Italian star Zucchero has coaxed a wide variety of fellow artists into the studio over the years, and those vocal duets and other collaborations are gathered together on this collection, covering a period of over 15 years. This is one of those albums on which, intentionally, the selling point is the laundry list of co-stars, which is formidable: ...
Putumayo's first geographically based CD after their tenth anniversary celebrations, French Café covers the narrow concept of café music in an admirable manner, including a number of styles that have made their way through the Parisian café systems and/or are inspired by the work of previous artists among the café elite. Some of the classic ...
Capitol Records compiled a definitive collection of Edith Piaf's work 30 years after her death; the compilation includes both the well-known ("La Vie en Rose," "Milord," "Padam...Padam," "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien," etc.) and the hard to find (including "Johnny Tu N'Es Pas un Ange," "Un Dimanche à Londres," "À Quoi Ça Sert l'Amour?," and "A L ...
Arriving a long four years after Revolución de Amor (2002), which had been the band's most accomplished album to date, and a Grammy winner to boot, Amar Es Combatir confirmed Maná's continuing designation as the world's standard-bearing Spanish-language mainstream rock band. Amar Es Combatir's lead single, "Labios Compartidos," was an overnight ...
The first solo album released by the former frontman of Mano Negra, Clandestino is an enchanting trip through Latin-flavored worldbeat rock, reliant on a potpourri of musical styles from traditional Latin and salsa to dub to rock & roll to French pop to experimental rock to techno. Chao's voice tends to be a bit nasally, but the best songs ( ...
Like many late '90s outfits, the Los Angeles-based Ozomatli is an eclectic conglomeration, fusing a wild variety of music. At its core, the group is a dance band, blending funk, hip-hop, Latin rhythms, jazz, salsa, reggae, Tejano, and worldbeat into its sound. It's a busy, heady mix and occasionally there's simply too much going on in the mix for ...
Falta Amor is the Mexican pop/rock band's least noteworthy album by far -- musically, at least -- but it still has its moments and, most importantly, it established them as a promising act during the early '90s, with an exceptionally straightforward pop/rock sound for a Mexican band. In particular, "Rayando el Sol" is a highlight and established a ...
European superstar Manu Chao has long gotten by on writing simple repetitive melodies with simple repetitive lyrics, making it, if nothing else, easy for his international audience to sing along, no matter their native language. So it is not particularly surprisingly he follows the same pattern on his fourth studio full-length, Radiolina, ...
With the tag "world music" applying to everything in an easy catch-all umbrella category, it's hard to disseminate between a quality exercise in the fusion of cultures and a bargain-bin, second-rate throwaway imitation. Beyond some sort of run-of-the-mill world music act, Balkan Beat Box's eponymous debut fuses Arabic, Hassidic, and other ...
Culling songs from both pop artists and children's artists from all over the Francophile world, Putumayo Presents: French Playground is a fun, bright look into the realm of French music. All of it is child-friendly, with jazzy chords and optimistic vocals. L'Autobus à Vapeur's "Bonjour, Bonjour" is especially catchy and is a great way not only to ...
Patrizio Buanne is veritably obsessed with the sound and style of the 1950s and '60s. As a child, he won an Elvis impersonation competition when he dressed as the young version of the King, and he grew up listening almost solely to Italian or Italian-inspired music from that same time period. And now, with his debut album, The Italian, he is able ...
Eclipse is a pretty good collection, featuring most of the highlights from Maná's career. It spans ten years of work, from 1992's Falta Amor through 2002's Revolución de Amor, and includes hits like "Vivir Sin Aire," "No Ha Parado de Llover," "Rayando el Sol," "Hechicera," and "En el Muelle de San Blas." Of course, there are some songs missing, ...
By the time of his fourth album, La Vida...Es un Ratico, it was difficult to imagine Juanes being any more acclaimed or popular. He'd already won trophy cases of awards, from numerous Grammys to France's highest cultural honor, L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and he'd already topped charts in a diverse range of countries, including not only the ...
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA, and co-produced by rock en español expert Gustavo Santaolalla, the second album by Grammy-winning Juanes, highly anticipated following the release of its first single, "A Dios Le Pido," once again delivers his awarded fusion of urban, rock, and Latin American rhythms. A spiritual folk-rock song opens this 12-track ...
Following the successful French Café compilation, Putumayo here updates the French sound, but in a tricky way. The sound on this album is again chanson, the music of the French café culture. Now though, it's the core of la nouvelle scène instead: younger, more world-influenced artists performing chanson with their own touches and flair. The ...
After the runaway success of her charming, folksy first album, Quelqu'un M'a Dit, Carla Bruni's sophomore effort takes a more difficult route and sees her setting canonical works by such poets as Yeats and Emily Dickinson to music. The lines "Wrapping that foul body up/In as foul a rag" in Yeats' "Those Dancing Days Are Gone" are delivered almost ...
The unplugged trend of the 1990s could be quite revealing. If a band used amplification to mask its deficiencies, going acoustic could easily expose them. But when artists who had a lot going for them -- everyone from Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen to L.L. Cool J -- went unplugged, they had a lot of strong material to rely on and triumphed in an ...
At the time of its release, Bajo el Azul de Tu Misterio was the highest debuting alternative rock album on the Billboard Latin charts, an accomplishment that is given more weight by the fact that it is a double album. Jaguares, playing upon their rapidly expanding popularity in Mexico, recorded this mixture of live and studio tracks with an almost ...
From the first notes of Flores de Alquiler, it's clear that la 5ª Estación is rock en español a cut above the average. Laced with mariachi horns and fronted by gutsy lead vocalist Natalia Jimenez, the first cut, "El Sol No Regresa," confidently sets the standard of excellence and taste to be met and exceeded by subsequent tracks. The debut ...
The excellent mid-'60s Vogue recordings of Françoise Hardy have only occasionally been available to those outside France, usually courtesy of either shady collections or pricey imports. The Vogue Years solves that problem (at least temporarily, as long as it's in print), boasting everything the modern music connoisseur looks for: a lengthy, ...
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