Customer Reviews

Fijacion Oral vol. 1

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It may take a few listens before it takes hold, but Shakira's "Fijación Oral, Vol. 1" is an outstanding collection of music that is ideal for summer listening. Without a doubt, the Latina beauty's vocals have never sounded so impassioned and sincere.

On the wistful ballads "Obtener Un Sí (To Obtain a Yes)" and "En Tus Papilas (In Your Pupils)," she is absolutely enchanting, delivering her lines in a sensual fashion that will enamor listeners with their syrupy sentiments. The latter's chorus is particularly hard to shake.

"And there's something/Something in you/Something between the two of us/When I look in the pupils of your eyes I know that God still exists/You make him live."

Love doesn't always work out so well for the Colombian/Lebanese chanteuse, however, and she reveals this well in "La Pared (The Wall)" and "No." In the former, she makes a zealous plea for her love to reconsider leaving, for after him is nothing but a wall. In the latter she takes a much different stance, having the strength to tell her man that she must regretfully sever ties with him, for "one can't live with so much venom."

She is still able to find optimism, however, with the soaring "Las de La Intuición (Woman's Intuition)."

"I think I'm starting to understand/That we desired each other before we were born/I get the feeling the action is about to begin/And us women are the ones with intuition."

There are not as many uptempos as usual this time around. Nevertheless, the singer/songwriter gets her rock chick fix with the feisty "Escondite Inglés (English Hideout)," and lead single "La Tortura (The Torture)," featuring Alejandro Fernandez, is a slick, sexy party record that becomes addictive very soon. The latter has ridden atop Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart for weeks.

The album closes with an impressive acoustic version of "La Pared" and the Shaketon Remix of "La Tortura." A DualDisc is available with interview footage, English translations and the "La Tortura" video. "Oral Fixation, Vol. 2," the English-language counterpart to this project, will arrive in November.

this cd is like a big walk-in closet where each song is an outfit shakira tries on momentarily. and, checking out her website, the polaroid picture theme suggests perhaps each song is supposed to be snapshot. a single mood, a single moment, a single particle of cinnamon floating in a tall glass of horchata.

the fact is that one should not buy this expecting a disc full of songs that sound like "la tortura". she released this as a single to lure in the masses, and once she has you in her realm, she forces you to experience many other facets of her personality/creativity. "la tortura" functions on this cd like the clever girl who beckons you to her bed, ties you up...and proceeds to show you her impressive art portfolio.

it's true that the cd lacks the easy flow of some of her previous work, such as "?donde estan los ladrones?". still, the trade-off is that we are able to experience the scope of her talent and that's a rewarding ride on the scenic route.

another thing about this cd is that there is more electronic sort of stuff present. shakira's strongest attribute (besides poetic lyrics, catchy melodies, and a palpable wisdom) is her vibrance; i felt that there were moments the production elements made her a little...soulless...or at least muted her glow. not so much that it ruins the cd, but it took a few listens to ease the discomfort.

anyway, here's a rough guide to some of the songs:

"en tus pipilas"--soft, sweet, and catchy. the french element gives it these quasi-stereolab moments i definitely wasn't expecting, but i liked them quite a bit.

"la pared"--i think this must be my favorite song on the disc. it's intense & infectious. the keyboards are used really effectively to convey the mood.

"la tortura"--it's a fun song, the beat speaks to the hips and the sassy lyrics tickle the mind. you've doubtless heard it already.

"obtener un si" is sort of sweet and innocent, like spanish bjork in a doris day movie. i think the right hands could remix this fabulously, transforming it into the sound of a sunrise stroll through some surrealistic flowery wonderland bursting with bubbles and populated by cartoon animals...but maybe that's just me...

"dia especial"--catchy and optomistic (in a sophisticated rather than a bubblegum way...like the sundays or 10,000 maniacs in their happier moments).

"escondite inglés"--ok, i'm not way into this song. it reminds me of tragic kingdom-era no doubt crossed with the b-52's "rock lobster". something about it just doesn't work for me, but you may feel differently.

"no"--the typical shakira slow song: a mellow, pretty slice of meloncholy.

"las de las intuicion"--this is the track where she goes electronic. i mostly like the song, i think i just object on principle to shakira sounding like kylie minogue. i also can't get over the goofy filtered backup vocals. if they could have left that out, it would been much better.

"dia de enero"--might have come off "pies descalzos"...has that sound and mood to me.

"la imprescindible"--i think the person who said depeche mode below was spot-on. except that where dm tends to have this sort of sardonic, aloof british delivery, shakira sounds a little too passionate for the cool electronic music. it took a little getting used to, but i like it now.

this disc may not be what you expect, may require a few listens, an open mind and the ability to be comfortable in the midst of seeming incongruity. but it's a good cd, and definitely superior to most pop on the market. it's fun to see shakira's range as an artist and that she continues to be committed to exploring new directions. it's obvious that she's determined to challenge herself...and her audience.

