International music reviews

I can only say that I l-o-v-e-d the second CD as much as I loved the first. Especially Alexis Ramos, Tito Enriquez (the best of the best), Viviana Arana and even Rebecca Montoya (whom I did not like very much in the Protagonistas series) are so good on this CD. I really lament that there are not CD's out there with their individual names on them yet. I will buy them as soon as they are out. In fact, I wonder what happened to them individually.

El primero a mi opinion estubo muy bueno con las interpretaciones de Miguel Angel, Tito, Barbara , pero el segundo cd esta muy bonito , las canciones estan lindas y muy bien interpretadas por todos pero a mi opinion el tigre Miguel , Tito, Facundo y Barbara son las mejores interpretaciones, ellos cantan muy bien y tienen muy buenas voces, Barbara la mejor voz de la casa, su cancion a duo con Marger esta muy buena y muy bien interpretada por las dos. Muy bonito.

Dicen que las segundas partes no son buenas, pero en este caso es todo lo contrario. El disco est? excelente. Tienen que comprarlo.

The main reason everybody is purchasing this single is because of the second track "Fever", this is the video version that was never made a commercial release in any other territory apart from Germany where the single charted at a respectable number 6 in 1993. Coincidentally the 12" German Vinyl release also includes the edit 2 version that was also released as the "Murk Boys Miami Edit" on the B-side to the UK picture disc single of "Fever". Overall when i first saw the video in 1993 and heard the dance version i was amazed! It truly is a disco classic that sits well alongside her other brilliant dance cuts such as "Vogue", "Deeper and Deeper" and later mixes of "Express Yourself". I had to wait 4 years til i finally stumbled across this little gem in Virgin Mega store in Berlin!! My heart lept! Among her fans this dance classic is very sought after, a big mistake on Mavericks part not placing it or any of the other mixes by the same people onto the cd release. Mixes by the same team are out there on vinyl such as "Peggy's Night Club Mix", "Bon Ton Infernal Mix" and "Peggy's Night Club Edit" (basically and extended Edit One version) The other remixes of Rain are quite good though i still prefer the album version and video version found on the Japanese Maxi cd. The dub version of Up Down suite is an interesting track as it incorporates "Say Goodbye..." from the "Just Say Roe" soundtrack. Overall worth every penny, if not just for the classic version of "Fever", that track now sits proudly alongside "Vogue", "Burnin Up", "Express Yourself" and "Deeper and Deeper" on my ipod! U.S fans should also look out for the German cd single release of "Bye Bye Baby" which contains six remixes by Clivilles and Cole, David Morales and some other noticable early 90's remixers, excellent!

The tracks on this single are absolutely phonemonial and I love them so much! The tracks and my comments are below.

1. Rain (Remix Edit) 4.17. This one is so beautiful. It's much tamer than the Video edit or Album version and makes you more relaxed. I have the albums Erotica and Something To Remember which both include the original album version(s) of the song, Rain. However, when i'm feeling sad or in a bad mood, or just want to listen to this song, I turn to this CD because you feel much better and more relaxed.

2. Fever (Edit One) 4.03. Guess what??? This is the video version! The version of Madonna's cover version of Peggy Lee's classic Fever that you've all been waiting for is indeed on here. It's a bonus really because many people longed for it on the Fever CD and it didn't turn up there -- so look here. This version is much much better than the 5 minute album version and takes you to the dancefloor straight away! This version is just brilliant.

3. Rain (Radio Remix) 4.33. The same as track 1 really but it includes the fantastic spoken vocals, so obviously it will be a bit longer than that version, 16 seconds longer to be exact or precise. Again it is very tame and relaxing and I have no complaintments over it at all! The concept of both tracks (1 & 3) are both excellent because it's just nice. I'm glad I can share my next comment with another reviewer on here and say the spoken vocals are included here so I like this version better than track 1.

4. Up Suite Down (Dub / Previously Unreleased) (12.14). This has to be the longest dub i've ever heard of any song! - not just by Madonna but anyone! Most people don't really do dubs on singles so I was rather suprised but it's still good and flows nice just like dubs do! It's danceable and catchy when she repeats "Up, Down, Up, Down, Up Up"! It includes 1 verse from the song Good-bye to Innocence which is the first verse. The original version of Good-bye To Innocence maybe better but this is just a 12-minute good ride dance of a roller-coaster! Overall it's a very nice dub.

