No-one does funky, punky rock like the RHCP - I think they're amazing. Their songs have a great drive. Flea's basslines are the best - not overly complicated (mostly pentatonic) but so funky and effective. Chad is a fine drummer. Frusciante is a great guitarist - in fact he shines on Emit Remmus which is one of my favourite (but lesser known) songs on the album. Anthony Kiedis is... the singer. Few people would say he's a great singer but I like his timbre and if he keeps his pitch he's alright. I love this album because it still has the early RHCP funk-like energy but also has some softer, more melodic, more mature you could say, songs. A lot of stunners on this album and no bad ones. The only BUT is... the production. This Rick Rubin guy has a talent for completely messing up the sound (he did that with Metallica too). This is rock music - where is my kickdrum! Where are the dynamics! The whole thing is compressed to death and sounds as if it comes out of a transistor radio with Chad playing on a toy drum kit. Still 5* for me because music is much more important than sound quality, but with half decent mastering this could have been even more amazing.