This CD is very different from her previous ones. I think she has gotten a lot of criticism for it, but we should appreciate that she doesn't repeat herself on every CD. It has an 80's feeling to it (for the most part). I love the lyrics (I like her better in Spanish) and her voice is stronger and better than ever. My favorite songs are La Tortura (I love A. Sanz), La Pared, and Dia de Enero.

This is an amazing and beautiful album. This is by far, Shakira's most mature work. The album has very diverse type of songs. There is La Tortura with reggaeton influences, the bossonova tune Obtener Un Si, the electronic La Pared with a beautiful acoustic version included as well, and the alt-rock song La Imprescindible. This album shows off Shakira's love of mixing styles to come up with unique songs all her own. As always, Shakira's beautiful and unusual lyrics can be found throughout the CD. I would highly reccomend this album for fans of Shakira's other works and for music fans in general.

El pasado fin de semana fui a una actividad de la comunidad en el parque de Riverview en Melbourne, Florida, donde celebraban dieciseis anos del dia de la union racial (Racial Unity Day). En esa actividad participo un pequeno grupo colombiano bailando y cantando canciones folkloricas de su pais. En ese momento me resulto curioso saber que mi nueva asignacion, para el periodico local EL PLAYERO, seria escribir sobre la artista actual mas renombrada, talentosa y alumbrada de Columbia, SHAKIRA.

Shakira la joven cantante, autora y productora nacida y criada en Baranquilla, Colombia, de padres de Lebanon y Colombia, acaba de lanzar un nuevo disco compacto en espanol, Fijacion Oral 1. Oral Fixation 2 sera su siguiente album discografico con temas en ingles que saldra a la venta en noviembre de este ano.

El martes, 7 de junio, se lanzo el primer album, Fijacion Oral 1, el cual ya a roto records de venta mundialmente. El titulo del disco se refiere a la etapa de la vida en la cual el ser humano tiene mas fijacion oral. Esa es la primera face que es la mas elemental, instinctiva y primitiva. Shakira dice que se considera estar en esa etapa ya que todavia esta en contacto con los aspectos mas animalisticos de su ser.

Fijacion Oral-Volumen 1 consiste de diez canciones eclecticas escritas y producidas por Shakira. Algunos de sus colaboraciones son con el argentino Gustavo Cerati, que fue el solista de la banda de rock Soda Stereo, y el espanol Alejandro Sanz. Cerati canta dos temas con ella, `No' conteniendo buen sonido de guitara acustica y `Dia Especial'.

Alejandro Sanz interpreta un duo con Shakira que ha sido un super exito. Ese es, por supuesto, `La Tortura'. La combinacion de sus voces es esquisita. La letra es directa y poetica ademas de expresiva, emotiva y seductora. La cancion es una combinacion de musica pop, flamenco, arabe y colombiana con influencia de reggaeton. `La Tortura' es basicamente un dialogo entre un hombre y una mujer y la pregunta obvia es quien tortura a quien?

Algunas de mis canciones predilectas son las dos versiones de `La Pared' que contiene fraces fragiles y penosas. Una de las versiones es echa con sonido electronico y la otra mas intima con piano acustico. `Obtener un Si' tiene influencia de bossanova y jazz. `Dia de Enero' es una balada romantica y `Escondite Ingles' tiene un sonido punk rock. Lo mas interesante de estas grabaciones son las seleciones eclecticas y el uso de la poesia ademas de la musica del acordion. Me encanta como usa palabras artisticamente para expresar sentimientos y emociones.

Tengo engravada en mi mente las lineas de la cancion `La Pared' que dice, "Despues de ti la pared. No me faltes nunca. Debajo el asfalto y mas abajo estaría yo. Sin ti." Y del coro de `La Tortura', "Ay amor me duele tanto. Me duele tanto. Que te fueras sin decir a donde. Ay amor, fue una tortura perderte."

Ademas de tener canciones excitantes y poeticas, el CD contiene un DVD del video `La Tortura' que es bien picante y sensual. Ahí vemos y sentimos la tortura. El DVD tambien incluye las letras de las canciones y dos cortos documentales. Uno es una entrevista divertida hecha por Alejandro Sanz que me resulto muy relajada, divertida y intima. El otro documental nos demuestra el aspecto creativo de Shakira haciendo sus grabaciones en su estudio de grabaciones en las Bahamas.

