Search - Rocio Banquells :: 20 Grandes Exitos

Victim of bad remastering

Reymundo Martinez | San Antonio, Tx USA | 07/06/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First and foremost, in the same fashion that Andrew Lloyd Webber's office considers Rocio the Mexican "Evita," I've always considered myself Rocio Banquells #1 fan in North America. She is one of the best soprano voices to come out of Mexico. There is no doubt that Warner put out this CD to capitalize on the newfound fame and respect for her voice on the Mexican show "Cantando Por Un Sueno," especially since she and Warner had a bitter parting in 1989. Warner compiled this CD from two of her early albums for them. In actuality, this CD consists of two albums in their entirety: the first pop and the first ranchera albums. Though the songs are interspersed, it's the pop songs that suffer from bad mastering, sounding as if lifted off a bad audio cassette, the hissing evident from the first track. The ranchera songs sound okay in quality at best...but not much different that the way they sound on the original "Entrega Total" ranchera CD. No joke here: I own the pop cassette and it sounds better than whatever Warner was left with, since she and her husband left with most rights and the master recordings. Rocio's soaring soprano is evident and I give it the five stars it deserves. It's a voice that has been complimented by Madonna and Barbara Streisand when she recorded broadway standards on the CD "Un Sueno Alguna Vez Sone." Barbara lent her the microphone and Madonna was recording songs for the "Dick Tracy" movie in the same studio in L.A. where Rocio was recording. Ms Banquells deserves better quality than this and I'm sure she'll soon get it after winning on the TV show. For a better complilation with much better sound and remastering, pick up "Coincidir" or "Ellas Cantan Asi.""