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Ricky Martin Reimagining His Music Jan 01, 2010
Even though Ricky Martin's late 90's/early 2000's hits were a little overplayed they were certainly infectious and they moved even me musically. It was pretty clear by the time She Bangs came out that Ricky was in slight danger of repeating himself. By this time his solo career was well over a decade old,and considering this was only his third English langauge album it was definately time for a change over. So is this album not as pop oriented and radio friendly as what came before?Well yes and no. In terms of the type of latin pop Ricky was making earlier on this isn't it. As already stated it does have his signiture sound (and it's very lucky for him that he has one these days) and here it blends it into a very dance oriented hip-hop/funk/dance style that in itself has all kinds of Afro Cuban influences anyway. It's not really anything to write home about these days when people like Shakira are devaluing that sound to a degree by making it the commercial norm for the most part. In this case "Til I Get To You","I Don't Care",the title song,"I Am","It's Alright" and "Save The Dance" all work because they all blend that robotic funk/hip-hop dance thing used all too often today with this latin polyrhythm and Ricky's strong style and personality. Much has been made of this album's nods to reggaeton and the one tune that does that the most obviously on "Drop It To Me" with Damn Yankee,while Martin's latin styles again are mixed into it for his own hybrid. "I Won't Desert You" and "This Is Good" are more rooted in his classic latin pop ballad sound and while they are good enough they don't quite have the same personality as Martin's previous tunes of the style. The uptempo tunes have most of the fire here and they have plenty to spare. At first this may not seem like the type of music one would except to hear from Ricky Martin. The sound has a rather strong sense of musical cross pollination to it and,let's face it: Ricky could up to this point easily be thought of as something of an entertaining one trick pony. This really makes you wonder though what his next musical move will be.
English fans will be (pleasantly) surprise to discover an artist much better than they knew Sep 19, 2009
I have also posted this review in another Amazon page for Life because for some reason this product is duplicated. Go there to read more reviews.
For those who only knew Ricky Martin through his English CD's ( Ricky Martin and Sound Loaded ) LIFE can be a window to his artistic personality, much richer than what they have known until now.
Since his third Spanish album ( A Medio Vivir ) where his "real" style appeared, Ricky Martin has been known for mixing songs co-written by him with tracks from the best composers in the Latin American and Spanish music industry, many of them big stars on their own right. The connecting threads in his albums have always been that all the songs closely relate to Martin's own experiences and beliefs and the passion he infuses in his music. But both of those characteristics were almost completely absent in his previous English CD's. With a few exceptions, like the song "Loaded" from Sound Loaded , they lacked the "soul" of his Spanish productions. Although technically flawless, they seemed plastic and generic, fun to dance but lacking his personal touch and sometimes not even his voice being recognizable.
It's sad that LIFE being by far his best English CD, it's the less successful one. LIFE is the first equivalent (in quality and identity) to Ricky Martin's Spanish albums. It brings together what he had done in both languages, featuring pop, reggaeton and hip-hop tracks all mixed with Indian and Middle East accents to create a new sound that at the same time is completely and distinctively Ricky Martin's. Once again he chooses not to repeat himself (something to what his "Latin" fans are used to but might surprise the "English" ones) and explores styles completely different to what he had done before. This diversity of influences is at the same time a blessing and a curse. Because most probably you won't like all the tracks but it's a price worth paying for the ones you will undoubtedly enjoy.
From a personal point of view, I must admit that I'm not a reggaeton or hip-hop fan. Nevertheless, my favorite songs in LIFE are precisely the ones influenced by those styles!! "Drop It On Me", "I Am", "This Is good", "It's Alright" and "I Don't Care" have all the energy of those rhythm with the sensuality typical of Ricky Martin's music. Once again he manages to introduce his public to new sounds and hopefully LIFE will make his non-Spanish speaking fans to get interested in the rest of his work. It will definitively make them dance!!!
Finally, I respectfully disagree with Amazon's Editorial Review when it says that "he pushes his modest voice past its normal limit" Although he is not Sinatra (honestly, most singers aren't) his voice is by no means "modest". He has a good singing voice, both pleasant and strong enough to perform very well in a live show. In a time when auto-tuning makes you wonder who can actually sing, he has proven that he is the real thing. For those interested, Ricky Martin - MTV Unplugged and Ricky Martin Live: Black and White Tour are a must see.
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