Customer Reviews

Paseo De Gracia

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

 

 

If you enjoy easy-listening flamenco you will love this. Technically it is also superb--Vicente Amigo's fingerwork is simply stunning. The playing is beautifully precise with incredible range from an almost whispering softness to thundering rasgueados. There are practically no other flamenco guitarrists who can manage to make a guitar sound like that. Having said that, I find many of the melodies rather kitsch and too commercial. The best tracks are the one with Estrella Morente, where the singing keeps the guitar grounded in a more profound kind of playing, and the one with Enrique too (who sings with a beautiful low voice), except for the rather jarring chorus.

After the excellent "Un Momento En El Sonido", which was a brilliantly tasteful combination of tradition and innovation, "Paseo de Gracia" falls flat. After I listened to the album for the first time, I proclaimed that it was Vicente's best. Then, I realized that most of the tracks were cleverly disguised rumbas... there are some other palos, such as bulerias and tangos, but all the tracks come off as extremely derivative, especially the one with Estrella Morente. Vicente is one of the best guitarists out there, period -- "Paseo de Gracia" is not one of his best efforts. I read in a couple of interviews that Vicente wasn't wild about recording a "pop flamenco" record, and I can tell... the tunes on this album are, for the most part, lifeless. I sincerely hope he will return to what made his music so great -- a mix of flamenco tradition and new melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic ideas from outside the flamenco realm.

This album is absolutely stunning, a masterpiece. Not only is Vicente's complete mastery of the guitar on display here, but so also are his stellar compositional skills and his unfailing ear for arrangement - all backed up by an all-star cast of singers and percussionists who round-out this tour de force. For example, in "Autorretrato" ("self-portrait") there are some passages in the middle that are lightening fast, but of such technical brilliance that every single note is not only clear but freighted with emotional purpose - all framed by extremely flamenco voices that just soar. And as if that isn't enough, the lyrics are also as beautiful as the music - and Vicente wrote them all.

So rather than further trying to describe how incredible this album is, I will instead repeat Vicente's own response to an interviewer's string of questions seeking to get him to describe one of his previous albums: "It would be so much easier if you just bought the album and listened to it." Advice as perfect as his playing.

First of all, I have to say that I own everything by Vicente Amigo, & I am absolutly in Love with Paseo De Gracia. I don't get all the negative reviews here. The album is filled with high energy Tangos, and Bulerias. My only complaint is that I wanted more. Don't believe all the negative reviews. Judge for yourself. Music is such a personal subject. You have to have a sophisticated pallet to appreciate Flamenco. This is by far one of my Favorites. Thank you Vicente for creating such beautiful music!!!

I find "Paseo de Gracia" is an excellent compliment to my collection of Vicente's previous works.
Colorful, dramatic or romantic textures, chilling vocals, I really love what Vicente and friends have done with this CD!

Once again Vincente shows us why his guitar playing puts him in the elite circle of flamenco guitar greats. However all but three of the songs have 'canta' (singing or should I say screaming) thereby changing the mood. One song 'y ser verdad' was completely unlistenable thanks to this. It is not that I am against canta but this art form is better apreciated live or at least by video so you can see the emotion. I suppose hardcore canta fans will disagree. If I had known this I would have waited to buy it used at a discount.