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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Absolutely Perfect Balance, July 3, 2001
... so, if you want to experience real feel of Mexican rock, this is it, your search is over,... this is the real deal for you people out there, interested in acquiring real "Rocanrol mexicano", you don't need almost anything else, just go for this record, the best Mexican rock music born since the Caifanes era, with Saúl Hernandez (singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist and founder) at command as always. You wont regret!First, a little history of the band: Jaguares was formed in consequence to the desintegration of Caifanes, which was Saul's band before jaguares, that marked the first part of the history of Mexican rock, when the band splitted apart, Saul, had a time of aislation and he had some problems with his throat and needed surgery many times, after he recovered, he formed a new line-up, and started a new project, which he baptized as "Jaguares" in consequence that he couldn't go over with the name of "caifanes", because of legal problems with band member/guitarist, alejandro markovich, which has the rights of the name, so, in a dream, he saw the image of a jaguar a very intense image, so he decided to go with the new name with anew band: Jaguares. He searched for new musicians to form the band, along with caifanes' drummer alfonso andre, and created "El Equilibrio" the first album and the first part of the history still going of jaguares. Well, the record, is very diverse, and crafted with many elements, reflecting our culture, people, history, fauna and circled with "selvatic (jungle) environment" and mood. Some of the songs are easy to listen and understand, such as "dime jaguar", "detrás de los cerros" and "nunca te doblarás", which obviously were the 3 singles of the album, there are always complicated and clever poetic lyrics, from Saul of course, but the rest of the album I would say, you just have to listen to some of the songs a few or many times to really get the feel of each one of the songs and especially if you don't speak or understand Spanish, but also, most of the music is some kind complex, and some people (including me), would refer to the record as a progressive-rock record in some way, especially for the mood that the music in here settles, jungle-like mood, mystic ambient, including of course, Mexican history and pre- Columbian cultures and tradition that you can slightly but clearly hear in the music, also, the complex structure in some of the pieces and the could'nt- be-better work in the guitars, provided by Jose Manuel Aguilera, (lead guitar, and composer of 2 of the songs in the album, the rest are Saul's credits) fit and balance completely Saul's poetic words and singing, creating the perfect combination, along with band members, Federico Fong in bass guitar and Alfonso André, in drums/percussion. I would't ever refer this work as a "singles record", (which are very common this kind of commercial projects, in bands like maná as I said before), this is a whole piece, a masterpiece that should be listened to, from the first part of El equilibrio, (the balance) through the whole record until the excellent closing "En la habitación de tu mente": " in the room deep inside your mind, there are no colors, there are no windows, in the room deep inside your mind." This is the clearest and best crafted, musical representation of our Mexican culture, and history, including of course, social and protest topics, and is clearly the best representation of Mexican real rock, told in a very special and personal way, by Saul and every single person involved in the production of the album. Maybe, you've heard some of the first rocanrol bands born in Mexico, (El tri, 3 souls in my mind, etc..) they are respected back here but in most of the cases and most of the bands, created a sound or copied the American, blues and rock early bands, such as creedence, cream, and some other blues style early english bands, like the zep or the who. Caifanes and Jaguares, didn't go that way, they are for me and many many people not only in Mexico, but in other countries the Best rock en espaņol and Mexican rock band in history of Mexican rocanrol, because, they have created their own style since the very first Caifanes record, and perhaps is the only Mexican band, that has really achieve that, and be known as caifanes- jaguars and their instantly recognizable style. As a little piece of advice, buy also, Caifanes' "La Historia" (the best of..., and the history of Saul song's and the first version of his band), along with "El equilibrio". Another thing, don't waste the chance to go see them live if you can, you'll get out from there, with a total different view within music, Really! Just as a last thought or advice: Listen to the album with the best headphones you can get, go to the woods, with your discman, or whatever, or maybe on a cold, natural environment as the forest, or even in your garden when it is raining and you'll know what I mean by the term I used as jungle-like mood and mystic ambient!!! I own this album, and I've opened an small view of it the importance that this record has in the history of "rock en espaņol" and some of the history that lead to it, so: Now it's up to you to you decide, if you want to it or not.
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by Jaguares 
