Is it fair to say that it's easier to enjoy the different RHCP eras (Frusciante/Navarro/Klinghoffer) if you think about them as alternative debuts?
Just a question I thought of while listening to 'I'm With You', which is definitely not one of my favourites from their discography, and found it much more enjoyable and impressive when I thought about it as though it was their debut record. In a way it kind of was, because when a band rotates a key songwriter, in the form of the guitar player, the band's overall sound is going to be a lot different.
Obviously the Chili Peppers have a unique sound that connects all of their music, but a song off of 'Mother's Milk' isn't going to sound right on 'I'm With You', and a song off of 'One Hot Minute' wouldn't sound right on 'Freaky Styley'. But when you separate it from the umbrella of being one long discography and instead almost view it as the multiple discographies of separate bands, it becomes much more enjoyable music.
Just my opinion. Would love to know thoughts.