You can also get the US Version of the Rain single which includes the Rain Remix Edit and Up Suite Down Dub / Previously Unreleased. It also includes 2 other tracks not on this pressing! The Rain Album Version that we all know and love plus a kinky remix of album track from Erotica, Waiting. Also available: Rain Japan EP, 10 tracks & Rain UK Single featuring Tracks 1 & 4 found on this excellent CD plus US #1 Open Your Heart, from True Blue.

The German version of Rain is the best one that is out there. This is must have.
1. Rain (Radio Remix){Edit}:This is the radio remix without the spoken words in the middle. The spoken vocals are the best part of the song, so why take them out??

2. Fever (Edit One):The Main reason you will want this cd. This is the video version of Fever. The one everyone loves. The one that is 100 times better than the album version. This cd is worth the money just for this song!!

3. Rain (Radio Remix):This version is better than the edit, because it included the spoken vocals in the middle. This is a more simplistic version of "Rain". Though with it's simplicity, it takes so much power away from the song. The orginal is the best.

4. Goodbye To Innocence: This is one of the most atroucious dubs I have heard. It is a 12 minute dub of "Goodbye To Innocence". The only vocals here, are the ones included in the first verse of GTI and "Up, Down, Up Up..." The orginal version is the best go for it. (You can find it on "Just Say Roe")

Before I heard this, all I knew about Ruben Blades is that he was a pretty good actor. Now I know he is a music god! When I went to Argentina in 2000, I stayed with a host family and my "mom" gave me a bunch of tapes and CDs to listen to, among was a tape of this album. I listened to it over and over and over and I still pop it in today. Even if you don't know all the words, the music brings you to this place where a cool breeze flows right off the water and you have to sway with it. Once I did learn all the words, whew!! i fell in love even more. It's just a gorgeous flow from song to song, and one of the few CDS that i listen to all the way through. Tu Mejor Amiga brings back the best memories of my "mom" singing and dancing as she made empanadas en la cocina. I came home and gave a copy of it to my grandfather who is a jazz lover and he fell in love with it as well. It really is a treasure of modern music and I recommend it to anyone who wants to kick back and enjoy. Before

Al fin Ruben Blades se atrevi? a grabar un CD con artistas paname?os como el gran Osvaldo Ayala. Este CD le da un nuevo ritmo a la salsa com?n, es un experimento de Blades que ha sido galardonado con un Grammy. A nosotros los paname?os nos gustar?a que Ruben compusiera m?s canciones con ritmos t?picos paname?os. Eso le dar?a un gran impulso a la m?sica t?pica de Panam? en los otros paises de Latinoam?rica. Para saborear este ritmo les aconsejo comprar ?ste CD inmediatamente.

Virgilio Krumbacher

Pensaba que hab�a llegado tarde a la repartici�n que me har�a seguidor de Rub�n Blades. Buscaba algo de su m�sica para escuchar, por primera vez en forma consciente. Y apareci� "La Rosa de los Vientos". Lo compr� enseguida. Yo era una persona que no estaba acostumbrada a escuchar m�sica tropical, y despu�s de este disco cambi� totalmente y me abr� a esos ritmos. "La Rosa de los Vientos" es un �lbum que se nota hecho con mucho cari�o. Es el primero grabado por Blades en su pa�s natal, Panam�, y se dedica a recoger el folcklor del mismo, junto a notables artistas paname�os. El resultado es quiz�s uno de los mejores discos de la carrera de Rub�n Blades. Es fino en sus terminaciones como un edificio construido con clase. Las canciones est�n muy bien seleccionadas: sones, baladas y toda una gama exquisita de lo m�s arraigado de Panam�, ejecutado por todo tipo de excelentes instrumentistas. "La Rosa de los Vientos" es m�sica tropical seria. Se puede bailar como sentarse a escucharla. Llega al alma y al coraz�n. Eriza la piel. Es excelente.

This is a super CD if you're really into pure music. Maggie takes Gaelic music to a new high with her crystal clear angelic voice, and the music is presented largely in the same fashion as it might have been heard in Scotland or on Cape Breton two hundred years ago. Close your eyes and you're transported through time to a distant seashore... no matter WHERE you're listening from. Enjoy!

Maggie Carchrie and Thomas Leigh have performed for many years at the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival in Westfield, MA... Each year they have gotten better and better and we are glad to see that they have released a CD. Their performances have always been very well received and attended. As Ru-Ra has been such a popular group at our Festival, we are having them back again in July, 2002. We highly recommend the album!!

