Search - Marc Anthony :: Mended

One Step Ahead!

fabio-italy | milan, italy | 02/21/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This sophomore effort by Marc Anthony results in my eyes more fun and uptempo than his first CD in English.
A lot is due to the fact that Walter Afanasieff has been cast aside...so what Afanasieff comes up with best, ballads, do not overcrowd this new project.
Marc has got anyway the 2 killer tracks off the cd in them: LOVE WON'T GET ANY BETTER and DO YOU BELIVE IN LONELINESS are absolute AC masterpieces.
Too bad that apparently Sony is focusing all of their efforts in promoting this album through the wrong tunes.
All of the singles chosen so far by the label (I'VE GOT YOU and I NEED YOU) are catchy, but there's so much better to choose from within this material.
TRAGEDY should have been the first single, co-written by the same Rob Davis of MatchBox 20 - and vocalist of that huge Santana hit of a couple of years ago... - and produced by Ric Wake, it was dumped at the very last minute by Sony as a single due to its title and the Sept., 11th facts...
Actually it is very good, reminds me a lot of I NEED TO KNOW.
Same great choruses and beats.
Afanasieff may be gone but his long-time assistant Dan Shea was promoted full-time producer by Anthony, while Corey Rooney is still part of the game too and they do their job nicely.
Other uptempos worth of mentioning are I SWEAR and GIVE ME A REASON (and David Morales steps on kicking out Rodney Jerkins...), while another couple of blowaway love songs are SHE MENDS ME (isn't Kara DioGuardi the new Diane Warren?) and the splendid I WANNA BE FREE - great guitar looping...
No need to tell you, Marc voice is a natural for ballad...all those emotions seem to find home in his phrasings.
And since the guy has got a hardcore latin-based fan group, it's no surprise getting 3 bonus tracks of the Spanish versions of some of these songs.
Plus...Marc finally found a good artcover! Let's buy this and celebrate!"