Powerstars

Hey everyone, Powerstars here with another Chili Peppers review! Today, we're discussing their critically acclaimed 1999 album, Californication! Now, after the Peppers took off with 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik, they went on a tour larger than any they had done before. Guitarist John Frusciante was not prepared for this, and, combined with his growing hatred for vocalist Anthony Kiedis, quit the band in the middle of the tour and slipped into heroin over the next 5 years. The Peppers recruited Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, and released One Hot Minute, maybe I'll talk about that one later. Eventually, it was seen that the Peppers and Navarro were not getting along, and the band was on the verge of breaking up. Fruscainte, by this point, had gotten himself off of heroin, and was in tears when Flea asked if he wanted to rejoin. The resulting album was Californication.

Californication opens with the explosive bass riff to "Around The World," a single that is easily one of the highlights of the album. After another amazing rocker, "Parallel Universe," which, I have to mention, has one of my favorite guitar solos from John Frusciante...it's clear that the Peppers have begun to embrace their softer, smoother side, with songs like "Scar Tissue," "Otherside," and "Californication" itself. But it's clear that the album isn't missing it's share of funk with songs like "Get On Top," "I Like Dirt," and "Purple Stain." Not to mention the wonderful distortion of "Easily" and "Emit Remmus." "Emit Remmus," in particular, is just a really simple, yet solid guitar riff being played around with by Frusciante, while Flea and drummer Chad Smith lay down a great rhythm to go with it. While there are some exceptions, most songs on the album, lyrically, deal with the dangerous sex and drug fueled life of California, Hollywood in particular. The title track, unsurprisingly, is the most obvious example.

Speaking on the vocal side of things, John Frusciante's harmonies are utilized to their full advantage here. While they started experimenting with vocal harmony on Blood Sugar Sex Magik, this is where they perfected it. Good examples of songs that use the harmonies to an amazing degree are "Right On Time," "Around The World," and "Otherside." Unfortunately, this is where we got to the only huge negative of the album. I mentioned distortion earlier in the review, and while it does work wonders for "Parallel Universe," "Emit Remmus," and the like, there is a glaring problem with it. Every song on the album is distorted in some way. To further explain this, I'll need to make sure my viewers are familar with the Loudness War. Over time, musicians began wanting their music to be louder, so that it would stand out among other musicians. Problem is that everyone was doing this, so eventually those who wanted to compete had to make their music REALLY loud, and those who just wanted to be heard in all the madness had to crank their music up as well

The problem with this lays in the limits of the digital format of sound. Basically, it can only be so loud without being distorted. When a sound wave reaches it's limit, this is called peaking, which is generally considered bad, because it's when the distortion begins. The more times a sound wave peaks, the more distorted it is. This is done through a process called compression. The less compressed a sound wave is, the more it moves, basically it has more dynamic range, which allows the music to sound more "alive," if you will. When a sound file is compressed to the point of little or no dynamic, the music sounds flatter, with less noticeable drums and more distortion. Unfortunately, "Californication" is one of the albums most infamous for this practice, as usually for albums with this issue, fans can listen to the vinyl edition instead, as analog sound had many differences to digital sound, and thus is mastered seperately. Sadly, the vinyl has the same issues, but there is an unmastered version floating around if the compression bugs you too much. Personally for me, it's never noticeable enough for me to cringe or want a different version of the album, but it is a large issue a lot of people have with the album, so I figured I'd mention it.

Anyway, whatever way you choose to listen to this album, CD or vinyl, unmastered or compressed, it's a great experience and one of the Peppers' best albums.

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