Shakira es una mujer joven, inteligente, exitosa y exitante ademas de talentosa. Tengo mucha curiosidad de oir su proxima creacion o la continuacion de su Fijacion Oral 1 osea Oral Fixation 2 en noviembre. Sera esa mi tortura? Esperara hasta noviembre? Ay, me duele tanto, me duele tanto. Pero mientras tanto, continuare explorando mis trampas de luz por el camino que ando.

Note: The Oral Fixation or Fijacion Oral album has been split in two, with the Spanish version appearing first on June 7, 2005 (and called Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1; and about seven years after her last all-new exclusively Spanish music cd). Oral Fixation Vol. 2 will be released November 2005 and apparently will be entirely in English.

Fijacion Oral, Volume 1: Music:

1. En Tus Pupilas (In Your Eyes?): words by Shakira; Music by Shakira & Luis F. Ochoa
Review: Nice soft song, good background music (instruments), good backing singing. This is a good song with good backing instruments. Different sounding than her famous hard-charging rock songs. The song grows on you, and seems to be better after returning to it after hearing the rest of the album.
Run Time: 4:20 Rating: 4.36

2. La Pared (The Wall): words by Shakira; Music by Shakira & Lester Mendez
Review: Good background music, & singing; interesting song but seems to lack something (or, due to listening to the other version, it seems to have added too much electronic noise). If at first you don't find a particular song to be as good as you remember Shakira can be, give the song some additional runs through the playing cycle. This particular one, after returning to it several times, seems better than I had originally thought.
Run time: 3:17 Rating: 4.33

3. La Tortura (The Torture): with guest artist Alejandro Sanz; words by Shakira & Sanz; Music by Shakira & Luis F. Ochoa & Sanz
Review: Stronger song. Definitely different sounding from first two. Good beat to the music. This backing music to this song seems to sound closer to earlier Shakira rock work. There is certainly a rap-like quality to Sanz parts of the song.
Run Time: 3:33 Rating: 4.27

4. Obtener Un Si (Get a Yes?/To Obtain If?): words by Shakira & Music by Shakira & Lester Mendez
Review: Interesting change from last song (as in, surprising). Softer overall feel to the song. Good backing instrument work. I believe this song might be better enjoyed during the first hearing, as subsequent hearings remind the listener how different this song (softer, more jazzy than rock) is than other of her work. Still, a rather good song (and the only one of two songs that did not have its initial rating changed).
Run Time: 3:17 Rating: 4.35

5. Dia Especial (Special Day): with guest artist Gustavo Cerati; words by Gustavo Cerati & Music by Cerati, Shakira & Luis F. Ochoa
Review: Great strong song, good instrument work. Another song that is better after repeated trips through the play list (especially when that electronic wave starts up). Run Time: 4:20 Rating: 4.33

6. Escondite Ingles: Music by Shakira
Review: Good instrument work, but still a little too repetitive. Singing seemed shaky (odd, after further listening, I'm beginning to think that shakiness came from the poor CD player than the singer).
Run Time: 3:10 Rating: 4.23

7. No: with guest artist Gustavo Cerati; words by Shakira & music by Shakira & Lester Mendez
Review: Slow song, but picks up nicely near the end. Good, interesting song, not much to say other than this is the second song that didn't have its initial rating change. Run Time: 4:46 Rating: 4.34

8. Las De La Intuicion (Those Of The Intuition): words by Shakira; music by Shakira & Luis F. Ochoa
Review: Good opening beat, stronger singing on this song. Better with repeated listening (and it was the highest rated after first listening to this cd).
Run Time: 3:39 Rating: 4.55

9. Dia De Enero (A day in January): music by Shakira
Review: Interesting, opening singing without background instruments, then instruments start (actually, after further trips through the play list, I notice that the opening does include some instrument work, but harder to hear than normal). Run Time: 2:55 Rating: 4.27

10. Lo Imprescindible (The Essential Thing): words by Shakira; music by Shakira & Lester Mendez
Review: Somewhat disco-like opening (continues, somewhat, throughout). Interesting song, somewhat different from the others, due to that opening. A rather good song, just gets better as it turns up on the playing list. Run Time: 3:55 Rating: 4.50

11. La Pared (Acoustic version)
Review: Interesting version. This version seems to sound better without all that electronic noise in the way the first time I listened to it, then the version on track 2 seemed better. Both are good songs.
Run Time: 2:33 Rating: 4.27

12. La Tortura (Shaketon Remix)
Review: Ok, this time they've added more electronic noise. Oddly enough, I think I like this version better. There's a certain beat that's quite addictive. Run Time: 3:12 Rating: 4.38

Overall runtime: 43:38 (which includes some seconds of blank air that I didn't include above)

Overall, I would rate the songs: 4.348

Fijacion Oral, Volume 1: CD:
Great packaging for the CD/DVD version of the album. The inside contains one disc ("This Side Up" is the CD with the DVD material on the back). The reading material includes a poster of her, and the lyrics to the songs (in Spanish). Overall I would rate the packaging: 4.80

