Album Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Getaway

The Getaway explores new avenues for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The soft guitar inklings of the title track lead into the distinctive bass line of Dark Necessities and the token funk rock of We Turn Red. The ensuing tracks are expressive, gentle and considered. Josh Klinghoffer has come into his own here. His input is more organic as can be seen from the guitar melody on Goodbye Angels.

The focus has been placed on how different elements float in and out of the forefront, such as Go Robot's interesting dissection of disco cliches, where electronica supersedes Flea's bass line in the second half of the track. Detroit is one of the few distinctive hard hitters on the album, with an intro reminiscent of Funky Monks and some bombastic thrashing of the guitar. This Ticonderoga is also riff-driven, but comes to a close with the addition of piano, leading into the key-laden, stripped back track Encore, where Kiedis sings "I want to listen to the radio, driving down to Mexico." The Hunter is RHCP's stab at a slow, country western crooner, horns and all, but it is album closer Dreams Of A Samurai that really blows the listener out of the water. A recurring verse and Smith's best drum beat on the record interlace with frenetic reverb-fuelled breakdowns that are ripe with percussion and howling guitars. Soulful backing vocals make it an epic six-minute belter; you'll realise that every track on The Getaway intentionally leads up to its culmination.