I'm With You (album)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''I'm with You'' is the tenth
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by the American
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...
. The album was released by
Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
on August 26, 2011, in Europe and on August 29, 2011, in the United States. The album made its debut at number one in 18 countries including the United Kingdom, while reaching number two in the United States and Canada. Produced by
Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...
, ''I'm with You'' was the band's first studio album after a five-year hiatus, and the first to feature guitarist
Josh Klinghoffer Josh Adam Klinghoffer (born October 3, 1979) is an American musician best known for being the guitarist for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019, with whom he recorded two studio albums, '' I'm with You'' (2011) and '' The Geta ...
, following the departure of
John Frusciante John Anthony Frusciante ( ; born March 5, 1970) is an American musician and the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, having been with the band across three iterations. He has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging in style from acoustic gu ...
in 2009. It is also the first album since 1989's '' Mother's Milk'' to not have a title track. The album received mixed reviews, with many praising newcomer Josh Klinghoffer for breathing new life into the veteran group, but also criticizing John's Frusciante's absence from the group. The album featured four singles, including alternative number-one hit, " The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie", " Monarchy of Roses", " Look Around" and " Brendan's Death Song". " Did I Let You Know" was released exclusively in
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
thanks to response from a poll voted on by the fans, though it was not considered a proper single. A ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' Reader's Poll named ''I'm with You'' the 8th best album of 2011 and the album was also nominated for the
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for Best Rock Album.


Background

In August 2007, at the close of the band's world tour in support of '' Stadium Arcadium'' (2006), the Peppers began a one-year hiatus, which subsequently stretched to more than two years. Bassist
Flea Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...
stated, "I talked everyone into it and some people were more prone to it than others. ..I just felt like I wanted to take two years away just to really look and see if the band was something we should still be doing. Things had gotten dysfunctional and not fun." During this time, Flea studied
music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...
at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
, drummer
Chad Smith Chad Smith (born October 25, 1961) is an American musician who is the drummer of the rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Smith has played with the Chili Peppers since 1988, appearing on ten of the band's studio albums and becoming the band's lo ...
recorded and toured with
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
supergroup Chickenfoot, while guitarist John Frusciante recorded and released his 10th solo album, '' The Empyrean''. According to vocalist
Anthony Kiedis Anthony Kiedis ( ; born November 1, 1962) is an American musician and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Kiedis spent his youth in ...
, there was a collective decision "not odo anything Red Hot Chili Peppers-related for a minimum of one year. ..We started in 1999, with the writing and the recording of ''
Californication Californication may refer to: *Californication (word), an expression that refers to the influx of Californians into various western states in the U.S. *Californication (album), ''Californication'' (album), a 1999 album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers ...
'', and we didn't really stop until the tour ended last year. We were all emotionally and mentally zapped at the end of that run." During the band's self-imposed hiatus, Frusciante departed from the band for a second time, stating, "There was no drama or anger involved, and the other guys were very understanding. They are supportive of my doing whatever makes me happy and that goes both ways." Regarding Frusciante's departure, Flea stated, "he just didn't want to do he Red Hot Chili Peppersanymore. He really wanted to do what he wants to do, on his own, without having to deal with the band dynamic, ''our'' band dynamic." Kiedis notes that, "John had become disenchanted with being in a touring rock band, which is completely understandable. He's a driven person in the world of music and sound, and he wanted to change gears." Following Frusciante's departure, Kiedis stated that both he and Flea "had this intuitive feeling. We're not really done. We wanted to maintain the Red Hot Chili Peppers if we could do it in a way that upheld historically what we had accomplished. ..There were some interesting conversations about, do we try to find someone we don't know, or maybe there is somebody right in our own backyard who is the perfect solution?" Flea commented on the band's eventual return stating, "For me, the biggest thing during the time off, and what really made me want to continue doing the band, specifically after John decided he didn't want to continue, asI just realized, Anthony, man, he's my brother, I love him so much, and we started this band when we were kids. I wanted to keep that going, I never want to let that go." Frusciante was subsequently replaced by friend and frequent collaborator Josh Klinghoffer, who had been performing alongside the band during the final legs of the ''Stadium Arcadium'' tour. Regarding Klinghoffer's entry into the band, Smith noted, "We've known him a long time. He's super-talented, smart, handsome. He fits in perfectly, which is a good thing," and later stated: "We couldn't have asked for a better person to play music with." Klinghoffer noted, "I've always been attracted to the idea of a tight-knit unit, a band of family, a brotherhood. Since my earliest memory, they always seemed like a band with a lot of love for each other." Joining the band in late 2009, Klinghoffer began writing and jamming with the band on October 12; the same day that friend and autobiographer Brendan Mullen died. According to Flea, "it was a poignant moment for us. It was an emotional thing." Klinghoffer notes that: "It was sort of a sad hello. Everybody lost a good friend." Klinghoffer subsequently made his live debut with the band on January 29, 2010, performing a cover of the
Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
song, " A Man Needs a Maid", at
MusiCares MusiCares Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1989 and incorporated in 1993 by the The Recording Academy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn in times of financial, pers ...
event honouring Young. Prior to the event, Chad Smith noted, "it's the first time we've played out with Josh, just the four of us, so it'll be an exciting night for him. ..We're taking it slow. One song at a time." Flea commented on Josh's impact on the band, saying that "over time he really revealed himself to be just the best person we could've got. And John Frusciante's such a powerful musician and left such an imprint on our band and gave so much as a writer, as a player, a serious part of our band, that no one could ever replace John. No one's ever going to step in and do what John did. But Josh came in and does what Josh does and does it in a beautiful way." Kiedis noted, "There is no question – this is a beginning," with Smith confirming that statement by adding, "this is a new band. Same name, but it's a new band."


