Uninspired
Rob Ez | Chicago | 10/21/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Ana Gabriel, the radiant Mexican anomaly. She has never been one to steer wrong on the musical path, but on her latest release, her spark seems to have faded temporarily.
Titled "Tradicional:, Ana Gabriel offers standard and factory-made Mariachi beats to mostly non-original songs. Her vocals are so unlike her, that one has to wonder WHY she bothered recording this album. She only wrote one of the tracks, which makes me think that she is saving her good material for a new label? Who knows, not me. I surely hope so, Ana Gabriel is one of the few artists today that still offers music to think to and drink to at times. Her talent is limitless and she is destined for legendary status. I can honestly say that there are no standout tracks. Much like her previous album, the music isn't half as exciting as the album cover, which in this case is quite exotic. The color scheme covering the backgroud of a Mountain setting sitts well with the font of the title. This is sad to realize that talking about the cover brings more out of me than describing the tripe that is this music.
We all know that Ana Gabriel is capable of a great, mind-shattering performance, even in the ranchera field, so I will not conclude to any reasoning as to why this album was made. I will just sit patiently to hear from Ana with a GOOD album for once."