It is strange realizing the Red Hot Chili Peppers are approaching their 40th anniversary next year. Yes, we know they’ve been around since the 1980s. But how can “Give It Away” have come out 31 years ago? And how can the band members range from 52 to 60 years old? If ever a band would seem immune to aging, it would be the ultimate Los Angeles party band. Yet here they are, and with a new record to boot. Thankfully, Unlimited Love amply demonstrates that while the creators and undisputed kings of funk rock might be getting older, they refuse to get old.

Unlimited Love has the band’s core — singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist extraordinaire Flea, and drummer Chad Smith — reunited with guitarist John Frusciante for the first time since 2009. Frusciante was an inseparable element of the Chili Peppers’ sound when they exploded in the early 1990s and again at the end of the decade when he rejoined the band after battling personal demons. While Josh Klinghoffer firmly held down the guitar position for a decade and two excellent albums (2011’s I’m In You and 2016’s The Getaway), there was always a longing among the fanbase for Frusciante’s return. Well, he has.

Unlimited Love’s overall tenor is relaxed and melodic without lapsing into musical somnambulism. While retaining its fundamental straightforward and unadorned nature, Frusciante’s playing has adopted at least a taste of Klinghoffer’s affection for textures and shades, giving the songs a color and shape not unlike those on his immediate predecessor’s two albums with the band. Flea is far more about playing the right notes the right way than popping and slapping the listener into submission. This, combined with Frusciante’s work and Smith’s percussion over pounding drumming, creates the RHCP magic of fusing melody and body-moving funk.

The album has a good dose of frolicsomeness, most noticeably in “Poster Child” with its unmistakable affection for early 1970s funk.

Another standout track is “Black Summer,” which, while not quite in “Give It Away” territory, still brings the energy.

It is a rare band that manages to approach Social Security age without morphing into a limp imitation of itself. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are indeed such a band. Unlimited Love manages the neat trick of being both playful and pleasant. In a world spinning off its axis, such an album provides a welcome escape into a world where no one is too old to catch a wave and enjoy the sunshine.