Customer Reviews

La Tierra Del Olvido

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At 2:00AM on the first night of a 1995 business assignment in Colombia I was blasted out of a deep sleep to the beat of the first cut on this album. Over and over the person in the apartment below me played this track at concert volume levels that even had my lamp shades shaking. Even though I hated the individual for having no respect for everyone else in the building and am normally turned off to anything introduced to me under such extreme circumstances, I couldn't get the infectious rhythm out of my head. I found the CD in a music store about a week later and added it to my collection.

That summer my wife and I saw Carlos in concert in the soccer stadium in Bogota. We experienced the full effect of the music at the volume at which it was intended to be listened and witnessed the pride the Colombian people have in their hometown musical superstar. Carlos had the whole stadium on it's feet dancing, singing and swaying throughout the entire 3 1/2 hour concert. We left he stadium with ringing ears, but with a new cadence to the beat of our hearts.

We hope to someday get back to Colombia to see Carlos Live again, but for now the CD's will have to do and this on tops the list.

I own five CDs of Carlos Vives and this one is absolutely his best. "La Tierra" delivers the raw beauty of vallenato with all the production of rock, alternative, and funk/pop. Consistent in all songs are a strong percussion section and a flaunty accordian. Deviating from traditional vallenato are the various guitar sounds and techniques as well as blues scales put to use in this cumbia based music. Throw in occasional flutes, a very modest use of keyboards and simple back up vocals with Carlos at lead and you have one of the greatest CD's I have ever heard. What separates this CD from his others is that even though all the songs have melodies, he never allows it to get too poppy. What's more amazing is how many different groups people I can listen to this CD with... Simply put, the best of Vives and a must for anyone who loves World music.

Un buen disco; algunas canciones se vuelven cansonas (por ejemplo, "Zoila") pero otras surgen llenas de energía ("Pa' Mayté"). Mejor comenzar con _Clásicos de la Provincia_.

After Carlos Vives released his smash debut album 'Clasicos de la Provincia' he set the standard so high that little could have anyone imagined how good his second album could have been.

This, his second album takes on new life, feeding melodically off of from 'Clasicos...' to explore new areas of immense beauty.

The best example of this might easily be the title track of the album, which conveys perfectly the beauty of the Colombian country and music in the same song.

I highly recommend it.

Carlos Vives has combined sounds from his native land and incorporated them along with modern rock and pop, creating an incredible album full of happiness and emotion. No doubt a great album which can be heard time and again without ever loosing that feeling of emotion.

Cuando empecé a escuchar este disco estuve de vacaciones en Colombia y dondequiera que fui podía oír canciones de este disco saliendo de las discotiendas, los carros, las casas de la gente etc... La más exitosa en aquel entonces era la primera canción "Pa Mayte" porque es muy alegre y el ritmo te obliga a bailar. Sin embargo, es no es todo. Las demás canciones son igual de excelentes y tienen rasgos de la cumbia, ritmos africanos y la escencia de la musica tropical por lo general. Carlos Vives llegó al escenario del vallenato justo a tiempo para hacer que este género músical tuviera popularidad a nivel internacional. Carlos cambió la imagen del vallenato tradicional y ahora tiene fama de ser música que llama la atención de todos por sus ritmos combinados que incluyen un poco de salsa, cumbia y merengue. Es obvio que Carlos va a tener un futuro muy exitoso si sus otros discos tienen este mismo estilo de vallenato. ¡Que producción muy caliente. Cuidado!

Presta atención a: Fidelina, Zoila, y Rosa son canciones muy especiales dignas de mucha alabanza.

This surprised me , seeing that the artwork on the front is rather lame. Just goes to show , that you can't judge a book by by it's cover! This is some refreshing columbian style tropical folk pop cumbia! The accordian playing is incredible, and the afro-spanish stlyed drumming sounds so cool. I am equally impressed that while the production is near perfect it still has a rather "camp fire" feel to it! "fidelina" and the title track are my personal faviorots. check it out.

LA TIERRA DEL OLVIDO is officially the first Carlos Vives album I have ever purchased. In all honesty, I don't know why I waited so long. I have always enjoyed the beautiful vallenatos of Colombia (upbeat numbers featuring traditional instruments, as well as accordion accompaniment), as well as other genres that have roots in that country. Vives was originally a soap opera (or novela) actor in his country, and then began to bridge the gap between cultures and musical genres through his distinctive and artistic style. His vocals are upbeat, bright and energetic, and he has a wonderful band, that only enhances his sound.

This album features great vallenatos like "Pa' Mayte'" (incidentally, this was a song I had searched for for months and couldn't for the life of me think of the title! It must have been fate that this was the first cut on the CD!), "Fidelina," and "Rosa." The lyrics are rich with double entendre and allude simultaneously to the beauty of the nature, as well as the beauty of women. There is a certain elegant quality whenever Vives delivers the words and vocals. This is an elegance missing from much of the contemporary pop music being forcefed to the masses. Particularly, I have had trouble stomaching the "rock en espanol" and "Latin pop" route that Spanish language music has taken (with the exception of Juanes, another wonderful artist from Colombia, who is just incomparable). Though, some have pegged Vives as part of the "Latin explosion" tribe, I beg to differ. This man's music is no fad. He truly wishes to transcend language and cultural barriers to bring the music of his people to the masses. After hearing LA TIERRA DEL OLVIDO, I can't wait to hear more of his later albums, just to savor the beauty of the syncopation, orchestration and composition of La Musica Colombiana. Que viva la raza!

Carlos Vives has a classic Latin sound. All natural a beautiful. His use of flutes, drums, and "acordeons" is incredible. I have three of his CD's and I love them all. It is music from heaven. Again, I love the natural sound of Carlos Vives. No synthasized sounds that are so common today. Not only is the music good, but the words are special too. He writes and sings with his heart. You can tell that he writes from life and his music is important to him and his musicians. I recomend him to anyone.

This is not a new title. I owned it before. Lost it--you don't want to know how--and "could not live without it" so I order it again... Very enjoyable. The "Diosa Coronada" is one of the best. The accordion, the liveliness of it all, the flutes...and Carlos, of course; all the touches are there to create a thoroughly enjoyable CD. I highly recommend it...