Californication

I haven't listened to the album for a while. Good opportunity to change that today. I first became acquainted with the band through the track Scar Tissue. That was an eye-opener for me. I've since had the pleasure of seeing the Peppers live a few times. It's incredible how much energy they have. Californication is a great album.
5/5

I'm not the biggest Chili Peppers fan. I think BloodSugarSexMagic was amazing, but after that I think they're just fine. This album, though, has to be considered a classic. Although I've never listened to this album all the way through, it's one of those that you kind of *feel* like you've listened to the whole thing because there were so many major hits released.

I'll give it 4 stars, well deserved.

Al even terug geluisterd, maar nog geen tijd gehad om te schrijven. Hij lijkt nog goed in het hoofd te zitten. Wat ook al een prestatie op zich is.

Kan ook komen door de voorgerechten die ik geserveerd kreeg. Want man, wat een meuk kwam er die week voorbij. Waar ligt dat aan? Dat weet je op zo'n moment niet helemaal. Maar als je dan een plaat aanzet als dit, wordt het duidelijker. Wat een verschil zeg.

Een album dat als geheel de aandacht heeft gegeven. Natuurlijk helpen de hits. Maar die vormen samen niet het enige onderdeel van de stevige fundering. Alles zit ontzettend sterk in elkaar. En het is heel afwisselend. Zelfs met zo'n kenmerkende stem kan je nog heel wat kanten op. Deze band laat zich zeker niet beperken. En dus, ondanks dat het niet echt mijn smaak is, heb ik hier met plezier naar geluisterd. En verdient de afgeleverde kwaliteit niets minder dan 5 sterren.

Some catchy tunes but I'm extremely indifferent to the themes here. Very self-indulgent. The song "Porcelain" is downright cringey. Keidis' is no Freddie Mercury, let's just say that. Or T.S. Eliot.

Flea and Chad Smith are a top-tier rhythm section (of course) and the harmonic interplay between Frusciante and Flea is compelling, and the thing that makes this an album not to miss before you are dead: in the ground or in an urn on your grandchild's mantlepiece, never really knowing whether you had an impact on others, never having the fulfillment of a life well lived. Perhaps your death will be a glorious one, say, fighting for the liberation of a righteous people whose only hope is to live autonomously, unburdened by interlopers, overlords, or autocrats. More likely though is that death will come to you through the inevitable and unremarkable disintegration of your physical being. If you heard this album before your imminent demise, well at least there's that.

But like so many others, I wish Anthony Keidis was a better singer and they could think of something besides drugs, sex, and California to write about. There's nothing pulling me in on this.

A nostalgic first half, a mediocre second. Although I did enjoy the last song Road Trippin, or at least the beginning of it.

The first six songs on this album are funky and relentlessly catchy. Unfortunately, after the song "Californication" they paint themselves in a bit. They redeem a bit on the last song Road Trippin', which is a nice closing track. 2.8/5 -> 3/5.

A return to the classis Blood Sugar Sex Magik lineup, and the Chili Peppers are locked in a groove alright, but outside of the 4 or 5 singles this thing spawned the rest is kinda middling. RHCP are good as a "greatest hits" band, you loved the radio friendly songs you've heard a lot of, but any deep cuts are just not hitting the same.

Awful album and awful band. I have nothing to say about this!!

I loved this when it came out. Not so sure I still do. First half of the album is great, but the last half is a complete waste of time.

Surprisingly good. The singles I was already familiar with, but there were some nice album tracks in there as well. The album tracks did fall off in the second half though.

The hot streak continues with Californication. Initially i didn't think too much of it but as i kept listening, it really began to grow on me. The guitar work was great for what it was, as was the singing and the other instruments. The songs also held a good pace so i didn't really get bored listening to them. It is one great album that i can see why many people do love it.
Best Song: Parallel Universe
Worst Song: I Like Dirt
(Side note: I also love the video for Californication, it had that really cool video game aesthetic)

Good music with utter lyrical nonsense.

I mean, they really blew their load in the first 7 tracks here, huh?

This is a fantastic album that goes on just a little too long for its own good; those first 7 tracks could stand up with any 7-track stretch on any album like this, and I'll stand by that. The energy and the luster of the sound really started to fade away by Tracks 9 and 10, and it felt especially bad by Tracks 13 and 14 where it just felt like they were rehashing stuff from earlier in the album.

Road Trippin’ is a great closer, but I think that stretch of Tracks 9-14 where the energy starts to fade and the album simply loses its steam is gonna drop this down to a 4 for me. It’s a 4.5 that I just can’t bring myself to round up all the way; it could hit a 5 if one or two of those tracks in the back half of the album click for me better, but it’s a really strong album that’s worth listening to regardless. Think of it this way; it’s a 9/10 for me.

Is funky, it was a very fresh sound when it was first released (yup I’m old). That said, within itself the songs start to feel a bit repetitive. So not quite a 5 but a good listen!

This was a struggle - Emit Remmus may be the worst song I've heard as part of the project

Despite this being shorter I think I prefer Blood Sugar Sex Magik. This album is very front loaded.

The cynical view is that the Chilis said "Hey! We had a huge hit with Under the Bridge! Let's do more songs like that!" resulting in Scar Tissue, Otherside, Californication, Savior, Road Tripping, and The Velvet Glove (less so this last one). The less cynical view is that the Chilis were growing up with this album. Whichever view you take, these are all good songs, even if light on the funk that made the RHCP great. Plenty of great rockers on the album too: Around the World (great opening), Parallel Universe, Get on Top, Easily, Emit Remmus, Purple Stain (love the dirty bass line in this track, but the lyrics are a little ugh). Overall, it's a really good album and the lyrics are a lot more mature than their earlier albums (or at least more subtle?). The only "strike" against the album might be they've gotten too mellow, but even songs like Porcelain (as mellow as it gets) are good. It probably helps that I don't hate Anthony Kiedis's singing voice like many others. I'd call it a 4.5, but I'll round it up because there's really not a weak song on the album (maybe I Like Dirt is the closest to a pure throwaway, but it's not bad).

Honestly? Some stuff I really like. But a lot of other stuff that hasn’t aged so well.

3/5

I’ve never sat down and listened to this one, but turns out I’ve heard a lot of it anyway. You know…it was pretty good. The band played well together and did some cool arrangements. I think all the hits are 4 star songs. The rest was good, but not at that level. Although, not enough to drag it down.

The Chili Peppers at the absolute apex of their sound. Interested to see how they deal with Californication being in the first third of the album. To me, every Chili Peppers album after Blood Sugar Sex Magik sounds played out, but they still have great singles.