Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik Album

Red Hot Chili Peppers finally hit their stride with their finest album to date, only for guitarist John Frusciante to depart, thus ensuring that "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" would go down in history as the band's greatest achievement. From the outset, "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" merges several musical styles as diverse as hip-hop and alternative rock; fast-paced rap vocals, aggressive drumming are reminiscent of heavy metal, and the raw, hard-hitting basslines are even more prominent in the mix, allowing the groove aspect of the band's sound reaching even funkier levels than on previous records. Frusciante's frenetic, Hendrix-esque guitar work and Rick Rubin's production are the album's greatest asset, though, conceiving an uncustomary approach to alternative rock, sounding far removed from most bands of the time with an attitude and image entirely individualistic and atypical.Red Hot Chili Peppers vary and expand their range musically whilst embracing their sensitive sides in terms of lyricism, but Rick Rubin's clear, focused production tightens their sound, and although his influence reduced their propensity for decadence, "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" would have benefited from removing the more throwaway tracks from the collection, preventing the intensity, cohesion and flow from receding towards the end. Regardless of its minor flaws, the album is the band's magnum opus, a feat matched in gravitas by the outstanding "Californication". Each track represents the band at their finest, tempering the overt sexual bombast with acoustic emotional balladry, allowing them to be viewed in a different light, thus pushing them into the mainstream."Blood Sugar Sex Magik" defined the more commercially viable sound of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a bizarrely appealing amalgamation of hip-hop, metal and funk, a culmination of their genre-defying non-conformity within the music industry. Indeed, the album is their most consistent and cogent, and wholly deserves its reputation as one of the greatest records of all-time, but may not be the best place to start for a casual fan due to its excessive length. I would strongly advise anyone new to their music to stream their second greatest hits compilation released in 2003 before delving into their albums, only three of which, including BSSM, are essential listening.* My review refers to the 2012 vinyl repress of this album. I would highly recommend this reissue to audiophiles conscious of the erratic sonic quality on certain releases of the band's discography, in fact, if you are a fan of the album, it is the definitive version.

I love em both, but I could never rank this album ahead of Californication..

This reissue is one of the wonders of the modern world - the sound quality, as noted by others, is PHENOMENAL. And I'm one who thinks most reissues suck. Get a copy of this now before prices rise!

This pressing is fantastic. If you love this album this version is a must????

I was after this pressing for a year and I was so happy to finally lay my hands on a new copy in early March! These reviewers aren't exaggerating - this really is a great-sounding fully-analogue remaster. Extremely punchy and dynamic, excellent clarity, superb transparency, immaculate stereo separation, drums that smack you in the face, and Flea's bass is [email protected]&ING MASSIVE - really cuts deep while being so damn tight and clear as it should be. This baby packs a huge punch.It does have a grittier and edgier sonic signature compared to the clean and smooth sound of the CD that my dad got over 25 years ago... and while it does project a very different character of the album from what I'm familiar with, I'm not complaining. In fact, I like it this way - the grittier sound of the vinyl remaster makes it feel a lot more forward, intense and aggressive (in a good way, meaning no sacrifice of dynamics) - it conveys the feeling of an intimate live performance as opposed to the more studio-ish feel of the CD.Of course, I also have to be realistic - this pressing doesn't have as strong a midrange compared to the Steve Hoffman/Kevin Gray-mastered Stadium Arcadium - which is QUITE important for more melodic songs like "Breaking the Girl". However, it's something I quickly learned to accept and listen past - after that, the melodicism came back to me.Interestingly, the between-song segues differ markedly from the CD - tracks simply cut into one another with absolutely no crossfades (except between "Sir Psycho Sexy" and "They're Red Hot"), the final notes on some tracks even ending a second or so prematurely. I won't elaborate on this track-by-track here, but suffice it to say that it's clear from this that the vinyl remaster was probably produced by splicing together the individual reels for each song, whereas the CD must have been either digitally edited together or mastered from a copy tape for the transitions to be as smooth as they are. The 'rougher' segues on the vinyl, while sticking out like a sore thumb, are interesting in that they contribute to the overall uniquely gritty character of the remaster.The records are nicely packaged in thick, high-quality poly-lined sleeves, and a non-gatefold double-thickness cover that has ample space to safely house the two heavyweight LPs, along with a fold-out lyrics insert. There's a reason *why* I got this particular pressing - it's made by Record Industry, which is quite possibly my favourite pressing plant in the world nowadays. There are some ticks in quiet areas here and there [EDIT: I neglected to mention the runouts on some sides are a bit noisy, rather unusual for an RI pressing], but it's otherwise a really high quality pressing.So bottom line is this - this is absolutely worth the money if you want to experience the RHCP's breakthrough album from a whole new angle. Great, great package.

