Return of the Dream Canteen? The Chili Peppers have definitely returned.

By Marek

If you are at least a bit of a music fan, you may have noticed an increase in activity from the American alternative funk band Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were at their peak in the 90's and 00's with big albums such as Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication. We haven’t heard much from them for the past six years, but early this year they finally dropped another record 'Unlimited Love'. It had a great response from the public. In October though, only six months later, they released another album called 'Return of the Dream Canteen'. It was expected to be a bit shady, maybe leftovers from the album released earlier this year, but it has surprisingly proven not so.

These two albums take you back to Chili's iconic 90s - 00s funk with Here Ever After, One Way Traffic (from Unlimited Love) or Tippa My Tongue (from Return of the Dream Canteen). Unlimited Love is an album with some drive and catchy riffs, such as in songs ‘Black Summer’, ‘These Are the Ways’ and the already-mentioned ‘Here Ever After’. The RHCP also don’t disappoint in slow ballad songs, for example ‘Tangelo’. Return Of the Dream Canteen has a more gloomy, sunset, LSD-affected psychedelic vibe with a lot of chorus and delay effects on the songs (the record’s cover art describing it pretty much perfectly). However, there are some songs with overdrive and distortion effect on the guitar (Reach Out, Bag of Grins) waking you up from the dreamy vibe and start you nodding your head. Return of the Dream Canteen also has a nice touch, with the song ‘Eddie’ as a tribute reference to one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Eddie Van Halen, who passed away in 2020. Understandably, the mighty talented guitarist John Frusciante had a lot of space to play with his melodies and a solo.

Whether you like those records or not, it’s great to see the band back together in their original lineup making music and, as even they claim, having fun together with what they’re doing best - playing good music. And with them being on top of their abilities once again, we’ll definitely see some more great music released soon. Red Hot Chili Peppers are masters in their field of music and they have proved why once again. 

Marty Santiny Garner, “Return of the Dream Canteen”, Pitchfork, 

https://pitchfork-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/red-hot-chili-peppers-return-of-the-dream-canteen/amp/?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=Zdroj%3A%20%251%24s&aoh=16691225061822&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fpitchfork.com%2Freviews%2Falbums%2Fred-hot-chili-peppers-return-of-the-dream-canteen%2F

Ali Shutler, “Red Hot Chili Peppers - Return of the Dream Canteen review: an overwhelming feast, NME”, 

https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/red-hot-chili-peppers-return-of-the-dream-canteen-review-an-overwhelming-feast-3326896