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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 20, 2015 18:26:41 GMT
Hey, Queen, thanks for your review! I'm glad you enjoyed the set so much. I think you are very spot on when you talk about terrific melodies, in my opinion Calamaro's music might not be extremely complex harmonically but he is a genius when it comes down to melodies, he creates the kind of melodies that get stuck in your head. I wish I knew Spanish better Does that mean you have some basics of Spanish? You don't have to know the words to enjoy a tune Wise words! I agree. Poetry can always add something but music is mainly about... well, the music. I enjoy music in some languajes I don't even know a word of. In any case, remember if you are wondering about the words and their meaning (or want to sing along "No se puede vivir del amor" with more precission ) there's the lyrics + translation for this set on this downloadable file: www.dropbox.com/s/jd9fcfu7nm2h5hq/Calamaro%20translations.doc?dl=0
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Post by queenofthehours on Nov 20, 2015 19:01:07 GMT
Hey, Queen, thanks for your review! I'm glad you enjoyed the set so much. I think you are very spot on when you talk about terrific melodies, in my opinion Calamaro's music might not be extremely complex harmonically but he is a genius when it comes down to melodies, he creates the kind of melodies that get stuck in your head. I wish I knew Spanish better Does that mean you have some basics of Spanish? Only a little school-Spanish. Enough to confuse me rather than help while listening. I little knowledge is a dangerous thing!
Most opera in an another language to the one the listener speaks and that is considered to be great so why shouldn't pop music be the same? Some bands even make up their OWN languages for songs. Words are overrated - no wonder Mr Lynne didn't like them.
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Post by unomusette on Nov 21, 2015 21:31:46 GMT
01) Dulce condena - Sweet conviction - this has a nice warm sound and definite echoes of the sort of thing the Lord Dame himself might come out with. Generally very uplifting, and if I was learning Spanish I'd appreciate the very clear lyrics, no mumbling here. That's one of the reasons I don't get the whole Bob Dylan comparison. Another reason is that his voice is nothing like Bob's, as you say it's probably just that they look alike. People can be so shallow, ahem. 02) Elvis está vivo - Elvis is alive - Who wouldn't be intrigued by a title like that? Sounds playful, I like the little guitar twiddle at the end of some of the verse lines and having an accordion on it. I bet Elvis never used an accordion. Or maybe he did on Wooden Heart? Anyway, I like this. 03) Mi enfermedad - My illness - Hmm, Hammond organ is not one of my favourite instruments but it is confined to the background mostly. Nodding away happily to this, it's not earth shattering but it's inescapably catchy. The harmonica makes up for the organ too. 04) Me estás atrapando otra vez - You are trapping me once again - Very smooth, lots going on in the music department though. I'm not the biggest fan of bluesy stuff but this gets past my defences, it gets better and better as it goes along. 05) Salud (dinero y amor) - Health (money and love) - Proper latin american feel to this, and it suits his voice maybe better than the more mainstream ballady songs. Must admit I've been indulging a bit in the cheap red before and whilst reviewing these songs but this one particularly appeals *clinks glasses* Salut! 06) Flaca - Thin woman - Odd title, puts me in mind of "Leggy Blonde" by Flight of the Conchords (although I expect this one is more serious). Pleasant enough but not a stand out track compared to the previous songs. First one that's struck me as too long as well. 07) Diez años después - Ten years later - Sounds Wilbury-esque to these ears, again it's nice background music but doesn't set the world on fire for me. 08) Crímenes perfectos - Perfect crimes - Ooh, moody intro, perfect song for a bit of a smoochy end-of-evening dance. I can easily picture myself and the partner of my choice drifting around in each other's arms to this, very nice. The fact that it's a bit too long would only make things better..... 09) Me arde - It stings - Nice guitar intro, in fact the guitar sound is fab all the way through. Love the spoken bit, it always adds atmosphere. Above average, definitely. 10) Aqui no podemos hacerlo - We can't do it here - Can't do WHAT here? The mind boggles. Nice relaxed reggae beat and I like the guitar sound again. Even the organ sounds cool, it's a goodie. 11) No se puede vivir del amor - You can't live from love - the intro brings Spanish Stroll by Mink de Ville to mind, this is not a bad thing at all. Does go on a bit though, as pre-warned, but then so does Hey Jude...... I really like the warm feel of the sound on these songs, also they're quite diverse so it keeps your interest. Being sung in Spanish probably adds to the appeal, it's a very easy language on the ears. His delivery seems to suit some songs better than others, he strikes me as better on the uptempo tracks. Even my favourite singer has problems in my opinion sometimes with ballad delivery so he's in good company. I'd be very happy to put this on if I had friends around, or in the car, or when doing jobs around the house, it would appeal to most sensible people I think. It gets 8 out of 10 from me, thanks for sharing Helmut83
