Customer Reviews

My Destiny: Mi Destino

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have been an avid Oscar Lopez fan for years and own all of his Narada studio albums. My Destiny is by far the worst one. Being a composer/flamenco student myself, I looked to Oscar Lopez, Armik & Strunz & Farrah as mentors in the art. All of Oscar's previous Narada releases are a must have. Heat, Seduction and Armando's Fire contain truely magnificent compostions. My Destiny has only 3 tracks worth listening to:

Trk. 4 - My Destiny - elegant intro followed by soulful melody.
Trk.11 - Emotions - relaxing rhythm
Trk.14 - Changes - faster paced piece

Oscar's playing is great, but this release lacks the wonderful compositions that made the first 3 Cd's some of my favorites.

This recording is the same musical ideas and techniques that he played on his earlier albums, but the tunes are not as creative.
It is mostly boring "vamps" (repetitive figures), with only a few good tunes mixed in.
The resulting album is uneven, and doesn't "gel" as a whole.

On the first 3 CD's, the tunes, musical ideas, technique, and groove "all came together" in a fantastic manner!
I hope Oscar will do better next time!

Based on the other reviews, I held off on this CD until now. I figured that if I like Lopez's work and these people did too, well, I'd better trust them and save my money. But, I'm now going through the disc for the second time and I just can't agree with the others. Perhaps the music is different from his other works; this one reminds me more of a feista in the town square sort of music. Admittedly, it's not the hard driving creations that we've come to expect from Mr. Lopez. But, I have to say, having it on in the background while I work is a good thing. It keeps the atsmosphere pleasant and energized. At other times, I can imagine this gifted musician sitting in front of an adored loved one and playing a sweet song in an intimate environment. What could be wrong with music that takes you to those sorts of visions? I'd say, give it a try for yourself; if you like the proficiency with which Lopez runs his instrument, this one will not disappoint you even though it may be different from his first three discs. Enjoy!

Oscar Lopez's "Mi Destino" was mostly a hit at home here. Our resident guitar fan grabbed it out of my hands and ran to put it on. "Ottmar Liebert on steroids!" we shouted in eerie unison.

The steroids calm down about track 3, and the album is about 30% not-so-good Latin wedding band vamping but there is quite a bit of listenable music to enjoy. While "Seduction" is Lopez's mega-hit album, fans will surely find some treats here. "What's not to like here!" purred the guitar fan to me. I like it too--it's a keeper. Just beware, that not every song is terrific. The guitar fan liked all of it; I didn't care for the galloping wedding ballroom sound in some of the cuts but I liked a good portion of the rest.