Recording and production

The album was produced by Rick Rubin; in the same studio in which the band recorded ''
Californication Californication may refer to: *Californication (word), an expression that refers to the influx of Californians into various western states in the U.S. *Californication (album), ''Californication'' (album), a 1999 album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers ...
'', and at Shangri La. The album's recording sessions took place from September 2010 to March 2011. According to Rubin, the band recorded enough material to release a second
double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording ...
, following '' Stadium Arcadium'' (2006), but ultimately decided not to. Rubin notes, "it was painful not to share all of the material that we had, but we felt it would be too much. We really wanted it to be 12 songs but it ended up being 14 just because nobody could agree on which 12." Regarding the band's decision to work with Rubin once again, Chad Smith stated, "We have a great working relationship with him. He's been working with us for 20 years. We feel that he's the fifth Chili Pepper. He's someone that we love and trust." ''I'm with You'' was claimed to be the first album specially mastered to optimize digital sound quality for iTunes Store customers who purchase the album through iTunes. The album was mastered using high-resolution sourced audio. Despite this, the mastering has been deemed extremely loud and over-compressed and therefore distorted, continuing the trend since ''
One Hot Minute ''One Hot Minute'' is the sixth studio album by American Rock music, rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on September 12, 1995, by Warner Bros. Records. The worldwide success of the band's previous album ''Blood Sugar Sex Magik'' (1991) c ...
''.


