Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers > Reviews > Red Hot Willy Slappers

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	Great performances, excellent lyris and very well produced
Disadvantages:	Some weak tracks

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Like many people my age I bought Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic and listened to it endlessly during my adolescence. However, after that I pretty much stopped listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers until I heard this album. This album reunites producer Rick Rubin and the original replacement guitarist John Frusciante who both also worked on the aforementioned Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic. The full line up is Anthony Kiedis, Flea, John Frusciante, and Chad Smith. This maintains the funk rock tradition that the RHCPs are famous for while adding some mature introspective ballads; this makes for the RHCPs most mature album to date. Some hardcore fans of the band might not love this album as much as other RHCP albums, simply because their are more non-rock songs than on previous albums.

1. Around the World – This is a trademark RHCP funky rock tune and is an excellent introduction to the album. This is probably best rock track the group has produced since "Give it away”, the main reason for this is the excellent bass playing by Flea.

2. Parallel Universe – I feel this track best shows the excellent understanding between Frusciante and Flea.

3. Scar Tissue – This is a slow ballad and was the first single released from the album. It features excellent slide work by Frusciante.

4. Otherside – This is a slow ballad and was the second single released (and the second hit with a brilliant video). Personally this is my favourite song on the album, and one of my favourite songs ever, and I feel it is worth the price of the album on its own. Kiedis' voice and Flea's bass playing are both excellent.

5. Get on top – Funky Rocker. Kiedis raps about sexual conquests. There is also some great wah-wah guitar.

6. Californication – The title track is a slow ballad about Hollywood. This song has great lyrics and vocals, a very good drumbeat from Chad Smith. The guitar solo is simple sounding but really emotive.

7. Easily – This is the rockiest of the tracks on the album, probably the rockiest track the RHCP have produced. This is a good song with another really good guitar solo.

8. Porcelain – This is a slow, pretentious sounding ballad and is not really my style. It’s probably the song I least like on the album, but it is very highly rated.

9. Emitremmus – One of the best songs on the album. This mainly down to the funky bass line laid down by Flea.

10. I like Dirt – This is a typical RHCP funk rock tune with fun, silly rapped lyrics. This is an ok tune but is not as good as others on the album, but has an excellent guitar solo.

11. This Velvet Glove – This is another slow ballad that may be a reference to Anthony and John’s drug addictions.

12. Savior – This is another really funky rock tune with some really amazing guitar playing by Frusciante.

13. Purple Stain – A starts of really funky tune but half way through turns into a major rock tune.

14. Right on Time – This is a funky rock tune with a strange ‘80s vibe at the bridge.

15. Roadtrippin’ – This is a really good unpretentious acoustic ballad which is more in keeping with the first half of the album.

This is an excellent album; the first 6 tunes are absolutely amazing and while the second half of the album is weaker it is still really good. Kiedis' voice has never sounded as strong as it does on this album and he proves that there is more to him than rapping (which he does very well). If I was going to find a flaw with this album is that I think I would prefer the last song to have been a funkier tune rather than a ballad, this is solely because personally I like albums to finish with a bang while ballads tend to leave me waiting for more. This is an excellent album, and the maturity and emotion in some of the songs may surprise some listeners.