generally do not do reviews of individual discs, I prefer to wait until the end of the year, for a quick summary, but this time I gladly make an exception. The exception is for Sale el Sol released on 19 October, the ninth disc of Shakira's discography (and not the seventh, as reported by almost all sites and blogs)
The disc is composed, as specified by the same author and singer from Colombia, three distinct musical streams and emotional part rock , part romantic (that is interwoven with the first) and a more Latin inspired mainly by the style of Merengue. All
This summary is already in the three songs that opens the CD salt el sol, local, and Antes de la seis.
Sale el sol is the founder of the rock pieces: it opens with an acoustic guitar excellent base for Shakira's voice, then the music becomes gradually stronger until you explode in the chorus in an incisive riff rock, with Hook one of those that remain in mind.
Loca ritmatissimo is a piece where the richness of the base are added percussive horns galore and a bouncy piano: practically irresistible.
Antes de la Seis presents us with Shakira and romantic melancholy of his many previous songs, piano and guitar create a magical atmosphere, Shakira's voice cradle the listener until the chorus where the song expresses the maximum of Pathos, with electric guitar and mandolin to chisel flawlessly. The other pieces
sit down in these three streams, often with results at the three prototypes.
As for the rhythm part gordita is a piece that mixes Reggaeton and Cumbia, characterized by an irreverent and entertaining text that duet with Shakira Resident of Calle 13, in a rather theatrical. Addicted to you is a piece of merengue characterized here by a strong rhythmic base that intersects with a plane hopping and neurotic and interventions horns and choirs to turn a piece but very funny with a beautiful text. Lo Que Mas
is a sweet romantic ballad in which Shakira's voice blends perfectly with the atmosphere of the piano creates Alberto Menendez.
A sublime piece.
Mariposas is a song that sounds almost casual, yet even here we see the sophistication of the arrangements, and once again the chorus hook is deadly, and piano and guitar create something magical. With
Rabioso merenguera returns to Shakira, the piece seems a bit 'more repetitive and too heavy in terms of rhythm, much less than the other pieces.
The best thing is the limited duration of the piece: all the donuts do not succeed with buco.
Da Devocion inizia la parte decisamente più rock del disco. La canzone scritta insieme a Gustavo Cerati è sicuramente una delle cose più belle del disco: dopo una introduzione di chitarra su cui si eleva la potente voce di Shakira la batteria dà il ritmo ad una canzone caratterizzata da chitarre taglienti e levigate al tempo, una canzone dalle atmosfere epiche, in cui Shakira tira fuori anche degli acuti per lei abbastanza rari. Un pezzo decisamente unico nel repertorio che si conclude con delle dissonanze elettriche. Esaltante.
Islands è una cover del gruppo The XX, una canzone carina, e ben eseguita ma che pare essere troppo fredda per il repertorio di Shakira e che non appare molto in linea con the passion of the disc. Would have been better I'll Stand By You by The Pretenders, or only Pido a Dios, if you really needed to do a cover.
Nothing wrong anyway. By Tu boca
returns in an atmosphere very powerful bass Rock introduces the song that goes in the pre-chorus to literally explode in the chorus in an almost hallucinatory rock and devastating, even here Shakira does things with the voice incredibili.Pazzesco.
And then comes close to (almost) Waka Waka in a more rock.
I prefer the version of the world, but in this context, this seems much better suited with a guitar style of The Edge of U2 to embroider and to unite the various parts of the song. Enthralling.
Poi ci sono tre versioni in spagnolo di Loca, Rabiosa e Waka Waka.
La prima è anche un po' meglio di quella inglese, Rabiosa non migliora e Waka waka è perfettamente identica salvo l'idioma.
In definitiva un disco che non è un capolavoro, ma ci va vicino, e che si propone come uno dei migliori dischi di Shakira nonché migliori dischi dell'anno.
Ebbene sì, dopo la parentesi di She Wolf, la vera Shakira è tornata