I don't know anymore if I should look up the album before I listen to it or not. On the one hand it's nice to be surprised by what the album might have in store. I also don't want my preconceived notions about a genre to taint my listening experience. On the other hand if I don't know what the album is supposed to be, particularly if it's a genre I don't recognize, I won't be able to effectively comment on what the artist is trying to do.
Eh, whatever.
I almost screamed, "Praise Jesus!" when I pressed play, because the album starts out with a brilliant funk lick that got me super excited. Obviously based on the album artists and the title I anticipated something a bit more Latino-infused, so that was a pleasant surprise. And it probably got me in such a good mood that I didn't care after the first minute or so the song turned into exactly what I expected.
I'm not a huge fan of salsa music. Granted my experience is limited. It probably hurts a bit that I can't understand the lyrics even when I don't care about lyrics much. It also hurts that I don't really care about dancing at all, and salsa just screams to be danced to. So musically, I'm mostly unmoved by what's going on with Siembra.
There are some aspects that speak to me though. The album sounds beautiful. For whatever reason producers in the 50s and 70s just knew how to record horns. This album and Duke Ellington's Ellington at Newport stand out in my mind as having horns plus terrific sound quality. I don't know what it is, but those 2 decades somehow managed to have horns that sound bright, full, and real. I've pointed out that everything in the 60s sounded like shit, the 80s were so washed out, and by the 90s everything got this weird digital sheen that hasn't worn off.
The last song of the album also features strings which unfortunately aren't as clear and bright as the horns, almost like they were recorded separately from the rest of the band. I still like the sound though. It always makes me think of the theme from a certain type of TV show. I don't even know what kind at the moment... it'll probably hit me later. In any case it's a kitchy type of feeling where I know it's slightly horrible but I love it in spite of its flaws.
The songs are a bit repetitive but hit the butter zone really. If they were shorter there would need to be more repetitive songs to fill out the album, and if they were longer they'd just feel obese. I'm starting to wonder if all an album has to do to get me to like it is be about 40 minutes long and not piss me off. Siembra hits both spots, so 3 stars.
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