RHCP's best work yet (Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Date:	13/09/09 (4 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Catchy and soulful tunes

Disadvantages: Not as funky as before

I like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I'm always a bit skeptical about them - I like their melodical work but I find their lyrics annoyingly quirky and incomprehensible, to the point that it seems that Anthony Kiedis just picked a bunch of words out of the dictionary. Nevertheless, their 1999 album Californication did make them a little more "mainstream", and therefore a little more tolerable in this regard, so sadly there's no more singing songs about turtles and coyotes. This is, though, also at the expense of a lot of their more jazzy and funky elements - this is more a soft rock album than their previous efforts.

The song list really is quite fantastic - there's a decent variety of soft and loud songs, and still some funky elements in there. John Fruasciante's return as the guitarist is very welcome, and he really creates some bewilderingly brilliant melodies here.

My two favourite songs on the album are Californication and Scar Tissue. Californication was the lead single from the album - it's very iconic and has an excellent music video also. It has numerous references to celebrity culture and also Kurt Cobain, and in that regard has put an indellible stamp on pop culture. It's one of their most accessible and probably their best known song. Scar Tissue is a more serene and meditative song with some amazing guitar work, and it was also a single.

As far as middle of the road RHCP go, this is my favourite album of theirs. It gets rid of some of their irritating quirkiness but does admittedly at the same time also reduce the funky elements down to something resembling alternative rock, and a lot of the melodies do sound quite samey. However, it's got great vocals and Frusciante's welcome return ensures that the guitar work is top notch.

Summary: Loses some funk but is less irritating