Evigshed Review:
Juanes releases his fifth album P.A.R.C.E now available for purchase worldwide, co-produced with Stephen Lipson. P.A.R.C.E is a sweet blend of pop music, ballads and latino sounds. Anyway, Juanes is always very surprising. The title gets its name from the word Parcero, colombian slang for buddy. The multi talented singer took risks with this album. Musically, it is totally different from Mi Sangre or La Vida es un Ratico. There is a musical evolution. The change is perceptible through instruments. The production changed. It is a good thing. The guitars work and the voice are really hightlighted. It should not be forgotten that Juanes is also an excellent musician and a true guitar virtuoso.
He shows us his talent for playing guitars in different tracks as Y No Regresas, Esta Noche (that I recommend) or the hit Yerbatero. Lo Nuestro , a romantic love song that features a beautiful blend of his acoustic guitar playing and strings. The album is full of creativity and inspired songs. His lyrics come from his heart. The poignant track La Razon is dedicated to his wife. I also recommend Amigoson friendship, that is for his followers and fans.
Juanes has this ability to touch People ‘s heart in few seconds with his words, his music and his natural charm. Who can remain indifferent when he sings Esta Noche or La Soledad (my big favorite). He likes Love and sings this topic brilliantly. Charmer and romantic in Regalito, which will be certainly its next hit after Yerbatero. He seduces the listener slowly and easily with these bewitched rhythms. In the lead single Yerbatero, Juanes wants to cure you against the evil of the love. His love message in El Amor Lo cura Todo contains beautiful harmonies between strings and piano. Songs like Quimera address socio-political topics with the dramas in Haiti, New Orleans or Colombia. In Segovia, he evokes the massacre on November 11th 1988 in Colombia. The track is dedicated to the families of the victims. Musically, This subtle great mix of tango and rock grabs your attention from beginning to the end. You hum the melody easily. Juanes’s sincerity is authentic. You can also find it in the lyrics so true in La Soledad (my first favorite). « La soledad es un tipo de veneno que entra despacio y quema muy lento el corazon » The solitude is a type of poison that enters slowly and burns the heart very slow. I love the guitar solo in Todos los Dias. Bass lines are superb.
In conclusion, Juanes ‘s new album P.A.R.C.E is very recommended. No matter if you don’t understand spanish (you have full of translators on the web), you can appreciate his music. As you know, if you are a real music lover, the melody has no barriers and can be loved by anyone in despite of the different languages. This high quality album should appeal to more listeners. Juanes is far from being an ordinary latino singer. He is a multi talented artist : songwriter/musician/singer/producer. and Then ? How to resist ?
His popularity and his success exceed the borders of latino borders and he really deserves it. Make P.A.R.C.E number 1 everywhere.
The talent is to support and to help. Spread the word.
Puntuacion :10/10
Speakerboxxx Review:
http://www.speakerboxxx.com/2010/12/album-review-juanes-p-a-r-c-e/
Puntuacion :5/10
Rhapsody Soundboard Review:
http://www.speakerboxxx.com/2010/12/album-review-juanes-p-a-r-c-e/
Puntuacion :5/10
Rhapsody Soundboard Review:
Finding an American equivalent to the Colombian pop star Juanes is nearly impossible. He is a consummate love-song singer, but he made his name with a single about landmines ("Fijate Bien"). He cut his teeth on Zeppelin but his music draws much of its propulsion from vallenato, the Afro-Colombian cousin to cumbia that has its home on Colombia's north coast. He's political; he's romantic. He's sort of Trace Adkins, Taylor Swift and Boots Riley rolled up into one. And he makes great pop music.
But is his new album, P.A.R.C.E., great? His fans might not think so. When he debuted the lead single, "Yerbatero," during the World Cup opening concert earlier this year, it was met with a resounding yawn. He even looked a little nervous playing it. And it never reached the top of the Billboard charts, which is nearly unheard-of for a Juanes single. ("Y No Regresas," the subsequent single, has fared better.) He's messing with the formula that's made him such a reliable chart presence — why?
But is his new album, P.A.R.C.E., great? His fans might not think so. When he debuted the lead single, "Yerbatero," during the World Cup opening concert earlier this year, it was met with a resounding yawn. He even looked a little nervous playing it. And it never reached the top of the Billboard charts, which is nearly unheard-of for a Juanes single. ("Y No Regresas," the subsequent single, has fared better.) He's messing with the formula that's made him such a reliable chart presence — why?
Partly it's a personal thing. An infidelity and subsequent return to his wife has left him chastened; he took a break from his usual producer Gustavo Santaolalla and went with Steve Lipson (Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox) — clearly the act of a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis. He also wanted to return to a more raw, rock-heavy sound. But I think his personal struggles are only half the story; there's a deeper movement afoot in Latin America right now. As the greed and speculation-driven northern economy continues to implode, leftist Latin American leaders — who are putting much greater emphasis on social welfare than, say, the U.S. does — are starting to look a lot better. There's some vindication for their efforts, for the rhetoric, flawed as it may be, of a leader like Hugo Chavez or Evo Morales. And that seems to be fueling a rising sense of pride across Latin America.
