There are albums you really can’t wait to listen to (I was gonna say “you can’t wait to get your hands on,” but with most of my music now being digital, I only get my hands on the iPod and not the actual album), and this year one of those was “Te acuerdas,” by Francisco Céspedes. Last year, Céspedes was touring Mexico and started singing some tunes that he planned to include in a new album of famous covers. Well, since he started talking about the album I really got interested, and for months I waited and waited. I have a good relationship with Céspedes’ music, and many of my friends and relatives also have it. For example, my friend and occasional roommate Concho River claims that he has seen more than a nekkid woman thanks to Francisco Céspedes’ music, and my brother Pedrito is a huge fan (and he actually has had the chance to hang out and party with the artist).
Céspedes announced around last March that the album, titled “Te acuerdas” (Do you remember) was almost ready, and he only gave a few details about it. I searched and search for a track list on the Internets, and it wasn’t until late May when we found out which songs made it to the final cut. Then the search started for samples, and Concho (who is a bad boy) was even looking for a leaked version of any of the songs to hear Céspedes’ interpretation. Finally, the artist’s MySpace page posted a few weeks ago an mp3 of the first single, “Te extraño,” by Armando Manzanero, which 99.9% of the Spanish speaking world probably knows better as a hit from Luis Miguel in the 90s. The arrangement was obviously very different from the Luis Miguel version, and Francisco Céspedes gave it a bass-driven jazzy vibe that sounded interesting. I was not very convinced about the ad libs at the end with the backup singers, but that’s life. That first track only made me hungrier for the rest of the album. Knowing the track list, I was particularly interested i finding out how he was going to sing some specific tracks that I really like in previous versions.
The album did not leak and Concho never got his hands on a dirty version. I downloaded it from iTunes last week and I immediately listened to every single minute of it. I actually repeated some tracks... but not repeating them because I liked them a lot and wanted to experience them again... but more like repeating them because I was thinking “really? is this how he recorded this song? for real?” Yep. I wanted to love this album, but the final version is very strange, affected by improvisational jazz instrumentation without any type of virtuosismo (no offense to the musicians). This was completely unnecessary, since we have heard in previous albums how the best instrument we could use here was Francisco Céspedes’ voice. Yes, let him improvise and shine virtuoso with the voice, but why mess up the music so much? Why change the arrangements until the music really doesn’t go with the lyrics.
Exhibit “a” is the first track, “Oh vida.” To make us remember, as the album title implies, the song starts with an actual sample of the famous Beny Moré recording of this song: same fanfare in the first notes and even Beny singing the first line. Then it mixes with Pancho and the jazzy mood that sets the tone for his album. Not bad. The voice works and the piano-driven melody is attractive. Howevs, 2:26 mins into the song there’s a weird little sing-a-long by the backup singers, and then it goes down to Jodecial improvs (as in Jodeci doing Little Steve’s “Lately”), and it really gets the listener going “WTF” when one of the DeVante Swing wannabes goes all “I wanna be with you foreveeeer” in English. By this time, Beny Moré would have died again. I see the intention in going from the original recording to the more “contemporary” soulful, bilingual adaptation... but... it doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work. The juxtaposition of sounds and styles is messy, and above all things the screaming backups drown the main resource of this song: Francisco’s voice!!
The album tones down the “modernization” approach, and some of the tracks actually benefit from the jazz make-over. For example, in his version of Fito’s “Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón,” the drums and electric guitar transform the song. Obviously, it is not Fito’s electro-magic original, but it is actually not bad. And then Pancho had to try singing in French and... entonces sí se jodió el invento. In “Ne me quitte pas” let’s ignore (if that’s possible, that the acoustic guitar-crescendoes-into-drums-and-then-goes-down-into-whistling approach has nothing to do with the sad, desperate tone of the original song. But let’s not even think about the original Jacques Brel version... let’s take for example the Maysa Matarazzo version from the “La ley del deseo” soundtrack (remember last year I named that my favorite Almodovar movie, but that’s another story). Maysa is not a native French speaker (she is from Brazil). Céspedes of course is not a native French speaker. And that is the problem here. Remember I said the album’s best instrument was Pancho’s voice? Well, if the voice doesn’t work then nothing works, and in this mess of a track Pancho has a French Fail of proportions énormes. I adorbs him, but he can’t speak French! Why do this? The song is unrecognizable and butchers the original. So sad. A similar problem affects the artist in his version of “How deep is your love” by the BeeGees. First, he moves and shuffles around the tune so he can hit the notes without being a Gibb brother, and he ends up relying too much on the back up singers. And I know I should say any bad things about Waldo Madera because he is an awesome drummer who has played for Ricky Martin, Rapahel, Arjona, Betsy Pecanins, Sin Bandera, and Juanes (among many others). But Waldo is listed as being Pancho’s vocal coach for English pronunciation. I can imagine him training Céspedes as they train Asian workers at call centers, telling them to open their mouths wide to pronounce all the vowels. Seriously, Pancho’s English is so overdone here that his French sounds more like real English.
And the bad news are not over. The main reason why I was expecting this album so anxiously comes in track 6: “El día,” by Luis Demetrio (cuando las rolas son yucatecas, me enchilo si no salen bien). Pedrito loves this song, and Fernandel has been featured in the blog before singing his version. We have different covers of this song, ranging from the bolero ranchero with Javier Solís (or Rocío Banquells in the same genre), the peppy original by Angélica María (and its Grease-inspired updated by Tatiana), and of course the more traditional versions by Manzanero, Milanés, and Luis Demetrio himself. Céspedes’ version starts with the big problem of a faster-than-expected tempo. Not a horrible sin, but that forces the singer to run through the song. And then we have the music. I know Reiner is a good drummer, but the arrangement here doesn’t go with the song at all. You can separate the voice and music tracks and they are completely different melodies! You can add new lyrics with a new tune to the music and it would work ok. Reiner pauses and plays while Pancho keeps on singing. The improvisational approach is making me hate a song I love... when Fabián Alvarez enters in a flute bridge. Oh lordy lord. Since Luis Demetrio is no longer alive to defend his song, in the name of the state of Yucatan I declare myself temporary ambassador and denounce that this flute solo doesn’t follow the song.
The best moments (oh and the album does have a lot of great moments because Francisco Céspedes is a great artist) come when he sticks to the successful formula of his previous albums: the voice leads and the music is mostly piano. This was so effective in the Bola de Nieve tribute album, and the music was also nicer and in the almost mono-instrumental experiments of “Autorretrato.” Sure, he plays with a whole band in other albums, but he is doing mostly his own songs. Here, his version of Pablo’s “Mírame bien” is pretty good and with lots of feeling (or “filin” since it’s a Milanés kinda thing), and he is also good in “Solamente una vez.” Sure, he is playful with the melody, but you expect that from his voice, like he did with “Bésame mucho” in the past.
I hope Céspedes doesn’t read this and get mad at me. I still admire him lots and I can’t wait for a new album of original material. I also hope his awesome musicians in this album don’t take this the wrong way. There’s nothing wrong with being improvisational and jazzy... but that simply didn’t match these great love songs.
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