Area 52 [Import]

Rodrigo y Gabriela | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 31, 2012)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: PID
• ASIN: B006A9XSOK
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,484 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

ATO Records is excited to announce the release of the new studio album by Rodrigo y Gabriela. Entitled Area 52, the record was produced by the legendary Peter Asher and will come out on January 24, 2012. Area 52 contains nine of Rod and Gab's favorite songs from their own catalogue re-arranged and re-configured for a 13-piece Cuban orchestra comprised of some of Havana's finest young players, collectively known as C.U.B.A. This two-disc set includes a 30-minute 'making-of' documentary on DVD.

Area 52 was mixed by Rafa Sardina, one of the leading studio musicians in the Latin music world, and arranged by London-based pianist, composer and arranger Alex Wilson. Recording took place in the Miramar district of Havana, Cuba, at Abdala Studios, founded by the Cuban folk hero Silvio Rodriguez, as well as at Rod and Gab s studio in Ixtapa, Mexico. Other players on the record include: bassist Carles Benavent (Paco De Lucia, Chick Corea, Miles Davis), drummer John Tempesta (The Cult, Testament, White Zombie), sitarist Anoushka Shankar and drummer Samuel Formell (Los Van Van).

With career sales in excess of 1.2 million albums, blockbuster movie scores, sell out world tours that span London to Los Angeles, Paris to Tokyo and Dublin to Sydney, and not forgetting the love and respect of fellow musicians like Metallica, Rage Against The Machine, Al Di Meola and L Shankar, Rodrigo y Gabriela have worked hard to reach Area 52. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, January 24, 2012

By 

mattyd - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Area 52 (CD+DVD) (Audio CD)

Just WOW!

For those who are looking at the track listing and thinking, "I already have most of those songs on other discs," NO YOU DON'T! Not like this. C.U.B.A. changes everything. Dramatically.

The addition of the horns and percussion really cranks up the energy level of this duo's music in a big way. It also demonstrates something interesting about their music: the "Latin-ness" of it has always been there, but in way that was less recognizable. Hearing it in the context of a distinctly Latin Rumba Cubana band, it seems obvious that many these songs were always salsa- and rumba-style songs, but performed in a way came across differently. Now, hearing the Latin percussion and the blaring, sassy horns, this stuff actually makes you want to dance!

But, it's not just the energy level of the music that impresses: this album also demonstrates a level of musical maturity that hasn't necessarily been expressed in most of their previous work. There is a breadth and depth here that I haven't heard from them before now. The music has strong, well-arranged jazz elements. And there are surprises. For example, an extended, very soulful sitar solo by guest musician Anoushka Shankar on Ixtapa. It's beautiful, and fits naturally with this version of the song. Lots of other guests grace this disc, too many to list, just suffice it to say that everyone who contributed contributed well, and the music as a whole benefits by the contributions of all of the musicians.

All of these other instruments and musicians do not, however, diminish the prominence of Rod and Gab's playing. Rather, they enhance and amplify it with texture, context, syncopation and band interaction, precisely as a good band should.

The entire album is very well mixed and engineered. You might expect this to be a problem, given that all they had to deal with in the past was two guitars. But everything comes through very well, and the "big" parts are all coherent and clear.

This is definitely their best album yet, in my opinion.

My only disappointment right now is that their tour will not bring them close to me(Charleston, SC). Hearing this album, you just know this music will be amazing live : (

EDIT: So now I have watched the DVD that comes with the album. It's a well-produced "making of" type video. Two things: first, the comments by the musicians and producers generally validated my own impression after listening to the CD. Specifically, what they were trying to achieve with the album was pretty much what I perceived in listening to it. Secondly, for those who are familiar with this duo, this may come as a surprise, but Gabriella does not cuss or use any foul language at all in the video. A quirky part of her charm is that she tends to use the F-word and the S-word(and their Spanish equivalents) in approximately the same way as many folks use "the" and "a". None of that in this video.

As an aside, I play in a style similar to hers -- inspired by her, actually -- and I recently bought a new guitar. I was pleasantly surprised to see in the video that she is playing what looks to be a higher-end model of the same guitar that I recently purchased right here on Amazon, which I like very much and will soon review.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insanely creative, insanely good. How can they just keep getting better?, January 24, 2012

By 

Storylover (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Area 52 (CD+DVD) (Audio CD)

I'm gonna review this record. But before I do, stop reading, buy the disc, would you? Then come back. I'll be here, and you'll get it that much faster.

OK, I'm still here. Did you get it? Good. Because it is exactly what the doctor ordered. Flamenco on fire meets Cuban salsa and son in a blazing hail of strummed and plucked guitar madness, punctuated by sizzling horn breakdowns and mindnumbingly fast beats. This record makes you want to put on a puffy shirt and tight leather pants and do your best Antonio Banderas with a rose in your mouth. This record makes you want to toss back a double shot of tequila, chase it with some rum, and grab the nearest partner and prove to the world that you should have won Dancing With the Stars instead of Donny Osmond. Then, you'll want to mount an insurrection, set Havana aflame, and lead a popular revolution through steaming downtown streets.

This album is a pure shot of seduction soaked adrenaline blazing up your veins and into your heart. Pure delight, pure fun, pure love, pure mischief, and--as expected from R&G--completely amazing. Now, if you didn't take my advice in the first sentence, do yourself a favor and take my advice now. Get this disc as fast as you can, give it to that special someone, and prepare to do things you'll wonder why you hadn't been doing anyway...;-).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I love Rodrigo and Gabriela, February 14, 2012

By 

Tony (NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Area 52 (CD+DVD) (Audio CD)

Let me preface this by saying that I have every single piece of music put out by R&G and respect their decision to make a CD with a band. I buy their music because they are, and please feel free to offer other examples, the best acoustic guitarists I have ever heard.

C.U.B.A dilutes the clarity which I love about R&G. This takes their music from "Amazing", with a capital A, to excellent - which leaves me wanting for their older material; luckily, as I mentioned, I have all of it. I was looking forward to seeing them live when they come to the US. Since they have announced they are including C.U.B.A. in their tour I will, sadly, not be attending and I will be deleting, give me a minute . . . done, "Area 52" from my music collection.

If you are an R&G fan to the point that anything they touch is, without question, the best in the universe then more power to you. I hope you can forgive my effrontery at suggesting that you listen to sample tracks before purchasing this one as I wish I had done.