The resurgence of Latin American pride is showing up in the music. Ruben Albarran, the charismatic, diminutive lead singer of Mexico's Cafe Tacuba, has a new project called Hoppo that plays, in part, classic Latin American songs like "La Llorona" and Mercedes Sosa's "Gracias a La Vida" — hardly an obvious choice for a dyed-in-the-wool alternative icon. One of the best songs on the new Calle 13album features three iconic Latin American singers, simple folkloric music (again, rare in hip-hop), and lyrics that attack the crass materialism of the north. Even in Argentina, an extremely European country, the label/club night ZZK features artists who are using Latin American styles like cumbia and obscure Argentinean folk as building blocks for their techno explorations. Imitation is out; Latin pride is in.
In this context, the seemingly anomalous P.A.R.C.E. begins to make sense. The album's very name is hyper-local — it's Medellin slang for "buddy" or "dude." And "Yerbatero" is actually a song written about the traveling herbalists who would sell remedies in small Colombian towns — like the one Juanes grew up in — for everything from illness to falling into or out of love. Listen to Latin pop radio for about 30 seconds and you'll know this is hardly ordinary fare for a pop singer. Another song on the album, "Segovia," actually details a massacre carried out by Colombian paramilitaries in 1988, and pays homage to the victims and survivors. The first song on the album, the arresting "Quimera," laments the world's short attention span when it comes to massive disasters like Haiti and goes on to assert the overarching importance of love. Juanes has always been political, but this is something else again.
The other major change on this album is how he treats love. For Juanes, love has usually meant romantic love, and he's made a ridiculously good living singing about it. But on P.A.R.C.E., love becomes a magical, morphing entity. In "Quimera," it is a political act, a force to counteract an ADHD-afflicted media, the thing that keeps people working to help others even when the cameras are gone. In "Amigos," it's personal but not romantic: the love of his friends that keeps him together as he navigates major personal-life storms. In "La Razon," it is, quite simply, the reason for living. Inspiring as it is, it doesn't always make for great music: "El Amor Lo Cura Todo" is a great sentiment, but the trickling soft rock didn't do much for this reviewer.
In the end, P.A.R.C.E. may not be Juanes' greatest achievement. Though he's clearly drawn to the rawness of rock, his natural talents have always been pretty well suited to the pop realm. But the rawness has given him some kind of permission — he's taking chances lyrically, he's become increasingly political, and he's transforming himself from your ideal lover into a much more philosophical animal. This rock dalliance may be an aberration, or it may signal a new direction that he'll travel more surely in later albums. Whatever he's doing, we applaud it. It takes guts to mess with the recipe of your success and make something messy ... but new.
The resurgence of Latin American pride is showing up in the music. Ruben Albarran, the charismatic, diminutive lead singer of Mexico's Cafe Tacuba, has a new project called Hoppo that plays, in part, classic Latin American songs like "La Llorona" and Mercedes Sosa's "Gracias a La Vida" — hardly an obvious choice for a dyed-in-the-wool alternative icon. One of the best songs on the new Calle 13album features three iconic Latin American singers, simple folkloric music (again, rare in hip-hop), and lyrics that attack the crass materialism of the north. Even in Argentina, an extremely European country, the label/club night ZZK features artists who are using Latin American styles like cumbia and obscure Argentinean folk as building blocks for their techno explorations. Imitation is out; Latin pride is in.
In this context, the seemingly anomalous P.A.R.C.E. begins to make sense. The album's very name is hyper-local — it's Medellin slang for "buddy" or "dude." And "Yerbatero" is actually a song written about the traveling herbalists who would sell remedies in small Colombian towns — like the one Juanes grew up in — for everything from illness to falling into or out of love. Listen to Latin pop radio for about 30 seconds and you'll know this is hardly ordinary fare for a pop singer. Another song on the album, "Segovia," actually details a massacre carried out by Colombian paramilitaries in 1988, and pays homage to the victims and survivors. The first song on the album, the arresting "Quimera," laments the world's short attention span when it comes to massive disasters like Haiti and goes on to assert the overarching importance of love. Juanes has always been political, but this is something else again.
The other major change on this album is how he treats love. For Juanes, love has usually meant romantic love, and he's made a ridiculously good living singing about it. But on P.A.R.C.E., love becomes a magical, morphing entity. In "Quimera," it is a political act, a force to counteract an ADHD-afflicted media, the thing that keeps people working to help others even when the cameras are gone. In "Amigos," it's personal but not romantic: the love of his friends that keeps him together as he navigates major personal-life storms. In "La Razon," it is, quite simply, the reason for living. Inspiring as it is, it doesn't always make for great music: "El Amor Lo Cura Todo" is a great sentiment, but the trickling soft rock didn't do much for this reviewer.
In the end, P.A.R.C.E. may not be Juanes' greatest achievement. Though he's clearly drawn to the rawness of rock, his natural talents have always been pretty well suited to the pop realm. But the rawness has given him some kind of permission — he's taking chances lyrically, he's become increasingly political, and he's transforming himself from your ideal lover into a much more philosophical animal. This rock dalliance may be an aberration, or it may signal a new direction that he'll travel more surely in later albums. Whatever he's doing, we applaud it. It takes guts to mess with the recipe of your success and make something messy ... but new.
Puntuacion : Positivo
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