Writing and composition

According to drummer Chad Smith, the band "wrote a lot of songs" during ten months, from October 12, 2009, to August 2010. Smith noted, "Every record is a real snapshot of where we're at during that time in our lives as a band and as a people. It's always been that way." Flea stated that the band wrote around 60–70 songs for the new album and writing took around nine months before they entered the studio with Rubin. Regarding the departure of guitarist
John Frusciante John Anthony Frusciante ( ; born March 5, 1970) is an American musician and the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, having been with the band across three iterations. He has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging in style from acoustic gu ...
, and the arrival of Josh Klinghoffer, vocalist Anthony Kiedis stated, prior to the album's release, "it is always going to change the chemistry and feeling of the music when such a creative force as John Frusciante leaves. He was something unique that shaped our sound then, but now I think it's also something fresh and exciting to have a new, incredible musical mind working with us now. We are still the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but we also have to adapt and welcome new opportunities. After all, that is how we've survived all these years." Producer
Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...
commented on Klinghoffer's addition to the band, stating, "Josh is fantastic. He played with John Frusciante for many, many years and he actually toured with the Chili Peppers before, so he's sort of part of the extended family. He's stylistically very close to John but has a completely different trip. It sounds like the Red Hot Chili Peppers that you've never heard before." Flea remarked, "Josh is a very subtle musician and it's not so much about the big
riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...
– it's more subtle, sublime, poetic texture type of playing. We're just reacting to him, and it makes us play different, so we're just going a different way, and it's great. We still sound like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but it's really a lot different." Kiedis commented on the overall writing process, noting, "this album has been one of evolution. Before, some of our jams were a bit hit-and-miss. On this record, a decent number of songs were actually thought out and planned in a way we had never done before. That is, with Flea's new knowledge of music theory, we explored the writing process with a bit more precision." During the band's hiatus, Flea studied musical theory classes at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
, learning
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
during his tenure. According to Kiedis, Flea's piano contributions to ''I'm With You'' added "a whole new dynamic" to the band's sound. According to Flea, Klinghoffer also wrote songs on piano for the album: "I started writing songs on piano for this record and Josh also wrote songs on piano, so a lot of the songs were written on the piano and then translated to herock band. It has a different kind of feeling, kind of more of a liquid, poetic feeling is the best way I can describe it." Flea said the three main things he was listening to during the creation of the album were underground kind of avant-garde electronic music,
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
, and
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
. According to the band, "Brendan's Death Song" was the first song written for the album, with parts of "Annie Wants a Baby" written the same day. Album opener, "Monarchy of Roses", a darker song mixing funk and pop, was written and recorded under the working title, "Disco Sabbath". Other songs like "Did I Let You Know?" focus on social commentary about the planet while "Police Station" is a slow, emotional piece that tells a story of Kiedis running into various old friends throughout Los Angeles, all of whom had turned into down-on-their-luck, tragic figures. Kiedis reminisces about past times with these characters over a moody, complex chord progression from Klinghoffer. According to Kiedis, the final song written for the album was "Even You Brutus", written after the band stopped writing songs and was already in the recording studio. Flea came in and played a piece on the piano that the band felt they needed to turn into a song. "Dance, Dance, Dance" has been described as the most atmospheric and family-friendly song on the album. According to Flea, "Life and death is a major theme of the album." Other themes in the album include the beginning of romantic relationships, hardship of
poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...
, quitting
drug abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definitions ...
, and the dashing of dreams and wishes. During the writing process, Flea reportedly listened to the Rolling Stones' albums '' Exile on Main Street'' and '' Tattoo You'' frequently. According to Flea, the album is, at times, influenced by
African music The continent of Africa is vast and its music is diverse, with different regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres like makwaya, highlife, mbube, township music, jùjú, fuji, jaiva ...
. Flea stated, "We've always all loved African music. Throughout our career we've played some African bits, but we never really captured it right. Josh and I tripped around
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
with a group called Africa Express, which
Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman, main vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Blur (band), Blur and the co-creator and primary musical con ...
organized. We saw music every night and jammed with musicians. Ethiopia is such a great country, beautiful place. So there are a couple African parts on the new songs. One is called "Did I Let You Know", which has a real African feeling, and there's another called "Ethiopia". I'm really grateful to Damon for bringing me along. It really widened my scope of humanity." Chad Smith also commented on the album's African influences, stating his love of a compilation album, entitled ''The Afrosound of Colombia'', and noting that the song, "Ethiopia", "puts a smile on my face."


