Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication (2LP) [WARNER]

Why you'll love it

Californication brought John Frusciante back into the band and turned the Chili Peppers into one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. "Scar Tissue" won a Grammy, and the album has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.

This edition

• 2LP set, 15 tracks
• Warner Bros. pressing
• Produced by Rick Rubin

About the album

By 1998 the Red Hot Chili Peppers were in rough shape, but then John Frusciante, newly clean, rejoined on guitar, and everything clicked. Working again with producer Rick Rubin, the band made a warmer, more melodic record than anything they'd done before, with Anthony Kiedis singing more than rapping and Frusciante's spare, gorgeous guitar lines all over it.

"Scar Tissue" won the Grammy for Best Rock Song, "Otherside" and the title track are melancholy California postcards, and "Around the World," "Parallel Universe" and "Road Trippin'" show off just how much range they suddenly had. Californication became the band's best-selling album and is still a gateway record for new fans.

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Tracklist

Listen

On Warner Bros., a reissue of the 1999 album.