Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication - New 2LP

Format: New 2LP Label: Warner Cat. No. 93624738619 Barcode: 093624738619

Released: 05/11/2014

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 commercial nous and sonic smarts helped make 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik 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 sensual 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.