It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for — well, at least those of us who are still at all invested in the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2022. Unlimited Love, the first album RHCP have made with John Frusciante since 2006’s sprawling end-of-an-era double album Stadium Arcadium, is out this week. There have been plenty of lineup variations in RHCP’s history, and other crucial guitarists — the early-days imprint and tragic loss of Hillel Slovak; Dave Navarro’s work on the underrated, drug-stricken One Hot Minute. But everyone knows there is a core, iconic RHCP lineup, the one with which they’ve made most of their best music: Anthony Kiedis, Flea, John Frusciante, and Chad Smith.
Frusciante famously started out as a RHCP fan nearly 10 years younger than the rest of the band, tasked with replacing Slovak and first recording with them for Mother’s Milk. But soon, the teenage devotee became a crucial force in defining RHCP’s biggest albums. He could do melancholic spins on Hendrix-esque playing, supply heavy funk licks, unleash searing solos. At the peak of his powers within the group, in the run from Californication to Stadium Arcadium, he was the guy who made RHCP songs “interesting,” either through gorgeously understated guitar in otherwise brash songs, or in mutating his instrument beyond recognition, or in translating the big riffs of classic rock heritage into a turn-of-the-century alt-rock language. No disrespect to Josh Klinghoffer, who did an admirable job during his 2010s stint with the group, but it never felt right. I’m With You and The Getaway seemed like a stagnant intermission, the long waiting room for Frusciante to hopefully, someday, reappear.
Then again, he was absent far longer this time. Frusciante first exited the Chili Peppers in 1992 on the heels of their blockbuster breakthrough Blood Sugar Sex Magik and ultimately spent six years away before rejoining for the similarly inescapable Californication. His second sojourn away from RCHP essentially doubled that timespan; when he announced he was leaving in 2009, the band had already been on a two-year hiatus following Stadium Arcadium. So when the band announced Frusciante’s return on Dec. 15, 2019 — almost 10 years to the day since his second departure — it was something of a shock. The gang was finally getting back together. For many fans — especially those of us who may or may not have used Frusciante, a universally beloved and respected virtuoso, as justification for our ongoing adoration of RHCP — all was right, all was restored.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers felt the same way. In any interview since, every member has fixated on how great it was to be reunited. “John Frusciante has a profound impact on everything that we do, and even when he wasn’t in the band he had a profound impact on everything that we do,” Flea told KROQ in February. “We all speak the same language. When he’s in the band, we’re able to communicate with each other without speaking and create music in a very fluid way.” To hear the band tell it, there was an electricity, an overwhelming spiritual rebirth, to their initial rehearsals with Frusciante back in the fold. While they got the cobwebs out playing covers, they soon turned to jamming and figuring out new material. Apparently, there was an overflow. RHCP rejoined Rick Rubin — who had produced every album of theirs since Blood Sugar Sex Magik save The Getaway — and supposedly recorded close to 50 songs. Speaking to NME, Frusciante said there’s a “loose plan” for a second album soon after Unlimited Love, with all the members glowingly speaking of the sessions, clearly inspired.
Unfortunately, even if you’re someone who regards RHCP warmly, it’s often difficult to hear that inspiration on Unlimited Love. It’s not uncommon for Chili Peppers albums featuring Frusciante to stretch towards 20 songs, but Unlimited Love does the least to justify its hour-plus…
Read More: The Return Of John Frusciante