Red Hot Chili Peppers' "I'm With You" a hit with critics

(CBS) After five years and a new guitarist, Red Hot Chili Peppers has released a new full-length, "I'm With You," and the critics are on board. Note: It takes a lot for a rock critic to dislike a Chili Peppers album (even "One Hot Minute" got mostly decent write-ups).

On the new set, Josh Klinghoffer takes over for departing guitarist John Frusciante. Klinghoffer had played with the band on tour.

Spin gives the album a rating of seven out of 10, writing, "'I'm With You' is a much more concise record, both thematically and sonically, than 2006's double-disc Stadium Arcadium. It feels like one of the band's most intuitive, too."

Rolling Stone gives the album 3 ½ stars out of a possible five and writes, "[The band has] gone back to the essentials of the freaky-styley funk punk that [singer Anthony] Kiedis, [bassist] Flea and drummer Chad Smith invented: fretpoppin' grooves that open up into grand, sunny pop choruses."

Comparing Klinghoffer to Frusciante pops up in several reviews, including Entertainment Weekly's B+. Kyle Anderson writes,

"It helps that new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer has been on the road with the band before, and that his fretwork closely resembles the bluesy counterpoints of departed axman Frusciante. But he isn't simply a mimic; he rarely slips into massive power chords on the big hooks, instead letting Flea and Kiedis do the major melodic lifting."

Not every write-up is so sunshiney. In the Los Angeles Times, Randall Roberts writes, "'I'm With You,' though, is a mishmash, lacks a center, and way too often feels duct-taped together from various points in the band's career."

What do you think of the new album? Let us know in the comments.