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Post by jrmugz on Nov 22, 2015 18:22:03 GMT
OK Helmut, here is my review of the Andrés Calamaro tunes. Sorry for the late jump on it, this week has been insane, to say the very least. 01. "Sweet Conviction" – Great melody and chorus, really like it a lot. Non-imposing musical soundscape to back it!!! Nice. 02. "Elvis is Alive" – Nice easy-going sound like "The Tide is High" by Blondie, and humorous lyrics. A subtle nod to Beethoven's 9th, I can hear there. 03. "My Illness" – An early Beatles vibe, with a little bit bigger of a sound. Works great for me! 04. "You Are Trapping Me Once Again" – Hey is someone ripping off Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight"? Ha ha. Cool stuff! 05. "Health (Money and Love)" – I'll take the chicken chimachanga combo and a small Diet Coke.. Oh, I'm not in a Mexican restaurant, but I feel like it. Nice! 06. "Thin Woman" – Beautiful pop song, love it! Nice harmonizing vocal track!!! 07. "Ten Years Later" – Really love the country-blues vibe to this one. 08. "Perfect Crimes" - Really like the melody and arrangement. 09. "It Stings" - The Stones meet "Money for Nothing" rhythm. Cool tune apparently about that there heartache type stuff. 10. "We Can’t Do It Here" – Nice reggae feel, not as good as the other songs, but OK. 11. "You Can’t Live From Love" – Really really like it! Sounds very cool. Star Rating: 4.3 out of 5 Prime Cuts: "Ten Years Later", "Thin Woman", "You Can’t Live From Love", "Sweet Conviction" Bottom Line: Thanks for sharing Helmut, must say it was thoroughly enjoyable, I'll have to find a "Best of " compilation that has most of these so I can play it easy in the car. The cat really has all of his pop/rock prowess in full tact; I can see why he is quite the famous star, south of the American border. If you have any recommendations for a "best of" CD that contains a lot of these, just let me know, ideally would contain all of my prime cuts, but OK if it doesnt. I like the part that it's in another language, adds mystique to the pleasure of the great music an singing. Sometimes its freeing to not have to think about the words, and the voice can just serve as an instrument carrying the melody. Will mark you down for your next turn sometime next year, once I start to compile that list. Jim
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 23, 2015 1:34:46 GMT
06) Flaca - Thin woman - Odd title Well, you might imagine it's definitely not odd in Spanish, but then I had to make the translation and I can't come up with a better one (I doubt someone could). What happens is that in Spanish some adjectives adopt their final letter according to the gender of their subject. "Flaco" literally means thin, but referred to male people, animals or things. If you are talking about something of female gender you should replace the final "o" with an "a", making it "Flaca". By doing this you are able to know two things about the subect: 1) It is thin; and 2) it is feminine. So you know those two things with just one word. This is different to what happens in English, a language in which all adjectives are indefinite (they don't carry the gender of their subject in them). Now, if I had translated it as just "Thin", how would someone know I was talking about a girl/woman? So that's why I had to add the "woman", and that's why it sounds weird to you, but of course in Spanish it's a whole different matter. 10) Aqui no podemos hacerlo - We can't do it here - Can't do WHAT here? The mind boggles. No, don't think bad! He's not talking about what you are thinking, he's just talking about consuming drugs! Seriously, the song is supposed to talk about a girl who is the guy's lover and he is apparently complaining because they don't let them make love or have sexual relations on the place where they are. However, in reality it's the typical song about drugs that seems to be a sine qua non requirement for every rockstar. Calamaro himself has said that this one and "Me estás atrapando otra vez" (the bluesy ballad on #4) aren't actually about a certain lady but about drugs, although the lyrics disguise it. Thanks for your review, Uno! Having in mind our musical affinity pretty much starts and ends up in ELO, I must say I was surprised by you liking the set of songs. Even though nothing is ever Earth shattering or sets the world on fire ( ), an 8/10 from you is excellent, and having in mind it was an artist you didn't previously know and who sings in another language I think it's the equivalent of a 10/10 (this is, the highest note factically possible). And, on top of everything, it was a very interesting analysis with new points of view of music I've known for so long.
