Red Hot Chili Peppers

★★★ Unlimited Love WARNER. CD/DL/LP

Rock giants rediscover past powers on Rick Rubinproduced twelfth album. After a somewhat rudderless past decade, Red Hot Chili Peppers have clearly been galvanised by guitarist John Frusciante’s return from self-imposed exile in 2009. The prodigal son is back, and his fretboard is on fire. Be it the ecstatic extended solo on The Great Apes or the way Black Summer deftly changes gears from drowsy jangle to stadium-calibrated anthem, the results are some of RHCP’s strongest songs since 2002’s

By The Way. So energetic are their efforts to relight that elemental spark that they occasionally seem blinded by it. Unlimited Love’s sprawling 17 tracks almost inevitably include a few free-spirited missteps, with Aquatic Mouth Dance and Poster Child getting stuck in a groove. Nevertheless, an impressive consolidation of their strengths.