Customer Reviews

Frenesi

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You've found it! Buy this record! Linda Ronstadt and the Ray Santos orchestra perform Latin swing music! The arrangements are crystal clear, snappy and crisp. Her voice, her Spanish phrasing, is flawless. The song selection, Frenesi, Perfidia, is inspired; not a mediocre number in the bunch! Do you like to dance? You can't sit still for this music. This is not the canciones mariachi music (fine in its own right, I'm sure). For some reason, people don't know about this record. I had them play it in a CD store recently - the employees didn't want me to buy it and take it away! You'll thank me for this one!

Over the years, there seems to be a new Latin Craze about once per decade. Frenesi contains some great songs mostly from crazes of years gone by. If you speak Spanish, you already know that most of the songs on the album are incredibly sexy and sensual. (If you don't, then you can read the English translations in the liner notes.) I know the songs from my father's albums and knew that this was going to be a great album as soon as it was issued.Ronstadt's voice is perfectly suited to the delivery of these torrid Latin classics.She and Tish Hinojosa rate at the top of my list of female American performers who sing in Spanish. Linda is at top form throughout the album and the quality of the music is such that I wonder why she doesn't abandon other genres and stick to salsa exclusively. From the sexy title cut to the poignant Verdad Amarga, Ronstadt shows herself capable of expressing the full gamut of human emotion in song.My favorites are the aforementioned two songs as well as the plaintive Despojos, Entre Abismos, and the classic Perfidia. Buy this album and you'll see why Ronstadt so richly deserves to be called the New Queen of Salsa.

Such timeless artists like Celia Cruz,Tito Puente, Cachao, Perez Prado, and last but not least Eydie Gorme & Trio Los Panchos, come to mind whenever I listen to this Ronstadt collection of Latin-swing classic/romantic/ballad/dance tracks.Linda provides an album with so much warmth,energy, and mucical/vocal vitality that makes me wish she would release another project in Spanish (possibly a different style such as merengue, cumbia, or just more salsa and mambo tunes). While almost any American artist can sing in a language other than English phonetically, Ronstadt captures the pronunciations, accent, dialect, intonations flawlessly and naturally ! She rolls with the r's and rolls with the rhythm.Aside from her wonderful Spanish, this album never misses a beat and is not filled with any kind of questionable material. It is a Latin/jazz and nostalgic tour deforce by one of America's famous adult contemporary artists...

Of all of Ms. Ronstadt's latin music albums, this is my absolute favorite. My mother was Mexican and these songs are the songs she was listening to while growing up in south Texas in the 1930s and 1940s. They're off the ranch and more into the towns and cities, i.e., they were the popular standards of their day. Romantic, lively, warm, sweet - these songs have it all. And they have a perfect interpreter in Ms. Ronstadt. She was born to sing this music.

I stumbled upon this album a few years back and have loved since then. Although it isn't easy to find, it is an awesome compilation of some really incredible salsa music. Her singing is beautiful, heartfelt and without a bit of an american accent. The words to the songs are printed in english beside the original spanish ones which is exceptionally good because the lyrics are very touching and beautifully written. Linda herself has said that her voice most lends itself to this Latino music and I completely agree. A lot of the songs are so undeniably groovy, you can't help but want to dance around! Buy this CD. It's a safe purchase you'll listen to over and over again AND you can impress your Latino friends when you play it!

I first heard Linda singing "Perfidia" on radio, found the album on a trip to Door County, Wisconsin, and was confused to find the recording in the album entirely in Spanish while the radio version was partially in English. I later found the English version was from a film soundtrack. That aside, this album of popular tunes in Spanish from the '40s and '30s mostly is absolutely ingratiating. Everyone I know who has it says it's hard to stop playing over and over...and over. Ronstadt is in magnificent voice, the arrangements are exciting and often surprising, the sound quality and production values absolutely first rate. Some of the songs are familiar by their English titles, such as "Magic Is the Moonlight." Part of the fun is finding a favorite song you didn't know would be on the album. Ronstadt is in her element with this music, passionate and forceful and dynamic. Don't miss this album!

Just bought my third copy. Ronstadt's voice is at her peak....clear as a bell. Great melodies and orchestration. I pass this around to buddies studying Spanish at the local college....gets you in the zone. It is truly amazing that despite being a 'pocha'.....second generation Latina....she doesn't SPEAK Spanish.....Amazing....

Of all of Ms. Ronstadt's latin music albums, this is my absolute favorite. My mother was Mexican and these songs are the songs she was listening to while growing up in south Texas in the 1930s and 1940s. They're off the ranch and more into the towns and cities, i.e., they were the popular standards of their day. Romantic, lively, warm, sweet - these songs have it all. And they have a perfect interpreter in Ms. Ronstadt. She was born to sing this music.

if you are a lover of strict tempo latin dance this is a must have. i had come upon this cd by chance.

While I agree w/ the glowing reviews written here already, I would like to note that this album IS in fact salsa; that generic term in fact does apply to music from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the Caribbean, and not to Mexican genres.
At any rate, I have been a fan of this album for most of my short life, and have never tired of it. Linda's vocals are mesmerising and emotional, and the production values are tip-top. Sure to please anyone, whether you are a fan of the genre or not.