This award is presented to the artist; vocal and instrumental albums are considered in this category, as are hard rock and metal releases.
"Stadium Arcadium"- Red Hot Chili Peppers
(Warner Bros.)
Billboard Album Review- Stadium Arcadium- May 13, 2006: "Stadium" is the word, and the message is loud and clear. Twenty-three years into their career, the Red Hot Chili Peppers sound euphoric and enormously alive. Distilling the ecstasy of their live shows into 24 new songs, "Stadium Arcadium" is a mature showcase of concentrated power with riotous groove jams, super-sized hooks and transcendent vocal arrangements. It runs the gamut from classic funk rock ("Tell Me Baby") and crisp, hard pop ("Snow [Hey Oh]") to deep funk ("Hump de Bump") and soft-rap balladry ("Hard to Concentrate")-they even venture into hypnotic blues metal ("Readymade"). "Stadium Arcadium" is one wild melodic rush, and Rick Rubin's airy production squeezes the essence out of a monster-without taming it. A double disc makes sense because no real stadium show pulls the curtain after only 50 minutes. The Peppers' strongest set since "Blood Sugar Sex Magik."
