Customer Reviews

Duncan Dhu - Greatest Hits

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

_____Desafortunadamente para quienes les gusta el rock en español, y especialmente Duncan Dhu, este álbum representa un verdadero timo. Yo escribí el segundo comentario en esta página y me retractó de mi recomendación. En España se emitió este album bajo el nombre de "Colección: 1985-1998" y consta de dos CD's y más canciones representado toda la gama musical de esta agrupación, incluyendo cuatro canciones nuevas. Recomiendo a todos que traten de obtener la emisión española de este album (¡es mejor!) ya sea a través de una amistad o un comercio Internet español; porque verdaderamente "Greatest Hits" no vale la pena por lo que dejaron fuera. ¡Y ojalá la industria y su mercadotecnia dejen de timarnos! También les aconsejo enviar una queja a la casa grabadora (Warner) por vendernos tal subproducto en los Estados Unidos de América.

Sophisticated guitar pop, halfway between the Boo Radleys and the Smiths (with scattered bits of Rock-a-billy, Funk and Flamenco). In barely half a dozen releases, Mikel Erentxun and Diego Vasallo (a.k.a. Duncan Dhu, from the Basque Country) have written and recorded some of the most beautiful pop songs of the last two decades. This Greatest Hits collection barely scratches the surface of their opus and I recommend you not only to play every song on this CD, but to also look for their previous albums. True jewels. All in Spanish.

Duncan Dhu was among the good spanish rock bands of the 80's (but not the best) they made melancholic acoustic rock songs very close to the 50's rock n roll aesthetic and the song selection of this compilation was drawn from the spanish edition "coleccion: 1985-1998" which had a lot more songs, but wasn't printed in the U.S. and I have to say that they could have included more songs, but I guess that the people in WEA Latina (US) are cheap. You get just a few hits and 2 live songs, do not include live songs in compilatons, best of or greatest hits collections. Also the songs aren't in chronological order, and for this reason you can't perceive the growth of the band from 50's revivalists to dream pop genius. The live version of "en algun lugar" is way too inferior than the original version. Unfourtunally this is all we've got, so it's better than nothing from this great band.
Regarding the comment from one reviewer that Caifanes, Mana and all of the spanish rock groups owe to Duncan Dhu it's just plain IGNORANT the mentioned groups couldn't be more different. Duncan Dhu was a very good band, but not on the top league with the best like Soda Stereo, Heroes del Silencio and Caifanes.

There's plenty of things that are amiss here.

First, they give us a live version of "En Algun Lugar." Yes, that's right: LIVE. This is their biggest hit, a pop-rock masterpiece of epic proportions that's been engrained in the mind of Spanish-speaking music fans for almost two decades. And, yet, the compilers decided to give us an unfamiliar live version rather than the studio version that we all know and love. Why on Earth would they do something as idiotic as that? This is one of the cardinal sins of compilations: Live versions of the big hits. We're paying good money to get the songs we want, not alternate versions. Geez. If you're going to give us a live version of the song we all love, stick in the back of the collection and ONLY if you've already given us the studio version. Ugh! This compilation loses two and a half stars just for this sin alone.

But there's another major issue here: There are only a scant 12 tracks here. This is a compilation. Earth to compilers: THERE ARE MORE THAN 80 MINUTES OF SPACE ON A CD. I think they're forgetting the fact that people are paying for the hits. We want them all, and in large quantities, in a single spot. Giving us an inkling of the band's work for 10-20 bucks just won't do. Again, I deduct points because of this.

As for the music, it's all great. It's good 50s-influenced Spanish pop-rock. It knows where it came from, but its fully aware of where it is. Great stuff.

My review isn't bashing the music; rather, I'm bashing the compilation. It was horribly executed. The absence of "En Algun Lugar" (Studio Version) is inexcusable; there was room on the disc... why couldn't we get it?

The compilers should be fired for the way they wrecked this set.

The first song I heard from DD was "Cien Gaviotas", put in a compilation of Spanish brand new bands. It was love at first time. I toured around Spain and bought every DD CD I could find. The incredible in DD's music is the huge variety of rhythms, going from pure folk to r'nb, from soul to some moving ballads sung by the desperate and whispering voice by Diego Vassallo, up to some technic experience in Supernova. This is a band which made at least three absolute masterworks such as "El grito del tiempo", "Autobiografia" and "Canciones", and at least two great albums as "Grabacciones olvidadas" and "Piedras". In my musical knowledge, only one band made better, but they were the Kinks and that's an other chapter. This collection is a great opportunity to become aware of an outstanding example of hi-quality music. Enjoy it! and cuentalos! May everyone of you be happy. Angelo Di Persia, Genoa, Italy.

Duncan Dhu sigue siendo uno de los mejores grupos de rock en español. En esta compilación faltan muestras de sus grabaciones acústicas, de cuando comenzaron; pero lo incluído es representativo del sonido de este grupo. Te recomiendo que continúes obteniendo el resto de los CD's de Duncan Dhu. Su sonido evolucionó mucho y encontrarás muchas canciones de tu agrado en varios estilos de rock. Si obtuviste algún CD o todos los CD's de Duncan Dhu en los E.E.U.U. vale el gasto obtener este. "La herida" es una nueva canción y "Jardín de rosas" finalmente aparece en la versión estudio. Esta última debería haber aparecido en el CD "Canciones" pero no sucedió así para el mercado norteamericano. Notarás que es más rápida y cadenciosa que la versión en vivo del CD "Teatro Victoria Eugenia." Espero que lo disfrutes.

En Algun Lugar es mi titulo favorito. Mana, Caifa (jaguares), y todos los demas deben su exito a los padres del Rock en Espanol: DUNCAN DHU . Y esto viene de un abogado de 29 anos. Joven pero con mucha melancolia cuando se trata del Rock en Espanol y sus comienzos.

Deceo escuchar la cancion de Dunkan Dhu "En algun Lugar"