Search - Gustavo Cerati :: Fuerza Natural

A career consolidated

R. Suarez Giacoman | Mc Allen, Texas United States | 12/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"3 years after the incredible Ahí Vamos and with the reunion of Soda Stereo in between, Gustavo Cerati returns to his solo career with 'Fuerza Natural', an album produced by him and Tweety Gonzalez (they previously produced together 'Ahi vamos'). Graphic design of the album is, as usual, excellent. From the masked rider in the cover to the suggestive photographs in the booklet, it has been carefully designed to be consistent with the concept of the album.



The opening track 'Fuerza natural', presents Cerati's typical pop song with great lyrics and sets the mood as to how the rest of the album will sound. The whole album sounds to all his different influences of the past, if "Ahi vamos" was an album filled with guitars and Siempre Es Hoy was electronic, 'Fuerza Natural' is a combination of everything, influences from his times with Melero to the latest tour with Soda Stereo in 2007 can be heard.



The first single, 'Déjà vu' is a song that I never got to like completely, but listening to it live, it became a powerful song, if not one of the best in the complete concert setlist; the lyrics, sound autobiographical, a trait not unusual in Gustavo's songs (in the same line of 'Naci para esto' from "Siempre es hoy") the same notes would apply for 'Magia' ("No trates de persuadirme, voy a seguir en esto...") 'Amor sin rodeos' is without a doubt one of the best tracks in the album and a personal favorite of mine, with its country-like guitars. I have mixed feelings about 'Traccion a sangre', while I do like the lyrics and the music (specially in the chorus) is great, Cerati's singing style sounds awkward at times, which is not a bad thing but I found it to be distracting (like for example when he sings "hasta la palabra vacio, me lleno") not sure what it is, it just sounds off. 'Desastre' and 'Rapto' follow the same line of pop-rock songs that may become singles in the future; specially in 'Rapto', you can clearly listen what a great voice Gustavo has, the song feels fresh, rocker and you can tell he enjoys singing this piece. 'Cactus', which could have been named 'Sulky pt 2', is another attempt from Gustavo to add the south American folk rhythms to his music, the result is particularly good but it will remind fans of the previously mentioned song. 'Naturaleza muerta', with a haunting voice of a girl in the chorus and some powerful drums, has become a personal favorite of mine as well. The influence of The Police can be heard in 'Domino', which may also remind of Soda Stereo. 'Sal' could be defined as a power ballad, the piano is just incredible and the way the drums re-enter in the middle of the song is awesome. One of the best tracks in the album. 'Convoy' caused me a little bit of a conflict, the music in the chorus sounds exactly as the one in 'Naturaleza muerta', I am not sure if this was intentional or not, but I have found myself trying to sing the chorus from the opposite song in this one. Finally, 'The Beatles' influence is to be found in 'He visto a Lucy', the title is a clear reference to 'Lucy in the sky...'; this song is a great way to close another impeccable album from Gustavo... or is it? As a hidden track after this one ends wait for '#13', in which Gustavo counts to thirteen creating phrases with each number, an interesting experiment and an always welcomed bonus track



All lyrics are included in the booklet as well as the names of the participant musicians involved in each of the tracks of the album. I had to listen to this album a few times for it to grow on me and, as an added note, the songs performed live acquire another sound, they may not sound extraordinary in the CD but live they just make sense as a whole, they are improved. I have to confess this was my least favorite album until I listened to these songs during a concert in my city.



My personal observations aside, it cannot be denied that this is another impeccable release from one of Latin America's greatest artists.

"

Another classic

Planeador | Washington, DC USA | 09/08/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Cerati does it again with Fuerza Natural. It's a return to Bocanada, but not as ambient-type. I definitely left behind the electric guitars of Ahi Vamos, as the albums stays in mid-tempo throughout. There's plenty of good songs here, such as Fuerza Natural, Deja Vu and Desastre. If you like Cerati/Soda Stereo, this is more than recommended."

Cada vez mejor

Javier Servigon | Ecuador | 10/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cuando lo oi lo primero que me dije fue "no esta mal pero el Ahi Vamos fue mejor". Pero como me ha pasado con todos los discos de Cerati, hay que oirlos un par de veces para "entenderlos" bien. No diria que es mejor que el anterior pero definitivamente esta en 2do puesto y quien sabe, tal vez se convierta en mi favorito despues de otro par de oidas. En lo personal, el Ahi Vamos me gusto mas porque las guitarras son mas obvias, las canciones son los extremos, o mas agresivas o mas tranquilas. El Fuerza Natural es mas balanceado, las canciones tienen un tempo parecido. Pero es cuestion de gustos. Es probable que algunos de ustedes piensen que es mucho mejor que el Ahi Vamos. En todo caso, es muy buen disco, altamente recomendable. Cerati no decepciona nunca."