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 23, 2015 1:52:09 GMT
09. "It Stings" - The Stones meet "Money for Nothing" rhythm. Cool tune apparently about that there heartache type stuff. Yeah, although the lyrics are a bit cryptic, the basical message you get is that he is madly in love with a girl to whom he is speaking, and he is doing his best to conceal it but deep inside he feels like he's burning. I like the part that it's in another language, adds mystique to the pleasure of the great music an singing. Sometimes its freeing to not have to think about the words, and the voice can just serve as an instrument carrying the melody. Yeah, sometimes it works like that for the good. Not knowing the language leaves you no choice other than to concentrate on the music, and that's when you examine it more deeply. Thanks for your review as well, Jim! I'm glad you liked the material. As for a "best of" compilation of Andrés Calamaro (beware, he has a musician brother named "Javier" whom in my opinion is not half as good), I have seen there exist a few official ones but the choices of songs are terrible in my opinion -like any artist with a large discography, Andrés has many bad songs as well- so I wouldn't waste my time on that. If I were you I'd just download these songs plus a few others I can recommend you that didn't make the cut on my set and burn them yourself to a CD.
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Post by jrmugz on Nov 23, 2015 2:46:30 GMT
09. "It Stings" - The Stones meet "Money for Nothing" rhythm. Cool tune apparently about that there heartache type stuff. Yeah, although the lyrics are a bit cryptic, the basical message you get is that he is madly in love with a girl to whom he is speaking, and he is doing his best to conceal it but deep inside he feels like he's burning. I like the part that it's in another language, adds mystique to the pleasure of the great music an singing. Sometimes its freeing to not have to think about the words, and the voice can just serve as an instrument carrying the melody. Yeah, sometimes it works like that for the good. Not knowing the language leaves you no choice other than to concentrate on the music, and that's when you examine it more deeply. Thanks for your review as well, Jim! I'm glad you liked the material. As for a "best of" compilation of Andrés Calamaro (beware, he has a musician brother named "Javier" whom in my opinion is not half as good), I have seen there exist a few official ones but the choices of songs are terrible in my opinion -like any artist with a large discography, Andrés has many bad songs as well- so I wouldn't waste my time on that. If I were you I'd just download these songs plus a few others I can recommend you that didn't make the cut on my set and burn them yourself to a CD. OK, thanks, Helmut, for the scoop on "It Stings" and the best of collections. I figured that's how it would have worked, that there wouldn't be one compilation that covered most of these Jim
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 23, 2015 18:49:50 GMT
Well, guys, thanks for your reviews. Much to my surprise -having in mind it's music in Spanish just the week Jeff's new album is released- they have all been very possitive so it seems like I hit the nail with my choice. Chippa with a 7/10 (possibly the highest note for new unknown material?), queenofthehours with some rave reviews, jrmugz asking me for more of the guy's material and Uno with a 8/10!!! That's as good as you can get with "unknown" material, so thanks. On to the next CD of the Week.
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