California (Mr. Bungle album)
| California | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Mr. Bungle | ||||
| Released | June 13, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | 1998 | |||
| Genre | Experimental rock | |||
| Length | 44:16 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Mr. Bungle | |||
| Mr. Bungle chronology | ||||
| ||||
California is the third and final studio album by American band Mr. Bungle. It was released on June 13, 1999, through Warner Bros.
Musical style
In keeping with much of the band's output, the album incorporates a wide variety of musical styles, including Hawaiian music, Eastern music, electro-funk, doo-wop, folk music, pop music, surf rock, circus music, psychobilly, kecak, thrash metal, lounge music, exotica, space age pop, jazz rock, avant-garde music, piano ballads and music influenced by science fiction, spaghetti western and horror film scores.
Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Alternative Press | [2] |
| NME | 6/10[3] |
| Pitchfork | 7.3/10[4] |
California has been well received by critics. A positive review came from Pitchfork, who called it "one of those albums that you can't believe a major label had anything to do with", writing, "the more I listen to California, the more I'm convinced that Mike Patton is really the devil on holiday."[4]
Accolades
| Year | Publication | Country | Accolade | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Rolling Stone | Germany | "Albums of the Year" | 15 |
Feud with the Red Hot Chili Peppers
California was originally scheduled for release on June 8, 1999, but Warner delayed it by several days so as not to coincide with RHCP's similarly titled album Californication. Mr. Bungle retaliated by giving a concert on Halloween Night in 1999 where they parodied several RHCP songs and ridiculed their onstage mannerisms and sound including impersonating the ghost of late Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak shooting up heroin.
During the summer and fall tour to promote the album, Mr. Bungle's agent booked the group for several major music festivals in Europe, but the band got removed from all of them at the last minute, claiming Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis was behind them being thrown off the festival (the band said because they were the headlining band, they retained the right to choose what acts could and couldn't perform with them which has never been confirmed). The incident was a resurfacing of an old quarrel between RHCP and Mike Patton's previous group Faith No More that had occurred in 1989 when Kiedis accused Patton of copying his mannerisms on stage, especially in the music video for the song Epic. Kiedis said of the festival shows “I would not have given two fucks if they played there with us. But after I heard about [the] Halloween show where they mocked us, fuck him and fuck the whole band.” Trevor Dunn later published a lengthy diatribe on his personal website which stated "Flea, in all seriousness, really isn't that good. I mean, c'mon. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were vaguely interesting in the late 80s, but Christ they fucking suck, they suck."
Patton was asked in July 2010 about the festival incident and if he made peace with Kiedis. Patton said "It’s not worth talking about. I’ve no idea what it was about then and I don’t know now. But I bet we’d have a warm embrace if we saw each other now."
Track listing
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sweet Charity" | Mike Patton | Patton | 5:05 |
| 2. | "None of Them Knew They Were Robots" | Trey Spruance | Spruance, Patton, Danny Heifetz | 6:03 |
| 3. | "Retrovertigo" | Trevor Dunn | Dunn | 4:59 |
| 4. | "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" | Patton | Patton, Clinton "Bär" McKinnon | 3:55 |
| 5. | "Ars Moriendi" | Patton | Patton | 4:10 |
| 6. | "Pink Cigarette" | Patton | Spruance, Patton | 4:55 |
| 7. | "Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy" | Spruance | Spruance | 3:34 |
| 8. | "The Holy Filament" | Dunn | Dunn | 4:04 |
| 9. | "Vanity Fair" | Patton | Dunn, Patton | 2:58 |
| 10. | "Goodbye Sober Day" | Patton | Patton, McKinnon | 4:29 |
Total length: |
44:16 | |||
Personnel
Mr. Bungle
- Trevor Dunn – bass guitar, artwork concept and production
- Danny Heifetz – percussion, drums, keyboards and production
- Clinton "Bär" McKinnon – saxophone, keyboards, French horn and production
- Mike Patton – vocals, keyboards, artwork concept and production
- Trey Spruance – guitar, engineering, production strategy and production
Additional personnel
- Bill Banovetz – English horn
- Sam Bass – cello
- Ben Barnes – violin and viola
- Henri Ducharme – accordion
- Timb Harris – trumpet
- Marika Hughes – cello
- Eyvind Kang – violin, viola
- Carla Kihlstedt – violin and viola
- Michael Peloquin – harmonica
- David Phillips – pedal steel guitar
- Larry Ragent – French horn
- Jay Stebley – cymbalom
- Aaron Seeman – piano on "Pink Cigarette"
- William Winant – timpani, mallets, tam tam and bass drum
- Billy Anderson – engineering
- Gibbs Chapman – mixing
- Ryan Cooper – publicity
- Elizabeth Gregory – legal representation
- Josh Heller – engineering
- Malcom Hillier – sleeve photography
- George Horn – mastering
- Adam Muñoz – engineering, mixing and editing
- Mackie Osborne – sleeve layout and graphic design
- Justin Phelps – engineering
- Rob Worthington – mixing
References
- ↑ Huey, Steve. "California - Mr. Bungle : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
- ↑ Alternative Press: 93. August 1999. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "NME Album Reviews - California". nme.com. December 7, 1999. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
- 1 2 Mirov, Nick. "Mr. Bungle: California: Pitchfork Review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 29, 2001. Retrieved August 22, 2012.