Fijacion Oral, Volume 1: DVD:
DVD included a great music video of "La Tortura" an interview with Alejandro Sanz (guest artist on "La Tortura" and co-writer of the song) and a making of feature. Overall, I would rate the DVD: 4.34
-Michael S. Briggs-
(A version of this review appears on Epinions.com)

I love this CD...it is Shakira's best work yet. Each song has its own unique character to it, so it's hard to get bored from them. From the psychadelic "Escondite Ingles" to the Sinatra-inspired "Obtener Un Si" to the dance hall style of "La Tortura," this is an album worth every bit of its penny. Owning the DualDisc is better than owning the CD alone. You can see the La Tortura video, along with a short "making-of" documentary and a longer but very humorous interview made by Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, the guest artist of La Tortura (both remixes). The other invited artist in this album is Gustavo Cerati from Argentina, who participates in the recordings of "Dia Especial" and "No."
The lyrics along with the English translations are found on the DVD as well as on the CD jacket. You also have exclusive online access to information about "Oral Fixation 2," which is Shakira's upcoming English album (its release date is November 15th, 2005). You can get this access when you visit shakira.com, insert the CD in your disc drive and click on the "Virtual Club" icon.
This is a work of art that you don't want to miss!

I waited for this album so long. I had heard the single and video track "La Tortura" and it demanded many times before I started to like it (about 8-10 times). After that I was sure that if I would listen to Shakira's new album many times, I would surely like it more and more. The first song hasn't been opened for me yet. It's kind of too peaceful song and I cannot understand why it is a starter. The next songs however showed the power of Shakira's beautiful voice and the power of beautiful music. "Escondite Inglés" is a fantastic song...it is so powerful...like the most of the songs in "Laundry Service". Still...I think it's great that Shakira returned to sing in Spanish. "No" is kind of weaker song but after it starts again great emotional songs that I surely like. Also the bonus disc is great...although I usually don't like bonus DVDs... I think the La Tortura video is very good...she's oiled and beautiful...what more man would want??? It's sure that the more you listen to this album the more you like it. This is kind of peaceful material, so it needs time for you to be opened. There's a little bit electronic music in some songs like "La Pared"...maybe Shakira has been listening to Depeche Mode ;) just joking...
Stars: La Tortura, Las de la Intuicion, Escondite Inglés

This is a new Shakira, a Shakira who is in love, and who is letting us know that with her music, Fijacion Oral, the lyrics and different from what we are used to hearing from her. But in my opinion this is a very mature CD, and the best on yet. I love this album and she proves to be one of the best woman latin signers!!

1. En Tus Puplas: Great love song, powerful lyrics and amaezing music, just the type of song you want to dedicate to yr love one!! Cant get enough of it!!

2. La Pared: One of my favorite song of the CD, just amaezing!!!

3. La Tortura: #1 single since it came out, need I say more?

4.Obtener Un Si: This song its different, it reminds me of a cartoon. Very comical music. Yet a little boring to listen to.

5. Dia Especial: Great drum beats at the beggining,great music, keeps you humming to the song and moving to the beat. Lyrically speaking, just great!!

6. Escondite Ingles: This is a great punk song, I feel in love with it inmediatly after listening to it for the first time, I identify with this lyrics and the beat is just out of this world, makes u want to jump out and down and scream!! Reminds me a little bit of No Doubt back in the days!!

7. No: This is a powerful love song, second single from the CD and just great lyrics, very smart writing from Shakira, very philosophical yet simple and very easy to grasp.

8. Las De La Intuicion: My favorite song from the CD, great music, andlyrics, just WOW!!!!! MY FAVORITE!!!

9. Dia De Enero: The song written to Shakiras love one!! Again you can tell how in love she is, the lyrics and comicas, a bit funny yet deep!!! Nice song!!

10.Lo Impresindible: This is what I call a hard core song!!! Just great!!! If you are a Shakira fan you will love this song!

11. La Pared (Acoustic Version): I wouldnt be surprise if this track becomes the third single but the original version!!

12. La Tortura (Shaketon Remix): Hell yeah!!!!

DVD SIDE:

The sounf is just great, the lyrics are available in English!! The video from "La Tortura" is just a must see. Making of Fijacion Oral Vol. 1. Very interesting and the conversation with Alex Sanz is supper funny!! I loved it!!

I must say that I love shakira's new album!! Although I went into it expecting to find the album sounding like "la tortura", which I must say is an excellent song, I was pleasently suprised. Shakira really covers many different styles of music, and performs them successfully. It is one of those albums that I can listen to straight through without skipping a song. Truely great :)