Search - Andres Calamaro :: Regreso

Welcome back Andres Calamaro!

catsmiau | Washington, DC USA | 02/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"summary: highly recommended.. one of the best rock in spanish releases of 2005.. a wonderful retrospective of calamaro's incredibly rich last 10 years in the music biz..



Andres Calamaro's return to the rock'n'roll world of live concert stages was one of the best things about 2005 in my opinion. Calamaro- I'll offer a brief summary- started playing keyboards when real young for Los Abuelos de la Nada, who were one of Argentina's first new wave bands, in the early 80s...subsequently beginning in the mid 80s he developed his own solo career contributing numerous pop hits to the argentine rock nacional (argentine rock was known as "national rock" in those days to distinguish it from american/english rock) canon... in 1989 he puts out what to this day is one of the greatest argentine rock albums of all time (and i say just plain rock) "nadie sale vivo de aqui" ("no one gets out of here alive").. unfortunately the album was released in 1989 during a hyperinflationary crisis with food riots etc... the album went nowhere... calamaro, surely due to the clear understanding that the economic vistas were so poor in argentina, emigrates to spain where in the early 1990s he sets up a band called Los Rodriquez with another Argentine emigre (ariel rot yes brother of cecilia roth of almodovar movie fame) and two spanish musicians with big pedigrees in spanish rock (ie., julian infante)... in any case Los Rodriguez played stonesy rock'n'roll... and scored some big hits such as "sin documentos" and "mi enfermdad" (one of my top 10 songs of all time)...the los rodriguez phase is perfectly documented on their cd "hasta luego" ("see you later") which is a must own (get the version with 20 songs and not 10!).. in any case los rodriguez dissolves in 1996 after a very nice run.... calamaro then begins his solo career anew (you could say this is phase 4) with his solo album "alta suciedad" ("high dirty".. a pun on high society of course)...this album contains a song which became a huge hit all over latin america "flaca" (slang for "babe" i guess is the best way to put it)..at this point starting with this album bob dylan becomes his huge influence.. you can see it in his dress, dark shades, attitudes (begins talking gibberish to reporters a la dylan 66) etc... anyways alta suciedad was a huge hit of an album and he follows it up with "honestidad brutal" a double cd which is heavily heavily dylan influenced.. we are talking like nearly 40 songs (get original import not american lame one disc version)...top notch...here calamaro begins to lose control of the situation arguably because of the combination of a broken heart and the drugs and what have you which i guess unfortunately as they must begin to take a toll... around 2000 he follows up honestidad brutal with a five cd new album with over 100 songs.. in a rougher less produced mold many of these songs just are not as developed.. oh forgot that during honestidad brutal he fulfills what must have been a dream of opening up for bob dylan on his spanish tour.. in any case el salmon meets with a bit of indifference..if you sift through five cds you will find at least 30 wonderful songs but the five cd release was commercial suicide.. after honestidad brutal calamaro drops off face of planet and he is not seen from.. plays no live shows for like five or six years... just dissapears. .i was in argentina in 2001-2002 and he was not seen once... he did contribute a few songs to other bands.. one of which "para siempre" by ratones paranoicos became the biggest hit of 2001-2002 in argentina....



but he drops out...



and last year he finally pops up again..with a few more pounds on and looking a lot healthier... you can imagine the reaction in argentina and spain..great happiness.. this man has written and performed hundreds of classic tunes that have become part and parcel of argentina and to a lesser degree influential in other spanish speaking countries...his songwriting inhabits its own universe in latin rock.. people often speak of songs being "calameresco" or calamaro-like...he's his own world onto himself...the greatest parallel with calamaro in the US might be robert pollard of guided by voices.. in any case calamaro in late 2004 early 2005 makes his live return in argentina at a summer rock festival backed by argentine rockers la bersuit or bersuit verbagarat... lots of people wondered if this was a one off....(oh i forgot that in 2003 he did release an album of latin songs with some flamenco guitar.. very un-calamaro like album called "el cantante" featuring the title song which of course was written by ruben blades and given by blades to master salsa singer hector lavoe)... anyways soon after we heard calamaro was happily in love, had apparently moved to argentina and he played some more shows in late april 2005 in buenos aires.. through various interviews it became clear he was doing better, had kicked the drugs, was engaged etc..in late 2005 he played a few sold out shows in spain (his first in five years)..



then this album was released at the end of 2005..i have summarized calamaro's history because i feel in the US nothing is known about this legend..and its really a shame..he does not sing pop a la shakira..its more rock but boy does it kick it..



el regreso is as the title bills "the return"..the cover even includes the subtitle "to the moon and back".. an allusion to what perhaps calamaro has gone through to get back here...



