After a four-year break, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are back with a big bang with their two-disc Stadium Arcadium.
The four-piece Californian outfit helped put alternative funk-rock on the mainstream map two decades ago.
Over the years, they have suffered losses, lineup changes and highly publicised personal problems.
The 28 tracks are split into two parts, Jupiter and Mars. They represent the Chili Peppers' wide range of styles - from hard rock, funk, punk and hip-hop to soulful ballads.
Opener Dani California is a typical Peppers track, while the title song Stadium Arcadium has a great slow introduction; Charlie, Tell Me Baby, So Much I, If and the hip-hop flavoured Storm in a Teacup will make you want to dance. Chili Peppers fans may think this album is a little too mellow compared to the noisy funk of their early days, but it's likely to please general listeners.
Stadium Arcadium is a good album, but it need not have spanned two hours to prove it.
