To say that Uplift Mofo Party Plan & Freaky Styley were the pinnacle of the RHCP's career seems like nonsense to me. Don't get me wrong, I looooooove those albums. Musically though, they're quite pre-pubescent in all respects. I thought that songwriting started to have a more mature quality on "Mother's Milk," but if anything "BSSM" relied less on gimmicks then they're previous albums, musically anyways. Besides, gimmicks were in full gear with those guys from the get-go. Need I mention the cover of Abbey Road. I think I might be crazy, but I actually liked "Californication" (sic). It took me about two years to give it a fair listen. The quality of the writing is really, really good. Frusciante really seems to be taking music seriously. Obviously though, it's a tradeoff with the post-punk energy of their early stuff. Primus . .. I wouldn't say "Frizzle Fry's" their best.. .I thought "Pork Soda" and "Sailing the Seas of Cheese" were equally as good, if not for similar reasons as to why "Mother's Milk" is a better album then "Freaky Styley." "Tales from the Punchbowl" was a real letdown, obviously. I thought Brain gave 'em a raw edge for the "The Brown Album," but it certainly didn't compare. (let's not mention "Anti-pop"--who the hell let Fred Durst in the studio???). I think I had pretty much given up on those guys. A few of my friends saw them with Buckethead and said it was the worse show they had seen yet. If Buckethead couldn't turn them around, who could? Well, I don't know if anyone saw 'em on this last tour, but it was a real treat. I really don't think Les's side projects were just rehashing Primus stuff. I really thought he was challenging himself. The music didn't always work. A lot of the Frog Brigade was really flat (though Oysterhead was great if you can get past Trey . . I'm not much for hippie jams). Anyways, on this latest Primus tour Les seemed to take what was good about the Frog Brigade and meld it with Primus. They're was lots of good jamming & improvisation mixed with high energy playing. Plus, Tim Alexander is back in the band, and let's face it. . .Brain was no Herb (Praxis/Buckethead albums notwithstanding). This last Primus show was probably on par with what they did on "Sailing the Seas of Cheese." The ep they released was a bit boring, but I think they might do some great work again. And since we're on the topic of "funk metal" . ...Living Colour's new album was a bit of a disappointment, although some of the cuts are great. It really did seem like "Stain II" which is fine by me if the quality is as good, unfortunately a lot of it wasn't. Those guys as players though haven't lost a bit. I saw 'em with King Crimson recently. They were incredibly tight. They ended the set with "Time's up." I always thought that to be a challenging piece to play. If anything it was the crowd who seemed to have lost the magic. Folks just stood their. Although that could have been the King Crimson crowd. KC fans seem to have an unwritten rule where they all agree not to "show" that they like the music. My 2 cents. Matt