my first reaction to the fact that calamaro was releasing a live album was "cash cow!".. but upon actually listening to the record i was quite impressed with it and seriously moved....the album does not purport to trace his whole career .. there is no "costumbres argentinas" ("argentine habits") his master hit with los abuelos de la nada in the early 80s.. there are no early solo hits like "por mirarte"..there are no los rodriguez songs (though he played some on his comeback tour of spain).. no, this is a document of what i call phase 4 and phase 5..phase 4 his solo comeback with alta suciedad, honestidad brutal , el salmon and phase 5 with el cantante... there are some extra treats though... but lets go through the cd as at 21 songs and 78 minutes it packs a wallop..



general characteristics: contains beautiful 24 page booklet with lyrics to all the songs and some black and white pictures from shows documented on cd... calamaro is backed by la bersuit.. there are some nice guest appearances... some crowd noise (argentine fans are very passionate and make themselves known at shows with chorus and singalongs and this has not been edited out as much as might be done with american live albums of today..)



song by song



1. el cantante..this song as described above is a salsa standard popularized by the best salsa singer of all time Hector Lavoe.... to me this song holds the key lyrically its a bio answer from calamaro to the fans as to why he dropped out/burned out..lost it...

2. el salmon.. wonderful song from his underappreicated 5 song box..about swimming against the current.going against the flow etc..wonderful to hear any live songs from el salmon as he did not tour behind it

3. te quiero.. cute pop song from honestidad brutal... was a single from that album... nothing great IMHO..this song is there cause it has to be for fans i guess..but he performed in support of the album years ago and its been done..

4. tuyo siempre..another track from el salmon..love it

5. las oportunidades..from el cantante..his last solo release... nice flamenco flourishes

6. clonazepan y circo..another track from honestidad brutal... a searing indictment of how argentina keeps its people happy with legalized prescription drugs instead of the roman bread an d circus..again not too excited by tracks from honestidad brutal..or not by this track in particular..that album is so rich...

7. para no olvidar...oh made a mistake above: this is agorgeous track done by calamaro with los rodriguez originally

8. los aviones... gorgeous track from honestidad brutal..to me one of the best tracks from that great double album..sophisticated ambitious track which includes some nice tango touches in a way you rarely see in rock..

9. crimenes perfectos... nice performance of a track from alta suciedad..well done

10. loco... another track from alta suciedad.. had to be in set list but i have to say the arrangement of this seems weak compared to one on album..... still.. agreat uptempo track

11. vigilante medio argentino..interesting searing indictment of argentine corruption from el salmon..i like this cause i've never heard this live.. here is where the album gets interesting as the next few tracks and i will summarize are mainly all newer tracks that have rarely been heard.. tracks such as la libertad (12) and estadio azteca (13) from el cantante...por una cabeza (14) a classic tango performed impeccably...ok perdon (19) the best ballad from el salmon... desconfio (18) a cover of recently deceased argentine bluesman pappo performed with ratones paranoicos frontman juanse or no me nombres(17) performed with his brother javier whose voice provides a nice contrast... the show closes with two super hits FLACA which is goosebumpage causing when you hear the crowd sing along and paloma a wonderful ballad from honestidad brutal..



so basically i can't recommend this anymore than to say that short of buying all the calamaro albums this live album provides the best possible look back at calamaro's rich solo history from 1995-2003 and a bit of a hint on what he's going to be doing in the future ... word is he's recording an album of argentine tango... even if you did have all his albums you would need this one for some of the songs which are unique to this release.... "por una cabeza" and "desconfio" are both wonderful covers..



what this album does demonstrate is how flexible calamaro's voice is (albeit without the ability to hit operatic notes) as he's able to get his vocal chords around all sorts of material... the pop hooks of course are there in buckets.. but there are also gorgeous ballads, a tango , a blues, flamenco styled songs.... this is highly recommended and if i 've written this extended a review its with the hopes that calamaro gets a much deserved introduction in the US market... why he is not better known here is beyond me!...."

Awesome product!!!

Andres A. Jejen | Caracas - Venezuela | 03/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This production compiles almost all of the greatest hits of Andrés Calamaro in his career. I strongly recommend it!!!"

BRAVISIMO!!!

Marisol Banuelos | San Diego, CA | 01/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Aun no he escuchado el album, pero estuve presente en el concierto.... maravilloso! En Mexico casi no se escucha a Calamaro desde hace tiempo, pero si toco musica en la cual lo conocimos en mi pais. No doy 10 estrellas porque no las hay, pero Calamaro logro hacer vibrar el Luna Park como no lo habia hecho en tanto tiempo en Argentina."