Californication

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Product description ------------------- Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication - CD .co.uk ------ Following a string of unsatisfactory replacements (including former Jane's Addiction ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Jane%20Addiction/%24%7B0%7D ) alum Dave Navarro), Californication--the band's seventh album--saw them reunited with both errant guitarist John Frusciante (hauled out of a long and debilitating heroin addiction) and producer Rick Rubin, whose mixture of commerical nous and sonic smarts helped make 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002LQR/%24%7B0%7D ) their breakthrough set. It's a welcome reunion: Frusciante's playing, in particular--tight, yet lyrical--fits these songs like a second skin, lending them a sort of ease that is perfectly in keeping with the reckless hedonism of their lyrics. The songs themselves are much the same mixture of adrenalised swagger and high-tensile funk as ever. And typically, there are two or three fillers here ("Emit Remmus", "Purple Stain") which probably should have been left on the shelf. Ultimately, though, it's their ballads ("Road Trippin'", the moody, desolate " Tissue") which really demonstrate their strengths, both as songwriters and arrangers--and reveal, albeit briefly, the hearts this crew normally take such pains to conceal. --Andrew McGuire P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); BBC Review ---------- Everyone's favourite sock wearing funk rockers had, by 1998, been through the mill. Drugs, death, divorce, heartache and some dodgy acting jobs do not a happy bunch of Californians make. It was bassist Flea's visit to former guitarist John Frusciante, asking him to re-join the band which saved the day (in place of Dave Navarro who, himself, had exited stage left pursued by his own demons). At first befuddled by reativity without the aid of stimulants, Frusciante in sessions at home started melding with his old bandmates and Californication- the band's most succesful album - was born. On the surface filled with the usual punk funk, the band had now matured enough to make it sound more convincing. Keidis' voice, ravaged by age and excess, now emerged as a mighty instrument, while Frusciante's guitar held far more subtle nuance. The album yielded four hit singles (Around the World, Otherside, Californication and the Grammy Award-winning Tissue) but even more interesting waas the way the band let more than just fun and frolics into the mix. Frusciante on Get On Top even fused Public Enemy with prog rock, admittting that his unsdersatated solo had been influenced by Steve Howe of Yes. Overall the album has a far more meditative feel, allowing you to finally believe that they'd come to do more than just party your town dry. It was the album that confirmned them as world class. They remain such today, and it's all down to this re-birth. --Dennis O'Dell Find more music at the BBC ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/syn//albumreviews/-/music/ ) This link will take you off in a new window See more ( javascript:void(0) )