Red Hot Chili Peppers
Californication

Release Date: 1999 | Tracklist

The album Californication marked many things; for one, the return of John Frusciante to the line-up after he had confronted his demons. This was a good thing, One Hot Minute had been a substantial drop in quality in comparison to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ previous albums. Whether or not the (temporary) addition of Dave Navarro was the main contributing factor for this significant drop in quality is a question many have asked before, but surely, surely they weren’t going to release another pile of poo, were they?

The answer is a categorical no; “Californication” is everything “One Hot Minute” isn’t. This can, again, probably be attributed to the return of John Frusciante to the line-up. With the bass and guitar intro to “Around the World” kicking things off, the listener knows that they’re in for a treat. Although previous albums had more of a funk feel, Californication cements their move into the Alt Rock genre with songs like Scar Tissue, allowing Kiedis to show a level of maturity that some thought was less present in previous albums. The return of Frusciante also heralds a new change in the musical department. While in “One Hot Minute”, the song “Aeroplane” fell rather flat; the song most people who have heard a track from this album, “Californication”, links each of the respective instrumental sections brilliantly. giving the impression that Frusciante was the cog in the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ lyrical and musical process. The guitar in some of these tracks is stunning, the closing track, “Road Trippin’ ” features John on an acoustic guitar, giving the song a mellow quality, along with the violins in the background.

One thing the Red Hot Chili Peppers have always had is a brilliant rhythm section consisting of “Flea” (AKA Micheal Balzary ) and Chad Smith, the first of which many attribute to being the glue which holds the rest of the band together; and it’s not hard to see why. Songs like “Around the World”, with its distorted bass intro and funky bassline and “Otherside” with it’s relatively simply yet effective bassline could be said to be the epitome of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ music. That’s not to say Chad Smith is unimportant; far from it. This is a drummer who I could listen to instead of having in the background. Drumbeats such as the snare drum based one, which is found in “Emit Remmus” to the little fills fitted in before the chorus in “Easily” adds a little something else into the magic potion that is this album.

However, before I get carried away with myself, I have to point out that the album does have some flaws. “Porcelain” has to be the blandest song I have ever heard. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have stay away from really slow songs unless they follow a similar formula to that found in “Under the Bridge”, which could be said to be the only slow song that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have ever pulled off well. It does have some other filler tracks. For example, “ I Like Dirt”, which I find to be a failed exercise in killing time, and “This Velvet Glove”; a song, which is really, rather bad. My only other tiny problem is the length of “Right on Time”, which would be a brilliant track, if it were a little bit longer.

So, is “Californication” all it’s cracked up to be? Well, yes…and no. You see, the (re) addition of Frusciante has really put a spark into this album. I personally can’t imagine what it would be like if Navarro was still their lead guitarist at this point. But, on the flipside to this, the hype to this album kind of killed it for me. My friends said that this was the best Red Hot Chili Peppers album, but it’s not. The combination of the three filler tracks and one wasted classic hurts a bit too much, so that’s brought my final rating down a bit, but I’d still recommend it based on the strength of “Emit Remmus”, “Easily” and “Get on Top” alone. But take the hype with a pinch of salt first, you might just find it’ll let you enjoy this more.

Hype rating: 5/5
My Rating: 4/5

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4 excellent

Rank: #86 for 1999