One needs to look no further than this album to understand that the creative talents of Thomas Leigh and Maggie Carchrie will be taking the Celtic world by storm. Combining traditional Gaelic songs with progressive keyboard arrangements and percussion that is simply brilliant, this album will quickly become a favorite in your Celtic dance collection.

Some of my personal favorites from this album are "Two Pence worth" and "Two sisters." The introduction on "Two Pence Worth" is a good example how Thomas & Maggie build up the dance beat before Maggie's clear and enchanting vocals have you dancing to their unique blend of Celtic music.

Another significant attribute of this album is its "playability." The songs quickly take hold and you soon find yourself humming along. This is one album that no matter how many times we play, it sounds just as fresh and uplifting as the first.

This is one of the best melodic rock cds from the late 80's. I have their debut self titled effort on cassett. It's pretty good too, almost as good as The Sea Of Love. It was issued in I believe the UK as 'Theodore And Friends' and sometimes goes for like $100 on ebay. Get with it people! When stuff goes for that high on ebay, it needs a reissue.

By the way, before they were the Adventures, they were the Starjets (or at least 2 members or the Adventures were). If you like cool melodic power pop, you may REALLY enjoy GOD BLESS THE STARJETS.

I've had this album for over two decades and I still can put it on and deeply appreciate it - this is pop music at its best. Each song is craftfully arranged that it starts off with a simple structure and then more and more instruments are added to you finally have a Phil Spector Wall of Sound effect. Their follow-up Secrets was much more bare bones

The harmonies and melodies just shine on this album. Definitely a summer album, a feel good, I'm in love with the world album. Never understood why it didn't get the exposure/recognition it deserved. It is an 80s album but the use of instruments doesn't pigeonhole it to that era where it ends up really standing the test of time.

At last the CD of this wonderful album. It's a shame this album never reached cult status.
But perhaps this Cd will do. HIGHLY praised!!!!!!!!!

This CD can be viewed as the "soundtrack" to the superb Telemundo soap opera "Senora Tentacion" in which Lucia Mendez plays the role of a cabaret/lounge songstress in an imaginary Latin American country (in the 1950s) torn apart by political turmoil and civil unrest. On this gorgeous album, Mendez gives "modern" (but true-to-the-original) interpretations of 12 of the legendary Agustin Lara's most famous compositions. If you like the music of yesteryear's great boleristas (Pedro Vargas, Tona La Negra, Tito Rodriguez, Chucho Avellanet, etc.) I strongly recommend your buying this CD if you can find it as it won't disappoint.

Aside from Lucia Mendez being one of the most beautiful international actresses from the Latin entertainment industry, since her debut in 1975 she has managed to reinvent herself for almost every decade since then ! Senora Tentacion (Mrs. Temptaion or Lady Temptation) was recorded 10 years ago for a Mexican soap opera (novela) by the same name as the album in which she portrayed the main character. The novela itself took place in the 50's in an imaginary Latin American country in the midst of political turmoil. The songs she sings however are from a real Mexican composer, the late Augustin Lara, who wrote these songs for himself as well as for various artists through this same era of the 40's and 50's...

What Lucia presents us with is one of the most romantic, classy, big band/jazz like interpretations of this long gone composer's works. Her voice is at it's peak, in my opinion, in her musical recording career. For those familiar with Lucia Mendez's vocal gift, she sings each song with romantic and passionate emotion and devotion. Each song is about,what else, love. Each song is richly orchestrated in the sound that was very popular during the golden era of Hollywood. Regardless if the music is sung in Spanish it is the orchestrated-jazz-like instrumentation that recalls a different era or time not to be known by today's generation who grew up listening to the cold synthesized electronic machinations and current pop industry radio filler ! ...For those who like the sounds of that era, Frank Sinatra,Glen Miller, Rosemary Clooney, Lena Horne even some jazz and bolero afficionados will love this rare cd by one of Mexico's gorgeous artistic women !

beautiful and enchanting, the album and lucia

I purchased this CD because I am a BIG fan of Sergio M and Brasil '65, '66 and '77. This is the NEW '77 with pretty much a whole new cast and somewhat of a new sound. The remnants of Bossa Nova are buried in this release...The cut "Real Thing" was a favorite of mine when it received air-play on the radio (back in 1978!)... I still prefer the sound of the original Brasil '77, however the only way to get their music is through collector's or on auction sites...I still recommend this release, but prefer the older '66/'77 sound...if you want to complete your collection, then definitely buy it! The sound quality is excellent!

