Search - Azucar Moreno :: Ojos Negros

Their BEST

Chia-heng Yao | Houston, Texas | 04/26/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I _completely_ disagree with the previous reviewer -- were you drunk? This album achieved that rare coherence in pop music, its songs weaving together the brassy diva power and soulful Latin melancholy into one self-complete world. From the first song "Moliendo Cafe" to the beginning of the last one "Veneno", the album zooms down the highway like a soundtrack to a non-existent Almodovar movie - somewhere between "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" and "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down". Or an alternative soundtrack to "Tu Mama Tambien". It feels like a cape that you want to wrap around you on a breezy spring day. Such is its evocativeness.I am lucky to be introduced to AM thru this album. Their other ones I went on to try (Mambo and Bandido in particular) were disappointing - cliche dance pop music. "No dicen na'." If I started with them I would have never known what I am missing.Almost all the songs started strong, although a few settled into cliches. I thought "Amor Latino", "Vente Conmigo", and "Veneno" are the least interesting (although the latter two had great instrument sections). "Mirame" is a great dance anthem, and "Ojos Negro" is very interesting musically (it's a traditional Chilean song?)Gloria Gaynor meets La Lupe in the Garden of Almodovar. In a word - BUY!"

It could have been better ...

Søren Jensen | Copenhagen, Denmark | 05/28/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Azúcar Moreno hit it big with their 1991 masterpiece "Mambo", and expectations were high for the follow-up album "Ojos negros" from 1992 but they are not really fulfilled. Despite several good intentions to do something different, Nick Patrick's production makes the album a mitch-match, and I recall being quite disappointed when I heard it for the first time. The first song, a salsa tune "Moliendo café" is nice, but "Hechizo de luna" has a weak melody line which the otherwise great dance treatment doesn't succeed in disguising. "En tu calle sin salida" is good, opening with a dramatic string arrangement which leads onto a slow Latin cha cha. "Hazme el amor" & "Vente conmigo" are mid-tempo songs and disappointingly average. The fiery "Amor latino" is better, followed by the very best track on the album "Azucarero", a great dance track, classic Azúcar! The title track is a Chilean traditional, in no way remarkable, in fact it's a bit out of place on the album. The sisters duet with Luis Enrique on "Mírame" is nice, the last song "Veneno" has a strong dance beat but it doesn't really work. "Ojos negros" is not the sisters' best album, thankfully they returned in 1994 in top form with "El amor", and there haven't been any weak efforts since then."