be released six months apart. Frontman Anthony Kiedis told MTV, "I think we always [approach the songwriting process] with this mindset that this time, we're going to write the perfect 11 songs and just put out 11 songs like they used to do in the days of Buddy Holly and the Beatles. Those early records were so short and sweet, and had this kind of lasting profound impact on the world because they're very memorable and digestible. ... But as has been the case with every single time we've tried to do that, we end up with 30 some-odd songs. The difference this time was we ended up liking all of those songs and finishing all of those songs, and it actually became a very difficult process to even just whittle it down to 25."
Rather than the indulgence of a two-disk concept album, the band lets itself go relatively unedited. Listening to "Stadium Arcadium" is a marathon, not a sprint. I found myself unable to take it all in with one sitting -- my attention would wander, relegating the album to background music. In this respect, maybe a trilogy would have given the listener time to digest each album, making it a more rewarding experience. Or maybe I just need Ritalin.
This is not to say that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have produced a bad album; on the contrary, the songs are of consistently high quality. It's reassuring that a seasoned band can still bring energy and talent to the studio, instead of resting on its laurels. After more than 20 years, "Stadium Arcadium" is the first time that the Chili Peppers have had the same line-up for three consecutive albums: Kiedis, bassist Michael Balzary (better known as "Flea"), guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith. The evolution shows in the songs: Kiedis croons-- albeit in his own idiosyncratic way -- rather than rapping. Harmonizing is not rare -- listen to songs like "Make You Feel Better" if you ever want to see what Simon and Garfunkel might sound like in a funk-punk band. The interplay between Flea and Frusciante is also incredibly enjoyable to hear, and both truly shine on the record. I cheer a little on the inside when I hear Flea slapping those aggro bass lines and Frusciante's syncopated grooves (not merely licks) working to keep the funk alive in a world where pop is king.
Don't expect much innovation, though. The Chili Peppers have a trademark sound and they stay within its range on this album. They certainly have evolved, though, if only to a point, fusing funk, pop and punk rock into four-minute pieces of aural candy. Tracks go from the almost-spoken "Charlie" -- whose refrain, I might add, is ridiculously catchy -- to the acoustic, almost folksy "Slow Cheetah." After a while, however, the listener is just lulled into complacency, and the album can quickly become tiring to listen to all the way through. To overextend an analogy, too much candy at one time can make you sick.
Perhaps if the band tried a new producer, their next album would be a little more exciting. Rick Rubin began working with the band for "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" in 1991, and while that album is considered their best, Rubin brings nothing new to "Stadium Arcadium." I occasionally found myself double-checking whether or not I had accidentally started listening to an older release. Familiar characters even make appearances: The girl profiled in the album's first single, "Dani California," is the very same character of whom Kiedis sings in past hits "Californication" and "By the Way." In fact, "Stadium Arcadium" might very well track the various sounds of the Chili Peppers better than "Greatest Hits."
Which brings me back to my main complaint: "Stadium Arcadium" is, in a way, the anti-album. And maybe we, as a generation of listeners who, thanks to the proliferation of iPods, have become conditioned to skip and remix our ways through music, are equally at fault here. MP3s have changed musicians, listeners and the middlemen record companies. They also pose a question for reviewers: What makes a good album now, the whole product or its individual songs? And does it even matter when listeners can pick and chose what they want to hear, sticking with what they like and avoiding those challenges that the best albums pose?
"Stadium Arcadium" offers 28 songs that are very good individually, but together form an album so thoughtlessly thrown together that it completely loses the listener and any sense of cohesion it might purport to have. Had the Chili Peppers tried to give this double LP a higher purpose than to be a vehicle to sell singles on iTunes, or had they simply split the album into two entirely separate but thoughtful works, their efforts in the studio would resonate with listeners far more successfully.