I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS LITTLE MY MOTHERBOUGHT THE ORIGINAL RECORD ALBUM HOE I GUESS I WAS AROUND 11 OR 12, AND PLAYED THAT RECORD TO DEATH FOR ABOUT 2 YEARS STRAIGHT THEN I LOST IT COULD NOT FIND IT FOUR YEAR LATER THEN ONE DAY LAST WEEK ONE OF THE QUIET STORM STATIONS PLAYED TWO OF THE CUTS FROM THE ALBUM I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT ALL OVER AGAIN AND BROUGHT BACK SO MANY MEMORIES I DIDNT CARE HOW MUCH IT COST I HAD TO HAVE IT.

This is an extraordinary work by Sergio. His melodies and rhythms are unexcelled. This, for my money, is his best collection although I find no fault in any of his other works.

Francisco Gabilondo Soler is the best author of songs for children in Spanish that I have ever heard. The lyrics, the music, the style, the stories he tells are wonderful. He was on the radio when I was a child (I'm over 70) and he has become a classic. I think adults can enjoy him at least as much as children.
This particular CD is missing a song, #11 Che Arana. Too bad. It happens to be one of my favorites.

Like the other reviewers, I too grew up listening to Cri Cri. I love the songs, they also take me back to my childhood My only complaint is that it lists the song 'Che Arana' as being on the play list, but at leat on my CD, the song was not to be found.

I was only a child barely learning how to speak, when I first heard Cri Cri. He touches you in the simplest of ways, yet reaches you in the deepest of ways. Francisco was ahead of his time, and will be remembered always as a master of entertainment.

LONG AGO -35 YEARS- GOT THE FIRST LONGPLAY OF THESE INCREDIBLE MUSICIANS... AND I KEEP ON GETTING THEIR BEAUTIFUL INTERPRETATIONS. THEY ARE "CERTAMENTE SENSACIONALES"

I have been playing guitar for over 35 years and began purchasing LP's by Los Indios Tabajaras (LIT) around 30 years ago. About five years ago, after the LP's started wearing out and CD's became popular, I got on the internet and purchased Serie Platino and Maria Elena/Always In My Heart through CDNow. I recommend Serie Platino highly, primarily because it contains "Penelope." For anyone who does not have the LIT version of Penelope and is trying to decide which of many CD's by LIT to buy first, I would strongly recommend picking a CD containing Penelope. In my opinion, it is probably one of the most beautiful, melodic songs ever played on guitar. I have sat and listened to it over and over on many occasions. Although there are several great songs on the CD, it is worth purchasing for Penelope alone.
I am now looking for a CD version of their "Casual Classics", but don't believe it is available, at least yet.

I first heard them when I was 14yrs (1964) at a friends. His father made classical guitars as a hobby. My friend and I where of course Beatle fans but we loved Los Indios Tabarajas also. In fact we both learned to play classical guitar by listening to their music. Such talent!!!. I wish I could have seem in concert. Well this album represents very much the music that touched our hearts and continues to touch everyone else's that I introduce this music to no matter how young or old. Even my son is a fan of them, I hope to see more of their CD's in the future cause I wore out all of my LP's

We all know what a great song Eres Tu is, so we'll skip to the rest.

The music itself varies quite a bit on this CD. Amantes, on the other hand, is cut from the same cloth; Eres Tu fans will probably enjoy this song as well.

The production values were as bad as I've heard on a CD. I don't expect that era to have as clean a sound, but there were also occasional dropouts in a couple of the songs. Very distracting. I am hoping that the original material does not suffer from this.

One other thing: I'm not sure they've done this yet, but I think the Eres Tu lovers (myself not excluded) would enjoy an appearance of Touch The Wind somewhere on a CD. It was an English version to Eres Tu, the B-side of the 45. Not equivalent lyrics, but also very enjoyable.

Such beautiful voices and able to understand every word. Songs are varied. Some songs are contempary, even for today, and some songs remind me of music from my youth - many years ago. Have a glass of wine, close your eyes and enjoy.

This is one of my all-time favorite CDS - Mocedades, is, of course, best known in this country for their 1974 hit "Eres Tu," which is an incredibly enjoyable, stately, and classic tune, and the reason I originally purchased this album. The rest of the album is truly fabulous - everything from charming and flawless pop, "Quien Te Cantara," to traditionally Spanish sounding "El Arriero," to the haunting Euro ballad "La Secretaria." I am not fluent in Spanish, and don't understand every line, but, music this full of feeling is truly universal and, indeed, timeless.