Packaging and title

During a June 2011 interview with ''Spin'', Smith confirmed that controversial British artist
Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...
would design the
album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...
. On July 5, 2011, the cover artwork was released through the band's mailing list. Kiedis described the album's cover art, entirely white except for a fly perched on a capsule, by saying, "It's an image. It's art. Iconic. We didn't give it its meaning but it's clearly open to interpretation." Flea's daughter, Clara Balzary, has been involved with taking promotional photos of the band leading up to the release of the new album. Most of the first shots of the new lineup were taken by Balzary, and her photography is featured in the album artwork. In June 2011, cryptic themed street posters and artwork of a robot with the band's logo and 8/30/11 began appearing in various places around
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. At the time it was denied by the band's management that the artwork was released by the band or the album cover however on July 14, 2011,
TMZ ''TMZ'' is an American entertainment-focused tabloid news organization owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested ...
broke the news that the artwork has been endorsed by the band to promote the global release of the new album. The artist behind the work is Mr. Brainwash. Brainwash claims that his work with the band is not finished and he will be teaming up with them on several more projects. The working title for the album was rumored to be ''Dr. Johnny Skinz's Disproportionately Rambunctious Polar Express Machine-Head''. According to an early 2011 article in
Spin Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps as ''SPIN'') is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. ...
, Kiedis said " friendwas reminiscing about one of his legendary
acid trip A psychedelic experience (known colloquially as a trip) is a temporary altered state of consciousness induced by the consumption of a psychedelic substance (most commonly LSD, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, or DMT). For example, an acid ...
s, and told us that he had been playing a sold-out show to the planets and moons, and his number-one hit was, well, that title". Two months later the working title name was denied by producer Rick Rubin and Kiedis. Through his father, Kiedis told fans, don't believe the rumors. There was no friend, no acid trip and it was all a lie. When it came time to decide on a title for the album, Kiedis started making lists of titles, though none seemed to capture the spirit of the record. He said they thought of naming it after a song on the album, but Rubin said that made it seem like the band did not have enough ideas. A day before the deadline to find a title, Klinghoffer wrote down the words "I'm with you" on a piece of paper and very subtly showed it to Kiedis and the rest of the band who fell in love with the title right away. Klinghoffer said the title came to him out of nowhere and explained, "It seems pretty open, pretty apropos to where the band is, what the band's doing, how the record wants to be related to, or related with." Kiedis said, "It's open, and there's not really a negative connotation. It's inviting. The first time I heard a non-one-of-us mention it, it gave me the best feeling you could imagine. Unbeknownst to me, the news f the album's titlehad hit the radio, and some kid came up to me and he shook my hand and he said, 'I'm with you!' And I was like, 'Why are you saying that? Where did you hear that?' He said, 'I'm with you!' And then I realized that he must've heard it on the radio or something, and it was just a great feeling." This is the first album since 1989's '' Mother's Milk'' not to feature a title track.


Release and promotion

The band's official site held a global listening party on August 22, 2011, where they streamed the entire album. Various radio stations throughout the world began playing tracks on the same date leading up to the album's release. The full album was also made available to stream for free on the iTunes Store. The band kicked off a string of promotional shows and appearances starting in August 2011. On August 30, 2011, the date following the album's release in the United States, the band performed the entire album (apart from "Even You Brutus?") in sequence at a via satellite worldwide theatrical event called '' Red Hot Chili Peppers Live: I'm With You''. Sports channel,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
and many of their programs featured songs from ''I'm with You'' during various clips, segments and commercials throughout the months of August and September. The NFL has also used the album's songs during football games mainly prior to commercial breaks or playing throughout the stadium during timeouts. In 2011, the U.S. version of the
Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...
reality show, ''
The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...
'' used "Look Around" as a theme to their earliest commercials to promote the show. The album's second single, "Monarchy of Roses" was used in a
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese car commercial for the
Nissan Elgrand The is a minivan manufactured by Nissan Shatai for Nissan since 1997, available in three generations, with model codes E50 (1997–2002), E51 (2002–2010), and E52 (2010–present). The E50 Elgrand was also configured and produced as a ligh ...
. In the United States, ''I'm with You'' debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 229,000 copies sold in its first week. The album entered the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
at number one on the strength of 71,000 units, becoming the band's fourth number one effort in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. With a tally of 28,000, the record opened on the
Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...
at number two. Internationally, ''I'm with You'' debuted and peaked atop the charts in over ten countries.


