Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Pre loudness war Chili Peppers. Before Rick Rubin and Vlado Miller started butchering their mixes. This CD sounds so good, it has great dynamics and you can hear everything clearly. If only their future albums sounded this good.

A pseudo-epic and one of the most overrated albums of all time, the lavish praise that consistently gets heaped on this particular record has always been baffling. Its main flaw is the stark contrast between the excellent musicianship of the instrumentalists, and the generally slapdash songwriting.

Leading the charge with technically-impressive mediocrity are Funky Monks, Mellowship Slinky in B Major, and Naked in the Rain. More promising is the infectious wash of sound that opens the album with the first verse of The Power of Equality, though this is immediately undone by its cheesy, amateurish chorus. The following track If You Have to Ask suffers the exact same fate. Sandwiched between the nadirs of the irksome Apache Rose Peacock and the overblown Sir Psycho Sexy are two of the LP's high points, the energetic/raucous The Greeting Song, and My Lovely Man, which is the most complete-sounding song on the album, a rare example where everything gels and just sounds 'right'. Also worthy of mention are Breaking the Girl, an Eastern-tinged ballad that recalls The Beatles' Norwegian Wood, the wistful and heartfelt I Could Have Lied, and the dense, pulsating groove of Give It Away.

Though an undeniably energetic and charismatic frontman, Anthony Kiedis is also a weak link. At the time he simply didn't have the vocal talent necessary to carry the weight of the serious songs, and the more upbeat tracks are blighted by his crude, anything-that-rhymes-is-fine lyrics (If You Have to Ask, Suck My Kiss, Mellowship Slinky in B Major, the title track). And those with sexual content are just plain cringeworthy (Apache Rose Peacock, Sir Psycho Sexy).

Also a detractor is the album's length. However you look at it, 17 tracks and 70+ minutes is totally excessive for a record with a lack of focus like this one. Indeed, given that it completely fills the original compact disc runtime of 74 minutes, it's probably the best example available of CD bloat, the tendency in the 90s of artists (no longer restricted to 40 minutes per disc) filling up the media just because they could.

Thankfully the band quickly matured in the following years, and everything they subsequently released is superior in comparison.

Wtf. I have the red vinyl german pressing and none of the numbers match up. I believe this is also kn own as the Wal-Mart pressing. Warner Records.

back in the day when this was released in my country, 2 tracks were omitted. sir psycho and apache rose. had to import the CD from US if u wanted those 2 tracks.

My first ever CD! This brings back memories listening to under the bridge at summer camp and having no idea what it was about :)

It's rare for an album to be as good musically as it is mastered and produced. Not only is there not one track to skip on here, it's also one of the best sounding CDs I have ever heard. 30 years this album still rules and it doesn't sound like it's aged a bit.

Year by year, decade by decade this album gets STRONGER & CONFIRMS THAT IS THEIR BEST ALBUM! One of the best moments in my "32 years music life". Never boring of it, never. I have vinyls 1st presses (european / usa etc.) , original cds, japanese cds, in my pc ed in flac /mp3s 320, in my car in cd & mp3, I HAVE IT IN MY HEAD, all grooves - all melodies.THIS ALBUM IS EVERYWHERE FOR ME! Vocals /bass/drums/ GUITAR - they re all here. One of the "best 20 albums you must here before you die"!

This album justifies the existence of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Before of after, they never achieved such a complete work, as a matter of fact, it's rare for any band to make a whole LP without any weak points! I can say it even after 22 years since i heard it! Whatever music you are into this is essential.

We are in September 1991, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are preparing to release their fifth studio album. They still do not know they just created a monument of rock sold over 30 million copies. How these four Californians have managed to make such a big box. While their previous album Milk Mother had opened the door to the world stage, but the album in hard rock colors did not reach a wide audience and their music remained underground. Revolution Album Blood Sugar Sex Magic is really the use of funky guitar riffs combined with a song most often rapped. It really is a concept crossover, crossover between different musical currents strong, which, although produced met success again and again. An example is the title of Herbie Hancock Rock It , electronic music and jazz, as the Beatles Eleanor Rigby blending string quartet and pop song, ...
To save the album, producer Rick Rubin rented a villa on the heights of Hollywood where the group will stay two months. Rick Rubin now considered a guru of the music business come to be called with the record label Columbia to redress the balance.
compose songs for the group using the method of improvisation, they jamment up obtaining a beginning of a song, a verse or chorus. This method may seem archaic compared to the intrusion of computers, simulation tools, use of samples in the current musical composition. Yet many tube were designed with this method.
fifth album To Anthony Kiedis on vocals and Flea on bass are surrounded John Frusciante on guitar and Chad Smith on drums. The contribution of Frusciante on guitar combined talents of bassist Flea, Kiedis singing and the power of play Chad Smith are undoubtedly behind the success of the album. There is a real chemistry between the musicians who heard the early tracks on the album. Frusciante quit after this album that the band will return to the album Californication second big success of RH. His personal projects have no real interest but may be able to attract apprentices guitarists to dub some plans. Basically it's albums "scratch."
But back to Blood Sugar Sex Magik , the tubes are connected, either Give It Away with Chad Smith snare so recognizable, the ballad Under The Bridge with second part or choirs s lament Kiedis, The Power Of Equality which opens the album sets the scene: rap funky riff on Kiedis Frusciante with in groovy Flea. But Blood Sugar Sex Magik packed as funky nuggets: Funky Monks, Mellowship Slinky In B Major bass on The Righteous & The Wicked, Sir Psycho Sexy, ... The P-funk has left traces ...
The Album is truly exceptional, Red Hot few years will repeat the feat of making a good job, and this is the return of Frusciante and Californication they seduce again the musical world.