Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Album - Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Artist - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Release Date - September 24, 1991
Genre - Alternative Rock
Reviewed by - Mr. Rastafarian

One of the first albums I ever bought, was Red Hot Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magik and it was a very good investment indeed. I wasn't disappointed by this album one bit. A very fine mixture of rock, alternative, funk and rhyme make this album a must hear for any rock music addict.

There are many themes on this album, some mainly being sexual innuendos and puns used here and there. Some certain songs contain blatant references to sexual acts, for example the lines ""A state of sexual light / Kissing her virginity / My affinity," and "Glorious euphoria / Is my must / Erotic shock / Is a function of lust."" on the title track. The music flows beautifully, containing a lot of experimentation by Flea (the bassist) and John Frusciante (the guitarist). The songs "Suck My Kiss", "If You Have to Ask", "Sir Psycho Sexy", "Give It Away" and "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" all contained various sexual links. Anthony Keidis has kept a very straight style of rapping the lyrics, which gives it a different feel altogether. "Breaking the Girl" is about Keidis's frequent shifting relationships.

The album was recorded at Harry Houdini's living place "The Mansion" which was then converted into a studio for the recording sessions. Each member got a separate room, as they decided to stay there for the time of the recording. Chad Smith, however, convinced that the house was haunted decided to come to each day's recording from elsewhere. Although jams had always been an integral aspect of song creation for the Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar saw songs being created with more structure. All photography, paintings and art direction on Blood Sugar were credited to filmmaker Gus van Sant. The cover of the album features the four band members' faces positioned around a rose. The booklet also contains a collage of photos assembled to showcase the band members' various tattoos, which feature faces of Native American tribal leaders, animals and sea creatures, as well as various symbols and phrases. Photographs of each band member alone, and two photographs of the band as a whole are also included.

The album flows beautifully through the first few songs, going through a rough middle stage, and comes to another full of energy and then going to a bore again. Maybe the part that makes this album bad is the part of putting in too many songs. 17 songs for an LP seems to be a little too much, if not a concept album. Shortening it to 13-14 songs would have been a better choice. The rest of the songs could be given out as bonus b-sides. But then, people have come to like this album as it is and has gone 5 times platinum in the US since its release.

Rating - 4/5

1. "The Power of Equality" – 4:03
2. "If You Have to Ask" – 3:37
3. "Breaking the Girl" – 4:55
4. "Funky Monks" – 5:23
5. "Suck My Kiss" – 3:37
6. "I Could Have Lied" – 4:04
7. "Mellowship Slinky in B Major" – 4:00
8. "The Righteous & the Wicked" – 4:08
9. "Give It Away" – 4:43
10. "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" – 4:31
    
11. "Under The Bridge" – 4:24
12. "Naked in the Rain" – 4:26
13. "Apache Rose Peacock" – 4:42
14. "The Greeting Song" – 3:14
15. "My Lovely Man" – 4:39
16. "Sir Psycho Sexy" – 8:17
17. "They're Red Hot" (Robert Johnson) – 1:11