I don't like that they messed with the continuity between songs which (I assume) is how it was meant to be heard..that's pretty lame..

hi everyone was browsing through the photos for this release. it says "made in usa" on the cover but on the record label it says "made in the Netherlands"? so this is a Europe issue? hmmmm

thank you. that is really helpful. truly appreciate your response

This is not an EU issue - the EU pressing was pressed at a different plant (Optimal Media in Germany). The records on this version were made in the Netherlands for export to the USA.More so today than ever before, the country of issue may not always be the same as the country of manufacture.

What is the red photos insert? Are there lyrics and credits inside or is it only a single sheet printed on both sides? I try to find releases with lyrics and credits inside.

Finally got a hold of a copy of the US 180g today and the insert is indeed a fold-out with lyrics! Really, really nice, and love how it serves the same function as the printed inners of the original 1991 German vinyl while the records themselves are protected by high quality poly-lined inners. Can't wait to get home and give this reissue a spin - all of the enthusiastic reviews have me really excited!

I was wondering that too. The EU 180g version (plus both the EU and US red vinyl pressings) is known to have a fold-out insert with lyrics. I'm pretty sure it should be the same on this pressing as well.

Absolutely beautiful. Worth every cent of the $25 I paid!

Has anyone else noticed that high end frequencies get really messy? They seem to peak and distort. I especially notice this with crashes but also sometimes with highhats; and with "ch" vocal sounds.

I'm glad someone else noticed this! I was listening to Breaking the Girl and thought something was wrong with my headphones on all the crashes, but then I listened to the digital version and didn't hear a problem, so I thought something was wrong with my turntable. Then I listened on a different turntable with a different cartridge and still heard a problem, so it's gotta be something wrong with the record....

nays.tunes Has anyone else noticed that high end frequencies get really messy? They seem to peak and distort. I especially notice this with crashes but also sometimes with highhats; and with "ch" vocal sounds. The mastering is rather edgy, so the cymbals do tend to sound splashy. To me, they were a little distracting and exaggerated at first, but thankfully, the negative effects were easily mitigated by switching to a brighter cartridge with more top-end extension (Sanyo Fisher MG-66), and everything now sounds fine. My recommendation would be to experiment with different stylii/cartridges if possible. Hope that helps!

yeah mine is this way. I'm not sure I like this too much. I saw the reviews of the EU version and i might swap it out for that version.

Best sounding LP in my collection. 1 2 3 4

My copy skips 5 seconds into the guitar solo of "If You Have To Ask" anyone else have this problem? That's the only problem I have otherwise the record is one of the cleanest records I own and sounds excellent blared through my sound system.

Mine changes depending on the turntable, but it skips at a different spot.

My copy is flawless, no issues at all. Hope this helps.

The mastering is a little on the hotter side, but the sound quality and vinyl quality is excellent. This record is dead quiet and the sound is very dynamic. Drums hit hard and cymbals sparkle without any edginess. I didn't h at any compression whatsoever and this record definitely has a great dynamic range, which speaks a lot given the genre of music.

Amazing sound quality!

This reissue sounds incredible! They are definitely not lying about using the original analog master tapes. Amazing sound quality.

My favorite rock album of the 90's!

absolutely true couldn't have said it better, a real great product of the early 90s.