Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

This album had the potential to be absolutely incredible but shot itself in its foot

REVIEW REPOST #090. I repost my old reviews, which got no attention, with updated thoughts. Posted this review 1.5 years ago, but I'm posting it again.

Look, I was never a big fan of Red Hot, despite the Can't Stop riff being one of the first that I learned on guitar. The vocalist always annoyed me with his funky "rapping", but if there were songs that I absolutely loved from them, they were all singlehandedly on this album. And it's all of the more melodic tracks, they can really do those well. Otherside, Scar Tissue, This Velvet Glove, Porcelain...

So I decided to finally re-listen and re-review this album.

And despite it being my favorite RHCP record, it's still extremely flawed. At times, it shows its awesomeness, and at other times, it kind of falls flat on its face. A lot of these songs just haven't aged well. Especially Anthony's fast-paced funky vocals, which are just so annoying and over-the-top at times. His singing isn't the best either, his style altogether just hasn't aged very well. I think this album's strongest part is easily the instrumentation and production, the guitar work is really great, and the basslines are always super memorable.

And there are some amazing highlights on here obviously. Usually with this band, the more popular the song is, the better it probably is honestly. And that's very much the case for this album. I mean Otherside is one of my favorite songs of all time, with that beautiful bassline and guitar, and probably Anthony's best vocal performance, Scar Tissue is also beautiful, and Californication is a timeless classic, with a gorgeous legendary riff, how beautiful that song is in general. This Velvet Glove also has an absolutely stunning riff and great vocals. Yet again one of their best songs ever and an absolutely amazing vocal performance too. Those riffs are just sooo good... I used to bump this song on my way to freshman year school, so much nostalgia... Oh and Porcelain?? Straight up sounds like a Duster song, that's actually CRAZY. It's quite beautiful. Make the whole album like that, I'd absolutely love it. But that isn't the case. And basically, every single other song is... Well the more "funky" style from RHCP, and I can't say I love it. Some of it isn't bad, but generally, Anthony's vocals are a huge turn-off on a lot of these songs, despite some of the instrumentals being decent. And the lyrics aren't anything special either.

But I still feel like Red Hot Chili Peppers make Rock music for people who don't like Rock music, honestly. With that said though, this is their best album. I WISH I liked it more, honestly. I was hoping for it to grow on me, I really hoped I could like the rest of the tracks, except for the classic hits, but that didn't really happen. Easily grew on me and a few more but that's it. Still, though it's not a bad album at all. The reason I'm upset is because it could've been incredible, and it ended up being just good. Particularly the 2nd half really suffered the most. I Like Dirt, Get On Top, Purple Stain and Emit Remmus all should've been removed from the tracklist... All of those songs drag the album down a lot.

Still though, this is their best album by a long stretch with some OUTSTANDING highlights. Could've condensed it to 10 tracks, and it would've been much better, but hey, I still like it a lot for a RHCP album. They ain't topping this.

FAV TRACKS: Otherside, Californication, Scar Tissue, This Velvet Glove, Porcelain, Easily
LEAST FAV TRACKS: Get On Top, Purple Stain, I Like Dirt