Reception


Critical reception

''I'm with You'' received mixed reviews from
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
. At
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63, based on 35 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". John Lewis of ''Uncut'' magazine released the first review of the album in said magazine's September 2011 issue. He rated the album 3 out of 5 stars in a generally favorable write-up, stating that although "listening to a playback of new RHCP album, ''I'm with You'', one can definitely hear a John Frusciante-shaped hole in the proceedings", the album did have many great tracks. In particular, he cited the songs "Happiness Loves Company", "Even You Brutus?" and "Police Station" as some of the album's highlights. Despite all of this however, he alluded that the album lacked the overall quality of the band's material with John Frusciante, saying "Minus their star guitarist, the Chilis are a bit mild.". The second review of ''I'm with You'' was written by Amy Bangs of
Rock Sound ''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more " underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, ...
. In another positive review which saw the album achieve a rating of 7 out of 10, she felt that any "drastic departure from their mixture of rock and funk is a disservice to fans", although she went on to say that tracks such as "Monarchy of Roses", "Even You Brutus?" and "Did I Let You Know" show a more experimental take on the band's trademark sound, saying that the former "layers a fast-paced dance beat and electronic instrumentation over the top of Flea's characteristic bass lines and Anthony Kiedis' unmistakable vocals." Despite this, she wrote that "There's a familiar funk-inspired sound on "Ethiopia" and "Look Around"." She also claims that new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer's playing on the album avoids the complex playing of former guitarist John Frusciante, whilst also noting his contributions on keyboard. She felt that the album was, overall, a successful continuation of their trademark sound, while also an exploration of several styles new to the band. In a similarly positive review, ''Q'''s ''Isaac Newton'' rated the album 3 stars out of 5. He hailed 'Brendan's Death Song' as the album's best track, whilst posing a question about what he interpreted as more introspective lyrics from the band on tracks such as 'Police Station' and 'Meet Me at the Corner', asking "are Red Hot Chili Peppers suffering a sudden attack of level-headedness?". Jon Dolan of ''Rolling Stone'' was also positive about the album, giving it a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars and saying that "Josh Klinghoffer, who's worked with Beck and Gnarls Barkley, is well suited for giving old tricks new shape", describing his guitar playing as "textured" and "elusive". Dolan also acknowledged the band's influences from
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
throughout the album by citing that the album's replacing of John Frusciante with Josh Klinghoffer could be compared to The Rolling Stones' replacing the late
Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English musician and founder of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, he went on to sing backing vocals and played a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones r ...
and returning to a more stripped down and basic sound formula. One of the most positive reviews came from
Artistdirect Artistdirect (stylized as ARTISTdirect) is an American online digital media entertainment company. Overview Founded in 1996, it owns several websites, including artistdirect.com and artistdirectinterviews.com. These websites are a group of affi ...
writer Rick Florino, who gave the album 5 stars out of 5. Florino calls ''I'm with You'' a masterpiece, the best record of their career and a rock record for the ages. Florino said 'Police Station' is the most vibrantly visceral visual that the band has ever conjured and that the song paints a vivid portrait of loneliness and failure that's as tearjerkingly infectious as 'Under the Bridge' but with another two decades of instrumental intricacy infused at heart. Diminuendo showed an affinity in the album, although expressed a dislike for the songs "Brendan's Death Song" and "Even You Brutus?", saying the tracks "
ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...
not so great, and just too long." He noted that "the guitar work is different, obviously, since Josh Klinghoffer filled in for Frusciante. Different, but good." Ultimately, Diminuendo surmised that the "Red Hot Chili Peppers, with or without all of its members, still rocks because the name is just synonymous with greatness," giving the album a rating in volume setting of 7 out of 11. However, not all critics were impressed with the album. The band's hometown newspaper, the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', gave the album a fairly negative review, saying it was a mishmash, lacked a center, and often felt duct-taped together from various points in the band's career. Writer Randall Roberts stated that out of the 14-song album there is a good EP worth of songs and did praise the album's first single, 'The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie' along with 'Brendan's Death Song', which he said are among the best songs of the band's career. Roberts ended his review by saying the rest of the songs are stuff that will probably sound just fine beneath NFL highlight reels but fails to gel when the volume is up and California 2011 beckons.


