Search - Red Hot Chili Peppers :: Californication

Cassandra T. from SAN JOSE, CA
Reviewed on 4/19/2007...

I love this album. I thought that the Chili's couldn't get better after One Hot Minute, but this album is a winner.

1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Great album 5 stars, shockingly distorted mastering 1 Star,

Manorsessions | at a CD sale | 08/09/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A great album by any measure, fantastic melody, hooks and changes. John was back on guitar and showing why he never should have left. HOWEVER... This is one of the worst examples of mastering of an album you will ever hear. Some moron at the label decided that it should be an ultra loud mastering with plenty of compression. If I want a CD to sound louder, you know what, I'll just turn the volume up on my stereo and bingo! it's now louder. I was early 20's when this was released with a cheap stereo and I never really noticed how bad the mastering was. Now I'm 30+ with decent hifi gear and the sound of this album just makes you want to put both barrels in front of your face, it is sooooo distorted in the louder songs that it is nearly unlistenable. It is the sort of album (Metallica's Death Magnetic included) that when you put it on loud you start hunting around for a loose cable or maybe someone has turned the bass setting up on the amp or sub to the point that it drowns out the rest of the music, but no the album just naturally sounds like pure distortion with an absolute lack of dynamic range. Check out "loudness wars" on wiki if you want a clear explanation of what is going on on this album."