Californication (Vinyl 2xLP)

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.