Commercial response

On August 10, 2011, the album's first single, " The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie" reached number one on the ''Billboard''
Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...
chart giving them their 12th number one single. They already held the record for most number one singles at eleven and with this single extended their record. The single also reached number one on the ''Billboard''
Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of ...
chart giving them their first number one on this chart which was created in 2009. The single also reached number one on the Canadian Alternative chart. Released on August 29, it charted at No. 2 on ''Billboard'''s Top 200 Albums chart, selling 228,926 copies, with No. 1 debuts in Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and No. 2 debuts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada and France. On November 29, 2011, the album was nominated for a 2012
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for Best Rock Album. The awards show was held February 12, 2012. They lost to
Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...
' album ''
Wasting Light ''Wasting Light'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on April 12, 2011, through Roswell and RCA Records. Wanting to capture the essence of their earlier work and avoid the artificiality of digital recording, ...
''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie" the 50th best single in their Top 50 Singles of 2011, while the Reader's Poll named ''I'm with You'' the 8th best album of year, and "Brendan's Death Song" as named tenth best song of 2011. As of May 2016, ''I'm with You'' has sold 1,700,000 copies worldwide with 574,000 copies being sold in the United States. By most estimates, sales for the album have been a disappointment especially compared to the band's previous album, ''Stadium Arcadium'' which went onto sell over eight million copies worldwide with two and a half million copies sold in the U.S.; currently the album is on pace to be the band's lowest selling album since signing with Warner in 1991 and lowest selling album since 1987's '' The Uplift Mofo Party Plan''. In December 2012, the band made
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
' World's 25 Highest-Paid Musicians for 2012 list placing at number 19 and taking in $39 million for the album and tour to support it. The tour made $33,911,873 in 2012 which was ranked 15th on ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''s annual Top 25 Tours list.


Tour

In the spring of 2011 the band announced its first tour dates since 2007. On July 27, 2011, the band played its first show since August 2007 and first with Klinghoffer. The event was very private and only 300 people were allowed to attend. It was held on the lawn outside the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur, CA. The band played a mixture of new and older songs. Rick Rubin,
David Fricke David Fricke (born ) is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 ye ...
,
Vincent Gallo Vincent Gallo (born April 11, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and musician. He has won several accolades, including a Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and has been nominated for the Palme d'Or, the Golden Lion, and the Bronze Horse. Gallo was ...
and Beach Boy
Al Jardine Alan Charles Jardine (born September 3, 1942) is an American musician who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist, background vocalist, and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as number-one hit ...
were in attendance along with many of Flea's neighbors, since his house is close to the library. They followed this show with two more secret shows in late July. The band played festivals in Asia as a warm-up to the official tour kick off in Colombia on September 11, 2011. Following the Latin American leg, the first European leg of the tour lasted until December 2011. Flea said that he expected the tour to last "forever" while Kiedis stated when talking about the new album, "I can't wait to go out and play this." According to sound engineer, Dave Rat, the tour would last into 2013 and the band's schedule would be spent with three weeks on the road and two weeks off throughout the tour, a plan followed on previous tours. Percussionist, Mauro Refosco and keyboard player, Chris Warren have joined the band's touring lineup as backing musicians for the entire tour. The band's first leg in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
in early 2012 was forced to be rescheduled until late March 2012 due to multiple foot injuries Kiedis suffered with since the Stadium Arcadium tour. Kiedis then had surgery on his foot. The first U.S. leg of the tour, which included stops in Canada, kicked off in March 2012 and ran to June, with the rest of the U.S. dates being added or made up from August to November 2012. During the first leg of the North American tour, the band was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
. In March 2012, Chad Smith said the band planned to tour throughout the remainder of 2012 followed by dates in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
and
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
scheduled for early 2013. The tour was named 15th highest-grossing tour of 2012 by ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' on its annual Top 25 list.


Official bootlegs

The band announced that they would start releasing official bootleg live downloads of full concerts from their current tour. The shows will be available in
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
for $9.95 and ALAC and
FLAC FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software ...
for $12.95. Each show is available for pre-order and will be released 72 hours after the completion of each show.


