Customer Reviews

Tributo a Jose Alfredo Jimenez XXX

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

 

 

I was absolutly blown away by Aterciopelados beautiful rendition of one of my favirote Jose Alfredo Jimenez tunes, "Que Te Vaya Bonito". It brings a whole other dimension to the song. Fantastic.

Another knockout is "Serenata a la luna" done to perfection by Julieta Venegas. It makes me itch even more to hear her new album. Other notables include El Tri, Saul Hernandez, Ana Belen and King Chango. This album I believe is important, as it reintroduces the young generations to Jose Alfredo, who was the greatest composer of all time in my book. I hope that this will prompt young ones to seek out their grandparents records, and acquiant themselves with the one who helped shape Latin music as we know it today, perhaps more than anyone else.

It is unfortunate that so little information is provided about this super collection of songs . First of all the disc features many of the heavies and up and comers of RocnEspanol that give a modern twist to the magical lyrics of Jose Alfredo Jimenez. Featured artists include Saul Hernandez, Elefante, Aterciopelados, Julieta Venegas, El Tri, Rabanes, Jumbo, Joaquin Sabina, Miguel Mateos, Moenia and Mana just to name a few as there are seven more interpreters I didn't mention. None of the songs really sound like the originals by Jose Alfredo, also known as El Rey. Purists that are into Jose Alfredo might think this is wrong but believe me , from one Jose Alfredo fan to another, these songs rock and have much of the same emotion of the originals. Beginning with the first song, appropriately entitled "El Rey' by Moderatto, the tribute and homge begins to one of Mexico's greatest composers of popular ranchera music. Moderatto starts the disc with a Clash("Should I stay or Should I go") like beat and sound that suddenly changes rhythm and goes into an uptempo frenzied beat as the singer changes persona and does his best deep voiced(ahhh, thank you, thank you very much like) Elvis impersonation to set the tempo for El Rey songs like you've never heard them before. All of the songs rock, some have a gentle edge but all carry the impact and emotion of El Rey's lyrics, which unfortuantely, are not included. El Rey's music was often about love and the inevitable heartbreak and he seems to have had more than his share of both. A beautiful interpretaion of "Que Te Vaya Bonito" by Colombia's Aterciopelados features Andrea cutting straight to the heart. She sings, "Ojala que te vaya bonito, ojala que se acaben tus penas, que te digan que yo ya no existo, que conoscas personas mas buenas, que te den lo que no pude da te, aunque yo te alla dado de todo, nunca mas volvere a molestarte, te adore, te perdi, ya ni modo."( Lets hope that things are beautiful for you, let's hope that your troubles end, that they tell you I don't exist, that you meet better people, that they give you what I couldn't give you, although I gave you everything, never more will I return to bother you, I loved you, I lost you, now there's no way)." This is a loose translation but if you are a non-Spanish speaker you get the gist although it sounds better in Spanish. Another lyrical sample as Andrea continues in the same song " Cuantas luzes dejastes encendidas, yo no se como voy a apagar las,"(How many lights did you leave lit, I don't know how I will turn them off). In this case the lights refer to unfinished business and matters of the heart as El Rey often used metaphors. El Rey had a way with words and these modern interpreters pay their dues to him by presenting his music to new generations of listeners some thirty years after his death. "Tu Recuerdo y Yo ' is a jamming song with a Latin-ska-reggae beat and a flavor that sounds similar to King Chango ragamuffin delivery ,with echoes and shadows of El Rey, sipping tequila in the corner of a bar because "me rompistes mi corazon(you broke my heart)." Along the same style of presentation is Rabanes singing "La Media Vuelta." Again,this is a song about what happens when people go their seprate ways as the wild Panamanians sing amidst blaring horns. It's a happy sad song. There are several curiosities on this disc, most notably that all the songs are El Rey numbers with the exception of three which are penned and performed by Saul Hernandez(Califanes/Jaguares), Reyli Barba(Elefante) and Alejandro Lara(El Tri). Somehow these songs fit right in so maybe they had El Rey in mind when writting them. Also there are some nice mixes of mariachi music mixed in to the RocnEspanol beats. There is also some rap that is outstanding. For the most part though it is straight ahead RocnEspanol. There is a rocking hybrid rap version of Camino de Guanajuato with El Rey's famous declaration"La vida no vale nada(Life is worthless). Mana's version of "Te Solte la Rienda" ( I let go of the reins) is taken from one of their live performances as they often include a medley of El Rey song's in their performances. It is an appropriate song to include in the tribute and is an accoustic number that is also lively. There is a haunting version of "Cuando Sale La Luna" by Jumbo that is a provocative and seductive electronic tinged song will make the hairs on your neck stand up. There are nineteen different artists featured on this disc that goes from soft ballads or boleros that sound close to the originals to jacked up numbers that would probably make El Rey sit upright and scratch his head from his bed after a long night of partying. The booklet is colorful with a bunch of psychedelic looking pictures of Jose Alfredo in swirls of neon colors and negative digital imagery. The center spread has El Rey sitting at a table with bottles labeled XXX(30 anniversary of his death) and a crowned halo surrounded by all the artists featured. Fittingly enough the song "El Rey" is also the closing song and peformed by Miguel Mateos.In this version, Mateos delivers a soulful song that has that finale of the show, slow swaying crowd beat that has a candle lit. This has been my summer 2003 disc that I play endlessly and if you like RocnEspanol, or more importantly, El Rey, you too will be playing it often. You will love this tribute disc that is a great collaboration under the executive production of Jose Alfredo Jiminez Jr.

I was actually desapointed that the US version of this album did not include all 20 songs that originally has in the Mexican and Latin American version.
To me the most impressive version of a Jose Alfredo Jimenezsong has been made by Enrique Bunbury. He has performed this song since 1997 and has closed most of his concerts with it. It has now become a clasic of his shows. The live version included originally in the mexican version of this album is the best of all 20 songs.
Other than that, this album is great. All the musicians did a great job bringing back to life the songs of this great writer.

Creo que este tributo pudo ser mucho mejor, la verdad cuenta con demasiadas participaciones, que termina siendo casi un desastre musical, una verdadera lastima porque las canciones de uno de los mejores compositores mexicanos, JOSE ALFREDO JIMENEZ, no se merecia este casi desastre musical, se puede ver claramente que el objetivo de la disquera era vender el producto a toda costa, lo cual me parece bastante ridiculo a estas alturas, cuando se han generado millones de ventas de los discos de jose alfredo, bueno retomando las participaciones que me parecen bastante buenas y recomendables son: JUMBO/LA LUNA, MOENIA, SAUL Y ELEFANTE,BUNBURY, este ultimo fue removido de la edicion de estados unidos, que me parece bastante mal, que lastima que este tributo no sea como el de hace cuatro anos atras a jose jose, bastante malo, mejor escuchenlo antes de comprarlo.

This collection is really really good. Most of the songs are well recreated by the musicians. I loved it!

The 20 songs in the latin version are almost all pretty good, nothing extraordinary, but good reinterpretations of Jose Alfredo's songs, well almost all, the Moderatto cover of El Rey is one of the WORST SONGS EVER!!!!
Oh my good! I still cannot believe that a record label allowed this God awful song to be in an album, much less a TRIBUTE ALBUM!!!
Truly Mr Jimenez was roling in his grave because of that Moderatto cover.
The best are Saul Hernandez (of course), Aterciopelados, Elefante, Bunbury, rabanes, not a bad album, but that Moderatto song. DEAR GOD!!!!