Track listing


''I'm with You'' sessions/album outtakes

In August 2012, the band began releasing additional songs from the ''I'm with You'' recording sessions. Nine singles featuring 17 songs were released, with the final coming out in July 2013. Each release contained two songs (except for one, "In Love Dying", which clocked in at 8:01) featuring an
a-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...
and a
b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
and were available on
7" vinyl In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...
and digital download. In late 2013, all 17 outtakes were released as a double LP entitled '' I'm Beside You''. Klinghoffer confirmed that some post session work was done as late as 2013 on the songs from ''I'm Beside You''. According to the band, around 50 songs were recorded during the album sessions. To date, 19 remain unreleased. Of those, Klinghoffer mentioned "Renaissance" as one of the titles and he even has teased it live. Alternate versions of songs also exist. "Look Around" is featured on Rock Band DLC with its original intro (which was also played live). An alternate version of "Ethiopia" that features a
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
solo performed by
Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman (1931–2006). Life and career Joshua Redman was born in Berkeley, California, to jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman a ...
also exists and was mentioned in interviews prior to the album's release but that version remains unreleased. During recording process for the album, and as with every album, some of the songs had alternate working titles that were mentioned by the band in pre-release interviews. "Did I Let You Know" ("Take Me Home" and "Lagos"), "Police Station" ("Stolen Stone"), "Monarchy of Roses" ("Disco Sabbath"), "Goodbye Hooray" ("See You Around"), "Magpies on Fire" ("Magpies") and "Your Eyes Girl" ("Mormon Lover"). "Did I Let You Know" also had the
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
'(This I Know)' during some of the band's interviews.


Personnel

Red Hot Chili Peppers *
Anthony Kiedis Anthony Kiedis ( ; born November 1, 1962) is an American musician and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Kiedis spent his youth in ...
 – lead vocals *
Josh Klinghoffer Josh Adam Klinghoffer (born October 3, 1979) is an American musician best known for being the guitarist for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019, with whom he recorded two studio albums, '' I'm with You'' (2011) and '' The Geta ...
 – guitar, backing vocals, keyboards,
synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
, six-string bass on "Happiness Loves Company" *
Flea Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...
 – bass guitar, piano, backing vocals *
Chad Smith Chad Smith (born October 25, 1961) is an American musician who is the drummer of the rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Smith has played with the Chili Peppers since 1988, appearing on ten of the band's studio albums and becoming the band's lo ...
 – drums Additional musicians *Mike Bulger – trumpet on "Did I Let You Know" * Greg Kurstin – piano (9, 11, 12) *
Money Mark Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011. Early life Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...
Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotat ...
(6) * Mauro Refosco – percussion (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14) *
Lenny Castro Lenny Castro (born September 19, 1956) is an American percussionist from the Los Angeles area. He is one of the most prolific percussionists of all time, appearing on hundreds of albums, including those by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Maroon ...
– percussion (3, 9, 13), additional percussion (1, 2, 4, 12, 14) Recording personnel *Phillip Broussard Jr. – assistant engineer * Greg Fidelman – mixing (1, 2, 12) *Jason Gossman – programming, sequencing and editing *Ryan Hewitt – engineer *Chris "Hollywood" Holmes – editing *Sara Lynn Killion – assistant engineer *
Vlado Meller Vlado Meller (born in 1947 in Humenné as ''Vladimír Meller'') is a Slovak audio mastering engineer, currently with Vlado Meller Mastering in Charleston, South Carolina. Meller works across many genres of music, with credits on rock, hip-hop, p ...
 – mastering * Dana Nielsen – programming, sequencing and editing *
Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...
 – production *Mark Santangelo – mastering assistant *Andrew Scheps – mixing *Ken Sluiter – assistant engineer Additional personnel *Clara Balzary – album photography *
Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...
 –
art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...
*Prudence Cuming Associates – album photography * Stéphane Sednaoui – album photography


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


Release dates

*The vinyl version of the album was released on October 18, 2011, in the U.S. and on October 24, 2011, in UK.


References


External links

*
Official website

LiveChiliPeppers.com
{{Authority control 2011 albums Albums produced by Rick Rubin Albums recorded at Shangri-La (recording studio) Red Hot Chili Peppers albums Warner Records albums Albums recorded at EastWest Studios